Lincoln Journal Star from Lincoln, Nebraska • 29

NEBRASKA 24, CALIFORNIA 3 Uncotn Journal Star Sunday, September 13, 1938 I I HITS ft Jflll lliill id BY TIE NECrtASKA i 0 The number of -'P touchdowns NU has allowed hv the last six quarters. The last Was by Alabama-Birmingham in the second quarter a week ago. 1 LB Carfos Polk's career I interception total. He got his first Saturday. 2 Number of career highs set by WB Shevin He had seven catches for 97 i yards.

j'- i 1 'i 5 The number of NU starters who missed Saturday's game QB Bobby Newcombe, 13 DeAngelo Evans, FS Clint Finley -WB Lance Brown and DT Jason; Wiltz. 9 NU's road winning streak is at nine games. 12 Cal's net rushing totaj Saturday. 17 Nebraska's overall winning streak, the longest iri l-Division l-A. The Huskers last-: i loss was against Texas in the -1996 Big 12 title game.

27 Number of passes -broken up by NU comerback Ralph Brown in his career. He broke up two Saturday. 30,000 The estimated number of Nebraska fans among the 67,000 people who attended the game in Berkeley's Memorial -Stadium. CALIFORNIA i -11: The yardage Cal's offense RANDY HAMPTONAJncotn Journal Star II Take-away: Deltha O'Neal (8) of California picks off a pass intended for NU's Matt Davison deep in Bear territory late in the second hair. FIRST QUARTER NEBRASKA 7, CALIFORNIA 0 Eric Crouch 1 run (12:08) Drive 67 yards 7 plays, i Other play CorreH Buckhalter 4 run, Crous 9 run, Joel Mak vicka 18, 6 runs, Buckhalter 29 run, Crouch 0 run Conversion: Kris Brown kick.

Air-red: Nebraska picked up at least 1 50 yards passing tor the third straight game. The Huskers' running game, which averaged 392.6 yards per game in 1997, continued to struggle, posting 254 yards agairM Cal and onty 54 yards in the second half. In two previous games this season the Huskers' rushing attack has gained 289 yards against Louisiana Tech and 236 against Alabama-BinTWKham. NU's total offense also fen from 462 yards and 1 444 yards in the first two games to 434 against Cal. It's nothing bad, we're moving and we'll get better," said Christo.

"Everybody missing on offense will be back. A few of us that are banged up will get better. And the way we're passing, people will stop putting all those people up on the line or we'll pass them to death." CALIFORNIA Cal Confidence: Cal tailback Marcus Fields, who led the Bears with 29 yards rushing: "Coming into the -A game, I knew that we could play them. I have a lot of confidence in our team. We have a lot of heart, but it was hard because at times it got real loud.

I knew it was going to be a game. They're just another team." Fields wasn't considering the 21 -point loss a moral victory either. i It's just a loss, it doesn't matter who the other team is', it's just a toss." Bear baptism: Cal offensive tackle Langston Walker, on his first start for the Bears: It's Just a game under my belt. It makes no difference if the other team was Nebraska. It is some experience.

Now I know what the speed is for a game." Confused Callforniare Cal -leading tackier Sekou Sanyika, who had 10 unassisted tackles and four for losses: 'The option is the most confusing offense you can play against. When there are three options on who's getting the gall, It's really tough to defend. We thought we had it in the first half. We were confident going into the second half that If we stuck with what we were running, we'd be successful, it's confidence -building in a way, but it's hard to take a loss like this because if we'd have executed on four or five different plays we easily could have won." Execution: Strong safety Marquis Smith, on Nebraska's long plays: "Our execution at times just -broke down. They caught us right where we made our ittle mistakes but they didn't do anything we didn't expect The game came down to execution.

They didn't out-muscle us, I thought they were going to be playing a tot harder. It wasn't something I expected from a defending national championship team, but they beat us." Fear: Linebacker Albert Dorsey, on the game "We were wearing -them down. You could see in their eyes that they were afraid of us. At first they wouldn't talk to us, but by the second half they began talking to us like they wanted to be our friends." Injury update: Nebraska had no new injuries. Quarterback Monte Christo had a sore thumb after being stepped on early in the third quarter.

Quarterback Eric Crouch re-injured his hamstring that had slowed him aB week, r-back ComeS Buckhalter reinjured his elbow. Riling in nicely: Crouch and Christo were strong. Crouch hit 6-of-1 6 passes for 74 yards and ran for 59 yards and two tcnjchdowns, while Christo hit 9-of-1 2 passes for 1 06 yards and a touchdown. Bobby Newcombe, who started the season opener, was not available to do anything but hand off the batt because his injured knee is still too stiff to run hard, Coach Frank Soticrt said. Career days: Fullback Joel Makovicka had a career high 1 4 rushes for 83 yards, with long bursts of 18, 23 and 16 yards.

He moved into fifth on the all-time fullback rushing Fist for Nebraska. He now has 1,146 yards and 12 touchdowns. Wngback Shevin Wiggins had a career-best seven receptions for a career-best 97 yards, including a 5-yard catch for Nebraska's last -touchdown. Good and bad: Kicker Kris Brown extended his school record extra point kicks to 95 but had his school record streak of 1 7 field goals in a row end when he missed a 40-yarder with 1 1 :03 left in the game. He later kicked a 41-yard field goat late in the game, drawing boos from the Cat crowd.

Black Shirt pride: Defensive tackle Loran Kaiser said he was -proud of the Black Shirts' effort against Cal. Kaiser had four tackles including one for a loss. Nebraska had 1 1 tackles behind the line and six quarterback sacks. In the last five Cal possessions, the Huskers allowed a total of minus-1 1 yards on 1 1 plays, including two interceptions and two sacks for minus-20 Kaiser said the key was the -defense playing like it was supposed to. It really got electric for Us out there," he said.

"We got just what we needed with some big plays and some big stops. It's good to have that to build on." Time to heal: Nebraska is happy to nave a week off before playing host to Washington. Coach Frank Solich said, "It will be needed to try and heal some of our guys up and get some people back. We have depth and we have had great play from our depth. These guys have done everything I've asked from them." Inspirational: Linebacker Jay Foreman said he was inspired by Nebraska's victory.

"They didn't score and we did all right. There were some scary moments. But we got to see aH that red in the stands and it helped us fire up. We stopped them at our 1 0. They got just the one field goal and missed one.

We can get better but we showed today we are better than last week and the week before," SECOND QUARTER Tim Wolleck 38 field goal (6:42) Drive 47 yards in 6 plays. Other play Marcus Fields 2 run, Dameane Douglas 40 pass from Justin Vedder, incomplete pass to PhiUip Pipersburg, Vedder loss ot 5, Joshua White 10 pass from Vedder, FOURTH QUARTER NEBRASKA 21, CALIFORNIA 3 Shevin Wiggins 5 pass from Monte Christo (3:54) Drive 70 yards in 9 plays. Other plays Wiggins 20 pass from Chris to, Bucknalter 9 run, Dan Alexander 7, 2 runs, incomplete pass to Wiggins, Davison 20 pass from Chrsto, pass interference penalty, Alexander 0 run, Chnston 1 run. Conversion K. Brawn kick.

NEBRASKA 24, CALIFORNIA 3 K. Brown 41 field goal (00:19) Drive Minus 10 yards In 4 plays set up Carlos Polk interception. Other plays Christo 1 run, illegal shift penalty, Christo minus 6 run, Davison 4 pass from Christo, false start penalty. NEBRASKA 14, CALIFORNIA 0 Crouch 3 run (8:09) Drive 64 yards in Splays. Other plays Makovicka 23 run, Buckhattsr 5 run, Crouch 30 run, Buckhalter 3 run.

Conversion K- Brown kick. THIRD QUARTER NEBRASKA 14, CALIFORNIA 3 nzenA.A niosysoufi statistics Player No. Eric 2 Chns Keteay 1 Loran 1 Tony Ortiz 1 Kyle Vanden Bosch 1 INTERCEPTION RETURNS Player No. Carlos PoK. 1 Rajph Brown 1 SPECIAL TEAMS PUNTINO Player No.

Yards 7 293 PUNT RETURNS Player No. Yards Joe Walker 4 23 KICKOFF RETURNS Pleyer No. Yards Shevin 1 32 Joe Walker ,1 ,16 Yards 10 2 3 .16 Yards IS 1 Avg. 41.9 Avg. 5.6 Avg.

32.0 16.0 Avg. 5.9 5.9 3.7 2.5 2.5 TD 0 1 Avg. 13.9 8.8 31.0 11.0 3.0 TACKLES UT AT TT Eric 5 1 6 Jay Foreman 4 1 Chad Kebay 4 0 Brian 3 1 Loran Kaiser 3 1 Aaron 3 1 Joe Walter 3 0 Tony Ortiz 2 Kyle Vanden Bosch. 2 0 Erwin 2 0 2 0 Ralph 1 1 Keyuo Graver 1 1 Khan 1 0 1 0 Steve Warren 1 0 Travis 1 0 Dorranic 1 0 1 0 SACKS 5 4 4 4 4 3 3 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 '1 1 2, CAUFUmim EimSViDUAL STATISTICS Mawuko Tugbenyoh 0 1. -TT SACKS 14 Player No.

"'( 12 Sekou Sanyika 1 11 Andre Carter 1 1 7 Jerry DeLoach 1 7 INTERCEPTION RETURNS Player No. Dattha O'Neal 1 SPECIAL TEAMS PUNTING 3 Player No. Yards 3' 9 344 3 PUNT RETURNS 2 No. Yards 2 Deltha O'Neal 4 48 1 KICKOFF RETURNS 1 Player No. Yards -1 Dameane 1 19 1 Deltha O'Neal 2 65 generated in its last five possessions.

1 .48: The yards-per-carry 1 average the Bears' had on rushes. 12: How many times a Cal defender made a tackle behind the line of scrimmage. 37: The number of tackles Pete Destefano, Albert Dorsey and Sekou Sanyika combined to -l make. 38: The distance of Tim Wofleck's third-quarter field goaL, It was the second make in three career kicks for the senior. 124: Dameane Douglas' receiving yardage total.

The senior now how 257 for the 35,000: The approximate number of fans not decked in' red among the 67,397 in Memorial Stadium. Special teams: Kris Brown is human. He from 40 yards to end his streak of 17 straight made field goals. Return game was a wash, but Billy Lafleur aver- aged 41.9 yards on 7 punts, even with a 19-yard shanker. big play, 1993 NU Scheie Aug 29 NU 56, Leusiana Tech 27 Sept 5 Sept.

12 NU 24, California 3 Sept. 28 Washington 2:30 pm. Oct 3 at QWahoma State TBA Oct. 10 atTexasAftM 1 p.m. Oct.

17 v'-. 1230 pm. Oct.24 Missouri 4 1230pm. Oct. 31 Texas 1230pm.

Nov. 7 at Iowa State 1pm. Nov. 14 at Kansas State 1pm. Nov.

27 Colorado 1.30p.m. TACKLES Player UT AT Peter Destefano. 8 6 Abert Dorsey 8 '4 Sekou Sanysta 10 1 Marquis Smrth 5 2 Chidi Iwuoma 5 2 Andre Carter -w .4 1 Deltha O'Neal 3 2 Derrick 2.3 Jerry 3 1 2 2 Waasdorp 3 0 Jeremiah 3 0 Keith Miner "2 "1 Fa'avae Fa'avae 1 1 Justin Flagg 1 Juan Jimenez 1 0 Dameane 1 0 Marcus Fields 1 0 Jamaal Cherry 1 0 Avg. 32 2.3 160 TD 0 0 Avg. 24.8 3.6 17.0 22 0 12.0 OFFENSE RUSHINQ Player No.

Yards Joel 13 77 Corral 12 71 Eric 16 59 Monte Christo 13 32 Dan 6 15 PASSING -Player C-A4 Yards Eric Crouch 6-16-1 74 Monte Christo 9-12-0 106 BECBVWQ Player No. Yards Shevin 7 97 Matt Davaon. 5 44 'Sheldon 1 31 "TJ. DeBates. 1 11 -CorreH 1' 3 DEFENSE OFFENSE RUSHINQ No.

9 7 Yards 29 16 -16 -17 Marcus Fields White Samuel demons Justin Vedder 1 8 PASSING C-A4 Justin 14-32-3 Samuel 0-0-0 1 RECEIVING tPleyer No. Dameane Douglas 5 -Josh White 4 :A.J.Kunkle 3 Ronnie 1 Corey Smith 1 DEFENSE Yards 224 0 Yards 124 15 51 22 12 Quarterbacks: I A Don't raise those eyebrows. Eric Crouch was unspectacular (and hurt), but Nebraska's first drive of the game Was a lot better than lact week's three-thd-out. When Crouch had to call it a night, Monte Christo looked like a t2soncd veteran, pecial'y during the Not the rusher. honor l-back going tough.

Yards 3 12 Yards' 0 Avg. 38.2 Avg. 12.0 Avg. 19.0 32.5 line: Receivers: A Shevin Wiggins and Matt Davison had key possession grabs, while tight end Sheldon Jackson got free deep again. Quarterbacks should be done worrying whether balls are going to be dropped.

Offensive Running backs: many times will fullback be Nebraska's leading Joel Makovicka took that with 77 yards, Correll Buckhalter found the on the option Secondary: Cal got some yardage, thanks to a few spectacular catches. But when the Bears threatened the Red Zone, Justin Vedder couldn't find any openings. Despite a missed tackle on Dameane Douglas Linebackers: A You can count on a steady performance every game from Jay Foreman (5 tackles, 1 for a loss and 1 pass breakup). Tony Ortiz and Carlos Polk must be paying attention. Ortiz had 4 tackles, including one for a loss, and a pass breakup.

Polk had an interception late in the game. Defensive line: A Was that pressure we saw? You bet. Chad Kelsay, suffering dizzy spells from an inner-ear infection most of this week, helped make Cal's offensive line do most of the spinning. Justin Vedder made a few amazing throws. Amazing because he was on the run all game.

Nebraska is relying on the pass more and more. That's a compliment to the pass protection ability of this unit, but not exactly a confidence booster for its smashmouth reputation. A 54-yard half on the ground isn't going to scare many that led to a 4viWiisv. Ralph Brown had another monster game. io orth-quarter TD fcrive.

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