Lincoln Journal Star from Lincoln, Nebraska • 10

Lincoln Journal Star Sunday. October 12, 1997 HUSKER EXTRA Pag design: Julie Koch 32B Freshman onect veteran Swiney playing Mice seas 6 I want to be in a comfort zone, where I feel like I've been doing this for a couple years. Freshman cornerback Erwln Swiney completing a 19-yarder on his first pass. Baylor also went Swiney's direction right off the bat. But this time, Swiney batted down Watson's second pass of the night, which was intended for Anderson.

"That gave me a lot of confidence," Swiney said. "That was an excellent play," Darlington said. "The crowd booed a little because they thought it was interference, but Erwin just made a heck of a play." In the end, Swiney had few complaints, although the 14 points allowed by the lower units disappointed him a little. "We need to get the second string together and working like the first string," he said. Thanks to Swiney.

Trailing 49-7, Baylor faced a third-and-four at the Nebraska five-yard line. Swiney said he had a feeling quarterback Jeff Watson was going to throw the ball his way because Watson was looking his direction before the snap. Swiney anticipated a fade pat finally ka's 49-21 victory against Baylor at soggy Floyd Casey Stadium Saturday night "I want to be in a comfort zone, where I feel like I've been doing this for a couple years." Swiney is playing as if that SWINEY were the case. Nebraska defensive backs coach George Darlington could think of only one play by the 6-foot-l, 180-pounder that disappointed him a 10-yard completion in which Swiney's coverage was "a little soft." 7f, f-: "I is tern, and that's what he got Watson lofted the pass in the end zone for Morris Anderson. But Swiney was right there, tipping the ball before bringing it down, giving Nebraska possession at the 20-yard line.

"I needed the pig," he said. "I thought my feet were out of bounds, but I guess they weren't I didn't realize I was in bounds until a couple seconds afterward. It felt really good. Now I'm ready for my second one. "Last week I started and did OK.

This week I wanted to go a step forward and get an interception." In Nebraska's 56-26 victory against Kansas State a week ago, Wildcat quarterback Michael Bishop went after Swiney immediately, BY JEFF KORBEUK Lincoln Journal Star WACO, Texas Another week, another 100 yard-effort and another four touchdowns. The Nebraska football team has almost reached the halfway point of the 1997 season and a healthy Ahman Green has already found a groove. The junior from Omaha Central ran through and around the Baylor defense Saturday at Floyd Casey Stadium for 158 yards on 20 carries and scored four touchdowns in the No. 3 Corahuskers 49-21 Big 12 Conference victory. The effort marked the fourth-straight time Green has topped 100 yards and the second-straight time he's scored four TDs.

"I feel a lot healthier than I did last year, and right now, I'm just rolling with the punches," Green said. He's also rolling through defenses. Green, who ravaged Kansas State for 193 yards and four scores last week, was part of a Nebraska rushing offense that racked up 410 yards against the Bears. NU came into the game with the nation's top-ranked rushing offense, averaging 399.8 yards per contest. "We didn't pass a lot," Nebraska senior offensive guard Aaron Taylor said.

"We just kept pounding it inside, and they kept giving up a lot of yards." A lot of those yards came in the first half when the ball was in Green's hands. He only carried twice in second half after he helped stake Nebraska to a 42-7 lead with touchdown runs of 3, 58, 2 and 30 Green is aT9 T1 BY STEVE SIPPLE Lincoln Journal Star WACO, Texas Last week, he made his first collegiate start This was his first start on the road It could all become a little overwhelming for some true freshmen. Especially for someone who's been playing organized football less than three years. Things are moving quickly, but Nebraska cornerback Erwin Swiney is having no problems. Reality is feeling just fine, the Lincoln Northeast graduate said Saturday night.

"I just want to stay focused," said Swiney, who intercepted the first pass of his college career in Nebras- Texas (AP) -Texas TeCh's Ricky Williams rushed for 179 yards and the Red Raiders didn't allow an offensive score Saturday night in a 17-7 victory over Kansas. 7 a freshman, recorded -his 'first 100-yard game as he ran through what had been a stingy Jayhawks defense. Tech (3-2, 2-0 Big 12) compiled 365 yards, 223 on the ground. It was the first time since 1983 that Tech won its first two confer- nce games. Meanwhile, Kansas (4-2, 2-1 looked like a team ranked 109th in total offense.

The Jayhawks were bottled up for 140 yards, including 11 on the ground. Kansas averted a shutout when cornerback Jamie Harris intercepted Rob Peters' pass and returned it 64 yards for a touchdowa The Raiders' next drive stalled near midfield, but Jeremy Hernandez's punt pinned the Jayhawks at their 1. After three incomplete pass-, es by Zac Wegner, Kansas returned the ball to Tech on a short punt with .2:11 left. Peters, who replaced injured Zebbie Lethridge late in the third quarter, finished off the Jayhawks moments later with a 1-yard TD run. The loss spoiled a record-setting night for Kansas linebacker Ron Warner, whose four sacks of Lethridge gave him lOVi for the season, surpassing Dana Subblefield's sea- record of 10.

The Raiders executed a nearly effortless opening drive, capped by ri a 2-yard TD plunge by Williams. De-' spite penetrating the Kansas 30 on three of their next four posessions, the Raiders came away with only a field goal in the waning seconds. Nebraska notes Raiders shut off Kansas 4 .1 Swiney's third-quarter interception, though, had Darlington pounding on the table with joy in the coaches' box. "I was pleased because we had turned over the ball near midfield and we had an opportunity to keep them out of the end zone which we did," Darlington said. nrrf Sears' first BY JEFF KORBEUK Lincoln Journal Star WACO, Texas The play happened so fast Nebraska Coach Tom Osborne didn't even have time to see it Nebraska had just scored its first touchdown and Baylor took over on its own 20 on the ensuing possession.

On the first play, tailback Jerod Douglas took the handoff from quarterback Jeff Watson, went through a hole over right tackle, and raced down the sideline for an 80-yard touchdown. Just like that the score was 7-7. "I was talking to the offense," Osborne said. "I didn't know what had happened." The reaction was the same from Nebraska's defense. "It was perfect play for what we had out there," Nebraska senior defensive tackle Jason Peter said.

"It shouldn't have happened, but it did. I think we were still a little nervous." The defense wasn't quite up to speed, too. Nebraska free safety Eric Warfield gave chase, but Douglas pulled away from him over the last 20 yards. "I tried, but he was too fast for me," Warfield said. Nebraska junior l-back Ahman Green (30) pulls Baylor safety Nikia Codie touchdown run in the rain Saturday at Waco, Texas.

kick in NU's pants TED KIRKUncom Journal Star with him on this 30-yard TD was a oove yards. Green had 152 yards on 18 carries by intermission. "Certainly if he would have had the carries in the second half, his numbers would have been tremendous," Nebraska running backs coach Frank Solich said. "As it was, he had excellent numbers." Solich said Green's big first half just worked out that way. The rainy weather forced Nebraska to keep the ball on the ground.

The Huskers had 312 yards on 41 carries in the first half. "That's how the play calling went," Solich said. "Ahman, when he's healthy, is the kind of back, with his size and strength, that can give you 25-30 carries a game." That was missing last season, when Green's productivity was hampered by a sore toe. The start of this season was a struggle, too. A sore back and shoulder gave him some problems.

But he's worked his way through the injuries and has started putting up numbers reminiscent of his freshman year when he rushed for 1,086 yards and 13 touchdowns. His four touchdowns gives him 34 for his career 31 rushing and three receiving and puts him eighth on the Nebraska career scoring chart He has 204 points, which puts him one point ahead of kicker Rick Sanger (1971-73). Green remains seventh on NLTs career rushing chart, but is just four yards behind Derek Brown's 2,699 yards from 1990-92. Green now has 103 carries for 692 yards and 11 TDs thisseasoa "It was a good day," Green said. "I have to give credit to my line.

There are 10 others out there helping me." Douglas gained 80 on one carry. "Things like that are going to happen now and then," Nebraska senior rush end Grant Wistrom said. "We took care of things the rest of the way." Baylor struggled the remainder of the half against Nebraska's first-unit defense. Despite the 80-yard run, Douglas netted only 84 through the first two quarters. He had four yards on his other nine carries.

As a team, the Bears totaled 71 first-half rushing yards. Watson was saddled with 17 yards in losses on two carries. "We're pretty much controlled it," Peter said. The Bears finished with just 137 yards on the ground and just 203 total. Douglas ran the ball five more times, but didn't gain another yard.

Darrell Bush came off the bench to gain 74 yards on nine carries and score Baylor's second TD with 8:54 left in the game. Bush's yards came against the NU's second and third units. "We knew we had to do (limit Baylor's rushing)," Wistrom said. "We knew we had to play welL" McBride said. "If you're talking about going for a national championship, Baylor doesn't put 21 points on the board." Osborne, however, sounded less concerned about the final score.

"I was disappointed with how we played after we got up 49-7 he said. "(But) I think we got a good chance to look at our second units (and) one of the problems is they haven't got a chance to play a lot lately. "I'm mad we didn't execute at the end, but we did a lot of good things more good than bad." v. Ni 1 'WACO, Texas Nebraska players weren't sure how to take the about top-ranked Florida los-' ing'to Louisiana State Saturday. The Tigers stunned last year's de-, fending champion 28-21.

Florida's loss should mean No. 2 Penn State will move up to No. 1 and the K.ranked Cornhuskers to No. 2. li Penn State's ties to the Big Ten and the Rose Bowl mean the Huskers would not face the Nittany Lions in a No.l vs.

No. 2 championship game. The Rose Bowl, Big 10 and Pac 10 are not part of college "football's alliance. "It's good or bad," Nebraska of-fensive tackle Fred Pollack said. "If Florida was No.

1 a national champi-onship game would be good for us. With Penn State in the Rose Bowl, everything is up in the air. We still have some big games in front of us." Nebraska converted two fum-' bles into touchdowns against Baylor. After the Huskers failed on fourth and one on their third drive, n. Baylor fumbled on the second play snap to QB), which was ered by NU's defensive tackle Jason Wiltz on the Baylor 15.

Fullback Joel Makovicka scored on the next play on a 15-yard run to NU up 14-7 with 37 seconds re-'u maining in the first quarter. in In the second quarter on Baylor's Ji first drive and first play, defensive tackle Jason Peter caused Jerod Douglas to fumble, which was recov-i ered by NU linebacker Tony Ortiz. Ahman Green scored five v. plays later on a 2-yard run to give rn'MU a 28-7 cushion with 11:19 in the Mi. second quarter.

Ortiz, who also had a quarterback sack for a seven-yard loss, found the fumble recovery comparable to his other big play. r.i 1 "When I'm In there I try to make big plays," the sophomore linebacker from Waterbury, said. plays are the same. I just hap-'' pen to be in the right spot at the y'righttime." against the Cornhuskers had been a 23-yarder by Central Florida's Daunte Culpepper. NU is 52-3 in its last 55 games, has won four in a row against Baylor and 33 straight conference contests.

Quarterback Scott Frost finished with 71 yards rushing on 12 carries. It marked the fourth time in five games he has ran for more than 50 yards. Frost also scored on a 1-yard run with 8:33 left in the third quarter. Dating back to last season's Orange Bowl, he has scored in six straight games. Junior Kris Brown set the NU school record for points scored by a kicker with his second PAT kick Saturday.

Brown now has 228 points, six more than Byron Bennett amassed from 1990-93. Brown moved up from sixth to fourth among all point scorers at Nebraska, passing Bennett and quarterback Tommie Fra-zier. Brown is from Southlake, Texas. In 1993, his Carroll High School team faced NU teammate Clint Fin-ley's Cuero, Texas, team on Baylor's field for the state championship. Both were quarterbacks.

Nebraska had 410 yards rushing Saturday. Under Coach Tom Osborne, the Cornhuskers are 157-5 when going over 300 yards and 80-0 when going over 400. NU has totaled at least 364 yards on the ground in all five games this season. Baylor, with 137 yards rushing, was the first team to go over the century mark against NU this season. Akron's 98 had been the previous high.

NU is 266-1 all-time when scoring 35 or more points. The Cornhuskers have reached that total in four of five games this year. Nebraska had five scoring drives of five plays or less. Defensive tackle Jason Peter acted as if he felt little emphathy for Baylor, now 1-4. "It isn't the greatest team, but they're in our way for a national title," he said.

8:54 remaining when Darrell Bush went in from 1 yard out then accounted for the final score on the last play when Matt Anderson fell on a Willie Miller fumble in the end zone. Considering No. 1 Florida lost to Louisiana State, the Huskers still figure to climb to No. 2 in the polls. But defensive coordinator Charlie McBride did not sound overly pleased with how Nebraska looked Saturday night "We're better than that," TED KIRKUncotn Journal Star Baylor's Patrick Francis (37) sets his sights on NU freshman Bobby Newcombe (12) in the second quarter Saturday.

Newcombe gained 17 yards on a wingback reverse. The No. 3 Huskers rebounded the kick in the pants the Black Shirts from the surprise touchdown and needed. After all this was the same went on to post a 49-21 Big 12 victory defense that had limited its previous over Baylor at Floyd Casey Stadi- four opponents to an average of 71.8 um- yards per game on the ground The play, however, proved to be seventh best in the nation. NUHuskers rolled up 378 yards of total offense in first half against Baylor Continued from Page 1 and the first one or two series," when the first-team defense was still on the field.

"I think we focused more on not getting out of our gaps, because those guys were little, quick backs." By halftime, the Huskers had rolled up 378 yards of offense (312 on the ground) and limited the Bears to 96. On the 26 plays other than Douglas' touchdown run, Baylor managed just 16 yards. "Other than at the end of the first half, we tried to score on every possession," Osborne said. "I thought for probably the first 2Vi quarters we played well. I didn't see the execution the last quarter and a half." The Huskers added another score in the third quarter a 1-yard run by Frost and turned back Baylor's only serious scoring threat of the period when freshman cornerback Erwin Swiney intercepted a Jeff Watson pass in the end zone with 5:18 left.

Baylor did produce a touchdown against the Husker reserves with Before Douglas' 80-yard touchdown run, the longest run of the year I.