The Odessa American from Odessa, Texas • 40

onrVA AMFRIOAN Snrkjy, Nnvrrnhnf 1994 i i ill r- e-i rt rT I ill' kJ I I r-. t- 4 It. A 1, -ill art. "We still have some unfinished business and that's to win the Orange Bowl." The game was tied 3-3 at half-time. A 26-yard field goal by Tom Sieler midway through the third quarter ended an 81 -yard drive.

Then the Cornhuskers drove 82 yards for a touchdown on their next possession. Nebraska gained only 63 yards in the first half and didn't make a first down in the second quarter. The Cornhuskers failed on a fake field goal early in the game and were hurt by inconsistent passing by Berringer, who also was sacked three times in the half. D. 1 13, i A NORMAN, OkSa.

(AP) Okla-homa's defense played well enough to beat No. 1 Nebraska and send Coach Gary Gibbs out a winner in his last regular-season game. But the Sooners offense had to go against an even better defense. The Cornhuskers dominated Oklahoma in the second half Friday and won 13-3, setting them up for another shot at the national title. There was talk before the game that, if needed, Nebraska quarterback Tommie Frazier could play for the first time since Sept.

24. But Brook Berringer played just well enough and the defense made sure Frazier could keep his jacket on, making 10 second-half points seem like twice that many. "I was real proud of our defense, I thought they really carried the day," Nebraska coach Tom Osborne said. "I looked at Tommie a few times. It was nice insurance to have him on the sideline." In winning its fourth straight Big Eight title, Nebraska (12-0 overall, 7-0 conference) held Oklahoma to 47 yards in the second half and no first downs in the fourth quarter.

The Cornhuskers' next game is Jan. 1 in the Orange Bowl, in which they lost the national title to Florida State last season. Oklahoma (6-5, 4-3) played its best defensive game of the year in Gibbs regular-season finale, holding Nebraska to its lowest point total of the season. The Sooners are now expected to play in the Copper Bowl. "We knew it was going1 to be low-scoring," said Gibbs, who announced his resignation Monday.

"You have to credit Nebraska because they controlled the ball so well. "A game like this comes down to a few good plays and Nebraska is the one who made those plays." Tie biggest one came late in the third quarter. With the Cornhuskers facing third-and-10 at their 43-yard line, Berringer hit Abdul Muhammad on a 44-yard completion to the Sooner 13. Four plays later, Berringer scored on a 1-yard sneak to make the score 13-3. "We caught 'em in man-to-man coverage," said Berringer, who completed 13 of 23 for 166 yards.

"I threw it where I was hoping he was going to be, and that's where he ended up." Nebraska gave up' 132 yards but only the one field goal in the first half, then throttled Oklahoma after that. Nebraska's powerful offense didn't exactly have a field day, either. The Cornhuskers, who average 358 yards rushing and 494. overall per game, wound up with 136 on the ground and 302 overall. "We take it upon ourselves to stop the other team from scoring and let our offense do their thing," said Nebraska linebacker Ed Stew- AP photo Nebraska quarterback Brook Berringer, left, tries to escape the pursuit of Oklahoma's Anthony Fogle, Berringer and the No.

1 Cornhuskers beat the Sooners 13-3 Friday. lout by Youngsfown Wolf pack messes up ACC's bowl oicfure ends McNair's season 1 -1 1 Jl Jl'" 111 Ll 11 '-I'll Ml I.U.I., 1 1 Mlibruka 0 Oklahoma 0 Neb FG Erstad 48 Okl-FG Blanton 25 Neb FG Sieler 26 Neb Berringer 1 run (Sieler kick) A 70,216. 7-13 0-03 Neb Okie 18 10 50-136 32-108 166 071 First downs Passing yards Heturn yards 0 20 6-18-2 6-47 7-38 Passes 2-0 0-4 4-28 5-35 Time of Possession 36:46 23:12 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING-Nebraska, Phillips 21-50. Berringer 15-48, Banning 3-10, Schlesinger 3-11, Turman 1-9, Makovicka 3-9, Childs 3-6, Muhammad IHmJnus 7). Oklahoma, Moor 15-71, McGea 5-20, Alien 9 8, Chandler 3-9.

PASSING-Nebrasks, Berringer 13-23-1-166. Oklahoma, McGee 6-17-2-71, Brown 0-1-0-0. RECEIVING-Nebreska, Muhammad 6-98. Phillips 3-24, Giiman 2-23, Alford 2-16. Baul 1-5.

Oklahoma, Hall 3-51, MeOaniel 2-11, Allen 1-9. and nine touchdowns. Next week, the Penguins will be host to the winner of Saturday's Boston University at Eastern Kentucky game. "They were running four people up the field real hard," Alcorn State coach Cardell Jones said. "There were a lot of running lanes, but Steve could not take advantage of that.

If Steve had been fully healthy, we could have taken advantage of it It would have been a totally different football game, I guarantee you that. We would have put a lot more points on the board." But Youngstown State coach Jim Tressel preferred to believe McNair's problems stemmed more from the defense than the injury McNair sustained in the second quarter of last week's game. "I don't think the hamstring had anything to do with the interceptions and fumbles and things like that," he said. "Our guys had a lot to do with those." Alcorn State (8-3-1) ran the Southwestern Athletic Conference record in postseason games to 0-16. It was Alcorn State's third lopsided playoff loss in three trips, following a 78-27 defeat to Northeast Louisiana two years ago and a 44-21 loss to Louisiana Tech in 1985.

Youngstown State's Mark Brun-gard also threw three touchdown passes 22 and 19 yards to Don Zwisler and 10 yards to Nathan Toy. Brungard completed 1 1 of 14 passes for 198 yards with no interceptions. The Penguins Shawn' Patton rushed for 158 yards and three touchdowns on 22 attempts, while Alcorn State lost 36 yards mostly on McNair's six sacks in 15 rushing attempts. McNair made 91 plays on offense. AP photo North Carolina State running back Tremayne Stephens, left, stiff-arms Virginia defender Ronde Barber during the second half.

Stephens had an 84-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter Friday as the Wolfpack rallied to beat the 13th-ranked Cavaliers 33-27. YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (AP) Steve McNair hobbled into the NCAA I-AA playoffs Friday and saw his Heisman Trophy hopes crippled in a 63-20 first-round loss to top-ranked and defending national champion Youngstown State. McNair, hurting from a pulled hamstring, still set I-AA records with 52 completions in 82 attempts. But even 514 passing yards and three touchdowns weren't near enough. "Hopefully, I'm still in the hunt," McNair said of his Heisman chances.

"A lot of things have been held against me all year. I can't worry about it. I have to go on and hope that everything works out for the best I did all I could do today. I did all any individual could have done this season." Youngstown State forced seven turnovers as its defense scored or set up four touchdowns. The biggest were a 94-yard interception return by Leon Jones for a touchdown and a 95-yard fumble return by Randy Smith.

"They have a great defense. They're very aggressive," said McNair. "We just made too many mistakes. They put up the points they needed to put up." McNair's attempts broke the previous I-AA playoff mark of 78 by Rhode Island's Tom Ehrhardt against Furman in 1985. His completions eclipsed the 44 of Mississippi Valley State's Willie Totten against Louisiana Tech in 1984.

The most regular-season completions are 47 by Jamie Martin of Weber State in 1991. The most attempts are 77 by Neil Lomax of Portland State in 1979. Youngstown State (11-0-1) set school records with its 63 points fii.C. SbawS Sir 3 K3. 13 a Z7 N.

Carolina St 17 6-30 12 2-27 VA Way 1 run (kick failed) 62 pass from Harvey (Vidatich kick) VA Groh 1 run (Garcia kick) VA Neal 28 interception return (run failed) NCS-Guttio 22 pass from King (Vidatich kick) NCS-FQ Videtich 36 NCS Hill 69 pas from Bender (Videtich kick) VA Jeffers 52 pass from Groh (pass failed) NCS Stephens 84 run (pass failed) VA Crocker conversion pass interception return A 36,300. NCS VA First downs 18 23 Bushes-yards 34-140 62-219 Passing 300 287 Return Yards 80 159 Comp-Att-Int 18-34-3 23-34-1 Punts 6-36 3-37 n.i 2-0 5-3 Penalties-Yards 4-36 3-30 Timeof Possession. 27:12 32:48 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING N. Carolina Stephens 18-133, Brown 10-23, Hill 1-5, team 1-(minus 1), Harvey 4-(minus 20). Virginia, Way 28-132, Brook 20-74, Groh 3-10, Allen 1-3.

PASSING N. Carolina St, Harvey 8-18-2-133. Bender 8-15-1-145, King 1-1-0-22. Virginia, Groh 23-34-1-287. RECEIVING N.

Carolina St, Hill 6-187, Guffie 4-59, Grissett 3-25, Oickerson 2-15, Brown 2-12, King 1-2. Virginia, Jeffers 6-153. Neeley 6-29, Brooks 2-17, Allen 2-25, Davis 2-16, Oerey 2-14, Byrd 2-7, Croweil 1-23, Way 1-3. Cavaliers had four turnovers and their defense gave up uncharacteristic big plays. The net result was that Virginia wound up in a third-place tie in the ACC with Duke and North Carolina and probably played itself out of the major bowl picture.

"I think this team had a heck of a year," Virginia coach George Welsh said. "If you had asked me in August would 8-3 have been a good season, I'd have said yes. Because we had a chance for a major bowl and didn't get it is no reason to be demoralized." N.C. State trailed 6-0, 13-7, 19-7 and 25-24, but kept coming back against a defense that came in allowing 56 rushing yards per game, tops in Division I-A, and set an ACC record with 27 interceptions this season. "I could never be prouder of a group of men," N.C.

State coach Mike O'Cain said. "Very few people gave us a chance of beating them here." The final lead change came with 8:22 -left, when the Wolfpack caught Virginia in a blitz, creating a hole through the middle of the line for Stephens. He went untouched through the line and veered to the right for the score that gave N.C. State a 30-25 edge. "There should be somebody in every gap," Welsh said, "and somebody in the secondary should have been free to make the tackle." Quarterback Geoff Bender's conversion pass was intercepted by Joe Crocker, who returned it 104 yards for the final margin.

Virginia had two more chances, but both ended when the Cavaliers posted 4-3 SWC records and Rice (4-6, 3-3) can make.it an unprecedented five-way tie with a victory today over Houston. The Red Raiders, after missing two field goals, overcame a 16-14 TCU lead with 6:23 left un the fourth period when Tony Rogers kicked a 41 -yard field goal. But TCU struck right back, with Davis ripping off runs of 12, 28, 14 and 9 yards as Knake drove the Frogs in for the winning touchdown. On the day, Davis carried 23 times for 107 yards. Tech got the ball back for the final time with 1:18 left, but couldn't get past the TCU 45-yard line.

Oliver set a school record with 206 yards on seven receptions. The Raiders held a 14-10 lead in the third period after a 19-yard TD pass from Zebbie Lethridge to Jay-son Lavender and a 15-yard scoring run by Byron Hanspard. A record TCU-Tech crowd of 43,219 and a regional television audience watched Knake throw for touchdowns of 89 and 62 yards to Oliver in the second and third quarters. The first gave the Frogs a 10-0 lead, the second a 16-14 edge. And it was a 38-yard pass from Knake to Oliver that set up TCU's second-quarter, 40-yard field goal by Michael Meeder.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) Conventional wisdom and the nation's top-rated rushing defense took a beating Friday from North Carolina State. Freshman Tremayne Stephens I burned Virginia for 133 rushing yards, including an 84-yard score that rallied the Wolfpack from its fourth deficit to a 30-27 college football victory over the 13th-ranked Cavaliers. The fourth-quarter touchdown by Stephens, the first rusher this year to gain 100 yards against Virginia, capped a wild game that further clouded the Atlantic Coast Conference's already confusing bowl picture. "Nobody's been giving us a chance all year, from the time we were picked to finish fifth in the league to the time we went up against Virginia's defense, but here we are," offensive guard Steve Keim said.

"To win like we did today, it's just huge. And it's really great to throw a curveball into the whole bowl picture." Playing in front of scouts from the Sugar, Fiesta, Peach and Inde- pendence bowls, the Wolfpack (8-3, 6-2 ACC) clinched second place in the league behind Florida State. N.C. State also all but guaranteed the ACC will send a team with only eight victories to a top-tier bowl game. "It all would have been easy, so easy," said Tom Fridena, a member of the Fiesta Bowl selection committee.

"This really throws everything up in the air. It's very dusky and dusty now." Virginia (8-3, 5-3) was a two-touchdown favorite to defeat the Wolfpack, wrap up second place in the league and go to the Sugar, Fiesta or Cotton bowls. Instead, the mm Frogs team in the fourth quarter." Max Knake burned the Raiders with two touchdown passes to Jimmy Oliver and, trailing 17-16, TCU tailback Andre Davis ran 9 yards for the winning score with 3:52 remaining. Davis, the Southwest Conference rushing champion, contributed 63 yards on the pivotal 69-yard scoring drive, then bulled over for the two-point conversion. The victory earned the Homed Frogs a share of the SWC championship for the first time since 1959 and gave them the inside track to the Independence Bowl.

"We have another game left to play," said Knake, a junior whose two touchdown passes tied the school career record of 39 set by Sammy Baugh from 1934 to 1936. "That is something I have dreamed of since I was a child." In a footnote to history, TCU and fellow champions Baylor and Texas wound up with 7-4 records while Tech, as the Cotton Bowl host, finished 6-5. Texas Tech clinched its first Cotton Bowl appearance since 1939 when Texas beat Baylor on Thursday, 63-35. Tech, TCU, Baylor and Texas Raiders don't smile much during Cotton ceremony couldn't convert fourth downs inside the Wolfpack 40-yard line. N.C.

State got the ball back with 3:13 left and ran out the clock for its third consecutive victory against the Cavaliers. The Wolfpack overcame its first two deficits by scoring on long pass plays against Ronde Barber, whose eight interceptions lead the ACC. Adrian Hill got behind Barber in the first quarter and teamed with starting quarterback Terry Harvey on a 62-yard scoring play that gave the Wolfpack its first lead, 7-6. Harvey, who came in with a sore shoulder, took several hard hits and was replaced early in the second half by Bender. He teamed with Hill on a 69-yard scoring play that gave N.C.

State its second lead, 24-19 in the third. The Wolfpack wound up with 140 yards rushing and 300 through the air. 1 Reeder's extra point kick was blocked after the second TD. Tech's Jon Davis missed a 29-yard field goal midway through the third quarter with the Raiders trailing by two points. Then, in the fourth period, Rogers missed a 20-yarder.

The Horned Frogs flirted with disaster most of the chilly, overcast day as John Washington fumbled two punts and Knake threw an apparent interception in the end zone. But TCU recovered both bobbles and the Tech defender was stripped of the ball on the interception. Texas 3-17 -24 TCU-FG Reader 40 TCU Oliver 89 pass from Knake (Reader kick) Tec Lavender 19 pass from Lelhndge (Davis kick) Tec Hanspard 15 run (Davis kick) TCU Oliver 62 pass from Knska (kick failed) Tec FG Rooers41 TCU Davis run (Davis run) Tech First downs 24 Rushes-yards 50-170 Plng 247 Ban.rn V.rri. 25 TCU 13 31-101 267 33 12-23) 8-35 0-0 8-42 26:05 Comp-Att-lnt 18-33-1 6-41 1-0 7-75 Penalties-Yards Time of Possession 33:55 New York Times News Service FORT WORTH Above lockers in the visitors' dressing room at Amon Carter Stadium Friday, black caps bearing the Cotton Bowl logo sat unworn and for the most part unnoticed. John Crawford, Cotton Bowl president, passed out Stetsons to Texas Tech officials in honor of the football team's impending trip to the Jan.

2 game. He talked about how "appropriate" it would be for the Red Raiders to make their first trip to Dallas as Southwest in 35 years of SWC membership, Tech joined TCU, Texas and Baylor in a four-way logjam at 4-3 in league play. Rice (4-6, 3-3) is favored to make it a five-way knot today when it plays Houston (1-9, 1-5). The Red Raiders missed three field-goal attempts, suffered the game's lone turnover (a first-quarter interception) and found themselves a step too slow on two long-distance touchdown passes from TCU's Max Knake to Jimmy Oliver, covering 89 and 62 yards. "You hate to lose.

With a 6-5 record, you think you should be headed to grandma's house for the holidays," said Tech defensive tackle Damon Wickware. In retrospect, Wickware said, he "wished we'd never heard" that Texas defeated Baylor, 63-35, on Thursday to seal the Red Raiders Cotton berth. "The attitude kind of changed when we found out Texas won. We knew we were going to the big dance. We lost some of our edge," Wickware said, adding that TCU was "the better team" Friday and deserved the victory.

Asked if Tech relaxed too much in light of Texas' victory, Wright said, "I think we kind of did." Regardless, the Red Raiders will represent the SWC as its champion for the first time in school history, which made Friday "a great day for our school," in the estimation of Texas Tech President Robert Lawless. "These young men really deserve this. Everyone had written them off before the year started," Lawless said. "But every game we needed to win to get there, we've won. We're excited about that," Wickware offered post-game kudos and best wishes to the Horned Frogs, who appear headed to the Dec.

23 Independence Bowl. "If they go there, I want them to do the SWC proud," Wickware said. "We've all get about the same record and we've all beat up cn esck other. I toepe the SWC teams win their bowl g-mes. Before they break it down, I want to let -people know tczr.3 froia the SWC were pretty tough right down to the end." Conference champions in the final year the SWC champ is scheduled to play there.

Accepting Crawford's handshake in the wake of a 24-17 loss to TCU that assured at least a four-way tie for the league title, Texas Tech coach Spike Dykes responded, "I'm sorry we didn't make it any better for you." "It would have been more eventful if we would have won," Dykes said. "But TCU had a different plan. They deserved to win. I'm still tickled to death that our guys are getting a chance to play in the Cotton Bowl." The trip will mark the Red Raiders' first appearance in a traditional New Year's Day bowl since their last Cotton Bowl visit 56 years ago. Tech will arrive with a 6-5 record, becoming only the fifth SWC team to play in a Cotton Bowl with fewer than seven regular-season victories.

"It's a bittersweet time, a little bit," Tech athletic director Bob Bockrath said amid the low-key phere surrounding formal acceptance of the Cotton Bowl bid. "It's too bad we didn't get the job done today (against TCU). But I'm proud of our players for doing what they needed to do to get in this position. We'll get over this. This is just a temporary setback." Yet, it cast a pall over what Tech players had envisioned as their official Cotton coronation.

Instead of wrapping up the school's first outright focibail tills INlMViDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING Texas Tech. Hanspard 16-108. Lethridge 20-18. Cram 10-21, Hobbs 3-20, Walker 1-X TCU, Oevis 23-107, Woods, 6-6, Knake 2-(mlnus 12). PASSING Texas Tech, Lethridge 18-33-1-247.

TCU, Knake 12-23-0-267. RECEIVING Taxes Tech. Walker 21, Oarden 2-26, Lavender 2-24. TCU, Oliver 7-206, Collins 2-40, Washington 3-21..