The Lincoln Star du lieu suivant : Lincoln, Nebraska • 30

4D Oct. 4. 1981 Lincoln, Sunday Journal and Star 7 LH nrW 1 T-i i i Nebraska's Jimmy Williams races to recover a fumble after he hit 11 Til I Thomas on the pitch. Dave Stromath (99) watches as Steve Damkroger uuuiiv from the ba Wiiams. recovery led to NU's go-ahead touchdown in Dye praises NU, AU 1 'u- on- By Chuck Sinclair Staff Sports Writer Like a time bomb trying to self-destruct several different times over the course of 60 minutes, Auburn's offense finally got the job done in the late stages of Nebraska's 17-3 win over the Tigers before a record non-conference game crowd of 76,423 at Memorial Stadium Saturday.

That aspect put more of a damper on the game for first-year Tiger Coach Pat Dye than the score, or the intermittent rain sometimes in downpour fashion that pelted the Astro-turf covering of the field. Dye met the defeat with mixed emotions. He was extremely pleased with the defensive showing of his club, extremely disappointed with their offensive effort, obviously impressed with Nebraska's defensive manhandling of the Tigers and equally unimpressed with the Husk-ers' offense. five, it might have been a lot different. They might have beaten us 6-3 or 9-3, or something like that, but we would have had a much better chance of coming out of it with something more than a 17-3 loss." If Dye had game balls to hand out, one would have gone to his own defense, and another to Nebraska's.

"I think it was kind of obvious, if you saw the game like I did, that defensively we played about as good as we could play," Dye said. I know they gained a good many yards. As far as a total effort, making things happen, I don't know what we had to do to keep them out of the endzone. "And Nebraska's defense just manhandled us," he said. "I really thought we would move the football against Nebraska better than we did.

We just didn't get any movement up front. When you get manhandled up front like that, it doesnt make any difference what kind of offense you run Husker cornerback Ric Llndqulst jumps high above intended receiver Chris Woods to intercept an Auburn pass. What ultimately disturbed Dye the most were two second-half fumbles, both inside the Auburn 10-yard line, that led to Nebraska's only touchdowns of the day. The first was given up on a third quarter pitch from quarterback Charlie Thomas to Lionel James, and covered by Jimmy Williams on the 4 yard line. Two plays later Roger Craig scored Nebraska's first touchdown of the game to take a 10-3 lead.

The final one put the game out of reach when James missed another pitch from Thomas, this time at the Auburn 9-yard line with 5:22 left. It took three plays before Turner Gill scored from the eight. "If we don't turn the football over, I'm just not sure Nebraska can take the ball any length of the distance and score," Dye said. "I'm just not sure if we had played defense and kicked like we did, and not given it to them on the 8-yard line or inside the 4 1, i Auburn quarterback Charles (35, right) keeps Lionel James the third quarter. wishbone, split backs, spread, or what.

Our offensive line just got whipped. "I think all the credit for this football game, the win and the loss, should go to Nebraska's defensive front. Their linebackers, defensive ends, tackles and nose guards. They just manhandled us. They took us out of our game, running and throwing.

"Offensively, if you saw it like I did, we had a few bright spots here and there, throwing the ball and tricking them a little bit, but it wasn't anything that you can set your teeth in and make go," he said. "We were just kind of scrambling, trying to make a first down and move the football. We broke containment a couple of times, but that was about it. "I think the kicking game and the defense kept us in the ball game until the late stages. Then the two mistakes by the offense eliminated any chances we had of winning the ball game." Defensive tackle Donnie Humphrey "wasn't totally unimpressed with all of Nebraska's offense, just part of it.

"Those backs were really tough," Humphrey said. "That Roger Craig is a great back. You can't arm-tackle their backs. All three of them ran the ball real hard. You can't take anything from their running backs.

They-' 're human. With a hard stick, they'll give the ball up." "Their line surprised me," Humphrey added. "Their offensive line looked real impressive on film, but playing them straight up, they weren't near as tough as I thought they would be." Humphrey, however, wasn't down on the Auburn offense. "We're a team," he said, "We're all in this together. Sometime the offense might play better, and we'll have problems.

This one's over now. I still think we outplayed them. But we've got a lot.more season left." "I think what happened today was a result of a great organization," Dye said of Nebraska's program. "I don't think there's any question, If you looked at the same people out there, you saw they've got great football players a lot of talent" But that didn't make the loss any easier for Dye to swallow. "We were in it," he said.

"Without those two fumbles who knows?" 1 41 i Si J2V rt. 19 Sammy Sims (6) jumps for joy with Jimmy Williams after an Auburn fumble as Tiger quarterback Charles Thomas walks slowly to the bench. i Staff photos by: Bob Gorham Ted Kirk Humbert Ramirez GailFolda Harald Drelmanis Web Ray Randy Hampton 5 1 Nebraska running back Mike Rozler (30) runs toward a hole in the line created when Dan Hurley (73) blocks linebacker Danny Skutack (39) to the outside. tiger mm A -A By Ken Hambleton ers hit the free alleys and our big defensive line slowed Nebraska up. We've been through a lot on defense, booed last year, and doubled this year.

Maybe people won't think we're that bad on defense anymore." Nebraska's offense: "Hard hitting, and If you don't stay low, you're on your can all day. I learned that the hard way when that 50 (Dave Rimington) smacked me a couple of times." Quarterback Charles Thomas a very good team, but I think we could have beaten them if we could have taken care of the ball I don't think they're the team they were two or three years ago maybe even last year." On third quarter fumble, recovered by Nebraska at the Auburn four: "I got hit hard just when I pitched. The defensive end (Jimmy Williams) made a great play. He has great quickness." Safety Mark Dormlney On defending Nebraska: "We saw Iowa go after them with a good strong defense. Iowa's defense is similar to ours.

We knew their option game wouldn't be as good without (Nate) Mason." On I halftime lead: "Our defense knows we've eot to push to try and win the game ourselves. We were playing good defense. We thought if we kept it up we could win." Coach Pat Dye "When you can't block them a little bit up front, you don't stand a chance with your fullback Inside. We just couldn't block. On lost fumbles: "Where we turned ours over was so critical Didn't Lionel try to pick that first one up? He should have fell on it.

If he falls on it Lionel's a sophomore. There's nobody who wanted to win the game more than he did. On quarterback situation: "I know Charlie Thomas didn't have a very good day. He did some good things, but Charlie Thomas never had a chance. When he went back to throw and we'd try to throw a play-action pass, they were all over him.

What do you do? You take the ball and fall to the ground with it, you eat you try to scramble and throw, whatever. The people around the quarterback have a heck of a lot to do with what he looks like. Some of the mistakes he made might have been poor plays on his part But he doesn't deserve all the credit for what happened out there today." and Brian Hill Strong safety Dob Harris "I thought we broke up Nebraska's offense pretty welL with the blitz and the play of our defensive line. But we finally gave way twice and they got 17 points, Did we play good enough defense to win? I guess not, we lost." On his blitzing: "Nebraska picked up our linebacker blitz after awhile, but I was able to blitz pretty freely, How successful? I guess pretty good, but we still lost," Cornerback David King "We played as close to 100-percent defense. We had some breakdowns, but someone is going to be In trouble if we keep playing defense like this and get the offense going, too." On the many NU fumbles: "Nebraska never gave up after their fumbles and you might have expected them to be frustrated.

Linebacker Danny Skutack "We gave up a lot of yards and bent a couple of times, but we only broke once on a drive for a field goal We lineback Photographer Jim Richardson shows his pricwJ- ties In covering his head and not his equipment. A ft. J. A m..