The Lincoln Star from Lincoln, Nebraska • 48

12EF IHUSKEBS 8UNDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 1991 LINCOLN JOURNAL-STAR 7rmn rrvnn ifTS i -Mu 4 IB i- 4 vr K-4 "'-VI 4ip I Itf ill C5 Br I v. IS iM.m.nn 1 mm'" i mVim, nn- 'm-, I TED KIRKLMCOIN JOURNAL-STAB Kansas Coach Glen Mason snouts to officials after tailback George White's long run was called back because of a holding penalty in the second quarter. mnt for Cornhuskers? Turning RANDY HAMPTONLINCOLN JOURNAL-STAR NU comerback Kenny Wilhite (19) is congratulated by teammate Steve Carmer after intercepting a pass In the second quarter. Wilhite intrecepted another pass in the fourth quarter to give him six for the season. KD coach says and then at the end we couldn't stop anything.

You want to compete with a team like Nebraska and beat Nebraska, you've got to play great defense, and we didnt play great' defense today. We didnt play good defense today." Kansas defensive tackle Dana Stubblefield echoed that belief, Things were going our way. Then all of a sudden it was; like a disease got into the whole team," he said. "I gues you could say we didn't come ready to play (in the second half). We knew we had them, but guys just got down and didnt come back to play.

They were running the same plays; there were just guys who weren't into the game." That's what really stumped Mason. He didn't figure the Jaywhawks would need any emotional incentive for By Curt McKeever Lincoln Journal-Star, LAWRENCE, Kan. Kansas football coach Glen Mason couldn't stop from letting out a pained chuckle Saturday after his team's 59-23 loss to Nebraska. That's what happens when a coach watches Us team build a 17-0, first-quarter lead then sees it fail to be able to sustain the momentum and end 22 consecutive years of frustration against the Cornhuskers. "I'm only smiling at the pain, not at humor," Mason said after a sportscaster asked him when he thought the game turned Nebraska's way.

"When you get beat like we did and you ask me about a turning point, I find that a little humorous. A turning point? Yeah, it was called halftime. We made the wrong turn." 20-1 7 halftime lead What Mason didn't find so funny was the fact that his team was held to just five first downs and 98 yards after churning out 253 yards in building a 20-17 halftime lead. The Jayhawk defense, which forced the Cornhuskers to punt on their first three offensive possessions, also fell by the wayside, giving up 593 yards the most it's allowed since playing Nebraska in 1989 and more than 300 yards higher than its 1991 average. "I think it's the first time this year we've been beat by a ballclub.

The other times we beat ourselves," Mason said of his 5-4 squad. "Even though I think we're capable of playing better than they did, they did the things they had to do in order to beat us. "There ain't no secrets about this game. You want to win, you line up and block people. And on defense, you tackle.

If you don't do it, you don't deserve to win. Obviously, this is nothing earth-shattering, but our performance in the second half, we in no way, shape or form deserved to be in that game. And we weren't" Mason couldn't explain what happened to the Jayhawk defense, other than to sav he didn't exnect to totally shut "I very disappointed with our performance the worst effort we've had as a team all year," he said. "I guess if someone would ask me if I'm embarrassed yeah, I'm embarrassed." Better blocking reads Defensive end Kyle Moore said things got embarrassing for the KU defense mainly because the Cornhuskers im- proved their blocking reads on option plays. "We were trying to make little adjustments, and Ne- braska just capitalized on our mistakes," he said "You cant take nothing away from them.

They just ran the op- tion like the option's supposed to be run. The men that we were picking up he (quarterback Keithen McCant) just happened to get the ball out and big plays came of it" Offensively, Kansas moved with enough efficiency to encourage Mason. The Jayhawks' point total was its most against Ne- braska since 1968, and quarterback Chip Hilleary's 50-yard touchdown pass to Dwayne Chandler was KU's longest play of the season. "If there is a bright side, which I don't really believe right now, it's that the offense resembled the offense of a year ago (when Kansas had 410 yards against NU) and al- lowed us to do some good things," Mason said. "We were about a half a yard, maybe less than that from some other big plays." 1 Hilleary, who threw for a season-high 210 yards and also, had a 34-yard touchdown run, had a hunch why more of those plays failed to materialize.

"Mentally, we didnt come to play 60 minutes," he said. "We played well, and the game plan was set (but) toward the middle of the second half we did start losing everything. I think, basically, the whole team ran out of gas." Odown the Cornhuskers. I UUIC UCICI I3IIC CMUI After the first three series, KU's defensive effort was futile as Nebraska scored nine touchdowns and a field goal and had another drive end on a missed field goal "I don't want to take anything from Nebraska, because they executed awfully well, but that was not our defense out there today," Mason said. "I didn't recognize it I hope I never see it again.

"We sure had our problems. We couldnt stop the option, TED KRK1MC0LN JOURNAL-STAR KU tailback Tony Sands is hemmed in by NU's Ed Stewart (32) and Steven Carmer in the third quarter. ftyA Mf-'' 4 tvJ JfHliiil RANOY HAMPTONLMCOLN J0URNAL-8TAR RANDY HAMPTONUNOOM J0URNAL-8TAR Nebraska's David White stops Kansas quarterback Chip Hilleary for a 2-yard loss in the third quarter. Hilleary completed 1 1 of 25 passes for Linebacker Mike Petko is helped off the field by trainers Jerry Weber 210 yards and one touchdown. (left) and George Sullivan.

Petko suffered a hamstring injury. .7 HV.