The Lincoln Star from Lincoln, Nebraska • 36

1 HUSKERS SUNDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1991 LINCOLN JOURNAL-STAR I 2EC Confident McGant helps Cornhuskers keep their cool really gave us life. After that, the offense ex-ploded." Stunned was morelhe feeling of the offense when Kansas State safety CJ. Masters took i the ball away from Lewis and raced 40 yards to put the Wildcats ahead 24-17 early in the third quarter. 1 thought Lance's progress was stopped," said NU Coach Tom Osborne. "Six or seven players said they heard a whistle, but the referee said he checked with every official and none would admit to blowing their whistle I i thought clearly that the play was over.

That was kind of unbelievable to me That could have been the ball game" i Lewis, who had a career-high 79 yards rush- tag, said the takeaway was his fault "It was my mistake. There were a lot of big plays and I had a big, bad one," he said. 1 was on my feet and I felt myself go backwards and somehow, for some reason, I relaxed and that have been a little further out so I could have cored." 5 NU receivers coach Ron Brown said all the receivers have to respond when the quarterback is being pressured. "We run a scramble drill where we tell the receivers to run particular routes and we secretly tell Keithen to scramble," said Brown. They have to slide around and mirror what the quarterback is doing.

Johnny was the short receiver, so he was supposed to go deep, which he did. The deep receivers come back into the flat to try to get open. The key there is that the linemen dont go downfield. They have to stay in control and look for blocks for the quarterback. They did a nice job on that one." Mitchell said McCant's poise was particularly evident on that play.

"When you see him scrambling for his life, you try to find an open spot," Mitchell said. "I'm glad be had the poise to look around. I wasnt that open, but he got it to me That play "This is the same thigh I hurt last week at Oklahoma State. When I "first came off and worked on it, I didnt feel like it would get better," he said. "I just felt so helpless and frustrated that I couldn't contribute Even though it was still hurting me a bit, I told the coaches I was ready and wanted to get back in there." On his first play back, Brown leaped over the pile for a first down at the K-State 44.

Two plays later, he scored off-tackle from 3 yards out to tie the game. In between those two carries by Brown, McCant and Johnny Mitchell added some heroics of their own. McCant pulled away from KSU defenders Sean Dabney and Elijah Alexander while rolling out to his right He found Mitchell, who made an acrobatic, diving catch for a 41-yard gain. That was a critical play. If we nadnt come np with a play of that sort, Kansas State could have run a lot of time off," said Mitchell "Kei-then scrambled and eluded several tacklers.

The only thing I wish is that the. ball would "One guy had him by the leg just past the line, but when I saw Lance pop open, I thought, 'Yesss, this is McCant said. "Even though he didnt score, that was big. The line fired off and opened it up for him and Lance did a great job." Brown put the Cornhuskers ahead when ne dove over the pile to score with 2:47 left in the game, 1 have my eyes open until the point of contact, but when I'm going down, I don't look," said Brown, who had 145 yards, his sixth straight 100-yard rushing game. "We work on the dive in practice every week.

Coach (Frank) Solich wants us ready. We jump over about three bags and all the JVs and redshirts are there to catch us." Brown sat out nearly a full quarter tending to a thigh bruise. From midway through the third period until Nebraska faced a fourth-and-1 on its drive for the tying touchdown, the sophomore I-back paced the trying to loosen up his injured leg. By Ryly Jane Hambtetorv Ljncofct Journal-Star I Nebraska was 60 yards away from a win, Kelthen McCant was more concerned about keeping his teammates calm. just wanted everybody to keep their poise," he said.

"I knew we could do it because thisTis a team of fighters." The Cornhuskers had fought back to tie Kansas State 31-31 with 6:49 left in the game Saturday. After the defense forced the Wildcats to punt and Tyrone Hughes returned the ball 18 yards, McCant and the NU offense took dyef. Dn second down-and-7, McCant took off to his left, following tight end William for a 19-yard gain. McCant then hit Jon Bostick with an 8-yard pass. Derek Brown's 4-yard run moved Nebraska to.

the K-State 26-yard line and McCant then turned to Lance Lewis. The junior fullback responded by bursting up the middle for 25 yards. was my fault Webraska's defense just happy to escape game with a victory JfJ' 1 sas State's final drive, which ended on downs at the NU 7-yard line when Travis Hill tipped a pass away at the 2. The pass rush got better and the tempo picked up," McBride said. "We were concerned with the draw plays and we had to guess on our line plays.

But when we did that we got no pressure. Then, when we got pressure, they got the draw plays. So we got to the final play and we decided to blitz. Get him (Watson) throwing on the run and we came out better than even." Hill, who had two of NU's eight quarterback sacks, said Nebraska's defense may have been caught off-guard early in the game. The coaches told us K-State was good, but we probably came out a little soft' And they drove the ball on us right away," he said.

"And by the end, my heart was pumping so hard, I just had to sit for awhile and wait to calm down." Valuable lesson learned Nebraska safety Steve Carmer agreed that something was missing from the Cornhusker defense early, in the game. "We came out a little flat because of the K-State mentality about things. We didnt contain well and they got to us pretty good. "Now, we know that everybody in the Big Eight wants us and everybody in the Big Eight is pretty darn good, too. The good thing is we learned and we won," he said.

But as NU Coach Tom Osborne said, "In some ways I'm concerned, in some ways I'm pleased." Carmer agreed. "It's disappointing to give up those yards and the points to Kansas State. But you have to remember, Kansas State is pretty good. I know I was more than relieved when I saw the ball on the ground after their last pass," he said. "I never had any doubt that we'd win.

There was a sense of urgency on that last play, more than the rest of the game, and we showed a lot qf character to hold on." i By Ken Hambleton Lncoln Journal-Star It's been at least 23 years since a Nebraska defensive player finished a game against Kansas State and said, Tm just glad to get the win." But NU defensive tackle John Parrella wasnt alone when he made that statement after, Nebraska's 38-31 victory Saturday at Memorial Stadium i-J'We won and I dont care what anybody says about playing K-State close. We won. They're going to win some more games. They had us going. But they played great and we played great at the end and we won.

We had some letdowns, but at the end, we proved we had the defense to win the game." Despite a victory, Nebraska's defense still needs one ingredient to improve NU defensive coordinator Charlie McBride said. Not enough pressure "'We've got to get pressure on the quarterback," he said. "Kansas State had a good game plan. And we got some heat on the guy, but it wasn't enough a lot of the time." The "guy" was Kansas State quarterback Paul Watson, who completed more passes (26) in more attempts (46) for the most yards (340) and the most points than any Wildcat quarterback had gained against Nebraska. McBride said there were two ways to look at the game "For one, I'm proud of our defense.

Our guys came back and we held up when it mattered at the end. i "On the other hand, we had some guys falling down on coverage that's not a design of coverage. We had two guys run into each other on one touchdown they got We had one, two, three options covered and the quarterback does an outstanding job and cuts back and makes it look bad for us," he said. 3 Nebraska was in a prevent "dime" pass defense on Kan-' TED KKKAJNCOLN J0UHNAL-8TAH Kansas State's Michael Smith catches a pass in front on Nebraska's Steve Carmer. Smith caught 10; passes for 172 yards and two touchdowns.

1 Cornhusker notes, quotes From page 1D NU- Derek Brown game-by-game Opponent i Att. Yds. TD Utah State 23 175 0 Colorado State 15 121 2 Washington 21 135 2 Arizona State. .....25 135 0 Oklahoma State it 18 143 3 Kansas .........28 145 3 Totals 130 854 10 I i they stay after every game to watch the films even if they have to stay overnight Maybe they get better by doing it" NU defensive coordinator Charlie McBride said he -figured Kansas State would look to pass to Michael Smith, who caught 10 passes for, 172 yards, on their final plays. "I expected they'd' go to Smith he's their guy," McBride said.

"Actually, I was looking for a quarterback throwback. They'd used that this year where they pitch to the running back and he throws it back to the quarterback for a pass. I thought maybe they'd go to a trick. "We had done that a couple of times in practice, and it worked both times." 1 Osborne said he wasnt surprised by Kansas State's: performance. "Probably a lot of our people are conditioned by the' gamblers.

No matter what we see on film and say about a team, once the line comes out, that's the official word," he said. 1 Cornhusker middle guard Pat Engelbert said he talked to Kansas State center Quentin Neujahr briefly after the game' "I told him, 'Dont get down. You're going to surprise a lot of teams in the Big Eight before you're done." Tight end Johnny Mitchell, on his 41-yard pass reception from Keithen McCant to set up the tying touchdown at the Kansas State 4-yard line: "I was wishing it was a little farther so I could score." More Mitchell: 'Those guys should finish pretty high in the Big Eight Whew, it was scary. My heart was pounding." Among Nebraska's offensive linemen injured Saturday were guard Erik Wiegert (shoulder) and tackle Brian Boerboom (ankle), as well as tight end William Washington, who reinjured a hamstring. I-back Derek Brown aggravated a thigh injury, suffered in last Saturday's game against Oklahoma State, but returned to score the Cornhuskers' final two touchdowns.

Among the Cornhusker defenders who were injured were middle guard Pat Engelbert (ankle), tackle Kevin Ramaekers (ankle) and free safety Tyrone Byrd (shoulder), v. 1 Although Nebraska has not had many games In which it had to come from behind to win, quarterback Keithen McCant is familiar with the feeling. "During my junior year in high school, we were know as the "Cardiac Gophers' because we came from behind to win so often," said McCant who is from Grand Prairie, Texas. "Today, we could have been a little flat emotionally, but it wasn't because we were taking Kansas State lightly. We knew we were in a ball game from the start" 1 The takeaway fumble that Kansas State returned for a touchdown had NU Coach Tom Osborne puzzled and abitupset "We agreed at the Big Eight meetings last year thatwe would have game film available 45 minutes after the game so the officials could watch the game," Osborne said.

"Before the game, I asked the referee how they can get better if they only work one game a week, they have to prepare like everyone else. "I'd like to see them implement that rule. In the Big 10, for Snyder. "He got mad at his press conference last week because nobody would give them credit and I can understand that" Osborne said. They are a good team" The 4-2 Wildcats proved the point when Watson, who withstood eight quarterback sacks, threw for 340 yards and two touchdowns and ran for another.

-vrv ended K-State's opening drive with a 7-yard scoring pass to Smith. He put the Wildcats ahead with an 11-yard touchdown pass to Smith In the second quarter. After Masters stole the ball from i Lewis and returned it 40 yards for a touchdown, Watson put Kansas State in front for one last time on a 3-yard keeper with 2: 42 left in the third quarter. That score climaxed a 79-yard scoring drive on which Watson hit Smith with two passes for 44 yards and Andre Coleman on a 9-yard pass. Couldn't catch QB "We had a hard time getting to him," Osborne said of Watson.

"With the rules the way they are, and the three-step drop and we're not blessed with as many individual pass rushers as we've had, that's why we had a hard time getting to him. "We blitzed at times and tried to cover the draw at times. But when we blitzed and didnt get there, and you're locked up in coverage and spread all over the field, sometimes you get the linebackers on a fast guy, and that's hard to stop." Even though Nebraska pressured Watson, he scrambled for 76 yards in the game. The KSU quarterback's 26-yard scamper set up a 32-yard field goal attempt by Tate Wright that would have put the Wildcats ahead by 10 points with 8:35 left in the game But Wright's kick was wide to the left and Nebraska countered with back-to-back scoring drives to take the lead. One last rally Still, Watson kept the Wildcats in the game.

He hit Smith on a 30-yard pass to the Nebraska 49 with 2:16 left After Gallon ran for yards, Watson hit Campbell on a 20-yard pass to the Nebraska 22 with 1:49 left He connected with Frank Hernandez on an 11-yard pass to the Nebraska 11 eight seconds Nebraska middle guard Pat Engel-bert grabbed Curtis Madden by the ankle to stop him at the NU 7 with 1:07 to play. Then, Watson barely avoided Hill, but threw an incomplete pass to Coleman. Nebraska's Tyrone Byrd smothered Smith short after he caught a third-down pass. On fourth-and-6 from the NU 7, Nebraska's Ed Stewart and Jamie Liewer flushed Watson from the pocket and Hill ripped the ball out of Campbell's hands. "So many teams we play, people take for granted," McBride said.

"Mark my words, dont take anybody for granted. It's going to be a fight This was just like college football is supposed to be." Wildcat Scoring How scored NU Time left IAN DOREMUSUNCOLN JOURNAL-STAR KSU quarterback Paul Watson completed 26 of 46 passes for 340 yards and two touchdowns. KSU-7-0 7-7 7-14 10-14 17-14 1717 24-17 24-24 31-24 notes, quotes Kansas State Coach Bill Snyder, on Tate Wright's 32-yard field goal attempt that was ruled wide left with 8:33 remaining: "I don't question the call From where I stand I cannot see that. I hope for a lot of people's sake that it wasn't good. It made a big difference" Wright, on his kick: "I thought it was good and I pretty much turned to the side and then a couple of guys are hugging me saying good job.

And then I turn around and they're saying no good. It was either good or close. What I saw was the ball either went just inside or over the pole, and then after It passed through it blew over. (Those who) didn't agree with my opinion were the fans and the refs final decision. What they say goes." Quarterback Watson, on the game's final play, a pass to tight end Russ Campbell that was broken up: 1 was scrambling, and I think I hit Russ, but he had two guys around him.

The way I was flushed that's 20 Benton 1 Defense Tackles 7:17. 1:07, 3:29 9:15 5:40 v. 3:42 6:49 i 2:47 FIRST QUARTER Smith 7 pass from Watson Drive: 76 yards In 12 plays. Highlighted by Watson third-down passes of 6 yards to Campbell, 34 to Smith. Watson completed seven passes in the drive.

Conversion: Wright kiCk. D. Brown 1 run Drive: 77 yards In 7 plays. Highlighted by Lewis 38 run, D. Brown 8 run, McCant 11 run.

Conversion: Bennett kick. McCant 32 run Drive: 79 yards In 8 plays. Highlighted by McCant 9 pass to Hughes, Brown 6, 16 runs, Lewis 6 run. Conversion: Bennett kick. SECOND QUARTER Wright 26 field goal Drive: 69 yards In 11 plays.

Highlighted by Watson 11 pass to Benton, 15, 10 passes to Gallon, Watson 19 run on third-and-17. Smith 11 past from Wafson Drive: 24 yards In 3 plays. Set up by Masters Interception of tipped pass from McCant. Highlighted by Watson 8 pass to Smith. Conversion: Wright kick.

Bennett 33 field goal Drive: 19 yards In 5 plavs. Set up by Hughes 46 klckoff return. Highlighted by McCant 12 run, D. Brown 5 run. THIRD QUARTER Masters 40 fumble return Conversion: Wright kick.

Mitchell 4 pass from McCant 9 Highlighted by D. Brown 8 run, McCant 13, 25 passes to Bostick, Lewis 5 run. Conversion: Bennett kick. Watson 3 run Drive: 79 yards In 8 plays. Highlighted by Watson 10, 34 passes to Smith, 9 pass to Coleman, Gallon 20 run.

Conversion: Wright kick. FOURTH QUARTER D. Brown 1 run field goal. Highlighted by C. Jones 24 run, McCont 8 run, McCant 41 pass to Mitchell.

Conversion: Bennett kick. D. Brown 1 run Rrlve: 60 yards In 6 plays. Set up by Hughes 18 punt return. Highlighted by McCant 19 run, 8 pass to Bostick, Lewis 25 run.

Conversion: Bennett kick. Nebraska Offense Rushing No. Yds. Ave. D.

Brown ....28 145 5.2 McCant 13 100 7.7 6 79 13.2 C.Jones ..6 46 7.7 Turner 2 -7 Passing No. Co. Yds PI McCant J3 107 1 It Receiving No. Yds. Bostick 3 46 2 45 Hughes 1 9 O.

Brown 2 7 Punting No. Yds. Ave. Stlgge 5 197 39.4 Punt returns No. Yds.

flughes 1 18 Dixon 1 3 Klckoff returns No. Yds. Hughes 3 79 Statistics Turner 1 14 Coleman 1 23 23.0 Mitchell 1 6 Watson 19 1.2 3 12 4.0 Defense smith i 11 11.0 Tackles Passing UT AT TT No. Co. Yds PI 7 1 8 Watson .......46 26 340 0 4 2 6 Receiving Bvrd 3 3 6 No yds.

2 Smith 172 Parrella 2 3 5 4 82 i I a Campbell 3 34 Engelbert 2 2 4 Hernandez 4 30 White 2 2 4 Benton 2 13 sKSSr i I I Williams 2 0 2 Liewer 1 1 2 No: Yds. Ave. Cotton 2 0 2 6 253 42.1 Beler 2 0 2 returns Branch 1 0 1 No. Yds. 1 0 1 Smith 4 49 Ramaekers 0 11 Fumble return Kansas State no.

Yds. Offense Masters 1 40 No. Yds. No. Yds.

Ave. Coleman 3 55 Gallon ....13 47 3.6 Madden 1 -1 UT AT TT Price 7 5 12 Mendez 4 3 7 Boone 3 4 7 C. 3,36 Venables 2 3 5 Masters 2 3 5 G. Patterson 1-3 4 Barta 13 4 2 1 3 1 2 3 Bvers 11 2 Alexander 2 0 2 Greene 11 2 Herbert 0 2 2 Griffith 10 1 Blockwell 0 11 Simpson 1 0 1 0 11 Hemphill 0 1 1 Madden 0 11 R.Green 1 0,1 Culver 0 11 Wright 1 0 1 Hocutt 1 0 1 ll im.wi Im im tm mm really the only place I could ve gone." Strong safety CJ. Masters, on his 40-yard return of a fumble for a 31.31 third-quarter touchdown: The guy was coming through the line of scrim 31-31 mage, and I saw the other players had a good hold of him so I said, 'Let me try to pull the ball to see if I get it.".