The Lincoln Star from Lincoln, Nebraska • 31

i Sunday Joarnal-IStar 'OCTOBER 2, 1988 WeJI call it a saunter Lack of concentration is NIPs Achilles heel hi vV-- By Ken Hambleton Nebraska didnt exactly walk over Nevada-Las Vegas 48-6 Saturday. It was more of a saunter. "I've never seen such a lackadaisical offense, and I've seen a lot of offenses here," Nebraska running back Ken Clark said. "How can any of us be happy with this kind of game? If we had had some turnovers and didnt get some breaks, this could have been a disaster." Hie numbers were impressive. A 42-point margin, 500 yards of total offense and 444 rushing for Nebraska were up to expectations.

But Nebraska Coach Tom Osborne was among those not impressed by the Comhuskers' performance in their final non-conference game of the 1988 season before the 158th straight sellout crowd of fans at Memorial Stadium. "Football is an emotional game, and you have to be ready to play. No matter how much we talk to them, apparently, the general environment sank in more than we said," he said. Longest shot since Grenada That environment included a preoccupation with the fact Nebraska was No. 9 in the country and a prohibitive favorite, while UNLV was the worst underdog since the United States-Grenada matchup of a few years ago.

The Rebels' lone victory this season was a 26-18 decision last weekend over Ohio University, which has a 4-31 record over the last four years. And UNLV had to put up a great defensive stand to win lhatgame. By the second half, the Rebels' quarterback was thanking the Nebraska defense for not destroying him. "He (UNLV quarterback Charles Price) told Broderick Thomas thanks' for not smacking him on one play," Nebraska defensive tackle Willie Griffin said of his teammate Thomas. "I think we had them intimidated." Intensity missing Intimidation was not a factor for the Nebraska offense, Osborne said.

He said he warned his team all week long that a letdown would not be appreciated. "What we were telling them is you've got to play hard, be ready to play and practice weE They did practice well," he said. "But I didnt feel we had the intensity and concentration we were looking for. I felt like we were missing some blocks early and went to sleep on some things. "It was a little discouraging," he sakL Obvious signs The signs were obvious.

Eight penalties for 60 yards, all against the Nebraska offense, two woeful opening offensive drives that sputtered and a lack of sustained scoring drives were an evidence of Nebraska's SeeHUSKERSonpage7D Early in the fourth quarter of the Nebraska football team's 48-6 victory over Nevada-Las Vegas Saturday afternoon, the Comhuskers' Dana Brinson bobbled a kickof at his own goal line. Once he gained control of the ban, Brinson appeared to consider retreating into the end zone and downing it, which, of course, would have been a safety, costing Nebraska two points. Brinson finally realized the situation, however, and took advantage of a surprised UNLV defense to return the kick to the Comhusker 25-yard line. The play had nothing to do with the game's outcome. By then, Nebraska could well afford to be generous.

But it illustrated a problem the Comhuskers had at times Saturday afternoon, and one they seem to have had of and on throughout the non-conference season lack of concentration. Nebraska didnt always have its head in Saturday's game, or its heart "A lot of guys said they just felt sluggish," said senior Todd Millikan. "Sure, it's hard to get up for a team like that, but if we'd had some turnovers, they could've made it close. I dont think we've put a complete game together, offensively and defensively, yet "We haven't played up to par, and we needed to do that, especially with the Big Eight (season) coming up." Nebraska opens conference play next Saturday in Lawrence against a winless Kansas team that doesn't figure to be much better than Nevada-Las Vegas. But a week later, the Comhuskers play Oklahoma State in Lincoln, and the Cowboys have to think their chances of winning the Big Eight are as good as Nebraska's or Oklahoma's, providing they can get past Colorado in their conference opener Saturday at Boulder.

Colorado hasn't been impressive the last two weeks. But the Buffaloes also have a shot at the conference championship, which has belonged to Oklahoma and Nebraska for as long as anyone can remember. This could be the season. Oklahoma State Coach Pat Jones and Colorado Coach Bill McCartney have to be reminding their teams of that Oklahoma definitely isnt as strong as it has been, not yet, any way. NU's Walker By Mike Babcock -For a few seconds Saturday, Cartier Walker was a running back again.

Early in the second quarter of Nebraska's victory over Nevada-Las Vegas, Walker scooped up a blocked punt and ran 34 yards to score. A touchdown, six points. The senior' cornerback from Atlantic City, once a high school running back, felt like arena. Jones, 19, the youngest of the U.S. boxers, controlled everything but the deci-sioa He scored at will and totally dominated Korean opponent Park Si-hun, but he lost 3-2 In the 156-pound gold-medal final at the Seoul Olympics.

It was a dim note to a Games that almost ended with a glow for America when, Florence Griffith Joyner added another gold and silver on Friday to her record-setting Games. Anwar Chowdhiy of Pakistan, president of AIBA, told NBC he thought the decision was unfair, adding: "Unfortunately, in boxing we have been having bad decisions in every international tournament" Voted top boxer He then revealed that AIBA had picked Jones as the outstanding boxer of the tournament RANDY HAMPTONSUNDAY JOURNAL-STAR A diving Willie Griffin (84) of Nebraska tries to strip the ball away from Nevada-Las Vegas running back Tommy Jackson while Husker teammate Broderick Thomas wraps up Jackson from behind and comerback Bruce Pickens (38) comes up to help. UNLV Nebraska 0 0 0 66 7 1 15 1348 NU Clark 2 run (Barrios kick) NU Walker 34 blocked punt return Barrios kick) NU Rodgers 20 run (kick failed) NU Clark 5 run (Kratzenstein pass from Taylor) NU Clark 1 run (Drennan kick) UNLV FG Cook 53 NU Carpenter 27 run (Drennan kick) UNLV FG Cook 54 NU Baldwin 2 run (run failed) A 76,398 Mike Babcock Columnist And Nebraska? Wen, that's the point -here. After five non-conference gamesV we really dont know how strong the Comhuskers are or can be. If we were to evaluate Nebraska's non-conference play as Olympic judges would, we'd have to throw out high and low scores, probably the second half of the victory over Arizona State and the first half of the loss to UCLA.

And based on what's left, the Comhuskers hardly deserve a 10. The Kickof Classic victory over -Texas looks less impressive as the -season goes on, and little can be concluded from lopsided victories ovet Utah State and Nevada-Las Vegas. Saturday's game probably raised questions than it answered. Maybe the lack of concentration, or lack of intensity if you prefer, is simply the result of an inability to take UNLV seriously. Despite the 28-0 first-quarter -deficit at UCLA, Nebraska was intense -and battled until the final gun.

But games like Saturday's can be harmful in that "other teams see how sluggish wc look, on film, and get their confidence up," Millikan said. Football is a game of confidence as well as ability, fueled by emotion. That's why Coach Tom Osborne was, concerned. The final score doesn't mean' as much as the way his team played. Brinson could have downed the ball in the end zone and given the Rebels two points, the way Mike Rozier did to open the Kansas State game in 1983.

But the 1983 team was so explosive offensively that little mistakes like the one Rozier made were easily This year's team isnt that explosive. The play didn't matter Saturday, and it really isnt worth mentioning, except to illustrate an area in which Nebraska must improve now that the conference season is beginning. Concentration. likes running "a kid in a candy store." Comhusker teammate Mike Croel would have enjoyed that feeling. Instead, all Croel felt was a football in his chest, off the foot of Nevada-Las Vegas punter Tony Rhynes.

"I was looking for the ball and there was Cartier, taking it away from me," Croel said with a smile. See BLOCK on page 6D Adams said he saw a Korean offer gold to some of the judges for the Jones fight and he said he reported it to VS. officials. "I saw somebody show some gold and somebody opening a wallet! Adams said. "There were pieces of gold wrapped in a rag.

I dont know whether they took it or not I'm not saying they took it" Adams later denied that what he saw were key chains. After the decision was announced, Jones put his face in his towel, obviously shocked and upset with the decision, and he left the ring a disappointed silver medalist NBC's CompuBox credited Jones with landing 86 punches to 32 for the Korean. The Hungarian and Soviet judges scored it lopsidedly for Jones. The judges from See OLYMPICS on page 8D Team stats, scoring UNLV NU 10 26 23-58 65-444 120 56 178 500 11 150 14-39-0 6-104 1-1 1-0 11-85 8-60 24:38 35:22 5-18 9-S6 00 1-2 U.S. boxer loses on controversial call Cowboys9 Sanders First downs Rushes-yards Passing yards Total yards.

Return yards Passing Punts Fumbtes-kwt Penalties-yards Time of possession Third-down conversions Fourth-down conversions Barry Sanders dropped the ball when he was hit by several defenders. Oklahoma State also scored on field goals from Cary Blanchard of 30 yards in the first quarter and 28 yards in the second. Mike Gundy connected with Jar-rod Green midway through the third quarter on a 10-yard touchdown pass. Colorado 27, Colorado St. 23 Sal Aunese flipped a 13-yard scoring pass to wingback Mike Pritchard with 38 seconds remaining, rallying unbeaten Colorado at Fort Collins, Colo.

The Buffaloes withstood a strong CSU effort that had produced a 134 first-half lead and a 23-20 advantage in the final period. But Aunese engineered a 64-yard, 10- See BIG 8 on page 20 This week A I yards a) Quote of the game NU Coach Tom Osborne "I'm glad to get by that game because it's a no-win situation." On the inside NU changes blocking scheme to find UNLV linebackers. Page 7D. Thus, the Olympic boxing tournament ended the way it had begun in controversy. The head of the Korean Amateur Boxing Federation, Kim Seung-youn, resigned Saturday, accepting responsibil- ity for a brawl that Korean coaches started in the Games' first week when a they attacked a referee over a close decision against one of theirs.

"Today's decision is very, very fair," Kim said Sunday. "There is no scandal today. It cannot happen. I cannot understand why foreigners have such preju-, dice against Korea." Callers embarrassed NBC, however, reported that the Ko-' rean TV station KBS was flooded with calls from Koreans complaining that they were embarrassed by the decision. And the Korean news agency Yonhap reported that Koreans booed the decision along with Americans at the boxing P23311D SEOUL, South Korea (AP) The Seoul Olympics ended for America on Saturday with a boxing decision that didnt ring true.

Flo Jo still shined 24-karat, but the Games were a big gold heist for Roy Jones. The head of the International Ama-teur Boxing Association said it looked like Jones had beaten his South Korean opponent, but three of five judges saw it otherwise. "I thought I had beaten him to a point where I couldn't be robbed," Jones said. "Unfortunately, I was." Bribe charged Boxing coach Ken Adams said he saw a Korean trying to bribe some of the judges for the fight. But a press spokesman for the Korean boxing federation said what Adams saw were gold key chBins being offered as gifts to all the gains 304 By News Services Barry Sanders ran for 304 yards and five touchdowns on Saturday to lead 13th-ranked Oklahoma State to a 56-35 victory over Tulsa at Stillwater, Okla.

Sanders, who leads the nation in rushing, scoring, kickoff returns and all-purpose running, carried the ban 33 times. He scored on the Cowboys' first possession on a 35-yard run after Oklahoma State intercepted at its 44-y ard line. Sanders scored again with 2:02 left in the first period on a 26-yard run on the play following the Cowboys' recovery of a fumble. Sanders also scored on an 11-yard run in the third quarter and from the of seven and nine in the fourth quarter The Cowboys' Hart Lee Dykes was credited with a touchdown after recovering a Sanders fumble in the end zone with 9:36 remaining in the second period. Sanders carried from the 16 but Result HiOhcchpol'' Columnist, deputy editor named for Journal-Star istioariiciaaiiori- '''-'Jumping up, rK 811111113111? TDpes scvc3 UCLA 5 pjPffiBmjrisf MtfA4i if Ci- Brian MO 1.

Miami, Fla. (4-0) def. Missouri 55-0 idle 2. UCLA (4-0) def Washington 24-1 7 Oregon State 3. Southern Cal (3-0) played Arizona Oregon 4.

Auburn (4-0) def. North Carolina 47-21 at Louisiana State 5. Notre Dame (4-0) def. Stanford 42-1 4 at Pittsburgh 6. Florida State (4-1 def.

Tulane 48-28 Georgia Southern 7. West Virginia (5-0) def. Virginia Tech 22-1 0 at East Carolina 8. South Carolina (5-0) def. Appalachian State 35-9 at Virginia Tech 9.

NebrasKa (4-1 def. Nevada-Las Vegas 48-6 at Kansas .10. Oklahoma (3-1) def. Iowa State 35-7 at Texas 11. Clemson(fr1) was idle at Virginia 12.

Alabama (4-0) def. Kentucky 31-27 Mississippi 1 3. Oklahoma State (3-0) def. Tulsa 56-35 at Colorado 1 4. Louisiana State (2-2) lost to Florida 1 9-6 Auburn 1 5.

Georgia (4-1 def. Mississippi 36-1 2 Vanderbilt 1 6. Washington (3-1 lost to UCLA 24-1 7 at Arizona State 17. Florida (5-0) def. Louisiana State 19-6 Memphis State 1 8.

Wyoming (5-0) def. Fullerton State 35-1 6 at San Diego State 1 9. Michigan (2-2) def. Wisconsin 62-14 Michigan State 20. Oregon (3-0) played San Diego State at Southern Cal Mike Babcock and Brian Hill have been named to new positions as part of a reorganization on the Journal-Star sports staff.

Babcock win become the columnist for The Star, the Journal and the Sunday Journal-Star. Hill will serve as the deputy sports editor for the sports department Babcock, 41, has spent all 11 of his years at the Journal-Star on the University of -Nebraska beat He was born in Beatrice, graduated from York High School, graduated from California State University at Chico and obtained Us master's degree at Nebraska. HilL 32, has worked for the Journal-Star since 1976, first as the state college reporter then as the slot (page layout) person for The Star. The North Platte native is a 1978 graduate of Nebraska. Executive Sports Editor Dave Wohl-farth also announced these changes: Ken Hambleton will take over as the No.

1 writer on the Nebraska football beat; Curt McKeever will handle Nebraska men's and women's basketball coverage; I Ron Powell, who has been working part time at the Journal-Star for the past year, has been hired as a full-time writer. Powell will cover high school sports; Michael Larsen has been hired as a full-time sports desk person with some writing responsibilities. Larsen, a Creighton University graduate, formerly worked at the Omaha World-Herald. i a.