The Lincoln Star from Lincoln, Nebraska • 33

Sunday Journal-Hfar SEPTEMBER 2, 1990 cBride takes Husker notes defensive view of NU's victory AT) l-V i "rJ -y)-1 fr TAIL'S i I A By Mike Babcock From Charlie McBride's point of view, -Saturday night's football game between Nebraska and Baylor came down to defense. The Comhusker defensive coordinator told his players that before the opening kickoff. "I told our kids, 'We're going to play their defense McBrkle said. "They're a quality team. "We probably played as good a defensive team as well play until the Colorado and Oklahoma stuff.

Defensively, I don't think well see a better one than Baylor. They've got a great defense." McBride didn't use that particular adjective to describe Nebraska's defensive effort Saturday night The Cornhuskers "made a lot of mistakes, no question," he said. But when the game was on the line, and Baylor was 5 yards from the Nebraska goal line, they were up to the challenge. A winner Linebacker Pat Tyrance forced a fumble, and outside linebacker Travis Hill recovered. That's the kind of player Tyrance is, said McBride.

"He's a winner. That's what it takes. He's as good a fundamental linebacker as we've ever had here. He could be the best linebacker we've ever had by the time he's done." Tyrance was credited with a team-high 10 tackles, including five unassisted, and had a quarterback sack for a 9-yard loss in addition to causing the crucial fumble. The rest of Comhusker defense, like Tyrance, "showed some character there," McBride said.

"When they took the ball down there and we held, I fig ured we had a chance to win." The key play for Baylor on the drive, which began at the Bears' 31-yard line late In the third quarter, was a bootleg by quarterback Steve Needham on a fourth-down-and 3 at the Nebraska 13. Needham went the opposite direction of his blockers and gained 7 yards. Baylor tried to trick the Comhusker defense with three or four reverses in the first half, without success, McBride said. That time, it worked, though Nebraska defensive tackle Joe Sims, who was pursuing Needham, "got hit right square in the back," said McBride. "I was stunned they didnt call it" During Baylor's ill-fated drive, the Bears repeatedly gained yards on draw plays, their "bread and butter," according to McBride.

As the game wore on, "we got tired, and they started knocking us off the ball a little." But overall, he was satisfied with the effort Learn from mistakes "We didnt play a lot of defenses," he said. "We got some good pressure." And even though there were mistakes, the young Comhusker defenders "probably became better players because of that They got to see what it takes under full-speed competition." Their determination was illustrated by junior middle guard Pat Engelbert, who came out for a breather, at one point because "he said he was seeing three people," McBride said. When all was said and done, Nebraska had a shutout only the second against Baylor in its last 115 games and Baylor had 136 yards of offense. McBride looked at the final statistics. "I'll take that" he said.

lj Spilt end Jon Bostick This was the first time we played against players other than our own defense, so it took a little time to get going. We knew in the second half that we were getting there. Offense Is all timing, and ones we did move the ball, that gave us confidence." ')S On the shoulder injury that kept him out of fall drills (or a week "Two weeks ago, I was thinking I would have to redshirt I woke up In so much pain I thought that was what I'd have to da But our training staff did such a great job. Last week, I couldnt get my arm up and over to do swim movements on people. But it felt pretty good tonight" On his 34-yard reception that set up NU's second field goal "I Just went up and over him (Baylor defender Malcolm Frank).

There might have been an unintentional bump, but the ref didnt call it 'and he can complain all he SZ Linebacker Mike Croel "It was a tough game and I'm glad it's over. Now we know what we have to work on. We had some problems with draw plays, but still I think we did pretty well on that later. We just need to work on keeping the tempo and not letting the other team get the big plays. We expected them to run more and do the option because their other quarterback (injured Brad Goebel) wasnt going to play.

He was the passer. So we knew what they'd do, especially after the first couple of times they had the balL" NU offensive line coach Milt Tenoplr "We only had seven kids in there in the offensive line one center, three guards and three tackles and they held up and played pretty well, all things considered. Dave Edeal (center) was in there for every snap of the ball, and that is an impressive show of endurance. I thought our guards and tackles played welL" NU running backs coach Frank Sollch "Both (I-backs) Leodis Flowers and Scott Baldwin played well I think well keep using both of them a -lot. Leodis was in in the third quarter and we just didn't call many plays for the I-back.

Scott was in during the fourth quarter and that's when we called the I-back plays. He ran tough and got a lot of yards after hits and broke a lot of tackles. He really has an ability to turn upfield and go after 1L I thought Leodis ran better upfield than he did at any time last year. It was a great feeling for us and for Lance Lewis, to have him in the game, too. He hasn't played a down in a year or so (neck injury) and he played as tough and as good as ever.

I thought Omar Soto (NU's other fullback) played well too." Kicker Gregg Barrios "I was kind of like a guy over a 3-foot putt when I missed that first 20-yard field goal. I just froze and didn't kick through the ball I wasn't really very happy with any of my kicks. Jerry Dunlap (holder) saved us on the second field goal because the snap was a little long and a little high. I was kind of spooked on that one, IU just try to forget about this week and get better for next week," TED KIRKSUNDAY JOURNAL-STAR Baylor's Michael Moore goes over the top for a first down In the second quarter. NU defenders include Pat Tyrance (40), LeAndre Anderson, Kenny Walker (partially hidden) and Mike Petko (99).

Bear quotes Coach Grant Teaff on Nebraska: "I thought that it'd be a low-scoring game if we could stand up defensively to their offense and we were able to do that We knew we were going against if not the test defense, maybe one in the top two or three in the country. Their defensive secondary and their linebackers were just great players. We had to find ways to make yardage against them." Teaff, trying to find a reason for a fourth-quarter fumble by fullback FranUe Smith at the Nebraska 3-yard line that ended Baylor's biggest scoring threat: "It's probably the fact that he's been a defensive back for three years, and that's a pretty clutch position to be in down there on the goal line trying to win against Nebraska in their own stadium. He probably just hadn't handled the ball that much to wrap it up. It was just one of those things." Teaff, on running Needham on a naked reverse on fourth-and-3 from the NU 13 midway through the final quarter: "The question was: Do we kick a field goal and come back and maybe get another field goal and tie it? We didnt come to tie." 1 Smith, on Baylor's play: "We were a lot better than they thought we were going to be.

We're going to show a lot more people in the future how much better we're going to (W: Smith, on Nebraska's defense: "They werent as physical as I thought they'd be. It was just like playing against our defense. Our defense is just as physical and just as tough, and maybe a lot faster. I feel that they're a pretty good team. They werent much better, we just made more mistakes crucial mistakes." A Linebacker Daniel Morgan, on the game's outcome: "I thought it would come down to the fourth quarter because we've been getting into excellent condition to play in the fourth quarter.

I just thought that whoever was playing the best in the fourth quarter was going to come out on top." A Defensive end Santana Dotson, on those who believed the game would not be close: "A lot of people were counting us out too fast A lot of people were looking for the Baylor team of last year, but we knew that it was going to come down to the team who made the most mistakes. Evidently, we made one or two too many." A Teaff, on sophomore quarterback Steve Needham, who got his first starting assignment in place of the Injured Brad Goebel: "I thought he did a good job. He didnt make any big boo-boos that put us in any critical situations. He made two or three really nice plays. Their defense was just really, really good and they gave him a pretty hard time.

But for his first start, I thought he held his poise and did a good job." TED KIRKSUNDAY JOURNAL-STAR Nebraska's Greg Koellner (obscured) and Joe Sims (56) congratulate teammate Travis Hill (93) after dropping Baylor's Steve Stutsman for a 7-yard loss in the second quarter. Teaff, on Baylor's defensive play: "If you can hold Nebraska scoreless, or to one touchdown, you've played good defense. We were within an eyelash of holding them without a touchdown and that's playing pretty good." Grant, like teammates, grinds it out "The one sideline pass (a 23-yarder in the fourth quarter) was just a matter of Jon and I making eye contact before the play," Grant said. Grant said an earlier completion to Bostick, a 34-yard pass that set up NU's second field goal of the game, was a matter of Bostick making a great catch on an underthrown ball "We just didnt get too crazy on offense and that was fine because we got the job done," he said. Nebraska Coach Tom Osborne said he feared Baylor's secondary enough he didnt want to try deep passes.

"We didnt want our quarterbacks just heaving the ball around because they had just a good secondary and a good pass rush, too," Osborne said. "I know some people win want us to pass more, and we will in future games. I thought both quarterbacks did well and maybe in a week or two well give more time, but for right now, well use Mike and Mickey (Joseph) evenly." Even though there were no clear deci sions on the starting quarterback, the I-back or the fullback, there was an obvious set of seven players in the offensive line that the Cornhuskers will continue, to use freely in the future. Center Dave Edeal played every snap on offense and three guards Will Shields, Jim Wanek and Eric Wiegert and three tackles Brian Boerboom, Tom Punt and Steve Engstrom were the only offensive linemen to play for the Cornhuskers in Saturday's sultry game. 4 A'i 1 4 1 i 1 v- Av p.A-Pfin A SiMlMMMM AA -i i i A A A- Ai'A Aw- '--A A' i Ab A.A' i A' A 1 4 i.

i A By Ken Hambleton Mike Grant had one ice bag on his left knee, another on his shoulder and said he was going to put one on his head as soon as interviews were over. But the junior quarterback saved his first loud groan until everybody left the interview room. "I didnt think it was too bad," said Grant who hit 5 of 6 passes for 86 yards in leading the Cornhuskers to a 13-0 victory against Baylor Saturday. "I didnt ever feel that we couldnt win this game. We could have done a lot of things on offense if we had needed to.

"But we chose to grind them (Baylor) down and try to wear them out" be said. "I think we finally did." Pain began early Grant started the game and went to the sidelines late in the first quarter when he strained his knee. He hurt his shoulder on his first pass attempt "I knew Mickey (Joseph) could do the job," he said. Joseph went in and drove the Cornhuskers to their first field goal. Grant returned and drove the team to another field goal before the end of the half.

"We should have had another touchdown but we had a procedure call and that hurt us," he said. Nebraska drove to the Baylor 4-yard line on Its second possession of the game but was penalized and the drive stalled at the 3-yard line. Gregg Barrios then missed a 21-yard field goal attempt "We were a little frustrated, but we knew we could do things to get going," Grant said. "We got caught off-guard on a couple of plays and Baylor slanted their guys right into the plays we called. So we got stuck on short yardage a couple of times.

But we didnt want to open things up too much because we still wanted to grind it out" Grant said his two passes to Jon Bo-stick were conservative plays. A v. 1 A. i 4 A HANDY HAMPTON SUNDAY JOURNAL-STAR Nebraska quarterback Mike Grant (1) gets off a pass despite pres-, sure from Baylor's Curtis Harford (99) in the first quarter. Grant completed 5 of 6 passes for 86 yards.

HARALO DREIMANI3 SUNDAY JOURNAL-STAR Gregg Barrios (44) of Nebraska steps into his kick as Jerry Dunlap (12) holds Saturday in the first quarter against Baylor. Barrios missed the 21 -yard attempt but connected on two field goals in the second quarter. E3.