The Lincoln Star from Lincoln, Nebraska • 20

i 'i yr rs 1 6CC inn KERS SUrCAY, SEPTEMBER 5,1993 UNCOLN JOURNAL-STAR" TT TTX TO brings tack memories J-for defensive back Wright 4 tf 1 i v.V-r. Qi te' iff i) 'l -i. M.T.nrn RANOY HAMPT0NAJNC01N JOURNAL-STAR The Nebraska defense puts the pressure on North Texas quarterback Mitch Maher (23) in the second quarter. Kevin Ramaekers (67) gets a handful of Manor's jersey and Dwayne Harris (86) blocks a pass. Loss leaves coach feeling sorry BY CURT MCKEEVER Lincoln Journal-Star BY RYLY JANE HAMBIETON Lincoln Journal-Star Toby Wright remembered what it felt like to score a touchdown.

After all he was a running back in high school The senior rover intercepted his first pass for Nebraska and raced 33 yards for a touchdown as the Cornhuskers blasted North Texas 76-14 Saturday. "It happened so quick. I just know I was moving," said Wright, who transferred to Nebraska last year from Phoenix College. "I know how it feels because I was a running back, but it hasn't nit me yet." Wright, who also had three tackles, was in the right place at the right time midway through the first quarter. "We were in cover two, and I was keying on the backs.

When they stayed back to block, I tried to get in the throwing lane of the receiver," he said. "(John) Reece made a good collision with the receiver, and I saw the ball out of the corner of my eye. "Before I knew it, I was off to the races. Once I was in the end zone, I realized, 1 just Defensive coordinator Charlie McBride said Wright's interception and a fumble recovery by Donta Jones that set up another Husker touchdown in the third quarter were important, and not unexpected. "I said we'd score on defense.

You have to make big plays on defense to be a good defense," McBride said. "You have to get the ball in good field position for the offense. We try to score or set up one touchdown a. game." And though NU gave up 255 yards passing to the Eagles, McBride said he wasnt displeased with the defense. "When a team throws the ball as much as they do, they're going to get.

some yards. As long as they're not in the end zone, I dont care," said McBride. They had two big plays the dropped touchdown and the long touchdown and both were blown coverages. The secondary didn't get the check. They came out in that fast stuff, where they'd come to the line and snap it quick.

I thought there were a couple of times they weren't set long enough." McBride said the 35 yards in quarterback sacks were due in part to the 4-3 defense Nebraska switched to this fall. RANDY HAMPTONUNCOLN JOURNAL-STAR Mike Helns (25), Darren Williams (center) and Mike Minter (10)i converge to stop North Texas' Terrance Brown for a 3-yard toss orf- tho last play of the first quarter. Playing in front of a crowd of 75,643 probably didn't help the Eagles either. With his team down 28-0 in the second quarter, quarterback Mitch Maher found fullback Stacv Anderson (Lance) Lundberg and those The effort was outstanding, and intensity was real good considering everybody expected us to blow them out" Defensive tackle Kevin Ramaeki ers wasnt as generous in his assess-' our whole season. Well get everybody squared away.

Coach Parker won't let us quit." North Texas received $270,000 for taking on the powerful Cornhuskers in a one-shot deal. Despite the outcome, Parker said he thought it was a worthwhile experience. "I played at Southeast Oklahoma, and there's a lot of schools that never experience the buildup, the hype, the 83,000 people in the stands," he said. Those experiences, although you lose in nightmare fashion, really cant be simulated. "Our kids wont be happy that they lost the game 76-14, 1 hope.

Still, it's still college football at its very best I played college ball for four years and never got that." North Texas, which lost its first season opener since being pummeled by Oklahoma 69-14 in 1987, plays at Northern Arizona on Saturday night. The Eagles will be without starting outside linebacker John Luker, who injured a knee and will likely miss the rest of the season. "Well find out what kind of character we have," Parker said. "I think the most difficult thing there is in this is to react like a champion and to react as a winner. It's a humbling experience to lose 76-14, but my mommy and daddy didn't raise no quitter.

"I pray that I don't die before next week's game because I'd hate for this to be the last game I coach." Two years from now, North Texas plans to be playing NCAA Division I football. After Saturday's 76-14 loss to ninth-ranked Nebraska, the Division I-AA Eagles might want to reconsider. "It was a real North Texas Coach Dennis Parker said after his team allowed the most points in school history. apologize to (Nebraska Coach) Tom Osborne for us not being a more worthy opponent We shouldn't have allowed the score to get run up like that and it's our fault, not theirs." The Cornhuskers, despite losing starting quarterback Tommie Fra-zier after the second play of the game because of an ankle sprain, raced to a 21-0 lead in the opening 6:45. The final 53:15 wasn't much prettier.

"It started bad, and it seemed like it got worse," Parker said. "We thought the emotion might be good, but it was 21-0 and we haven't even tightened up our belts. "There's always a fear in the back of your mind that it could be a nightmare like that, and when it's 21-0 you start thinking that might be a realization." In the simplest terms, North Texas didn't have the size, strength or speed to keep up with the two-time defending Big Eight Conference champions. "Early in the game, I would say we only blitzed about 25 percent of the time. But the added lineman in the four-man front gives you an advantage in the pass rush," he said.

"We were pretty minimum in what we did because we didn't want to overburden the players in the first game and we also wanted to see if we could play in our base stuff." Co-captain Trev Alberts said that gives the Huskers room for growth. There are a lot of weapons we didnt use. We didn't run a lot of stunts or blitzes," he said. "With our approach, you can be out 6n an island with a lot of one-on-one. We don't have to rely on blitzes to get in the backfield." Alberts said he thought the defense played well for the first game.

"Our goal was to shut out Texas, so we didnt fulfill our goal to be honest about it," he said. "But we got back in the groove. We were tired of hitting the No. 1 offense with Dennis Partw wide open the middle of the field on a fourth-and-1 pass play from the Nebraska 39. A sure touchdown turned into a painful change of possession when Anderson dropped the ball.

The Cornhuskers then drove 60 yards to make it 35-0. "You want to hang in the game as long as you can and hope you're close or ahead at the end," said Maher, who came back from a 10-stitch cut to throw for 246 yards, including a third-quarter, 71-yard TD to wide receiver Clayton George "But we made some mistakes on offense and gave them so many points right off the They were good. They really were." George, a senior from Athens, Texas, agreed. "I'm sure they'll be in the Orange Bowl," he said. "Who's going to beat them in the Big Eight? They'll go and we need them to, to make us feel better.

"But this one loss doesn't change ment of the NU defense. "C-plus. We gave up too many yards passing. It is hard to stay fo" cused when you're ahead like we? were, though," he said. "I didn't know what the score was at half time (42-7)'-until I looked up as we went off the field.

I kept trying to tell myself it was 0-0. They werent the power foot- ball team we're used to we'll find out next week." Ramaekers was credited with one sack when he dropped Eagle quarterback Mitch Maher for a 9-yard loss ul the second quarter. Teammates su-, rounded Ramaekers after the sack, and Alberts flew at him hard enough in conri hnth trt ilna rrmnnH That was the hardest hit all said Ramaekers. SCORING HEDnflSKfl, K0RTH TEXAS SIDELIGHTS NT-NU How scored Time left FIRST QUARTER Corey Dixon 33 pass from Brook Berringer 12:20 Drive: 80 yards in 6 plays. Highlighted by Calvin Jones 13, 23 runs.

Conversion: Byron Bennett kick. C. Jones 1 run 1:15 Set up by Kareem Moss 52 punt return. Drive: 12 yards In 4 plays. Conversion: Bennett kick.

Toby Wright 33 interception return 7:03 Conversion: Bennett kick. Abdul Muhammad 11 pass from Berringer 2:34 0-7 0-14 0-21 0-28 Nebraska played 116 players. "They will feel better about practice," Osborne said. "I felt a lot of the backup guys filled in well and took good care of the ball." Nebraska's biggest season-opening victory was in 1912 when the Cornhuskers of Jumbo Stiem beat Belle-vue 82-0. NU's highest scoring game in modern history was the 84-13 defeat of Minnesota in 1983.

EACLE KOTES North Texas Coach Dennis Parker couldn't decide which was worse, Saturday's loss or a 72-0 defeat to Nevada in 1991. v' (is'" if Trev Alberts Calvin Jones TED KIRKUNCOLN JOURNAL-STAR Tommie Frazier carries his shoul KUSKEB KOTES Nebraska Coach Tom Osborne explained the injuries to Tommie Frazier and Calvin Jones) They say Calvin Jones, (will be out) two to three weeks with a strained ligament They seemed to be quite confident that his cruciate ligament is sound. So it would not probably look like any type of a season-ending injury. If you're a running back, it's a little different than if you're a tackle. Whereas 90 percent is, good enough for some linemen, 100 percent is good for a back.

How long that will take is anybody's guess. The doctors didnt think there was any way he'd play next week and UCLA looks doubtful "Everybody says we have these great young backs. Now, well see. "Frazier has a high sprain on his ankle. He seemed to be in a lot of pain.

Those are lingering sometimes and sometimes not They X-rayed him and didn't find anything like a fracture. He said he wanted to play, but he was sore. Tomorrow will say a lot." Donta Jones also appeared to have a sprained ankle, Osborne said. Frazier said he was disappointed: "After all those hot practices and all I get is two plays that's disappointing. If you had seen us practice, you'd know that Brook (Berringer) and Tony (Veland) can do the job and that we're close.

I was just upset I couldn't play more. But the pain was der pads as he trots to the locker room at halftime. Frazier injured; his ankle in the game and only; piayed tne first two plays. Drive: 47 yards in 6 plays. Highlighted by Tony Veland 14 pass to Dixon and Veland 11 pass to Gerald Armstrong.

Conversion: Bennett kick. SECOND QUARTER 0-35 Berringer 1 run 10:58 Drive: 60 yards in 6 plays. Highlighted by Berringer 10 pass to Clester Johnson. 9 pass to Dixon and 37 pass to Reggie Bail Conversion: Bennett kick. 7-35 Terrance Brown 2 run 6:42 Drive 27 yards in 4 plays.

Set up by Umoja Gibson 19 interception return. Highlighted by Mitch Maher 32 pass to David Brown. Conversion: Richard DeFelice ktek. 7-42 C.Jones24run. 2:50 Drive: 42 yards 6 plays.

Highlighted by C. Jones 8, 10 runs, Veland 9 pass to C. Jones. Conversion: Bennett ktek. THIRD QUARTER 7-49 Berringer 4 run 13:03 Drive: 18 yards In 3 plays.

Set up by Donta Jones fumble recovery. Highlighted by Cory Schlesinger 1 6 run. Conversion: Bennett kick. 7-56 Veland 1 run 8:35 Drive: 63 yards In 7 plays. Highlighted by C.

Jones 14 run, Berringer 1 8 pass to Johnson and Veland 1 7 pass to Trumane Bed. Conversion: Bennett kick. 7-63 Damon Benning 9 run 6:30 Drive: 71 yards in 5 plays. Highlighted by Benning 51 run. Conversion: Tom Steter ktek.

14-63 Maher 71 pass to Clayton George 5:00 Drive: 71 yards in 2 plays. Conversion: DeFelice ktek. FOURTH QUARTER 14-70 Matt Turman 15 pass to Riley Washington 12:49 Drive: 65 yards in 9 plays. Highlighted by Veland 14 pass to Eric Al-ford, Clinton Childs 12 run. Conversion: Bennett kick.

14-76 Turman 1 run 7:46 Drive: 51 yards In 10 plays. Set up by Eric Stokes 34 Interception re- turn. Highlighted by Jeff Makovteka 1 1 run. Conversion: run failed. five minutes, they're saying "Well be tee i "It's kind of like would you rather be shot in the head with a shotgun or rather be shot in the head with a .357 Magnum," he said.

"I've never coached a good loss. (This is) a tough one because I'm stupid enough to come in here thinking we had a shot towin." North Texas kicker Richard DeFelice had a 6-yard kickoff following North Texas' second-quarter score when a teammate ran into him just as he was kicking the balL "I was trying to pop it up but not like that" DeFelice said. That's just one of those strange things that happens." North Texas quarterback Maher said he hopes the Eagles will benefit from Saturday's game. "We got knocked around a little, but I dont think well play as good a team this year," he said. The guys have good attitudes.

Already, in the last (AI am Central) Nebraska 78. North Texas 14 Texas Tech at Nebraska, 1 p.m, Nebraska at UCLA, 2 30 p.m. Colorado State at Nebraska. 1 prv, Nebraska at Oklahoma Kansas State at Nebraska, 1 p.rw Missouri at Nebraska. 1 pm.

Nebraska at Colorado, TBA. '-t'" Nebraska at Kansas, 1 p.m. Iowa State at Nebraska, 1 p.m. Oklahoma at Nebraska. 1:30 3 8ept.4-Sept.

11 Sept 18- Sept 25-Oct 7 (ESPN) Oct 16 -Oct. 23 -Oct 30- NOV.t Nov. 13-Nov. 28 (ABC) pretty bad, and they didn't want me to injure my ankle more. I just hope I can be back to 75 percent by Monday and able to start running again.

I'm optimistic, I have it in my mind that I will play next week." Jones also was disappointed "because 111 be out 2-3 weeks, and I was looking forward to helping the team. I would have come out of the game after that series (with 9:21 left in the third quarter), but things happen. Some people are speculating that I should have been out of the game, but I respect the coaches' decision because it is the only one that counts. Injuries are a part of the game." NU co-captain Trev Alberts said It was hard to see his teammates injured: They are two really great players. I dont think you just replace them.

We have excellent depth, but you dont replace guys like that The good thing is they will be back in time, and they'll be OK." Alberts said Texas Tech, NlTi next opponent will provide a much greater challenge. They play a higher quality schedule and have size and speed. They have their whole offense back, and they'll come in with a lot of confidence." NU defensive coordinator Charlie McBride on the change to the 4-3: "We were getting to the point where certain defenses were telling our opponents we anticipated the pass. We were telling them what we were thinking. McBride on the Eagles' passing: That quarterback (Mitch Maher) was a good, accurate passer.

He gets rid of the ball quick, and he had good touch on it" NU rover Toby Wright returned a pass interception 33 yards for a toochdowa la the first quarter. "We werent expecting to go out and on every down be perfect We're working as a unit As the games get better, weH get better. We all know what we're doing with our technique. Communication is our key, especially as loud ai the crowd it and with quick sets. "I think we have one of the best secondaries in the nation I think we have the potential we compare with the top secondaries I've seen." Kzimm STATISTICS Nebraska rv i.

tr" i J. 4 1 I Offense R.Waahington 1 15 Punting No. Yds. Ave. 1 31 31.0 Kjckoff return Punting No.

Yd. Ave. Chupp 7 281 40.1 Interception return No. Yds. Jackson i ig Kckoff return NO.

Yd. 1 14 Punt returns No. Yds No. Yds. 52 165 11 O.Brown..

9 1 Defense Tadue UT AT Rushing No. Yd. A. 1 7 0 C. Jones ......18 124 7 8 ScNemgtr 3 19 6 3 VMnd 8 IS 2 5 Bamngw 3 3 10 Bmna 8 82 10 3 Fall 1 4 4 0 ChM 7 35 Gray 2 6 3 0 Emwcfc 2 4 20 8 35 7 0 Nome 2 12 60 Turman 1 110 Smith 1 2 20 Daanport 2 4 20 Shuttar 1-7 7.0 Pasting No.

Co. Vd Cisco 0 3 3 Ma Anderson. 112 Coin 0 1 1 Brouse 10 1 Cornn 10 1 Schmsdeke 10 1 Alexander 10 1 Townsend 10 1 CSSC pttnt eweei 0 1 Hardin 0 2 2 Fisher 2 0 2 North Texas Offense Rusrsng No. Yd. Ave.

65 3 2 2 8 30 Valentine 4 -3 Maher 3 -27 -0 0 3 0 30 1 -1 -1 Passing Defense Tackle UT AT TT 1: O.Jones.. 0 1 fa -k 1 0 1 Franco Thomas. 1 1 2 IMUl.UH 2 7 0 4 4 Wade Connay McUughtn 1 Albert 1 Beier 2 Bnnkley 3 ML Anderson 1 William 3 Stewart 1 B-anch DeHvioer vwand 7 124 0 6 76 1 1 15 0 Turman 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 I no. u. to .23 12 246 1 .11 1 Jemnga.

10 1 Rudz 112 0 .11 Ray 3 3 6 Hcka. 6 1 7 Pf iff OiMHMiHxnM. 3 6 8 County 2 1 3 Matthew 2 11 Wnght 2 0 2 Camngs 10 1 Weher 1 10 11 Wasimgton 112 8 11 Jackson 2 0 2 RerJwne 0 11 Renmj 2 4 6 (XAatnai 10 1 Suva 0 11 Smrth 0 11 Rwko 0 1 Receiving. 1 No. Yd.

Reeoe. 2 3 56 1 Dixon. 1 .1 1 11 Wright 111 1 Muhammad TEO KMtlXCOm JOUANAL-6TAA i ReceMng No. Yds. 8.

Anderson 1 7 Broednax 2 7 Sv 2 42 Brown 3 61 Redwne 2 43 George 2 81 High. 1 13 Johnson 2 28 1 BeJ 1 37 Ei Jones 1 0 Atord 2 17 Trwger 1 Bet 1 17 On 1 14 Sm 0 4 I Nebraska middle Inebacker Mike Anderson (48) trips up North Texas arming back Cedrlc Cromor in tie first quartor. '4.