The Lincoln Star from Lincoln, Nebraska • 27

i 1 Lincoln joumai-Dtar SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 1992 fLj 19 washout rojans A i Lin -n. At riT end skid '4 'i-B 'MS- Scoring, team stats Nebraska 0 7 7 0 14 Washington 2 21 3 3 29 Wash Safety, T. Jones sacked Grant in end zone Wash Bryant 1 run (Hanson kick) NU C. Jones 73 run (Bennett kick) Wash Kaufman 1 run (Hanson kick) Wash Kralik 29 pass from Hobert (Hanson kick) NU Grant 1 run (Bennett kick) Wash FG Hanson 42 Wash FG Hanson 32 i.J.,.m I r.C i i. 1 NU Wash 11 15 40-1 7B 48-153 133 182 309 335 0 26 11-21-2 13-22-0 3-2 1-1 11-76 3-30 26:03 33:57 4-12 5-16 0-1 0-1 By Ken Hambteton Una Journal-Star SEATTLE A year later, a number of Nebraska offensive gambles later and a much later football game.

But a noisy capacity crowd, a number of mistakes and a steady Washington effort were all the mattered. The result was the same a year later as No. 2 Washington defeated Nebraska 29-14 Saturday night before the sixth-largest crowd at Husky Stadium. A year ago, Washington won 36-21 in Lincoln. "We played better defensively than when we collapsed in the fourth quarter," NU Coach Tom Osborne said.

"This year, the turnovers made the difference." More evenly Nebraska also played the Huskies more evenly on offense this time around, gaining 309 yards to 335 for Washington, which had 618 a year ago. Nebraska, ranked No. 12 and now 2-1, fell behind early. The Huskers saw every threat to Washington's lead answered and every lost opportunity turned into a gain for the defending co-national champions. "Obviously, they have a great team and played very well," Osborne said.

"This is a difficult place to play, and we didn't make the plays we had to to win." Nebraska was limited in its play-changing ability and was forced into a number of penalties for procedure and delay of games and a series of timeouts because of the crowd noise. "The fans came to play," Washington Coach Don James said. "But our defense grew up tonight our offense came through, and we did pretty good against a tough Nebraska team." Nebraska tried just about everything. From two-time use of the shotgun formation for the first time in modern history at NU to a fake punt to a pitchback pass from Calvin Jones I MM i'w' 1111 1 )' vs. OU By Associated Press The Southern Cal football team that showed up Saturday didn't look anything like a team that hadn't won in nearly a year.

The Trojans, winless since Oct 12, 1991, overcame a 10-0 deficit in the final quarter to upset No. 13 Oklahoma 20-10 at Norman, Okla, and finally give Coach Larry Smith reason to smile. "This was a big, big, big win for our football said Smith, who saw the Trojans lose their final six games of last year and tie San Diego State two weeks ago. "I told them after the tie that we were a better football team than we showed," Smith said. "All we needed was a big win.

We got it today against a good Oklahoma football team" They did it with big fourth-quarter plays by Curtis Conway on offense and Stephon Pace on defense. Conway caught a 51-yard touchdown pass early in the fourth quarter to bring the Trojans to 10-7, and Pace returned a fumble 19 yards for the go-ahead score. "Nobody gave us any respect We were 11-point underdogs," said Conway, whose nine catches for 115 yards were career highs. "They had the game won in the fourth quarter, so we had to show them we were a great football team." The Sooners had averaged 504 yards and 47 Vi points in the first two games, but Southern Cal's defense was too much. Oklahoma had only 56 yards rushing and 201 overall.

The rushing total was Oklahoma's lowest since gaining 43 in a 12-0 loss to Southern Cal in 1982. "Southern Cal defensively played extremely well," Coach Gary Gibbs said. "They did some things that really forced us to execute with a lot of precision and obviously today we didn't execute with that kind of precision." OlFs Cale Gundy completed just 14 of 32 passes and was intercepted twice. He was bothered by a scheme featuring eight and nine players up front and plenty of blitzing. Colorado 21 Minnesota 20 Freshman Koy Detmer was pulled out of his redshirt season and tore apart Minnesota's defense, playing like his Heisman Trophy-winning brother as No.

11 Colorado rallied from a 17-point second-half deficit to win at Minneapolis. Colorado hoped to keep Detmer on the bench all season, but injured starting quarterback Kordell Stewart didnt play, and second-stringer Duke Tobin had a horrendous first half. See BIG 8 on page 2D ASSOCIATED PRESS Nebraska fullback Lance Lewis (26) is brought down by Washington's Andy Mason (13) and Dave Hoffman in the first quarter Saturday at Seattle. Huskies prove they deserve lofty national Mike rt-' IT Babcock vsfS Columnist gotten caught up in the emotion during the decisive first half, Washington would have won. The Huskies didnt need any help.

They didnt need what was ruled, somewhat belatedly, a fumble by Grant early in the second quarter to set up their first touchdown. And they didn't need what was ruled a touchdown pass reception by Joe Kralik with 47 seconds remaining in the first half. It didn't appear that Kralik caught the ball or, for that matter, that he came down in bounds. Yet the official signaled touchdown, even as the ball bounced on the turf in front of him "Little Man" Stewart and a 66-yard touchdown pass from Shuler to Mose Phillips to end an 11-game SEC winning streak for the Gators. Florida St.

34, N.C. St. 13 Charlie Ward shook off a slow start and yet another interception to pass for three long touchdowns as No. 3 Florida State continued its early-season roll through the ACC with a victory over No. 16 North Carolina State at Raleigh, N.C.

llll A At Trip to Knoxville ends with Gators getting swamped again First downs Rushes-yards Passing yards Total yards Return yards Passing Punts Fumbles-tost Penalties-yards Time of possession Third-down conversions Fourth-down conversions to quarterback Mike Grant It didn't matter though. Washington scored on a safety late in the first quarter and minutes later on a touchdown after a Nebraska fumble at its 39 early in the second quarter. Perfect execution The Cornhuskers struck back on a perfectly executed quick pitch play to Jones, who shot around the right end, picked up key blocks from Lance Lewis and Trumane Bell, and scored 73 yards later to cut the margin to 9-7 with 7:23 left in the half. Washington battled right back with a 12-play, 80-yard drive that Napoleon Kaufman capped with a 1-yard dive. He carried eight times for 53 yards on the drive.

But the key for the Huskies was a third-and-2 play when Eric Bjornson caught a 4-yard pass out of bounds but was ruled to have been pushed out by John Reece. See NU on page 40 ranking Recent history has shown a direct correlation between victories against the Cornhuskers and national titles. Four of Nebraska's five losses in the last two seasons were against teams that were voted national titles. 1 Washington, of course, was one of those teams, a year ago. And based on the Huskies' play Saturday night, there's good reason to think, with a little luck, they might repeat Nebraska, on the other hand, took -another step down in national perception.

Nebraska's critics now have another "big-game" loss at See BABCOCK on 4D Bobby Goodman responded to Georgia Tech's trick-play score by directing three consecutive first-half touchdown drives that sent the 20th-ranked Cavaliers past the No. 22 Yellow Jackets. Terry Kirby ran for 135 yards and a touchdown and caught a 7-yard pass for another score, and Chris Slade became the ACC career sacks leader as the Cavaliers defeated Georgia Tech See TOP 25 on page 20 Toronto maiaii its pitch By Associated Press When a team has strong pitching, it doesn't always matter how well it hits. Toronto's David Cone combined with a pair of relievers on a four-hitter as the Blue Jays blanked Texas for the second straight game, beating the Rangers 1-0 Saturday at Toronto. One day after they trounced Texas 13-0, the Blue Jays managed only Roberto Alomar's RBI groundout in the sixth inning.

That was enough for Toronto to win for the 15th time in 20 games and hold its lead in the American League East. "We hit the ball harder than they did today but got nothing to show for it," Rangers Manager Toby Harrah said. "(Kevin) Reimer hit the ball well to right in the ninth, and (Jeff) Frye hit a line-drive double play to first. Then they get a weak AstroTurf ground ball with a guy on third to win." The Blue Jays lead the division by five games over Milwaukee and 5 ft over Baltimore. The Brewers beat the Orioles 4-1 Saturday to move into second place.

"The last couple of days we've been pulling for Milwaukee," Blue Jays Manager Cito Gaston said. "Now I think we'd like to see a split." Cone, 3-2 since being acquired from the New Yoi Mets, gave up four hits in seven innings. He struck out five Quarterback Mike Grant did his best, under tremendous pressure. But that's an accepted hazard of playing on the road. Nebraska might have adapted better than it did.

Even if the Pac-10 officials hadn't other to lead the Vols. But it was Tennessee's defense that n.ide the difference. The 14 points matched the low by Florida since the 45-3 Tennessee victory two years ago and the Gators didn't get that second touchdown until Daryl Frazier raced 48 yards after a forward lateral with 20 seconds left in the game against Vol substitutes. The Vols (3-0 overall, 2-0 SEC) got scoring runs of 11 and 8 yards from Shuler, one of 15 yards from James color; 4 in beyond the end zone. Still, Cornhusker fans can lament such plays all they want Officiating didn't cost Nebraska the game.

Washington's offense was diverse enough. It didn't need any help. Washington would have won despite such things. It's difficult to say exactly how a change in the flow of emotion affected the outcome. But the Huskies gave no indication their national ranking wasn't deserved.

With the victory, Washington took an important though largely symbolic, step toward winning a second consecutive national championship. The Seminoles (3-0 overall and in the Atlantic Coast Conference) had 13 yards of offense with about six minutes left in the opening half as the Wolfpack dominated early and led 3-0. But Ward, who threw his ninth interception of the season in the first quarter and missed on his first five passes, recovered in Florida State's final two drives of the half. Virginia 55, Ga. Tech 24 At Charlottesville, Virginia's J'" -W dl bases loaded to snap an eighth-inning tie at New York.

Pinch-hitter Kevin Bass led off the eighth with a triple off Jeff Fassero. The Mets then loaded the bases on Mel Rojas' walk to pinch-hitter Dar-ryl Boston and Mackey Sasser's fielder's choice grounder. Giants 3, Dodgers 0 Jeff Brantley and Bill Swift switched roles and stopped Los Angeles on five hits at San Francisco. ft fafr SEATTLE Nebraska was swept away in the emotion of a raucous Husky Stadium Saturday night 29-11 Even if Washington hadn't been helped by audience participation in the form of noise that deafened Nebraska's offense, the second-ranked Huskies almost certainly would have won. The capacity crowd of 73,333 was the largest for a non-conference game in Washington history.

And it created a din whenever the Cornhuskers had possession of the ball, short-circuiting an offense that relies heavily on changing plays at the line of scrimmage with audibles. Spurrier have come at Knoxville. "It was just like two years ago," Spurrier said. "We were beaten in every aspect of the game." Tennessee interim coach Phillip Fulmer, filling in for recuperating Johnny Majors, downplayed the long-term significance of the victory. "This win doesn't mean anything, except that we're on top of our division at this time," he said.

Quarterback Heath Shuler ran for two touchdowns and passed for an- Rookie Ayala lifts Reds By Associated Press Bobby Ayala sees one big difference between major league and minor league hitters these National League guys don't miss much. "They can go hit the ball when they want to," the Cincinnati Reds rookie starter said Saturday after getting his first major league win. You couldn't tell it by the San Diego Padres. They managed just eight hits in seven-plus innings as the 23-year-old pitcher led the Reds to a 5-2 victory at Cincinnati. Ayala pitched seven shutout innings and struck out six as a Reds rookie beat the Padres for a second straight day.

Tim Pugh beat them 4-2 on Friday as the two newcomers continue to leave a lasting September impression. "These kids have really pitched well," Manager Lou Piniella said. They're impressive, 111 tell you that It's not only positive for now, it's good for later." Ayala didn't allow a runner to reach third base until the eighth inning, when he gave up a walk and a single to Tony Fernandez. Steve Foster gave up an RBI groundout to Jim Vatcher and a run-scoring double to FredMcGriff. Rob Dibble pitched a perfect ninth, striking out two, for his 22nd save.

Astros 3, Braves 2 At Atlanta, Ernest Riles led off the 12th inning with his first home run of the season, leading Houston to its fifth By Associated Press Saturday was a repeat of an episode Florida football coach Steve Spurrier didnt care for the first time he saw it On his last visit to Knoxville, Spurrier stood helplessly on the sideline as Tennessee thrashed Florida by six touchdowns. On this rainy Saturday, the fourth-ranked Gators were upset 31-14 by No. 14 Tennessee. The only Southeastern Conference losses for Florida in 16 games under Shickley's win streak snapped Page 7D Sophomore Sibley sparks Concordia Page 2D Lincoln's Fleming flourishes on Team USA Page 3D Fishing license sales declining in Nebraska Page 8D Nil's ten Dense! wins in record time Page 1E COLR 'mm. -nr ASSOCIATED PRESS New York Mets catcher Todd Hundley shows that he has possession of the ball after a collision with Montreal's Spike Owen in the seventh inning Saturday at New York.

Owen was called out. Barry Bonds went 3-for-3 for the Pirates, who increased their NL East lead to five games over second-place Montreal. Pittsburgh, trying to become the first team since Philadelphia in 1976-78 to win three straight NL East championships, has won five of six 15 of 20 and is 34-13 since July straight victory. Atlanta has lost three straight, and its NL West lead over second-place Cincinnati was cut to 7Vi games. Doug Jones pitched three scoreless innings.

The game ended when left fielder Luis Gonzalez threw out pinch-runner Brian Hunter at home as Hunter attempted to score on Mark Lemke's single. Pirates 3, Phillies 0 At Pittsburgh, Doug Drabek continued his strong second half, winning his fourth straight start 30. Drabek, 14-10, improved to 7-3 over the second half and is 60-29 after the All-Star break in his career. Mets 7, Expos 5 Chico Walker singled with the See AL on page 50 1 See NL on page 50 a.