The Lincoln Star from Lincoln, Nebraska • 35

Lincoln Journal-Star SUNDAY. NOVEMBER 8, 1992 Arizona does trick this time, knocking off Huskies TUCSON. Ariz. (API Earlier this seasnn Arizona's Steve McLaughlin just missed a last-second, 51-yard field goal that would havd beaten top-ranked Miami. On Saturday, he cot another chance apninst who usually is replaced for several series by backup Billy Joe Hobert, played the entire game.

Hobert was suspended Thursday for taking $50,000 in loans from the father-in-law of a golfing partner. Arizona took control of the game with a 17-play, 74-yard drive that started in the third quarter and didn't end until McLaughlin's 20-yard field goal gave the Wildcats a 6-3 lead -II. in. net 1 1 1 a No. 1 football team.

This time, he didn't miss. McLaughlin kicked three field goals, and Arizona's "Desert Swarm" defense shut down Washington as the No. 12 Wildcats stunned the likely to regain the No. 1 ranking. Last season, Washington and Miami split the two mythical national titles.

"We were determined to prove that the Miami game wasn't a fluke," Arizona fullback Billy Johnson said. "Coach (Dick) Tomey told us we shouldn't be surprised to beat Washington. We ust had to raise our level of play a little." Washington, which was averaging 29 points per game, never reached the end zone against Arizona's dominating defense, the nation's stingiest against the run. The Huskies' only points came on a 24-yard field goal by Travis Hanson in the third quarter. "We have not lost in so long that this loss hurts real, real bad," Washington linebacker Dave Hoffman said.

Arizona, which improved to 6-2-1, held the Huskies to 90 yards rushing, less than half their average, and limited 8-1 Washington to its lowest point total since a 31-3 loss to Brig-ham Young in 1985. Nobody appreciated the defensive effort more than Arizona quarterback George Malauulu, who lost four fumbles, had two passes intercepted and injured his shoulder in last year's 54-0 loss to Washington. "Every time the defense came off the field waving their arms in the air, it lifted us," said Malauulu, who scored the game's only touchdown on a 1-yard keeper with 48 seconds left. McLaughlin provided most of the offense with his three field goals a 34-yarder in the first quarter and a pair of fourth-quarter kicks covering 20 and 30 yards. "It wasn't a matter of redemption (for the Miami game) or anything like that," McLaughlin said.

"My roommate and I said to each other all week that we were definitely going to win the kicking game, and we did." The victory, Arizona's fifth in a row after a 1-2-1 start, kept alive the Wildcats' slim hopes for a Pacific-10 title and a Rose Bowl berth. It was the first Pac-10 defeat for Washington in 15 games, dating back to a 34-32 loss at Arizona State in 1989. Washington quarterback Mark Brunell, Huskies 16-3. The loss snaDDed Washington's 22-pame Willi 16. OO IClb 111 UiC gdiue.

Brunell fumbled the snap on Washington's next possession, and Arizona's Jim Hoffman recovered at the Huskies' 20. Four plays later, McLaughlin kicked his third field goal to put the Wildcats ahead 9-3. winning sireaK and almost certainly ended the Huskies' bid for a national championship. No. 2 Miami, which didn't play Saturday and edged Arizona 8-7 earlier in the season, is 1 i- A is jS 1 1 1 i.J-.rj wild on Irish thump Eagles.

Page 2E. i Wesleyan wins. Page 3E. Hurdle was too high for I Kansas. Page 10E.

ers to explain, too, even though Nebraska has beaten KU 24 times in a row by an average of 46-7. Consider that NU's first touchdown was a nearly blown play and the sec? ond touchdown was a play made up on the spot. "We were still disjointed as heck," he said. "We had two or three plays that were brought in wrong or called wrong. The first touchdown pass was" a disaster, not even close to the play that was called.

How it worked 111 never know. "We had several plays like that." Despite the fact the play was a "disaster," freshman Frazier faked to the I-back and hit tight end Gerald Armstrong on a 36-yard touchdown pass with the game a minute and a half old. On the first play of the second quarter, Frazier hit Armstrong again crossing from east to west in the end-zone to that point, Armstrong had six catches all for touchdowns this year to put Nebraska ahead 14-0. Less than two minutes later, By Ken Hambteton Lincoln Journal-Star A week ago, somebody in the Nebraska offensive huddle giggled, "Happy Halloween, Colorado." This week, somebody in Nebraska's offensive huddle said, "Welcome to the Big Eight." "And we all laughed," Nebraska quarterback Tommie Frazier said. "It wasn't mean.

It wasn't mocking. We were just trying to keep the mood light." That mood couldn't have been darker or more foreboding for Kansas as Nebraska demolished the Jay-hawks 49-7 Saturday before a crowd of 76,165 fans and a national television audience. For the second week in a row, Nebraska ruined the hopes of a Big Eight contender and a nationally ranked football team on ESPN. Last week, it as a 52-7 victory over then-No. 8 Colorado.

This time, the toughest stand besides Nebraska were the greased goal posts that refused to come down after the Cornhuskers dispatched No. 13 Kansas, considered by NU Coach Tom Osborne the biggest threat to the Cornhuskers' Big Eight title this year. "The last two weeks have been a little hard for me to explain," Osborne said. It's kind of hard for the Cornhusk- 1W i1 TED KIHKUNCOLN J0UHNAL-6TAR NU's Calvin Jones (44) races for his 5-yard touchdown. Kansas defenders are Gilbert Brown (93), Don Davis (39) and Dana Stubblefield (71).

istory ofKU series made this week different Scoring, team stats Kansas 0 7 0 0 7 Nebraska 7 28 14 0 49 NU Armstrong 37 pass from Frazier (Bennett kick) NU Armstrong 1 1 pass from Frazier (Bennett kick) NU Dixon 46 pass from Frazier (Bennett kick) KU Douglas 4 run (Eichloff kick) NU C. Jones 5 run (Bennett kick) NU C. Jones 6 run (Bennett kick) NU Byrd 30 interception return (Bennett kick) NU Lewis 5 run (Bennett kick) A 76,287. Mike rL Babcock Columnist a longshot, the Cornhuskers probably belong in the race for the mythical national championship The adage is, if a team is going to lose and still contend for a national title, it has to lose early. A loss now is much more costly than a loss in the third game of the season.

Nebraska still has three games to play, all of them away from home, and there are too many teams ahead of the Cornhuskers in the national rankings for a serious discussion of national titles. But circumstance has a lot to do with the process. A team just needs to be good enough to capitalize if all the right things happen. Nebraska is good enough now. The Cornhuskers could hold their own against just about any team ahead of them in the rankings.

I say "just" because I'm not certain they could beat Miami in the Orange Bowl, which is the only way they could play the Hurricanes. But Nebraska-Miami on a neutral field would be a good match. In the past 24 seasons, a lopsided victory against Kansas wouldn't produce such speculation. But the Jayhawks aren't that bad. Honest.

By the way, what was the final score? Nebraska might be underrated. The Cornhuskers have defeated nationally ranked opponents back-to-back by a combined score of 101-14. This doesn't look like the Nebraska team of a couple of weeks ago, the team that struggled at Missouri, and certainly not the team that lost at Washington in the third game of the season. One difference is freshman Tommie Frazier, who showed again Saturday night that he has a strong, and accurate, right arm, as well as unique skills in running the option. Coach Tom Osborne's option offense is hardly conservative with Frazier at quarterback.

Osborne says quarterbacks get too much credit when things go right and too much blame when things go wrong. But his team's turnaround has coincided with Frazier's emergence as the starter. Another difference is a rejuvenated and, it seems, more enthusiastic defense. Nebraska's defense has a killer instinct. The Cornhuskers are aggressive and physical.

Whatever the reasons, Nebraska looks like it belongs in the Top 10. And although, admittedly, By the end of the third quarter of Saturday night's Nebraska-Kansas football game I'd seen enough. So I did what I've always wanted to do in such situations I left. The score was 49-7. It was ugly, not to mention boring.

That opinion was shared by many. The sidewalks outside Memorial Stadium were crowded with people who also had seen enough. It was different last week, according to one Nebraska fan. "People stayed until the bitter end," he said. He didn't mean "bitter" literally.

Watching the Cornhuskers defeat Colorado 52-7 was the opposite of bitter. Nebraska fans "wanted more." The difference was, the Cornhuskers weren't 0-2-1 in their last three games against Kansas. In fact, Nebraska's 24 consecutive victories against the Jayhawks rank second on the list of "most consecutive current wins over a major opponent," according to the "Official 1992 NCAA Football" guide and record book. First on the list, with 29, is Notre Dame against Navy. Third, with 23, is Nebraska against Kansas State.

And so it goes. Saturday night's game followed the pattern that has been established since Kansas last won against Nebraska in 1968. 23-13. During the 1980s, Nebraska's dominance of the Jayhawks was such that a song in Nebraska included the refrain "Nebraska 67, Kansas 1." Though an exaggeration, such was the Jayhawks' futility. This season was supposed to be different.

Kansas was off to its best start since 1968, at 7-1 with a No. 13 national ranking. The Jayhawks were supposed to offer a challenge. But they didn't. Some perhaps many will conclude that Kansas was overrated.

At the risk of being accused of provincialism, I choose to think that KU NU First downs 17 26 Rushes-yards 40-128 62-351 Passing yards 145 182 Total yards 273 533 Return yards 5 40 Passing 11-30-2 8-15-0 Punts Fumbtes-tost 0-0 2-0 Penalties-yards 5-42 6-64 Time of possession 27:16 32:44 Third-down conversions 4-15 4-14 Fourth-down conversions 0-1 3-4 NU volleyball team dismantles 1 Oth-ranked Texas with ease By Steve Sipple Lincoln Journat-Star Nebraska volleyball coach Terry Pettit said his team's 15-2, 15-11, 15-2 rout of Texas Saturday afternoon was somewhat misleading and very surprising. "If we played again (today), it could be a tossup," Pettit said. jf i Success dip However, this match, Texas, ranked 10th by Volleyball Monthly and 12th in the coaches' poll, caught fourth- and fifth-ranked Nebraska on a day when the Cornhuskers played well in every phase of the IT jK iinr Nikki Strieker A 1- the thing we have to go with that is we're close to being a great defensive team," Pettit said. Having Thater also helps. The Union, native became Nebraska's all-time block leader when she and Strieker combined on a point-ending block for the Cornhuskers' first point of Game No.

2. She entered the match needing four to pass Virginia Stahr's total of 555, compiled from 1986-89. It was a tough weekend record-wise for Stahr. She was the one whom Shannon passed Friday night. For Nebraska, Saturday's match capped a challenging week.

On Wednesday, the Cornhuskers earned a five-game road win against Big Eight foe Colorado (ranked 13th and 17th), clinching at least a share of the league regular-season title. On Friday night they beat Texas Tech 15th and 17th) in three games. Next up are two tough tests Friday and Saturday at Los Angeles first against Southern Cal (10th and 11th), then against top-ranked UCLA. The Bruins beat NU in four games in September 1991 before an NCAA-record 11.032 fans at the Devaney Sports Center. "Now, it's our chance to go out there and show them what we got" Strieker said.

"It will be really interesting. I hope we play as well as we did today." Note In Saturday' other match, 19-6 Texas Tech beat unranked Wichita State (23) 15-13. 1512, 15-9 behind 5-11 middle blocker Erica Ruegg's 17 kills hitter from Grand Island, had a kill and two service aces for points in that stretch. She finished with a match-high four service aces. The 21-4 Longhorns fell behind in each game.

They trailed 5-0 in the second and 9-0 in the third. "We didn't start very well in any of the games," Texas Coach Mick Haley said. "When you get behind, you're always playing without a full deck." Saturday, the Southwest Conference power was often playing without a full deck against a team with an "assassin." At least that's how Pettit described junior setter Nikki Strieker's attitude in the final game. Pettit said his team passed well, allowing Strieker to set the ball in prime positions. "We got Nikki the ball so she could execute," Pettit said.

"In the third game, she was like an assassin. It was like she said, We aren't going to let them back in the match, and I'm going to guarantee it' Strieker, a Lincoln East graduate, finished with 39 set assists in guiding Nebraska to a .319 hitting mark. Texas hit minus .040. Eileen Shannon, the 6-foot senior hitter who became Nebraska's all-time kill leader in Friday's win against Texas Tech, added 11 kills. Allison Weston and Luther chipped in nine apiece.

Weston, a 6-foot freshman hitter from Papillion-La Vista, hit a mere .818. Anything over .300 is considered good. Nebraska had 22 block assists and two solos. Texas' blocking numbers were six and one. "We are a great blocking team, but for upland game opener Page 9E Jensen tournament to draw crowd Page 5E Report says Seati'3 chooses PinicHa Page 6S Omaha native keeps golf load Page6E Kick erased pain for LHS player Page7E Shickley still hs a volleyball Page 7E game.

A tossup? Far from it Playing in the finale of the Arby's Classic, Nebraska tossed around Texas before 3,572 spectators at the NU Coliseum. "We played great, what can I say?" asked Pettit, who praised everyone from his assistant coaches to AU-American middle blocker Stephanie Thater, a 6-foot-2 senior who recorded a match-high 13 kills while adding nine block assists and one solo block. This against a team that started no players less than 6-foot and three players 6-2 or taller. It didn't matter. The Cornhuskers quickly cut the Longhorns down to size.

Nebraska, which improved to 18-2, bolted to an 84 lead in the first game. Junior Laura Luther, a 6-foot outside 1 QA-FOIDMJNCOUI JOURNAL-STAR Nebraska's Stephanie Thater (2) goes up for an attack over Texas' Katy Jameyson. Thater set NU's all-time block mark. a en JH.