The Lincoln Star from Lincoln, Nebraska • 9

7 SUNDAY. OCTOBER 23. 1994 tames NU 9 MIKE BABCOCK Sports BY KEN HAMBLETON Lincoln Journal-Star Berringer of utmost importance SCC3IKS, TEUI STATS Nebraska 0 14 14 14 42 Missouri 0 0 0 77 NU Lawrence Phillips 5 run (Tom Sieler kick) NU Damon Benning 9 run (Sieler kick) NU Mark Gilman 1 pass from Brook Berringer (Darin Erstad kick) NU Brendan Holbein 30 pass from Berringer (Erstad kick) MU Rahsemu Jenkins 34 pass from Jeff Handy (Kyle Pooler kick) i NU Reggie Baul 43 pass from Berringer (Erstad kick) NU Benning 2 run (Erstad kick) A 50.537 i COLUMBIA. Mo. Matt Turman vas applauded by Nebraska fans, who turned the southwest corner of Faurot Field bright red, as he (t 1 U'- IP i I passed, right elbow cradled in his left hand, his jersey removed and his teammates putting the finishing NU MU 23 13 58-330 29-48 152 150 482 198 9-13-0 19-32-1 97 53 touches on a 42-7 victory against Missouri on Saturday.

First downs Rushes-yards Passing yards Total yards Passing Return yards Punts Fumbles-lost Penalties-yards Time of possession Third-down conversions Fourth-down conversions Minutes earlier, Turman's right shoulder was injured when he was -hit as he ran out of bounds. If the of ficials were to be believed, he had 2-1 9-75 31:31 8-14 1-1 3-1 5-50 28:29 5-14 0-0 crossed the line when the hit oc curred. it was an unfortunate circum stance in a season of unfortunate circumstances for the Cornhuskers. Turman had been sent into the game with four minutes remaining, after Brook Berringer survived the COLUMBIA, Mo. Never has so little variety produced so much for Nebraska as it did in a 42-7 victory Saturday over Missouri at Faurot Field.

"It's like Nebraska found one, two, maybe three plays, and kept at it, kept pounding, and we broke," Missouri defensive tackle Steve Martin said. "It's not that wild. You know, Colorado, Nebraska, even without a whole offense, are going to have a great day if you don't stop what they do." Nebraska (8-0) limited its offensive options to shield quarterback Brook Berringer, who was in danger of rein-juring his left lung that partially collapsed in games two and three weeks ago. As 1 So the junior quarterback was limited to handing off the ball, running bootleg keepers to the sidelines and passing. Berringer responded with his best passing performance ever 9-for-13 for 152 yards and three touchdowns.

A trio of NU backs, led by Lawrence Phillips with 110 yards, combined for 330 yards rushing. Those statistics don't include a Missouri fumble at the Nebraska goal line, a pass interception and a return to the Missouri 23-yard line by Barron Miles, three quarterback sacks and the third consecutive stifling total defensive effort. But still the question remains: Will that be enough for Associated Press No. 3 and USA TodayCNN No. 2 Nebraska this week at home against AP No.

2 and USA TodayCNN No. 3 Colorado? That game could decide the Big Eight championship and possibly a chance at the national title. "Brook can do it all, but we wanted to get through the game without getting hurt," Nebraska Coach Tom Osborne said. "Next week, he'll have to do it all. Next week, we can't sit on anything." The same is true defensively, according to Charlie McBride, NU defensive coordinator.

"We had one mistake that went for a touchdown, but this was a great game for our defense," he said. "We're developing into a good unit. You just hope you've done enough to be ready for the things we'll see next i-. Nebraska didn't exactly sit on its offense against 2-5 Missouri, but it Jirst 56 minutes without injury or a recurrence of the collapsed lung that has made his health an on-going concern. After victory was assured, that was Nebraska's goal, to get Ber-tinger through unscathed, by avoid ing something "like what happened Utah hands Colorado State its first lOSS.

Page 2B. Oregon surprises No, 9 Washington. Page 2B. Kicker rallies Oklahoma past Kansas. Page 3D.

Haddock helps Concordia beat Dana. Page 3D. Nebraska-Missouri color photo page. Page 12B. took a strong Cornhusker defensive effort to give the Nebraska offense a chance to get started.

After taking a 14-0 halftime lead. Nebraska struggled early in the third quarter. On the opening series after half-time. Berringer had a high pitch sail over Phillips' head, and Missouri recovered at the NU 10-yard line. MU tailback Brock Olivio burst off tackle to the 1-yard line, and Missouri appeared ready to cut Nebraska's lead in half.

MU tailback Joe Freeman was just about to cross the goal line when Miles slammed his helmet into Freeman's arm, knocking the ball loose. Please see NU on page 4B XYn'f! 10 Matt" Berringer said. WHEN TURMAN was injured. Berringer returned, for one play. Then he was replaced by freshman walk-on Monte Christo, who gave up a redshirt and sacrificed a season of Eligibility in the process.

That's how important Berringer is right now. It would have been foolhardy to leave him in, even for another minute, with the Colorado game at hand. The Cornhuskers' upcoming game against Colorado dictated )their offensive approach against the Tigers. Nebraska shelved the option in favor of protecting Berringer. And without the option component, Nebraska's offense isn't really Nebraska's offense, even though the Cornhuskers did gain 482 yards.

The 482 yards should be reason "for optimism among those who have been lamenting Nebraska's chances against Colorado since the day i ItDKIRKLWCOLNJOURNAL-SIAH Nebraska quarterback Brook Berringer (18) throws a completion to wingback Abdul Muhammad in the second quarter as Missouri linebacker Darryl Major leaps to defend. Tommie Frazier's season officially' Buffaloes get wish: 7-0 enteri BY MARK DEROWITSCH Lincoln Journal-Star game with 202 yards on 23 attempts, capped the drive with a 16-yard run. McCartney said the big play was bound to happen against Kansas State's blitzing "That's going to happen when you play a team that comes after you as strong as they did," he said. "It going to be famine, famine, famine, feast." Kansas State's offense was pretty much a feast until it got inside the CU 30. Quarterback Chad May shreaded the Buffaloes' defense with 356 yards passing.

But Colorado held Kansas State scoreless three times when the Wildcats Please see CU on page 3B "We needed to make something happen offensively there," Colorado Coach Bill McCartney said, explaining why he opted to go for it on fourth down. "We could not give them the ball back so quickly." On the next play, the senior raced 60 yards on an option to give the Buffaloes the lead for good. Stewart added a 7-yard touchdown run with eight seconds left to seal the win. The option game worked well in the third quarter, too, for Colorado. After Kansas State tied the game at 14-14 on J.

Smith's 22-yard run, the Buffaloes went 78 yards in five running plays to take the lead. Salaam, who finished the The Colorado running game in other words Salaam and Stewart made sure the Buffaloes headed to Lincoln, for the chance to take the lead in the Big Eight Conference with a perfect record. The two combined for 329 yards and all five touchdowns as the USA TodayCNN third-ranked and Associated Press second-ranked Buffaloes ended Kansas State's upset bid. It was all Stewart in the fourth quarter. With the game tied at 21-21 and Colorado facing a fourth-down-and-1 situation at the Colorado 29-yard line, Stewart extended the drive by picking up a yard on a sneak.

BOULDER, Colo. Colorado put its thoughts about Nebraska on hold until the very end of its game against Kansas State on Saturday. The Wildcats made sure of it But just minutes after Kordell Stewart sealed a 35-21 win with two fourth-quarter touchdown runs, talk about Saturday's game began. "We got what we wanted: We're 7-0, and we've got Big Red week coming," CU tailback Rashaam Salaam said. "That's what we like.

We're going to Nebraska." P5ED NU women prevail despite level of play 5 '1 BY STEVE SIPPLE Lincoln Journal-Star McNair replaces Detmer as NCAA total offense leader LORMAN, Miss. AP) Steve McNair ran past Ty Detmer to become the NCAA career leader in total offense, doing so while breaking his own Division I-AA single-game yardage record. McNair had 649 total yards Saturday against Southern, Division I-AA's top-ranked defense, to end Detmer's three-year stay atop the NCAA career list. After Alcorn State's 41-37 football victory, McNair has 1 came to an end. With Berringer healthy, and the option in place, the Cornhuskers should be a match for any opponent.

have been telling us we're not the same team with Brook ithat we were with Tommie. But that's not true," said Brendan Hol-iein, a sophomore split end. "The only thing we miss is a little bit of elusiveness." I What Nebraska gains Is a significant passing threat. Cornhusker Coach Tom Osborne described Berringer, earlier in the week, as having the potential to be the best pure passer Nebraska has had. Yet, he also has 4.6 speed in the 40-yard dash.

SATURDAY, BERRINGER used that speed to get out of bounds the few times he opted to run. But the jnost encouraging aspect of Ber-Tinger's performance was his passing 9-of-13 for 152 yards and three The first touchdown pass was a 1-yarder, to tight end Mark Gilman on fourth-and-goal. It depended more on surprise than execution. But the second and third touchdown passes should have sent a -warning to Colorado's secondary. iThe second went 30 yards to the third, 43 yards to Reggie Baul.

"He's got a nice touch, a nice spiral," said Holbein, who didn't break stride in making the catch. That touch was missing early in Jhe second quarter, when Baul ran away from cornerback Kevin Mcintosh only to have Berringer's pass float. it DESPITE THE understandable reluctance to run options, or maybe because of that reluctance, Nebraska showed why it shouldn't need anyone's sympathy when it lines up gainst Colorado on Saturday morning at Memorial Stadium. 'With a confident Berringer at Quarterback, the Cornhusker is about as diverse as "I think today Brook showed us a Jot," said Nebraska I-back Lawrence Phillips, who rushed for 110 jfards despite a sore thumb and 'without the threat of the option, file's confident The adjustment "period is over." If Berringer is healthy, and healthy, it'll be a tossup. If "not, well, Turman's status is.

in which means Berringer's backup could be a true freshman walk-on with only a couple of plays' experience. Then, Nebraska could be in dire straits. So what else is new? v- Jackie Nunez has instilled confidence in a team that finished 9-19 last season. "It's no longer acceptable to lose to Nebraska in four games," she said. Iowa State's goal Saturday was to push Nebraska to five games, Nunez said.

"If we would have won the first game, it would have been a one-game match in the fifth." she said. Iowa State probably should have won the first game. The Cyclones went up 9-4 on Sonya Van HeldenV kill, causing Pettit to call time out After five sideouts, Nebraska sophomore hitter Kate Crnich, who started in place of Maria Hedbeck on Saturday, served five straight points to pull the Huskers to 9-9. Iowa State went back up 10-9, but after three sideouts, Nebraska took the lead at 11-10 after two straight Cyclone passing errors. 15,049 total yards.

He has 4.025 yards and has accounted for 39 touchdowns (32 passing and seven rushing) for the 6-2 Braves this season. The senior quarterback broke Detmer's record of 14,665 yards on a 22-yard run on third-and-21 with 1:26 left in the first half of the Southwestern Athletic Conference game Saturday. McNair scrambled out of trouble, ran to the left sideline, cut back across the field and wasn't tackled until he had a Jt Nebraska, baffled at times by Iowa State's tips and roll shots, played below the caliber of a team ranked second nationally. But the Cornhuskers are indeed No. 2.

And often highly ranked teams prevail on off nights, which was the case Saturday in Nebraska's 15-11, 15-3, 9-15, 15-5 Big Eight Conference volleyball victory before 4,116 spectators at the NU Coliseum. "We're fortunate to have the talent to do that," Nebraska Coach Terry Pettit said. "But you can't do that very often." Nebraska is fortunate to have Allison Weston, a 6-foot junior middle blocker. She had match highs of 18 kills, four service aces and seven block assists as the Huskers improved to 19-0 overall and 6-0 in the league. In beating Iowa State for the second time in seven days, Nebraska won its 34th straight match at the Coliseum and extended the second-longest winning streak in school history.

Twenty-one straight accomplished in 1985, is the school standard. Nebraska failed to meet its lofty standards against Iowa State, which fell to 15-6 and 4-3. Weston said the Huskers came up short on defense, particularly in the way they handled the Cyclones' tips and roll shots. "We let way too many of those Weston said. She called them "routine plays we should be making." In the meantime, Iowa State played fearlessly, unlike a team that entered with an 0-44 record against Nebraska.

Apparently, second-year ISU coach 1 t- 1 OjVO ASSOCIATED PRESS Steve McNair first down and the record. The historic ball was presented to his mother. McNair led the way as Alcorn State came from behind twice in the last four minutes, scoring the winning touchdown on a 1-yard run with 10 seconds remaining. "Steve had a brilliant performance," Alcorn Coach Car-dell Jones said. "There are not enough superlatives to describe that young man.

He's a great player." Against Southern, McNair passed for 587 yards and four touchdowns, taking over second place on the Division I-AA career lists for passing yards (12.924) and touchdowns 107). He was 32-for-58 with one interception. "If there's a better player in this country, I don't know where he is" Jones said. "You might can go out of the universe and find one. But in this hemisphere, I'd say Steve is the greatest" McNair, playing in his 39th college game, broke his own I-AA single-game record of 647 total yards set Sept 10 at Tennessee-Chattanooga.

Detmer, the 1990 Heisman Trophy winner, picked up his yardage at Brigham Young from 1988-91. He still holds the NCAA career passing record with 15,031 yards but had a career total of minus-366 yards rushing. Notes Nebraska middle blocker Jen McFadden, who has been playing with a herniated disc in her back, started and played in two of the games, sitting out the second and fourth. She had eight kills. I Nunez's Cyclones lost in three games at Colorado Oct 8.

The Buffaloes, 6-0 in the Big Eight after winning the league last season, face the Huskers next Saturday in the Coliseum. "I told Terry I don't think (the Huskers) will have any problem (beating Colorado)," Nunez said. "He just kind of looked at me. Colorado is not nearly as good as they were last year. "That's my prediction that Nebraska will win handily." i Phenom-enal Stanford freshman volleyball player Kristin Folkl (above) and 14-year-old pro tennis player Martina Hingis (right) aren't letting age get in the way as they take on more experienced players on the court.

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