The Lincoln Star from Lincoln, Nebraska • 12

HUSKERS SUNDAY. OCTOBER 23. 1994 LINCOLN JOURNAL-STAR Colorado gets Tigers' nod against NU "Colorado's offense has the whole package, Nebraska's doesn't. But you know, if you don't stop those few plays, Nebraska will have a great day." MU defensive guard Steve Martin i few plays, Nebraska will have a great day. 1 ''The reason is.

Nebraska's best offense is its defense. Colorado has a better running game, and they also have passing. Nebraska is not impressive in passing. All they did was some play-action that caught us looking for the run." Martin said that Colorado's Ra-shaan Salaam is a faster running back than Nebraska's Lawrence Phillips. "Maybe Phillips was just taking it a little easy today he said.

Nebraska did not run many options, the play that has been an offesnive staple since the early 1980s. But a combination of Nebraska choosing to protect quarterback Brook Berringer from further injury and because Phillips had a sprained left thumb, led to Nebraska limiting its offense. "We weren't as worried about Nebraska when we knew they didn't have Tommie Frazier, said MU linebacker Travis McDonald. "And we didn't expect their quarterback today to be on the perimeter. But he got out there on some big plays and then got some big passes.

A III II 1 TED KIRK LINCOLN JOURNAL-STAR An official watches NU tight end Mark Gilman haul in a 1-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter. NU-MISSOURI NOTES Vj their defense mixed up, and we just shoved it between tackles. I think we stunned them a little bit" Missouri finished with 48 yards rushing. O'Neil said Nebraska's defense caused a number of problems for the Tigers. "Their defensive ends are very quick and they give you a lot of pressure every play," he said.

"We figured they'd rush too hard, then we'd step up in the offense and have time to throw, do a lot of things. "But they twisted their defensive tackles and up front it was hard to set up pass protection," he said. "And when we did get a drive going, we never were able to finish it Great teams like Nebraska keep pounding and pounding." Missouri defensive tackle Damon Simon added his side's frustration. "Defensively, you can't play a team like Nebraska all day long." NUCU next after Tigers are tamed Continued from page 1 NU linebacker Ed Stewart recovered in the end zone. "Obviously, we were very fortunate." Osborne said.

"That's a key to the second half." Nebraska was forced to punt, but the offensive frustration ended when Miles' interception set the Cornhuskers up at the Missouri 23. Five plays later, on fourth-and-1. Berringer hit the first of three second-half touchdown passes, connecting with tight end Mark Gilman. While Nebraska's defense limited Missouri to 24 yards of offense in the third quarter, the Cornhusker offense continued to cash ia Berringer hit a lonely Brendan Holbein on a 30-yard touchdown pass with 1:36 left in the third quarter and connected with a nearly abandoned Reggie Baul on a 43-yard scoring play to blow the game open. "The last three touchdowns should not have been scored," said Missouri Coach Larry Smith.

"I'm angry that we let ourselves get in that position. Some people thought the game was over. We can't play like we did in the fourth quarter." The change in Nebraska's offensive fortunes in the last 20 minutes was the result of persistence, Missouri linebacker Travis McDonald said. "How does that happen? They grind you up and make you make mistakes." Nebraska's offense didn't apply any pressure early in the game. The Cornhuskers had eight plays, two punts and 16 yards of total offense in the first quarter.

Defensively, Nebraska stopped a seven-play Missouri drive with a quarterback sack by Jason Pesterfield and a 10-play Tiger drive with back-to-back blitzes that forced poor pass attempts in the first The Cornhuskers finally broke out of their offensive doldrums with a 14-play. 92-yard scoring, drive that included 31 yards on three bootleg runs Nebraska I-back sophomore Lawrence Phillips tied a school record by rushing for 100 or more yards in eight straight games to start a season. The mark was set in 1950 by then-sophomore Bobby Reynolds. Phillips has 1,233 yards this season, 109 yards short of Reynolds' school sophomore rushing record (1,342) and only 320 shy of me Big Eight sophomore record (1,553) set by Oklahoma State's Thurman Thomas in 1985. Phillips' average of 154.1 rushing yards a game would be seventh-best in Big Eight history.

Of the top 10 per game averages in league history, only three failed to win NCAA rushing titles. Supreme Court justice Byron "Whizzer" White is ninth on the list with a 150.1 average in 1937 when he played for Colorado. Zach Wiegert, Nebraska's senior right tackle, is one of four Big Eight players that have been invited to play on the West team in Hula Bowl all-star game on Jan. 22, 1995. Also invited were: Iowa State center Tony Booth, Kansas guard John Jones and Colorado guard Tony Berti.

With 150 yards passing Saturday, Missouri's Jeff Handy needs 820 yards in the last four games to become the sixth Big Eight quarterback to pass for 2,000 yards in two different seasons. If he reaches the mark this year, Handy would be the league's only one of the six on the list not to accomplish the feat in consecutive seasons. Senior defensive tackle Terry SCORING SUMMARY NU-MU How Husker linebacker Ed Stewart (32) falls on a fumble in the end zone to thwart Missouri's first scoring threat early in the third period as NU's Tyrone Williams (8) and Mizzou's Vic Faust (36) look on. Huskers have few options in limited ro-style offense' KEN HAMBLETON Lincoln Journal-Star COLUMBIA. Mo.

Two weeks -ago. the crowd at Missouri's Faurot cheered the Tigers after a 38-23 loss to Colorado. Saturday afternoon, as Nebraska up a 42-7 mopping of Missouri, the crowd quietly filtered out of the stadium throughout the fourth 'quarter. In contrast. Missouri players, who talked proudly of outscoring Colorado 16-14 in the second half, talked boldly of how those same Buffaloes will beat Nebraska next week.

"I think it's totally a Colorado game," said Trey O'Neil. Missouri offensive tackle. "AH anybody can think about is how this game could have been 14-7 at the start of the second half, and that would have made this a lot different game. I don't think that Imakes Nebraska better than Colorado." Missouri defensive guard Steve Martin tempered his pick of Colorado. "Colorado's offense has the whole package; Nebraska doesn't," he said.

But you know, if you don't stop those One-armed man stays step ahead BY CURT MCKEEVER Lincoln Journal-Star COLUMBIA. Mo. Missouri's defense looked like "The Fugitive" against Nebraska on Saturday afternoon. The Tigers were constantly chasing a one-armed man. in this case, that man was Cornhusker I-back Lawrence Phillips, who despite not being able to use his left hand because of a severely sprained thumb he injured apainst Kansas Lawrence Phillips state, rushed for 110 yards.

"Lawrence is playing with one -arm," said NU Coach Tom Osborne, shaking his head as if to signal Phillips' performance impressed him. Saturday's effort gave Phillips his eighth consecutive 100-yard game. He joins Bobby Reynolds (1950) as the only player in Cornhusker history to open the season with eight straight 100-yard outputs. i.iThe last two weeks, especially, Jtiillips has been a marked man. "It's been a challenge, but if that's iwhat it takes, fine," he said, referring io the fact that he carried a large bulk pf Nebraska's no-frills offense against Kansas State and the Tigers to give quarterback Brook Berringer a better chance to heal his injured left lung.

"If I need to run the ball 50 times lor us to win, that's OK, too." Phillips now has rushed for 1,233 yards, which is the seventh best one-year total in Nebraska history. He's averaging 154.1 yards per game, 6.7 ards per carry and has scored 12 touchdowns. He scored the Cornhusk-ers'- first TD on a five-yard dash Saturday, giving him at least one rushing touchdown in each of the last seven games. Missouri, stacking the line similar to what Kansas State tried last week, held Nebraska without a first down on its opening two series. Phillips car-tied four times in between the tackles for seven yards.

But quarterback Brook Berringer picked up NU's initial first down on a 3-yard bootleg to the right side to fstart the second quarter and help the Cornhuskers get untracked. "They were expecting the same ame we played against Kansas State," Phillips said, "and once we got 6utside we were all right They were selling out to stop the run) and that's why our receivers were wide open." Berringer underthrew a wide open Reggie Baul on a second-quarter play ihat should have produced six points. J'hat. and an errant pitchout that resulted in a turnover, were about the only noticeable mistakes for the junior quarterback, who tossed three touchdowns while completing nine of 13 passes for 152 yards. "That's going to help our running ame with him throwing like that," 'hillips said.

Saturday, he had to overcome his Twn physical limitations. "I wasn't able to carry the ball in Jhe other arm. It kind of hurt me running to my left because I couldn't use my right arm to straightarm anyone," j'hillips said. But like the "one-armed man," Phillips was usually one step ahead. 4 PHILLIPS OH THE RUN Lawrence Phillips' a game-by-game rushing Art Yds TD West Virginia 24 126 0 Texas Tech 19 175 2 OCLA 19 178 1 fectfc 9 138 1 Wyoming 27 168 3 Oklahoma State 33 221 3 ft Kansas State 31 117 1 at Missouri 22 110 1 Total 184 1233 12 Career 2W 31 17 SO A.

Conneary spent most of the second half sleeping inside Nebraska's lock-erroom, the effects of flu symptons he came down with Friday night. "I woke up at 2:48 (a.m.) feeling like I was going to die, then disappointed I didn't," said, who watched the first half in street clothes from the NU sideline. Connealy said he was feeling better after the game and will be ready for Saturday's game against Colorado. Defensive tackle Damon Simon of Missouri, on slugging it out in the trenches: "You can't play a team like Nebraska all day." Nebraska I-back Damon Benning, on going against a Missouri defense geared to stop the run: "We knew we would see seven or eight guys in the box, but our blockers did a great job. They don't get the credit they deserve.

They came here today to outhit Missouri and I think that they did." NU linebacker Grant Wistrom, on the Cornhuskers' keeping their focus on Missouri before peeking ahead to Colorado: "I think that we are the type of team to take one game at a time. We put up 42 points and Missouri only (had) seven. I don't think that is looking forward to anything." Handy's 34-yard touchdown pass to Rahsetnu Jenkins was Missouri's longest play from scrimmage this season. NU quarterback Brook Berringer said he was 100 percent healthy on Saturday, although he had been bothered by pleurisy (an inflammation of the lung) during the week. scored Tim left.

Missouri Offense Rushing No. Yds. Brock ONvo 11 37 Joe Freeman 11 26 Ron Janes 2 10 Michael Washington 1 0 Jeff Handy 4 -25 Passing No Co. Yds Jeff Handy 29 19 150 Brandon Corso 3 0 0 Receiving No. Rahsetnu Jenkins.

8 Brian Sailee 6 Frank Jones 2 Lamont Franer 2 i Ron Janes 1 Brock Oftvo 1 Punting No. Yds. Kyle Pooler 9 358 Kickoff returns No. Rahsetnu Jenkins 3 Punt returns No. Clayton Baker 2 Defense Tackles UT AT Travis McDonald 4 12 Darryl Chatman 2 10 Demontie Cross 5 6 Andre White 2 7 Kevin 1 7 Kay Blake 1....

2 3 Chns Smgletary 3 1 Clayton Baker 2 2 Steve Martin 2 2 Darryl Maor 3 0 Jerome Madison 2 1 Damon Simon 2 0 Donnefl Jones. 1 1 Joe Love 1 1 Matt Murray 1 1 Brian Cracraft 0 2 John Saftey 0 2 Derrick Welts 0 2 Derrick Miner 1 0 Michael Washington 1 0 0 1 Kevn 0 1 Ave. 34 24 50 00 -63 PI 1 0 Yds. 90 38 15 5 1 1 Ave. 39 8 Yds 52 Yds.

1 16 12 11 9 8 5 4 4 4 3 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 NOTE Brenden Stai, on Colorado: "That's a big game. We probably -see the winner in the Orange Bowl, in the polls and in the news." "It's just that a lot of those things that happened to us in the second half shouldn't have happened. I think it was more us and not so much Nebraska," he said. Missouri free safety Andre White said he thought the Nebraska-Colorado game would be close. But like many of his teammates, he discounted the size of Nebraska's victory over the Tigers.

"Nebraska is a good football team, but they are not 42-7 good," White said. "We played these guys tough, and it changed the momentum of the game." Brock Olivo, reserve Missouri tailback, added that Tiger Coach Larry Smith let players know his disappointment. "It was pretty intense in the locker room. He said in the second half that we really didn't give it all" Olivo said. 'There were a lot of situations we should have capitalized on.

We had TED KIRK LINCOLN JOURNAL -STAR Zach Wiegert Brenden Stai think everybody played well," he said. "The running stuff took a while to get going. But you know Missouri started out pretty tough. "I think we'll be running more offensive plays, throwing a little more, running more options as our quarterbacks get healthier." Berringer said he had plenty of confidence in the offensive line to protect him. "I'm feeling pretty good, and I can thank the offensive line for that," he said.

"I don't think I was hit hard all day. I'm pretty healthy, and I'm over my pleurisy, now. "We won't hold anything back next week." SCHEDULES Nebraska (8-0) Aug. 2s Nebraska 31 West Virginia 0 Sept. 8 Nebraska 42.

Texas Teen 16 Sept 17 Nebraska 49. UCLA 21 Sept. 24 Nebraska 70. Pacific 21 Oct. 1 Nebraska 42.

Wyoming 32 Oct. Nebraska 32. Oklahoma State 3 Oct. 15 Nebraska 17, Kansas State 6 Oct. 22 Nebraska 42.

Missouri 7 Saturday Colorado. 11am (ABC) Nov. Kansas. 1pm. Nov.

12 ai Iowa State 1pm Nov. 25 at Oklahoma. 1 30 m. (ABC) Missouri (2-5) Sept 3 Tulsa 20 Missouri 17 Sept. 10 Minos 42.

Missouri 0 Sept. 17 Missouri 16, Houston 0 Oct. 1 West Virginia 34. Missoun 0 Oct. 8 Colorado 38.

Missouri 23 Oct. 15 Missoun 24. Oklahoma Stata 15 Oct. 22 Nebraska 42. Missouri 7 Saturday al Iowa State.

1 m. Nov. 5 at Oklahoma. 1 pm Nov. 12 Kansas State.

1 Nov. 19 t- Kansas, 1 m. Nov. 26 al Hawaii. 1 1 nt.

i in TED KfftKUNCOLN JOUflNAL-STAR runs back an interception in the second 7 mi at I 1 SECOND QUARTER Lawrence Phillips 5 run 11:15 Drive 92 yards in 14 plays Highlighted by Phillips 12 run, Cory Schlesinger 22 run. Conversion: Tom Sieler kicK. Damon Benning 9 run 6:00 Drive. 30 yards in 4 plays. Set up by 10 punt return by Reggie Ball Highlighted by 12 run by Jeft Makovicka.

Conversion: Sieler kick. THIRD QUARTER Mark Gilman 1 past from Brook Bemnger 4:5 Drive: 23 yards in 6 plays. Set up by Barron Mites interception and 27 return. Score came on fourth down Conversion Darin Erstad kick. Brendan Holbein 30 pass from Berringer 1:36 Drive: 54 yards 6 plays.

Highlighted by Clinton Chrids 13 run, Phillips 14 run. Conversion. Erstad kick. FOURTH QUARTER Rahsetnu Jenkins 34 pass from Jeff Handy 7:36 Drive: 66 yards in 8 plays. Highlighted by Frank Jones 10 pass from Handy.

Brian Sailee 8 pass from Handy. Conversion: Kyle Pooler kick. Baul 43 pass rrom Berringer 6:00 Drive: 72 yards 4 plays. Highlighted by ChUds 17 run. Conversion: Erstad kick.

Benning 2 run 1:23 Drive: 71 yards in 7 plays Highlighted by Matt Turman 21 run, foSowed by 15 personal foul penalty. Childs 17 run. Conversion: Erstad kick. by Berringer, four runs for 30 yards BY KEN HAMBLETON Lincoln Journal-Star COLUMBIA, Mo. Nebraska Coach Tom Osborne described his team's limited offense as a "pro-style offense." few options where the quarterback pitches to the tailback and few other "college-type" offensive plays were called because Osborne wanted to protect quarterback Brook Berringer and was limited by I-back Lawrence; Phillips' sore thumb.

'r "Not being able to run the option really restricted us," Osborne said. "We had to play more of a pro-style offense. I never liked the pro style. You end up standing around a lot during practice, and that is what we did the last couple of weeks just stood around like a pro Offensive tackle Zach Wiegert said the Huskers "probably had Missouri thinking they were going to see the same inside running game that Kansas State saw last week." Brenden Stai, NU offensive guard, added, "We were limited to 20 percent of our offense last week because of the quarterback situation. But we increased the mix enough that it was a little too much to expect from us," he said.

"What little we did, we did well. We just started out a little flat and then, we got going in the second quarter. I don't think anybody was looking ahead to Colorado. Anybody who thinks that is full of malarkey Stai said he thinks the Huskers are playing well enough right now to run anything they have to in order to win. "We're feeding off the success of our defense, and I think they're feeding off what we're doing," he said.

Nebraska offensive line coach Milt Tenopir said he was pleased with the offensive performance of the Cornhuskers. "We got a lot of people in, and I Nebraska cornerback Barron Miles third quarter, setting up th Huskers' 7-0 14-0 21-0 26-0 28-7 35-7 42-7 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS Nebraska Offense Rushing Mo. Yds. Lawrence Phillips 22 110 Clinton Childs 6 65 Damon Benning 10 39 Cory Schlesinger 5 35 Brook Berringer 5 23 Matt Turman 1 21 Jeff Makovicka 5 18 Brian Schuster 3 14 Abdul Muhammad 1 5 Passing No Co. Yds Brook 13 9 152 Receiving No.

Abdul Muhammad 2 Damon Benning 2 Mark Gilman 2 Reggie Baul 1 Brendan Holbein 1 Enc Afford 1 Punting J0. Yds. Darm Erstad 4 169 Kickoff returns No. Damon Benning. 1 Jeff Makovicka 1 Punt returns No.

KareemMoss 3 Reggie Baul 2 Ctmlon ChUds 1 Interception returns No. Barron 1 Defense Tackles UT AT Troy Dumas 2 5 Phil Elks 4 2 Christian Peter 3 3 Kareem Moss 2 3 Grant Wistrom 3 1 Barron Miles 2 2 DougCofrnan 1 3 Enc Stokes 0 4 Leslie Dennis 2 1 Ed Stewart 2 1 Tony 1 2 Ont Brown 1 2 Jared Tormch 1 2 Jason 2 0 Scott Sartsman 0 2 Ryan Terwger 0 2 Jamel Williams 1 0 Tyrone WiHiams 1 0 Damon Benning 0 1 OmtonChiids 0 1 Dwayne Harris. 1 0 Donta Jones 0 1 Octavous McFartin 0 1 Ave. 50 108 39 70 46 21 0 36 47 5.0 PI 0 Yds. 23 20 7 43 30 29 Ave.

423 Yds. 16 10 Yds. 17 24 3 Yds 27 TT 7 6 6 5 4 4 4 4 3 3 3 3 3 2 2 2 by fullback Cory Schlesinger and six carries for 31 yards between tackles for 1-back Philips. Phillips finished the drive with a Si-yard run behind guard Brenden Stai. Nebraska stuffed Missouri again, and after a 10-yard punt return by Baul and a personal foul penalty on the Tigers, the Cornhuskers started on the Missouri 30-yard line.

Reserve fullback Jeff Makovicka ran for 12 yards, and Berringer hit Gilman on a short pass to set up a 9-yard touchdown run by I-back Damon Benning with eight minutes left in the first half. "Sometimes, there's a temptation to get a 14-0 lead and pack it in," Osborne said. "But we played hard the whole game. We also had some fortune go our way." Nebraska also had some misfortune. Backup quarterback Matt Tur-man was hit out of bounds with 2:23 left in the game and suffered a sprained right shoulder joint that could keep him out for up to three weeks.

That forced Monte Christo into the game, ending his chance at a redshirt season. "We just get out of the woods with Brook getting healthy, and we're back in them with Matt's injury." Osborne said. Still. Osborne was pleased with his team's performance and is ready to start preparations for Colorado. "I peeked at them a little, and we're looking forward to playing them," Osborne said.

We're as ready as we can be." Berringer said he's looking forward to Colorado, too. "We showed we can run the last couple of weeks," he said. "We showed we can throw today. Add in some options, and we're at the full offense again." Then Berringer added jokingly: "You know there's some pressure on us because our defense is playing so great We have to live up to their standards now.".