The Lincoln Star from Lincoln, Nebraska • 34

1 4D HUSKERS SUNDAY, OCTOBER 30. 1094 LINCOLN JOURNAL-STAR T7V McCartney can't explain CU problems H. COLORADO DEFENSE AT A GLAKCE ft again, you have to credit Nebraska. When we had the wind (in the first quarter), we didnt take advantage. We squandered it" i The Cornhusker defense stymied a previously explosive Colorado of-r-fense.

Gam-by-game totals Passing Rushing Ydt NE Louisiana 255 148 258 270 rWe didn't block, the vv i'-V a ouizes, McCartney said. 1'We practiced for Com 25 14 "17 19 28 I- 19 24 .12 NE Louisiana at Michigan i at at Missouri Kansas at Nebraska Alt 37 46 ''41 22 20 35 31 i 53 285 1 Yd 64 264 157. 50 61 40 72 203 S01 An 37, 31 24 38' 46 38 41 17 253 0 4 0 4 A I I lit 81 at Missouri Oklahoma Kansas at Nebraska Totala eVv-' 299 225 363 142 1958 the things they were doing, but maybe their quickness was some-, thing we couldnt simulate in practice. They have great quickness defensively, and that kept us a little out of sync. When we had the ball I didn't feel like we were ever hitting on all Totala 158 knocking us out of there," he sairj.

"Ill "It was like the holes would open, and then they would close all of a sud- have to look at the films and see if I BY RYLY JANE HAMBLETON Lincoln Journal-Star There was one simple reason why Colorado had problems Saturday against Nebraska, according to CU Coach Bill McCartney. Nebraska. "Other than Nebraska's fine play, I dont have any explanation for why we didn't play better," McCartney said after his Buffaloes were beaten 24-7. "You have to give credit to the Cornhuskers. They did the things we had worked against on both sides of the ball.

We anticipated a lot, but we just couldn't stop it "This is a great place to play a football game, and the crowd was perfect The Nebraska players responded to the' situation. I'm going to try and study it and find some explanation for why we didn't play better." Nebraska took control from the outset, taking a 17-0 halftime lead while holding Colorado to just one first-quarter first down and only 89 yards of total offense in the first half. "We didn't have much field position, obviously, but when we did get the ball, we didn't do the things we thought we could do in this game, and cylinders. I never felt like we were in tvwiuciB. i iicvci icu line ncic ui see something different but I didn't a rhythm.

I never felt like we got in ni hf pla.y ng; 6 it just that they were doing a lot of just that they feel like we were just being assaulted. sync. If you give them the ball, they are going to wear you down. "Nebraska is the best team we've played to date, and I dont see any reason they shouldn be No. I.

(Brook) Berringer made enough plays and did enough things. It is pretty easy to see their offense is still strong with him in there. things to stop us." Cornerback Chris Hudson said the Nebraska offensive line kept Colorado's line from interrupting the flow of NU'soffense. "Give their line credit We have a great defensive line, and we just couldn't get to them," Hudson said. McCartney said he would reserve judgment until he saw the films.

"Their offensive line blocked well, but I didn't think they were just "When we threw the ball, we were just a little bit off balance, and when we ran the ball, we didnt sustain the blocks as long as we needed. That is the speed and quickness of the Nebraska team. Their quickness charging up the field bothered our passing game, and we just didn't play with the same authority." Quarterback Kordell Stewart said Nebraksa also upset ClTs running game. TED KIRKUNCOLN JOURNAL-STAR Former Heisman Trophy winner and ex-Dallas Cowboys quarter "We can speculate on any number of things, but what we ought to specin back Roger Staubach signs an autograph for a fan outside Me- monai btaaium on oaturaay. late on is that Nebraska outplayed us.

WHAT OTHERS SAID Buffaloes tailback Rashaan Salaam and NU outside linebacker Donta Jones were selected players of the game by ABC-TV. They may have played too well. Penn State's victory became so onesided in the third quarter that ABC switched much of the nation to the Nebraska now leads the series with Colorado 37-14-2 and is 9-3-1 since Bill McCartney became the Buffs head coach in 1982. his li seasons at Nebraska, Coach Tom Osborne is 18-3-1 against Colorado. Of the nine Butkus Awards that have been given out, four have gone to Big Eight linebackers, including to NU's Trev Alberts last year.

This season, Ed Stewart of Nebraska and Ted Johnson of Colo NU-C0L0RAD0 NOTES Nebraska l-back Lawrence Phillips had his school-record string of consecutive 100-yard rushing games snapped at eight. But with 1,319 yards on the season, he passed Derek Brown (1,313 yards in 1991) for fifth place on NU's season rushing list. Ahead of him on the Nst are Mike Rozler (2.148 in 1983 and 1,689 in 1982), Clark (1,497 in 1988) and Bobby Reynolds (1 ,342 in 1950). He now trails Reynolds' school 'sophomore rushing record by only 23 yards with three games to play. Colorado faced fourth-and-10 at the CU 42-yard line with nine minutes left in; the third quarter when quarterback Kordell Stewart was hit by NU linebacker Troy Dumas, linebacker Phil Ellis and defensive tackle Christian Peter and was eventually tackled by defensive tackle Terry Connealy for a 7-yard loss.

Connealy then caught Stewart for a 3-yard loss when the Buffs faced fourth-arid-2 on their next series. This was the 10th game to match two Big Eight teams that were rated in the Associatd Press top five at the time of the game. With Saturday's win, Nebraska is 3-6 in such games and Colorado 1-1. rado are among the 13 semifinalists. If CU tailback Salaam leads the nation in rushing, scoring and all- purpose yards at the end of the sea son, he would become only the 1 1th player in NCAA history and third Big OALFOU.LmCOU.JOURNALTAH tight player to accomplish the teat.

NU's Lawrence Phillips scoots through the line for a 3-yard gain on the second play of the game. The other two were Oklahoma State's Barry Sanders (1988) and Colorado's Byron "Whizzer" White (1937). CU quarterback Stewart now has 1,119 yards rushing and 5,890 yards passing. He and Missouri Phil Bradley are the only Big Eight players to amass at least 1,000 rushing yards and 5,000 passing yards in a career. OSBORNE VS.

MCCARTNEY AP rating after game Nebraska 6, Colorado NR Nebraska 1 Colorado NR Nebraska 3, Colorado NR Nebraska 5, Colorado NR Nebraska 9, Colorado NR Nebraska 5, Colorado NR Nebraska 7, Colorado NR Colorado 2, Nebraska 6 Colorado 4, Nebraska 13 Nebraska 11, Colorado 14 Nebraska 7, Colorado 16 Nebraska 6, Colorado 23 Year Site Result 1982 Boulder Nebraska 40, Colorado 14 1983 Lincoln Nebraska 69, Colorado 19 1984 Boulder Nebraska 24, Colorado 7 1985 Lincoln Nebraska 17, Colorado 7 1986 Boulder CokVado 20, Nebraska 10 1987 Boulder Nebraska 24, Colorado 7 1988 Lincoln Nebraska 7, Colorado 0 1989 Boulder Colorado 27, Nebraska 21 1990 Lincoln Colorado 27, Nebraska 12 1991' Boulder Colorado 19, Nebraska 19, tie 1992 Lincoln Nebraska, 52, Colorado 7 1993 Boulder Nebraska 21, Cotof ado 17 1994 Lincoln Nebraska S4, Colorado 7 Miami-Virginia Tech game. In the final analysis, however, the Cornhuskers covered a lot of ground Saturday. But it isn't the nature of Tom Osborne to brag, so his players did their best within the confines of polite discourse. Only offensive tackle Zach Wiegert resorted to sarcasm. "We won the big game," Wiegert said.

"So I guess no one can give us a hard time for a couple of weeks." Ivan Maisel, Newsday Who's No. Well, Nebraska can tell you who's not. It definitely isn't Colorado, which left Memorial Stadium in a daze after the Cornhuskers' 24-7 victory Saturday put a sweat sock in the mouths of everyone who considered Nebraska a national championship afterthought 'They did at will whatever they wanted to," Colorado defensive tackle Darius Holland said. So thorough was the defeat that you could have given the Buffaloes a fifth sixth even seventh down, as well as a rosary full of Hail Marys, and it wouldn't have mattered. About the only miracle for Colorado was that nobody got hurt as jubilant Nebraska fans stormed the field and tore down the uprights and took an ABC mini-cam with them.

Gene Wojclechowskf, Los Angeles Times Two quarterbacks. One looking for redemption, the other needing to prove himself worthy of directing a 1 national championship contender. Colorado quarterback i Kordell Stewart sought to guide- his' team through a final step in a mine field of six consecutive games against ranked teams. Nebraska quarterback Brook Berringer was starting the biggest game of his career, a career that was never supposed to be more than auxil- iary. Berringer's steady and heady play directed the Cornhuskers to a domir nating victory.

With Berringer fully recovered from a collapsed lung, Coach Tom Os- i borne took the wraps off his offense. I The Cornhuskers used the full pack-" age the option (running back Lawrence Phillips had 86 yards on 25 carries) and the passing game. Tight ends Eric Alford and Mark Gilman combined for nine catches and 124 yards; Nebraska tight ends had totaled 15 receptions in the first eight games. Stewart, a senior and long-shot Heisman Trophy candidate, was ineffective. Colorado failed on 11 third-down and four fourth-down conversion attempts.

Stewart was 2-for-6 for 7 yards as the Buffaloes fell behind 17-0 at halftime. In three losses to Nebraska, Stewart is a combined 23 of 64 for 282 yards, no touchdowns and three interceptions. "We weren't Colorado today," said Stewart Wendell Barnhouse, Fort Worth Star-Telegram TED KIRKUNCOLN JOURNAL-STAR Colorado tailback Rashaan Salaam (19) gets past NU's Leslie Dennis (2) on a 41 -yard gain in the third quarter. SCORING SUMMARY, PHILLIPS ON RUN Lawrence Phillips' game-by-game rushing SALAAM ON RUN Rashaan Salaam's game-by-game rushing i How scored Tim left NU-CU 7-0 Att Ydt TO NE Louisiana 24 184 3 Wisconsin. 26 85 4 at 22 141 2 at Texas 35 317 1 at Missouri 28 166 2 Oklahoma 25 161 4 Kansas State 28 202 2 at Nebraska 22 134 1 210 1390 19 A Yds TO x-West Virginia 24 126 0 at Texas 19 175' 2 UCLA 19 178 1 9 138 1 Wyoming 27 168 3 Oklahoma State 33 221 3 at Kansas State 31 117 1 at Missouri 22 110 1 Colorado 25 86 0 Total 209 1319 12 Career 291 1817 17 A note to the wise guy who went to the trouble of reminding Brook Berringer that Nebraska's quarterbacks this season have enjoyed a shelf life only slightly longer than a carton of milk.

Thanks. For nothing. Berringer never saw the siga Yet for all of Saturday, the huge banner sat draped over a low concrete wall in the southeast corner of Memorial Stadium, just behind the Nebraska bench, in a place where Berringer and the rest of his teammates could hardly miss it The sign read: "Quarterback. We don't need no stinkin' quarterback." Just moments after proving exactly the opposite was true, Berringer took a seat behind a battery of microphones about 100 yards from the Nebraska locker room. Smiling confidently, he was still basking in the glow of a 24-7 win over Colorado and an individual line that read: 12 of 17 completions, 142 yards, one touchdown, one interception.

But there was still the matter of that holdout misguided as he might be, the well-meaning homer who had spent the morning and a couple of bucks on the banner. "I didnt see it" Berringer admitted, the broad smile narrowing to a sheepish grin. "I hope everyone is convinced now. I think that I've put all the doubts if there were any left aside." Jim Litke, Associated Press This was college football stripped like an abandoned car of any ornament or excess; a game distilled to the smash-mouth essence of beefy linemen, who looked as if they were inflated for the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade. What Nebraska did to inept Colorado in Saturday's 24-7 victory was not particularly attractive or even imaginative, but it was devastating to the Buffaloes' national title hopes, not to mention the Heisman Trophy candidacies of the panicked quarterback Kordell Stewart and the handcuffed running back Rashaan Salaam.

What the Cornhuskers did was to overwhelm Colorado's backpedaling defense with an offensive line that averages 6-foot-4 in height and 295 pounds in weight and opens holes wide enough for a homecoming float to drive through. Nebraska won the old-fashioned way against a team with which it had shared second and third place in various polls with a dominant line, a punishing fullback and tight ends who found enough time between blocks to catch nine passes and a touchdown. It didn't hurt that Colorado's arm-tackling was so half-hearted that, at times, it might have been mistaken for square dancing. Jere Longman, New York Times Just three weeks ago, it looked like the Nebraska Cornhuskers would be snapping the ball directly to the I-back they were fresh out of quarterbacks. Their premier player, Tommie Frazier maybe the best player on the team, the man who had won 20 of 23 starts was out for the season with a second blood clot in his right leg.

His backup. Brook Berringer, suffered a partially collapsed lung in consecutive games. -A walk-on player, Matt Turman, went to the sideline the next week with a bruised shoulder. That elevated a freshman, Monte Christo, who was so shocked at being called upon, he couldnt find his mouthpiece. Jit this point Tom Osborne's backups were a wingback, a converted receiver and a converted student manager.

A national championship was looking pretty remote, but the student manager came through. The kid's real name is Andy Kucera, but everybody knows him as "Rudy" because he came in to mop up in a 70-21 drubbing of Pacific. Some of us presumed Osborne's pursuit of an elusive national championship was shot before the real chase began. Some of us were wrong. Michael Wilbon, Washington Post With every touchdown Saturday, the Penn State Nittany Lions appeared to be playing the Nebraska Cornhuskers on the field of public 10-0 17-0 FIRST QUARTER Cory Schleslnger 14 run 5:47 Drive: 51 yards in 8 plays.

Highlighted by Lawrence Phillips S. 4, 6 runs, Schlesinger 5 run, Brook Berringer 9 pass to Mark Gilman, Bernnger 1 1 run. Conversion: Tom Sieler kick. SECON0 QUARTER Sieler 24 field goal I 9:01 Drive: 54 yards 10 plays. Set up by Andy Mitchell 25 punt to NU 40.

Hrah- lighted by Schlesinger 29 run, Phillips 7, 14, 4 runs, Bernnger 4 pass to Eric Alford. Clinton Child 2 run 0:36 Drive: 73 yards 9 plays. Set up by NeH Voskerttchtan missed Held goal. Highlighted by Phillips 5 run, Bernnger 15 pass to Alford. Berringer 16, 15 passes to Gilman, Berringer 12 pass to Abdul Muhammad.

Conversion: Sieler Kick. THIRD QUARTER Berringer 30 pus to Afford 10:42 Drive: 69 yards in 7 plays. Highlighted by PhMps 8. 13. 4, 5 runs, Schlesinger 4 run, Berringer 5 run.

Conversion: Sieler lock. Rashaan Salaam run 1:06 Drive: 36 yards in 5 plays. Set up by Dalton Simmons interception of Berrfnger pass at NU 36. Highlighted by Kordell Stewart 9 pass to Rae Carruth, Stewart 1 9 pass to Michael Westbrook. Conversion: Voskentchlan kick.

NUHuskers' victory leaves no doubt 244 24-7 IXSIYISUAL STATISTICS Nebraska Offense Rushing No. Yds. Lawrence 25 86 Cory Schlesinger 8 65 Jeff MakovKka 3 32 Brook Bernnger 7 19 Clinton Childs 5 14 Damon Banning 3 1 Abdul Muhammad 1 1 Passing No. Co. Yds Brook 17 12 142 Hecerving Ave.

34 81 107 27 28 03 1.0 PI 1 Yds. 78 46 14 4 Ave. 38.3 Yds. 34 17 9 No. 4 2 1 Eric Afford.

Mark Gdman Abdul Lawrence Continued from page 10 they had all those offensive weapons," Nebraska linebacker Troy Dumas said of the Buffs. "But I don't know if they got anything done on offense when it mattered. "They ran three plays in the first half option right, option left and Salaam up the middle and we were there almost every time." Nebraska's kicking and punting helped add to Colorado's offensive problems. The Buffaloes (7-1, 3-1) took over the ball on their 3-yard line to start the game on offense. They punted from the 12.

After Nebraska scored, Colorado punted from its 25. The next possession, Colorado punted from its 35 after getting its initial first down of the game with 50 seconds left in the first quarter. "The first quarter was good from a dominant standpoint," Osborne said. Nebraska's offense had a 102-33 edge in first-quarter yardage, and Nebraska's defense allowed only the one first down in the, period. The Cornhuskers even dominated the kicking game.

i "We estimated 10 to It points in the kicking game today," Osborne said. "We felt it was very, very helpful From the opening kickoff through the first drive of the third quarter, Nebraska was in charge. The Cornhuskers appeared ready to strike on their first possession of the game but were stopped when Berringer, in the shotgun position, scrambled to recover a high snap for a 15-yard loss. But Nebraska scored on fullback Cory Schlesinger's It-yard run on its next drive. And after stalling at the CU 44, the Cornhuskers marched 54 yards in 10 plays on the ensuing drive, including a 29-yard burst by Schles-inger, to pick up a 24-yard field goal by Tom Sieler and take a 10-0 lead.

Colorado then drove 55 yards to the Nebraska 25 on nine runs. But on third-and-7, Nebraska outside linebacker Dwayne Harris and defensive tackle Terry Connealy grabbed Colorado's Stewart for a 1-yard loss. The Buffs then missed a 43-yard field goal attempt Berringer brought Nebraska back with passes of 15 and 16 yards to tight end Eric Alford, a 16-yard completion to tight end Mark Gilman and a 12-yard shovel pass to wingback Abdul Muhammad to set up a 2-yard touchdown run by I-back Clinton Childs with 36 seconds left in the first half. Nebraska started the second half the way it finished the first The Cornhuskers stuffed Colorado in three plays, took over at the NU 31 and marched 39 yards to the Colorado 30. Then Berringer hit Alford on a 30-yard touchdown pass to boost the score to 24-0 with 10 42 left That was more than enough for Nebraska's defense to saddle up and ride the rest of the game.

"Offensively, we controlled the ball and did the things we had to do in the first half and early in the third quar-ter," Osborne said. "The defense did a tremendous job all day." Using a scheme of basic defense with a few newly designed blitzes, Nebraska stopped Colorado on fourth-down attempts four times and allowed just the one score a 6-yard run by Salaam with 1:06 left in the third quarter. That touchdown came after Berringer was intercepted at the Nebraska 36. "We never let up," Peter said. "We had all those points to take some pressure off.

But we've seen Colorado come from behind and beat people at the end all year. If we had relaxed, they might have done it again. "We made sure it wasn't going to happen'today." 4 Ave. 61 17 PI 0 0 Yds. 80 28 24 18 9 Ave.

38.3 Yds. 34 11 Yds. 7 Yds. 0 punting No. Yds: Darin Erstad.

6 230 Kickoff returns NO. Clinton Childs 1 Damon Banning 1 Punt return No. Kareem Moss. 1 Defense Tackles Jeff Makovicka 0 1 Jason PesterfiekJ 0 1 Grant Wistrom 0 1 Colorado Offense Rushing No. Yds.

Rashaan Saiaam 22 134 Kordell Stewart 14 24 HercneU Troutman -3 Passing No. Co. Yds Kordell Stewart 28 12 150 Koy Detmer 2 19 Receiving No. Michael Rae Carruth 2 Rashaan Salaam 2. Matt Lepsrs 2 Phil Savoy.

1 Punting i No. Yds. Andy Mitehel 6 230 Kickoff returns No. James Kldd 2 HercheH Troutman 1 Punt return No. Chris Hudson 3 Interception return iNo.

Dalton Simmon 1 Defense Tackles UT AT Matt Russet 5 13 Ted Johnson 6 10 J. Cunningham 5 '2 Greg Jones 4 3 Chris 2 4 Kerry Hicks 0 6 Shannon Oaves 2 3 Steve Rosoa, 1 3 Jon Knutson (J 4 Danus Holland 2 1 DonneH Leomti 1 Ryan Black 1 0 Clint Moore 1 0 Dalton Smmons 1 0 Blake Anderson 0 1 Mike 0 1 Daryi 0 1 Allen Wilbon 0 1 If an offensive line can carry a football team to the mythical national championship and I'm not so sure it cant then hand the trophy to Nebraska. Spearheaded by a punishing offensive line, the third-ranked Cornhuskers squished second-ranked Colorado 24-7 Saturday ending the national bellyaching about all the high-ranked teams the "poor, under-ranked" Buffaloes outlasted this season with lucky plays and last-second field goals. The outcome should also make clear that- injured quarterback Tommie Frazier was never the most important member of the Nebraska football team. It's probably one of the big lugs on Nebraska's line.

Which one? I'm not sure. They all looked pretty special Saturday. Rob Zatechka, Joel Wilks, "Aaron. Graham, Brenden Stai and Zach Wie-. gert the Huskers' starting line dominated Colorado's defense.

The Cornhuskers controlled the ball 25 of the first 34 minutes, scoring on four of six possessions. If not for a bad snap on its first possession, Nebraska would have scored on five of its first six opportunities. Jason Whitlock, Kansas City Star UT Troy Duma 7 Donta Jonee 1 Crtristlan Peter 1 Tyrone William DougCotman 2 Ed Stewart 2 Barron fvMes 3 Terry Connealy. 2 Kareem 2 AT 4 6 6 1 4 4 2 3 2 3 1 0 1 1 1 2 2 0 0 0 1 11 7 7 6 6 6 5 5 4 4 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 PhdEIti Tony Veland Dwayne Harris. Erie 18 16 7 7 6 6 5 4 4 3 3 1 1 (.

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