The Lincoln Star from Lincoln, Nebraska • 40

i swrT 'T 1 "1 'f 'ITT HUSKERS 10D UNCOLN JOURNAL-STAR SUNDAY, OCTOBER 30. 1994 a -I, TED KIRK 'LINCOLN JOURNAL-STAR Nebraska senior tight end Eric Alford (88) catches a pass from Brook Berringer (back) late in the second quarter and turns it into a 15-yard gain on a third-and-4. Alford and fellow tight end Mark Gilman combined for 124 receiving yards on nine receptions. away from the Colorado defense in the first quarter to score Nebraska's Colorado offense doesn't rj mgmt, -1 ii' ii mi if-, i i y- 1 1 if it a a i Vp'F Fullback Cory Schlesinger (40) pulls I TEO MRMJNCOLN JOURNAL-STAR first toiichdown. 0 i irf TEO KRMJNCOLN JOURNAL-STAR DUtS Dressure on Cokxado quarter- Nebraska quarterback Brook Berringer (center) is brought down by Colorado defenders Chris Hudson (left), Jon Knutson (back), Matt Russel) (1 6) and Ted Johnson (right) pn an 1 1-yard run in the first quarter.

hold up TED KIPKUNCOLN JOURNAL-STAR -v i cat TEO KJRKUNCOLN JOURNAL -6TAR BY KEN HAMBLETON Lincoln Joumal-Slar Eventually, something in the Colorado offense was going to give. "We kept hitting Kordell Stewart, and he has a reputation of not liking to take the licks, and we knew we'd get to him," said Nebraska linebacker Donta Jones. "He was getting quieter and quieter. He never said anything back when we kept hitting him and telling him we'd be coming for him all day. "He tried to speed things up and lost his composure, and there went their offense." Jones and Nebraska's other starting outside linebacker, Dwayne Harris, combined for' three tackles for a total of 20 yards in losses Saturday as the Cornhuskers defeated Colorado 24-7.

Jones almost intercepted a shovel pass from Stewart to Rashaan Salaam in the first quarter. Colorado quarterback Stewart was the Big Eight leader in total offense and passing efficiency before he played Nebraska. But he completed just 12 of 28 passes and ran for just 24 yards. "I don't think they had any tempo on offense because we got so much pressure on him, and he hadn't seen anything like that all year," said Jones, who was named Nebraska's player of the game by ABC Charlie McBride, Nebraska defensive coordinator, said he was proud of his group. "They're like a lot of kids on the corner of the old neighborhood." he said.

"They play for each other. That's the biggest thing we got We've had outstanding players and not had defenses this good." Nebraska's defense has given up 23 points in the last four games. Colorado's touchdown run by Salaam, who entered the game as the national rushing leader, was the first touchdown on the ground allowed by NU in 17 quarters. "Our philosophy is to stop the run, even when we are playing a team that passes for a living," McBride said. "If you can run on us, you can beat us." Colorado rushed for an NU opponent high of 155 yards, but that was well below CU's average of 295 yards rushing per game.

"Our plan was to squeeze the pocket around Stewart, contain the option runs and not allow the big play," McBride said. "For the most part. Christian Peter and Terry Connealy pushed the pocket up field and forced the issue with Stewart" Connealy had five tackles, including two for losses, and a shared quarterback sack with Peter, Peter finished with seven tackles, one for a loss. Peter said he was impressed with his teammates. "Colorado had been rolling over people, and we did a pretty good job stopping them," be said.

"It just wasn't going to happen for them against us because we were all in this one. "We heard how Kordell Stewart came into the locker room after they beat K-SLate and said. 'Let's have RANOY HAMPTONUNCOLN JOURNAL-STAfl Colorado Coach Bill McCartney (right) has a soft brace put on his right wrist after he was knocked down by one of his players on a first quarter play. NEBRASKA DEFENSE Game-by-game totals Rushing Ait Yd x-West Virginia 38 8 at Texas Tech 42 147 35 129 Pacific 25 84 Wyoming 21 36 Oklahoma State 31 40 at Kansas State 23 -7 at Missouri 29 48 Colorado 37 187 Total 281 672 Passing Com Alt kit Yd x-West Virginia 6 19 2 81 at Texas Tech 11 29 1 150 UCLA 21 35 2 285 Pacific 27 61 2 290 Wyoming 25 46 3 344 Oklahoma State 6 20 1 96 at Kansas State 22 48 1 249 at Missouri 19 32 1 150 Colorado. 13 30 0 159 Total 150 310 13 1804 I Kkoff Classic.

To add to Colorado's offensive problems, Nebraska used some new variations of blitzes to increase pressure on Stewart "It was not really a pass blitz, but a run-pass blitz, and we got Colorado for losses five or six times with that" Peter said. NU middle linebacker Phil Ellis, who had four tackles, said teammate Ed Stewart was causing many problems for the Colorado offense. "We ran him under or inside all day, which we haven't done that much of, and he really put the pressure on," Ellis said. Nebraska stronpsidc linpharkpr Troy Dumas, who led the team with Husker outside linebacker Donta Jonss ffl41 rtehratf.s his sarJc nf CI I Nebraska's Dwavne Harris (86) some fun with It didnt take much mon; than that to get us going." ii tackles, said the defense was in- spired to prove itself on national tele- vision. quarterback Kordell Stewart on a fourth down play in the fourth quar- ter.

Jones was chosen as one of ABC's Dlavers of the aame a back Kordefl Stewart (right) on a fourth quarter play from the Colorado 9-vard line, but Stewart stiD completed a pass to Rashaan Salaam, in ji mnifhn if i.V'.