Lincoln Journal Star from Lincoln, Nebraska • 32

4D HUSKERS SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 6. 1994 LINCOLN JOURNAL-STAR Coach says Jayhawks had no choice i.y r-V I NU no surprise to former aide Gillespie BY RYLY JANE HAMBLETON Lincoln Journal-Star "We got off to a bad start, and you can't afford that against a team playing as well as Nebraska does at home," he said. "Nebraska can sense when there's an opportunity to seize the advantage, and they always do a great job of taking advantage." Gillespie said several factors define this Comhusker team. "A big difference, obviously, is that the option isn't as big a part of the attack as with Tommie Fra- I'd I'll TED KIRKUNCOLN JOURNAL-STAR Dave Gillespie knew most of the Nebraska football players all too well. The former Nebraska recruiting coordinator stood on the Kansas sideline in his new capacity as tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator for the Jayhawks.

"They are awfully good, and they are playing well," he said of the Cornhuskers. "They are tremendously well-coached, and they use their talent to the optimum. They have great running backs, great receivers, great offensive linemen, and they use their speed and quickness on defense to put a lot of pressure on people. They play with great confidence. "I don't see how you wouldn't think they could be national champions.

I can't imagine a college football team playing better on both sides of the ball, but I haven't seen every team in college football" Gillespie, who said his knowledge of most of the Cornhuskers wasn't an advantage, said the Jayhawks paid dearly for their early mistakes. Dave Gillespie Kansas tailback June Henley tries in vain to elude NU's swarm of defenders Dwayne Harris (86), Christian Peter (55), Terry Connealy (99), Troy Dumas (4) and kareem Moss (29). aaHMaMaalHlaMiMMHMMHMMii NU-KANSAS NOTES zier," Gillespie said. "They exploit the defense and take advantage of what's there. We were trying to stop their running game, and they turned to their passing game.

"What might make this team different than others is the defense. They put so much pressure on people. The talent level is comparable, but I think they're better on defense. It's not better personnel, they just play very well and have done things better." BY RYLY JANE Lincoln Journal-Star Kansas Coach Glen Mason didn't want to see Nebraska grind out yard-' age, but he wasn't very happy about the alternative. "We gave up way too many big plays.

To play with a team like Nebraska, you have to hang with them and not give up big plays," Mason said after the Cornhuskers raced to a 45-17 victory Saturday. Nebraska counted on big plays for each of its first-half scores. Tony Ve-land's interception set up a 35-yard field goal by Tom Sieler, Brook Ber-ringer connected with Reggie Baul for a 51-yard touchdown after Tyrone Williams intercepted the Jayhawks, and. Berringer hit two long passes to set up Lawrence Phillips' 4-yard run. In addition, Cory Schlesinger scored on a 40-yard gallop, a 37-yard shovel pass from Berringer to Damon Ben-ning set up the next NU score and Berringer hit Clester Johnson for a 64-yard touchdown and a 38-10 half-time lead.

"When you play against a team that is rushing for 370 yards a game, you have to stack it up. Then you leave Yourself vulnerable in other areas," Mason said. "But if you don't do that, Jhe" running game will get you. And jjust because you commit extra guys to the run doesn't mean you're going 3to stop them." Mason said credit must go to the Nebraska offensive line. J.

"You don't average 370 yards unless you have an awfully good offensive line. They are always good. If 'Tom (Osborne) says they're the best Nebraska has had, I'm going with Tom." Mason said. "It never changes. eight- or nine-man front has to have a passing game and they went to it," he said.

"We gave up big plays in the passing game, but some of it was good execution by them. That's what championship teams are made of." Mason said the even second half was little consolation. Each team scored seven points. "By that time, we would need to mount a really big comeback," the KU coach said. "I was surprised they threw the ball as well as they did.

They had 245 yards at halftime. We had difficulty executing our passing game early on, but I thought we played better as the game went on." freshman from Lawrence, Kan. The other freshmen playing defense for KU were tackle Brett McGraw, cor-nerback Jason Harris and defensive end Lamar Sharpe. "When you play against a team that runs the ball all the time and you set up to stop that, it is hard for the defensive backs to make the plays," said linebacker Don Davis. "We couldn't get pressure on them when we needed.

They have a good offensive line." Safety Gerald McBurrows said Kansas wasn't expecting Nebraska to pass as much as the Cornhuskers did. "It's hard when you face a team that usually runs the ball 60 or 70 times. But any team that sees an I was watching them during warm-ups and they have an army of guys that look good. Do they sell bottled water up here? "I voted for them last week (No. 1) and I don't know why I wouldn't this week." Mason said some of the younger Jayhawks got a rough initiation to Nebraska football.

"At times, we had four true freshmen on defense. We would have liked to redshirt (middle linebacker Jason) Thoren. With all due respect to him, he was not playing against Olathe South (High School). He was playing the Big Red," Mason said. Thoren is a arship fund donation tour by the -Downtown Athletic Club and MerrI Lynch.

The University of Nebraska was given $2,000 for its general scholarship fund. Darin Erstad's 68-yard punt in the first quarter was a career best and his 49-yard average was a team best. Baul had a career-high 106 yards in three receptions. The NU offensive line allowed two sacks (Nos. 3 and 4 this year) and was called for holding once (for the second time this year.

Nebraska has won iff games In a season for the 17th time in school history and is 10-0 for the second straight year, and the fifth -time under Coach Tom Osborne. NU has won 23 regular-season games in a row and 23 straight -home games. Kansas quarterback Asheiki Preston, who was intercepted twice in the first quarter, said the Ne- braska defense was impressive. "This Is the best defense I've seen so far this year," Preston said. "They play good as a team and just fly to the football.

They Just smel out the quarterback and get to the ball. "I knew they'd be coming. In meetings, we talked about stopping certain guys or we'd be in trouble. (But) we couldn't get anything going right away." Nebraska's offense had 10 plays that gained at least 15 yards Saturday. "This was like Japan, where the crowd only screamed and got loud when there was a big play," said offensive guard Brenden Stal, referring to the Cornhuskers' game against Kansas State at Tokyo in .1992.

"Well, we Had some big plays today." Fullback Cory Schlesinger on his 40-yard touchdown run to complete the scoring in the first quarter: "I think they had some kind of a blitz. He (a defender) had ahold of my arm or something. Brenden Stai knocked the guy off. Once that broke open, we had some great downfield blocks." Because someone grabbed him, the defense might have let up, Schlesinger said, adding: "I think a lot of our offensive guys thought I was going down, too. I started to stumble around." Schlesinger finished with 49 yards on four carries, giving him 421 rushing yards and four touchdowns this season.

He's averaging almost 8 yards a carry. "This year, I'm just getting the ball and going. Last year, I was thinking too much, worrying too much," he said. Nebraska's two Heisman Trophy winners, Johnny Rodgers (1972) and Mike Rozier (1983) attended the game as part of a schol Two early interceptions spark Husker defense ffi CS KEN HAMBLETON Lincoln Journal-Star SCORING SUMMARY torus. "It was pretty important to get the turnovers early because you dont want to let a team that good stick around or they'll get confidence, and suddenly, you're in one of those things." Linebacker Ed Stewart, who was sidelined in the second half by flu, said the NU defense expected to face the Kansas running game.

"They came out passing, and that got them in trouble right away," Stewart said. "We were ready for anything." Nebraska's defense dominated its first four Big Eight opponents, allowing just 23 points in four games. Saturday, Kansas struck for 17 points, the second most points allowed by Nebraska in the series since 1978. "I was scared by this game because we did not seem as emotional as we were for Colorado a week ago," said NU defensive coordinator Charlie McBride. "We had a lot of people sick and kind of banged up from last week, and Kansas has a very good team." Stewart was limited to a half, and linebacker Troy Dumas had been sick almost all week.

"The mood certainly went up with the interceptions," McBride said. "They controlled the ball so well on us last year, it was really important to get some turnovers early in the game. "Kansas was going to try us deep, and we intercepted them the first time they tried. We ended up getting beat deep later in the game, but I thought we played them awful well" he said. NU-KU Howtcorad Time left FIRST QUARTER 3-0 Tom Sieler 35 field goal 11:53 Drive: Minus 1 yard in 4 plays.

Set up by Tony Veland interception ol Asheiki Preston pass at KU 1 7. 104 Reggie Baul 51 pass from Brook Berringer 10:10 Drive: 70 yards in 3 plays. Set up by Tyrone Williams interception ol Preston rwss at NU 30. HigNigWed by Lawrence Phillips 3. 16 runs.

Conversiori; Sieler 10-3 Jeff McCord 41 field goal 1:11 Onva: 1 yard In 4 plays. Set up by Jason Thoren recovery of Kareem Moss fumble and 26-yard return to NU 24. 17-3 Phillips 4 run 6:00 Drive: 60 yards In 5 plays. Highlighted by Berringer 28 pass to Eric Alford, Berringer 49 pass to Baul. Conversion: Sieler Kick 24-3 Schlesinger 40 run 24 Drive: 58 yards 3 plays.

Highlighted by Alford 17 run on tight end reverse. Conversion: Sieler kick. SECOND QUARTER 31-3 Jeff Makovicka run 11:07 Drive: 60 yards In 6 plays. Set up by Moss 14 return of punt to NU 40. Highlighted by Damon Benning 6.

7. 3 runs, Berringer 9 pass to Mark Qlman, Berringer 37 shovel pass to Benning. Conversion: Sieler kick. 31-10 June Henley 6 run 6:32 Drive: 45 yards in 11 plays. Highlighted by Preston 15 pass to Hosea Friday, Van Davis 13 run on fake field goal.

Preston 5 scramble on third-and-S. Conversion: McCord kick. 30-10 Clester Johnson 64 pass from Berringer 3:41 Drive: 80 yards In 6 plays. Highlighted by Phillips 6 and 8 runs, Berringer 11 run. Conversion: Sieler kick.

THIRD QUARTER 45-10 Phillips 22 run 6:32 Drive: 74 yards in 7 plays. Highlighted by Phillips 7, 9. 29, 2 runs, Schlesinger 5 run. Conversion: Sieler kick. FOURTH QUARTER 45-17 Levine 1 run Drive: 80 yards in 13 plays.

Highlighted by Henley 20 run, Preston passes of 8 to Levine, 10 to Robert Reed, 8 to Brent Willeford, 10 to Chris Powell and 19 to Friday. Conversion: McCord kick. Nebraska's defense couldn't have gotten a better jump-start against 'Kansas than the early interceptions ey Tony Veland and Tyrone Williams. -Nebraska outside linebacker 33wayne Harris chased Kansas quarterback Asheiki Preston through the Vnd zone, and just as he was about to sack the Jayhawk quarterback, Preston passed. was rolling with the play, and he passed it almost right to me," said Veland, whose interception set up a 35-yard field goal by Tom Sieler to open the scoring.

Kansas ran one play for 1 yard, and then Preston tried to throw deep to Ashaundai Smith on the left sideline. This time, Williams covered Smith closely, and at the last second, turned grabbed the pass. Three plays later, NU quarterback Brook Berringer hit Reggie Baul on a 51-yard touchdown. "Those interceptions seemed to be the trendsetters for us," said Veland. It put us all in a good mood.

We didn't play a great defensive game, but it wasn't that bad either." Williams said he figured Kansas 'would test his ability to cover Jay-'hawk receivers on deep passes, i "I had dominance in coverage on and when I saw his eyes get big, I turned at the last second, and was the ball" Williams said. 2t a split-second thing. You have to cover the guy first and then go for the frail It worked pretty much all day RANDY HAMPTONUNCOLN JOURNAL-STAR Nebraska cornerback Tyrone Williams (8) gets In front of KU's Ashaundai Smith (6) to intercept a pass early in the second quarter. NUHuskers soar to victory vs. KU INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS tl NEBRASKA DEFENSE AT A GLANCE Ave.

73 123 75 83 170 40 75 47 30 0.3 Art hit 19 2 defensive totals Passing Com x-West 6 at Texas 11 UCLA 21 Pacific 27 Yds 81 150 283 290 344 96 249 150 159 129 Wyoming 25 Game-by-game Rushing Ait Yd VWest Virginia 38 8 it Texas Tech 42 147 OtXA 35 129 1Pcic 25 84 Wyoming 21 36 Oklahoma State 31 40 It Kansas State 23 -7 Missouri 29 48 37 187 Kansas 45 141 yow 328 813 jt.Klckoff Classic, East Rutherford, N.J. 6 29 35 51 48 20 48 32 30 23 PI 0 Ave. 8.4 3.2 13.0 1.0 OS 10 0.0 PI 2 0 0 Yds. 60 43 10 8 6 Ave. 39.5 Yds.

107 15 Oklahoma State at Kansas State 22 19 13 8 158 at Missouri Colorado Kansas Totals 333 15 1933 Yds. 11 106 12 64 37 28 9 Kansas Offense Rushing No. Yds. June Henley 18 66 L.T. .13 42 Van Davis 1 13 EricVann 5 5 Mark Williams 2 1 Costello Good 1 1 Asheiki Preston 6 0 Ashaundai Smith 1 -7 Passing No.

Co. Yos Asheiki 18 7 107 Mark Williams 4 1 22 June Henley 10 0 Receiving No. Hosea Friday 4 Rodney Harris 1 Robert Reed 1 L.T. Levine 1 Brent Willeford 1 Punting NO. Yds.

Darrin Simmons 6 237 Kickoff returns No. Ashaundai Smith 4 Chris Powell 1 Defense Tackles UT AT Gerald McBurrows 4 6 Don Davis 3 5 Sylvester Wright 3 6 Jason Harris 2 5 Keith Rodgers 2 5 Jason Thoren 1 6 Kwamie Lassiter 1 5 Brett McGraw 2 3 Steve Harvey 4 0 Harold Harris 0 4 Triad Warren 2 1 Dorian Brew 2 0 Kevin 1 1 Lamar Sharps 1 1 Eric Gatoreath 1 0 Chris Jones 1 0 Ashaundai 1 0 George 1 0 Troy Harper 0 1 Avery 0 1 Doug Weaver 0 1 Phillip is bides his time, Ave. 49.0 Yds. then really comes on strong punt was called back because of a penalty, and KU took the ball away on an NU punt return. "We took some chances," said KU Coach Glen Mason.

"We looked like Houdini with all the trick plays on our kicking game." The problem for Kansas was that Berringer still had plenty of magic of his own. After five consecutive running plays, NU's junior quarterback hit Clester Johnson on a short pass over the middle for first-down yardage. Johnson broke a tackle and sprinted to the end zone to complete a 64-yard play that gave Nebraska a 38-10 half-time lead. "That play worked because we naa been throwing deep and Brook had been so accurate, Kansas was going to try and blitz to get some pressure on him," Johnson said. "So I end up running a tight-end type of route over the middle, about 4 yards beyond the line of scrimmage, and just behind the linebackers, so I only had one guy to beat "With Tommie Frazier (who is out for the year), that would have been an option play.

With Brook, it's a pass. Different play. Same result" The problem for defenses is figuring out how to stop that kind of attack. "You know, when you think about our offense passing like that, it's got to really screw up the defensive coaches we face," said NU defensive coordinator Charlie McBride. "Deep passing, the option game, short passing, the tight ends, the running game.

That's a lot of things to scare you." Phillips said there wasnt that much new to the Nebraska offense. "We practice this stuff all the time, so we know how to use it all," he said. "We used a couple of plays we haven't used all year, like the draw-dive play and the tight end reverse. AH that worked because Brook got comfortable passing and it opened up the running game. "Usually it works the other way, but with us, Kansas expected the running game, so we gave them something different" Continued from page ID "You know, that might have been the thing that got us all going on offense," said NU senior guard Brenden Stai.

"We'd only given up two sacks all year before that play. And they acted like they were ready for just that play. "So we kept passing because we knew they'd have to stop the run to stop us. Only they didn't figure we'd be passing like we did, either. Then, the passing opened up the runs." On the Jayhawks' first play of the game, Cornhusker safety Tony Veland intercepted a pass at the Kansas 17-yard line.

Nebraska settled for a 35-yard field goal by Tom Sieler. That was the last time the Nebraska offense got less than a touchdown on its next four possessions. Except for a brief delay when Kan-, sas' Don Davis wrestled the ball from Kareem Moss' hands on a punt return to set up a 41-yard field goal by the Jayhawks' Jeff McCord, Nebraska was soaring. Berringer found Baul alone on a 51-yard touchdown pass with the game less than five minutes old. On NU's next possession, Berringer hit tight end Eric Alford on a 28-yard pass and Baul on a 49-yard pass to set up a 4-yard touchdown run by Phillips.

Three minutes later, Alford picked up 17 yards on a reverse to set up a 40-yard touchdown run by fullback Cory Schlesinger. In the second quarter, Berringer hit tight end Mark Oilman on a 9-yard "pass, then watched backup I-back Damon Benning sprint 37 yards with a shovel pass, breaking three tackles along the way. Two plays later, fullback Jeff Makovicka scored on an 8-yard run to boost the score to 31-3 with the game less than 19 minutes old. Kansas scored after Van Davis gained 13 yards on a fake field goal and the Jayhawks' June Henley ran 6 yards to score with 6:32 left in the first half. The Jayhawks had a little magic of their own in the kicking game.

A fake Nebraska Offense Rushing No. Yds. Lawrence Phillips 21 153 Cory Schlesinger 4 49 Damon Benning 6 45 Brian Schuster 3 25 EricAllord 1 17 Clinton Childs 4 16 Scott Davenport 2 15 Jetf Makovicka 3 14 Matt Turman 1 3 Brook Bernnger. 4 -1 Passing No. Co.

Yds Brook 18 13 267 Receiving No. Lawrence Phillips 4 Reggie Baul 3 Brendan Holbein 2 Clester Johnson 1 Damon Benning -1 Eric Alford 1 Mark GUman 1 Punting to. Yds. Darin Erstad 3 147 Kickoft returns No. Damon Benning 1 Punt returns No.

Kareem Moss 4 Tyrone WMams 1 Interception returns No. Tony Veland 1 Tyrone Williams 1 Defense Tackles UT AT Kareem Moss 5 6 Ryan Terwidiger 0 7 Grant Wistrom 2 4 Phil Els 0 6 Melvm Booker 2 2 Troy Dumas 2 2 Eric Stokes 2 2 DougColman 1 3 Octavious 1 3 Dwayne Harris 0 4 Donta Jones 0 4 Ed Stewart 1 2 Tyrone Williams 2 0 Leonard 1 1 Clint Brown 0 2 Terry Connealy 0 2 Leslie Dennis 0 2 Jared Tomeh 0 2 Larry Amok) 1 0 Damon Benning 1 0 Barron Miles 1 0 Chnstien 1 0 Jamet WMams 1 0 Luther Hardin 0 1 JeffOgard 0 1 AaronPemand 0 1 Jason Pestertield. 0 1 Yds. 30 9 TT 10 3 2 2 BY KEN HAMBLETON Lincoln Journal-Star Yds. 0 0 2 11 7 6 6 PHILLIPS CM THE RUH hurry, so we thought we had to get them off our backs a bit and we threw deep a little more than we normally do.

They were a little more vulnerable to the deep ball. "Eventually, they didn't cover the run with as many people." Phillips broke NU's sophomore season rushing record set by Bobby Reynolds in 1950. Phillips has 1,489 yards this season, which is fourth-best in Nebraska history. He is 69 yards short of the Big Eight sophomore rushing record set by Thurman Thomas of Oklahoma State in 1985. "Honestly, you don't worry about yards or records," said Phillips.

"You try to make people miss you and you try to get in the open field. If we're making the yards through passing, that's fine. With Brook in there, he's a little more comfortable passing than Tommie (Frazier) was. "We were still getting big plays and we were still scoring. As long as somebody for us is getting into the end zone, it's fine with me," he said.

Lawrence Phillips figured his time was coming Saturday against Kansas. Although the Nebraska I-back was Jield 35 yards rushing in the first and quarterback Brook Berringer threw for 249 yards, Phillips worried about getting more yards. Sure enough, in the third quarter, rushed 10 times for 118 yards and finished the game with 153 Jt marked the 10th consecutive game Phillips has gained 100 yards or more. "I figured in the second half that Kansas would have to adjust to the pass and that would open things up for the running game," the Corn-ihusker sophomore said. "Brook was Jso good in the first half, they just had to make adjustments." Coach Tom Osborne said Kansas was guarding against Nebraska's funning game.

"Kansas crowded the run, their secondary came up in a Lawrence Phillips' game-by-game rushing 2 Atl Yds TO 2 x-West Virginia 24 128 0 2 at Texas Tech 19 175 8 UCLA 19 178 1 Pacific 9 138 1 Wyoming 27 168 3 1 Oklahoma State 33 221 3 1 at Kansas State 31 117 1 1 at Missouri 22 110 1 Colorado 24 103 0 Kansas 21 153 2 Total 220 1489 14 Career 311 1987 10 1 4 Jav4WA4a fa O. a.awfc a A.