Lincoln Journal Star from Lincoln, Nebraska • 46

4E 1HUSKERS SUNDAY. OCTOBER 17, 1993 LINCOLN JOURNAL-STAR fVm -TT Showing frustrates Husker defenders i RANDY HAMPTONLINCOLN JOURNAL-STAR BY RYLY JANE HAMBLETON Lincoln Joumal-Star Trev Alberts was apologetic, Kevin Ramaekers needed a new shirt, and Ed Stewart was a little alarmed. All were a bit frustrated after Nebraska's 45-28 victory over Kansas State. "We had a good game plan, and we didn't execute well. I hope for the sake of the team that today isn't how our defense is going to be," said Alberts, who became Nebraska's career sack leader Saturday.

"The desire is there, but we can't figure out why we break down." Alberts had six tackles, one of them a sack for a 10-yard loss, which gives him a career total 24.5 sacks for 166 yards lost. That passed Jim Skow (1983-85) and Danny Noonan (1984-86), who had 24 each. Alberts has had at least one sack in every game this year for a total of 10 sacks, tying Broderick Thomas' 1988 record. The breakdowns Alberts referred to helped Kansas State pile up 489 yards passing, the most against a Husker team. Quarterback Chad May completed 30 of his 51 passes and had one intercepted.

"What they do is roll out, and you have to get pressure on the quarterback in that situation. We couldn't do Nebraska outside linebacker Trev Alberts (34) hurries K-State quarterback Chad May into a pass. Alberts' third quarter sack of May gave him 10 for the season and 2412 for his Husker career, both school records. KU-KANSAS STATE K0TES Kansas State had a first down at the 3-yard line. Two plays later, Tyrone Williams intercepted a throwback pass from halfback J.

J. Smith to May. In the fourth quarter, after Nebraska took a 38-28 lead, Kansas State marched 47 yards to the NU 9-yard line. After two incomplete passes and a run up the middle, the Wildcats faced fourth-and-goal from the 4-yard line. Smith swept to the right but was stopped short of the goal line by Troy Dumas, Barron Miles and Ernie Beler.

'There must be some kind of food we're feeding quarterbacks when they're up here," McBride said. "Last time K-State was here, (Paul) Watson completed 85 percent of his passes, and I worried about this guy all week. They made some great catches. But early, we dropped a couple, and late, we dropped one we could have had. Finally, Beler came up with an interception at the end.

It seemed like everything we did on third down went against us." But Alberts wasn't fooled by McBride's postgame posture. "We're kidding ourselves if we believe Coach McBride isn't a little perturbed with the way we played," he said. "When we're playing against J. A is 71 1 1 High-scoring NU offense thinks something missing A personal foul penalty against K-State linebacker Kirby Hocutt let Nebraska turn a punting situation into a second-quarter touchdown. Hocutt was flagged for swinging at offensive tackle Lance Lundberg after a third-and-22 play.

The Cornhuskers got an automatic first down and later scored to take a 14-point lead. "I put the team in a bad position by letting my emotion take over," Hocutt said. "It came back to hit me in the face. I know I learned my lesson." Lundberg said he couldn't afford to get into a fight. "Your first thought is to react aggressively, but Coach (Tom) Osborne has a policy about fighting," he said.

"That's where discipline paid off for us. I don't think he thought about where he was swinging because he hit me in the helmet." Byron Bennett, NlTs punter and place-kicker, had a career-long 48-yard field goal and a career-long 61-yard punt. Bennett is now tied for seventh on the NU career scoring list with 200 points. He is 128-for-134 in extra-point kicks (third) and 24-for-34 in field goals (third). He moved up from fifth to third among kickers in career scoring, passing Dale Klein (196, 1984-86) and Kevin Seibel (199, 1980-82).

KSU Coach Bill Snyder second-guessed his decision to run an option play on fourth-and-goal from the Nebraska 4 with his team down 38-28 and slightly more than three minutes left. Running back J.J. Smith was stopped 2 yards short of the end zone. "We ran the option down on the goal line," Snyder said. "I should've SCORING STORY NU cornerback John Reece (6) can't come up with a pass intended for K-State's Andre Coleman (back).

Coleman caught the pass for a 34-yard gain late in the first quarter. NUHuskers withstand onslaught BY KEN HAMBLETON Lincoln Journal-Star Nebraska is leading the NCAA in scoring, and its 545 yards of offense will enhance its position as a national offense leader. But something is still missing in the Cornhusker offense. "We're not quite where we're supposed to be," said NU I-back Calvin Jones. NTJ fullback Cory Schlesinger added: "We're supposed to have the scoring explosion, and I guess we're slowly coming along.

2 showed we can be a second-half team when we beat Oklahoma State. Today, we were a first-half offense. Now, we need to get both together." I' Nebraska scored 31 points in the first half Saturday against Kansas State. The Cornhuskers didn't score again until the final six minutes of the game. Through the first 10 minutes of the third quarter, Nebraska's offense had six plays for minus-5 yards.

Only a 39-yard option keeper by quarterback Tommie Frazier kept the Cornhuskers from being buried in the third quarter. "I don't think we played a complete ganje," said NU offensive tackle Lance Lundberg. "Each game we get closer. And we're 6-0, so there's no utatfyou can frown about that i'But I think the guys playing expect a little more. It's time to play a complete game.

To be more fluid. It's hot that we're not happy with the win, but we know we can do better. You want more." Jones, playing his second full game since he was injured in the season opener, said the offense places considerable pressure on itself. "We want to do so well; we might he hurting ourselves," he said. "We took a big step since playing Oklahoma State.

We executed better, and that today," Al-j berts said. "When the quarterback stands back there for eight years, you have to expect he's going to complete some passes. "It seemed like every time I was down in there to rush, I'd run into Charlie McBride 85 different guys." But Charlie McBride, the Nebraska defensive coordinator, said the score was the bottom line. "We won the game," he said. "Whatever yards they got didn't count.

As the game went on, we came up with great plays, and that's what counts. I wouldn't say we had a great day in the defensive secondary, but we have some young kids back there, and they'll make mistakes and learn from them. "We came up with some big plays. It was one end of the spectrum to the other from great to horrible. But twice when it really counted and they were at the goal line, we got one interception and the other time they didn't score." Just before the end of the first half, Cory Schlesinger Lance Lundberg we prevailed in the end.

The late-in-the-game showing was a big contrast to everyone trying to do so much after our good first half." Sophomore quarterback Tommie Frazier said he played the best game of his career, but he wanted more, too. "Kansas State talked all week how they'd shut us down and how they'd beat us, and we had to prove we wouldn't let that happen," he said. "It took some scoring and some offense, but that's OK, because we're all on the same team. They had a great day, I guess, but we weren't far behind having a great day ourselves." Frazier said some wrinkles in the K-State defense early in the second half stymied the NU offense. Nebraska was three-and-out twice and managed just three first downs on its next two possessions in the second half.

"We answered some questions about our offense, but there were times when I think we created some other questions," Frazier said. "We showed we can move the ball in a hurry, like we did at the end of the first half. We showed we can run the option for big gains (Frazier had runs of 39, 23 and 58 yards on options). My passing wasn't too bad and can get better. "And we got what we needed when we needed it.

That matters when you win." crowd," NU Coach Tom Osborne said. "It didn't sound that loud to me. We've been in places that were much louder. But I think it's fair that the other team can hear signals." Kansas State Coach Bill Snyder admitted that the crowd had a factor in the outcome. "We didn't lose the ball game because of the crowd noise, but there is an unfair advantage that takes place there," he said.

"We had a hard time With it- A urri Colorado and Oklahoma, we better learn how to play a little better defense." The frustration was echoed by Ramaekers and Stewart. "We'd shut them down on a second-or third-and-long, and then, boom, they'd rattle off a big play," Ramaekers said. "Right when we'd think we got them, they'd get a big one. "It was a tough game. I had to get a new jersey right after halftime because my first one got ripped off me." Stewart, whose fumble recovery on Kansas State's first play of the game set up Nebraska's initial touchdown, said the ups and downs of the game made getting into a rhythm difficult.

"We had a lot of big plays on first and second downs, and then on third down they'd throw it up for grabs and somebody would catch it for them," he said. "The amount of yards they got passing was a little alarming, but we felt we could stop them running. We had a couple of busted coverages, but we dropped two or three that could have been interceptions and could have changed things. "The reason they threw so much is because they were looking at second-and third-and-long so often and had to throw the ball." ii TED KIRKUNCOLN JOURNAL-STAR and Nebraska volleyed back with a 71-yard scoring drive that Jones capped with a 5-yard run. Nebraska ended the tradeoff when Jones, who gained 138 yards rushing, ignited a scoring drive with a 26-yard run and Frazier ended it with a 2-yard keeper.

KSU seemed up to the task with a string of four completions, including a 47-yarder from May to Coleman to the Nebraska 3. But NU cornerback John Reece stopped Smith for a 1-yard loss on the first play, and Williams picked off a strange halfback pass from Smith back to May at the 4 to protect Nebraska's 28-14 lead with 54 seconds left in the half. Frazier then connected with Muhammad on passes of 15, 14 and 19 yards to set up a 48-yard field goal by Bryon Bennett as the clock ran out. "That was a big play when we stopped them," Osborne said. "It was even bigger when we drove down and got the field goal and the momentum." Osborne, whose team is now tied with Colorado atop the Big Eight at 2-0, pondered the outcome.

"I told Snyder before the game, I can't remember being five games into the year and not knowing how good we were, and he said neither could he," he said. "I hope today he feels like they're a pretty good team, because if not, then we're in trouble." At least the 6-0 Cornhuskers, ranked fifth and sixth in the national football polls, said so after Kansas State posted a whopping 565 yards of total offense the most allowed by Nebraska since a loss to national champion Washington in 1991. The total included Chad May's Big Eight-record 489 yards passing, also the most by any NU opponent. May completed 30 of 51 attempts. Tyrone Williams read properly and intercepted with 45 seconds left.

Kansas State was moving the ball well without depending on such high-risk deceit. The game turned on that interception. Nebraska was able to kick a field goal on the last play of the half. Those three points, off the foot of Byron Bennett, dictated the way Kansas State had to play in the second half. The Cornhusker defense made a few big plays, when it had to, on Saturday afternoon.

"We've got the players, I guarantee you," Alberts said. "We're just not getting it done." As Nebraska's defense showed against UCLA, in particular, it's capable of getting the job done. Capable. That's the word. The Cornhuskers are capable of playing better defensively than they did against Kansas State on Saturday.

A lot better. If not? Hey, don't be flipping those pages and reading ahead. 1 ft? run it a different way." NU cornerback Tyrone Williams, on his interception of a halfback pass at the NU 4-yard line: "I didn't think he saw me coming because I was on my way, and he still threw the ball right to me. I saw the quarterback run into the flat, so I expected something different coming my way." On getting beat for a 58-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter: "On a play like that, I have two guys to cover, and I thought I had the deep guy in the area. When I saw the ball go, I looked back, and he was flying, way far away from me.

I need to play a little deeper next time." K-State quarterback Chad May wasn't sure he liked the applause given to the Wildcats as they walked to their locker room after the game. "I'd rather have them cuss us out because we beat them," he said. "Hopefully, it turns around in the next couple years." Kansas State's offensive yardage total of 565 was 9 short of the school record set against South Dakota in 1982. NU quarterback Tommie Frazier had 35 offensive attempts for 312 yards of total offense, 7 yards short of the school record set by Jerry Tagge against Missouri in 1971. His 158 yards rushing is a team high and made him the fourth different player to gain at least 100 yards rushing for NU this year.

Tom Osborne on upcoming opponent Missouri: "We certainly don't have any time to relax this week against Missouri, after what they did to Oklahoma State, because Oklahoma State gave us trouble." Kansas State Offense Rushing No. Yds. J.J. Smith 23 104 Rod Schiller 3 2 Chad May 4 -28 Passing No. Co.

Yds Chad May 51 30 489 J.J.Smith 1 0 0 Receiving No. Kevin Lockett 6 Andre Coleman 8 Mitch Running 7 J.J.Smith 3 Brad Seib 3 Rod Schiller. 1 Punting JD No. Yds. Chad Romano 5 197 Punt returns Andre Coleman 2 Kickoff returns No-Andre Coleman 3 J.J.

Smith 1 Defense Tackles UT AT Jaime Mendez 7 7 Kirby Hocutt 4 Kenny McEntyre 6 4 John Butler 3 6 Percell Gasklns 4 4 Laird Veatch 3 5 Steve Hanks 2 2 DirkOchs 2 2 Thomas Randolph 1 3 Darrell Herbert 0 3 SeanDabney 1 1 MattMcEwen 0 2 Tim Colston 1 0 DeShawnFogie 1 0 Kelly Greene 0 1 JasonJohnson 0 1 KittRawllngs 0 1 NyleWlren 0 1 Ave. 4.4 0.7 PI 1 1 Yds. 143 139 66 87 42 12 Ave. 39.4 Yds. 2 Yds.

88 25 TT 14 13 10 9 8 8 4 4 4 3 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 KSU-NU How scored Time left FIRST QUARTER 0-7 Calvin Jones 4 run 10:54 Drive: 21 yards in 5 plays. Set up by Ed Stewart recovery of Chad May fumble. Highlighted by Cory Schlesinger 7 run, C. Jones 7 run. Conversion: Byron Bontt kick 7-7 J.J.

Smith 70 pass from Chad May 5:38 Drive: 80 yards in 3 plays. Highlighted by May 10 pass to Smith. Conversion: Tate Wright kick. 7-14 Trumane Bell 7 pass from Tommie Frazier 4:28 Drive: 66 yards in 3 plays. Highlighted by Frazier 57 run.

Conversion: Bennett kick. SECOND QUARTER 14-14 Smith 3 run 14:03 Drive: 90 yards in 1 1 plays. Highlighted by Smith 11,16.9 runs. May 1 1 pass to Mitch Running. May 34 pass to Andre Coleman.

Conversion: Wright kick. 14-21 C.Jones 5 ran 11:56 Drive: 71 yards In 7 plays. Highlighted by Frazier 14 pass to Bel, C. Jones 1 1 run. Frazier 42 pass to Reggie Bail Conversion: Bennett kick.

14-28 Frazier 2 run 3:12 Drive: 76 yards In 15 plays. Highlighted by KSU personal foul penalty on third-and-22, Lawrence Phillips 8, 7, 10 runs, Frazier 10, 11 runs, Jones 26 run. Conversion: Bennett kick. 14-31 Bennett 48 field goal 0:00 Drive: 50 yards in 6 plays. Set up by Tyrone Williams interception of Smith pass intended for May.

Highlighted by Frazier 15, 14, 19 passes to Abdul Muhammad. THIRD QUARTER 21-31 Smith 1 run 9:13 Drive: 74 yards In 8 plays. Highlighted by May 21, 17 passes to Kevin Lockett, May 13 pass to Smith, Smith 5 run, May 31 pass to Coleman. Conversion: Wright kick. FOURTH QUARTER 28-31 May 58 pas to Lockett 744 Drive: 80 yards in 7 plays.

Highlighted by May 12 pass to Locket, May 10 pass to Running, May 1 6 pass to Brad Seib. Conversion: Wright kick. 28-38 Schlesinger 13 run 5:25 Drive: 76 yards in 7 plays. Highlighted by C. Jones 6 run, Frazier 23, 6 runs, Frazier 22 pass to Muhammad.

Conversion: Bennett kick. 28-45 Phillips 46 run 0:29 Drive: 58 yards In 3 plays. Set up by Ernie Beler Interception of May pass. Highlighted by C. Jones 9 run.

Conversion: Bennett kick. Continued from page 1E May went to work chopping up the Nebraska secondary. He hit Mitch Running on a 16-yard pass and threw his next attempt through the arms of NU safety Toby Wright. Then May connected with Brab Seib for 12 yards and Lockett for 8 more. On fourth-and-2, May hit Running for a 4-yard gain.

Smith followed with a 5-yard gain to the Nebraska 4. Nebraska nose tackle Terry Connealy batted down the next pass. Safety Troy Dumas, along with cornerback Barron Miles, stopped Smith on an option play on fourth down to end the threat. "I thought they might try a field goal, an onside kick and then score and try a two-point play to win," Osborne said. "It was a gamble to go for the touchdown then, but I'll be the last one to second-guess (KSU Coach) Bill Snyder.

I might write him for suggestions." The goal-line stand saved some respect for the Nebraska defense, NU linebacker Ernie Beler said. "That stand put things in order, a bit," he said. "Obviously, we were missing something along the way today. But we kept coming back and didn't give up, and the offense got us a big bunch of points." The Cornhuskers appeared in control at the start. May threw away a pitch on K-State's first offensive play.

Nebraska's Ed Stewart recovered, and Calvin Jones scored five plays later. The Wildcats answered with a 70-yard bomb to Smith. The Cornhuskers came back just as quickly when Frazier sprinted around the left end on a 58-yard run to set up a 7-yard touchdown pass to Trumane Bell. Kansas State bounced back with a 90-yard scoring drive to tie the score, BabcockInconsistency hurts defense I mm ii nil fV INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS Nebraska Offense Rushing No. Yds.

Ave. Tommie Frazier 16 158 9.9 Calvin Jones 29 138 4.8 Lawrence Phillips 5 73 14.6 Cory Schlesinger 6 29 4,8 Corey Dixon 1 -7 Passing No. Co. Yds PI Frazier 19 9 154 0 Receiving No. Yds.

Abdul Muhammad 6 91 Trumane Bell 2 21 Reggie Baul 1 42 Punting No. Yds. Ave. Byron Bennett 7 307 43.9 Punt returns No. Yds.

KareemMoss 1 3 Corey Dixon 1 2 Kickoff returns No. Yds. Reggie Baul 3 70 Corey Dixon 1 34 Interception returns No. Yds. Tyrone Williams 1 15 Ernie 1 0 Defense Tackles UT AT TT Ernie Beler 2 8 10 John Reece 3 7 10 Ed Stewart 2 8 10 Barron Miles 4 3 7 Toby Wright 2 5 7 Trev Alberts 16 6 Mike Anderson 2 3 6 Tyrone Williams 3 2 5 Kevin Ramaekers 13 4 Darren Williams 13 4 Donta Jones 2 13 MikeMinter 0 2 2 Bruce Moore 0 2 2 KareemMoss 0 2 2 Eric Stokes 2 0 2 Billy Wade 0 2 2 Troy Branch 0 11 Terry Connealy 10 1 Troy Dumas 0 11 Phil Elds 0 1 1 Dwayne Harris 0 11 Cory Schlesinger 0 1 1 Tom Staler 10 1 TED KIRKUNCOLN JOURNAL-STAR Holder David Seizys (22) celebrates while NU kicker Byron Bennett (13) watches his 48-yard field goal attempt sail through the uprights on the last play of the first half.

Crowd noise factor for K-State Continued from page 1 all, admitting there is a problem. And Saturday, there was a problem. Defensive coordinator Charlie McBride said the defense covered the spectrum, from great to horrible (his word, not mine). Lest I be entirely negative, however, inconsistency it plagued the defense on Saturday, but the offense hasn't exactly been a model of consistency in the early season has brought new enthusiasm and interest to Big Eight games that used to be gimmes. I'm not one to skip ahead and read the final chapter of a book to see how the story ends.

I appreciate suspense. I can wait Nebraska's defense wasn't alone in making mistakes. Kansas State might have made a serious offensive mistake late in the first half by using trickery when a sound approach probably would have worked. On second-and-goal at the Cornhusker 4-yard line, the Wildcats attempted a halfback pass to the quarterback, which Nebraska's Excessive crowd noise cost Nebraska a timeout during a drive by Kansas State midway through the third quarter. Quarterback Chad May refused to take a hike and turned to referee Tom Ahlers for assistance.

After Ahlers warned the Nebraska crowd to quiet down, and after an illegal procedure claimed it was too noisy for him to rut) a play and Nebraska was assessed a timeout. didn't tell me, they told the.