Lincoln Journal Star from Lincoln, Nebraska • 21

THURSDAY, JANUARY 1 9B6, 1 988 LINCCH HE JOURNAL D017L disastrous for NU offense I By Virgil Parker Journal Sporfe Editor TEMPE, Ariz. What happened to Nebraska's offense in the third quarter of the SunMst Fiesta Bowl Wednesday almost defies explanation. The Huskers suffered three fumbles two of them lost a blocked punt, a -bad punt and two pass interference penalties in rapid succession. After trailing Nebraska 14-3 at half-time, Michigan turned those gifts into 24 points while possessing the ball a there seven minutes on the way to a 27-23 victory. "That was the most disastrous quarter I've ever" seen," Nebraska backfield coach Frank Solich said.

"I've never known of so many bad things happening to a team in such a short period of time. They (Michigan) got points off of every break." Teammates collided Solich said Michigan's highly touted I rr- -r "CT v3k lo wi tti ii inl-rr times and that really hurt us. You can't make mistakes like that against a good team like Michigan and expect to win." Taylor didn't lose hope After the rash of errors, Nebraska's chance of winning appeared nil But freshman quarterback Steve Taylor took over and got the Huskers back in the game. "He's going to be a great football player in the future," DuBose said. "He showed a lot today.

He had his composure. He didnt get nervous. He drove us right down the field." Taylor said he had high hopes until the end. "I had confidence we were going to pull it out," the San Diego native said. "I was a lot more confident than when I went in against Oklahoma.

"I thought I was going to get in during the second quarter, but Mac (starting quarterback McCathorn Clayton) was moving the team welL But, after all those turnovers at the start of the second half, the momentum certainly switched to -Michigan's favor. Mac played a good game, but I'm glad I also got a chance to show what I could do." Taylor anticipates quite a battle between the two during spring practice. "We will be going into spring ball to compete for the starting job," Taylor said, "while at the same time learning from each other. If we both do that, and improve, Nebraska can win the national championship while we're here." Moved the ball well DuBose said the Huskers' offensive unjt felt it could move the ball on the Wolverines. "And we did," he said.

"We certainly moved better against them than We did against Oklahoma. Our offense sputtered in that game. We moved the ball this time. We just had those errors. But, we've got to keep our heads up.

This isnt the end of the world." Senior tight end Todd Frain hated to end his career with back-to-back losses. "I thought we could pull it out in the last minute," he said. "Actually, we had them on the ropes. We had them on the run. Steve (Taylor) fired us up the way he can scramble.

"At halftone," Frain added, "we were pumped up after the way we had played. I thought they came out kind of dead to start the second half. But, when we fumbled, that got them going. We just let them and the game get away from us." Huskers' Doug DuBose is hit high, by Michigan's Phil Logas (33), first quarter. Harbaugh delivers when it Nebraska Coach Tom Osborne discusses a point with an official.

Scoring story NU-MU How defense deserves some credit, however. "That first fumble by Doug (I-back Du-Bose) was really caused by some guy penetrating on the play. Tom (fullback Rathman) tried to come back to pick up the guy and he and Doug ran into each other." DuBose was stuprised when the ball was knocked out of his hands by his own teammate. "When Tom went after their guy, we both just happened to cut the same way," DuBose said. "We bumped and the ball got knocked out of my hands.

I take nothing away from their defense, but we made the mistakes that cost us the ball game. "It may have been a case of lost concentration," the junior who led Nebraska in rushing each of the past two seasons said. "We wanted to go out at the start of the second half and drive the ball right at them like we did in the first half. Our main game is ball control But, unfortunately, we turned the ball over a few scored Time left ena zone i 3 0 24 027 The USA TodayCNN rankings: 1. Oklahoma, 2.

Penn State, 3. Michigan, 4. Tennessee, 5. Florida, 6. Miami, 7.

Air Force, 6. Texas UCLA, 10. Iowa, II. Nebraska 1Z Alabama, 13. Ohio State, 14.

Florida State, 15. Arkansas, 14. BYU, 17. Maryland, IS. Geor-Blo Tech, 19.

Baylor, 20. Auburn, 21. LSU, 22. Army, 23. Fresno State.

24. Georgia, 25. Oklahoma State. The Football Writers Association of America also unanimously selected the Sooners as its champion for this season in voting Wednesday night Penn State was second, followed by Michigan. The Sooners were also voted the MacArthur Bowl recipient Wednesday night Penn State, was the runner-up, and Sugar Bowl champion Tennessee, 9-1-2, finished third.

leg on the opening kickoff and was out' for the day. "Danny Noonan and Todd Profitt (middle guards) and (tight end) Todd Frain all suffered knee strains," Sullivan reported. "Danny went back in a couple of times, but he finally had to quit because he couldn't move well enough." Sullivan said I-back Doug DuBose re-injured his bruised shoulder, but was able to play quite effectively throughout the game. jj 7 Tj i FIRST QUARTER 0-3 Moons 42 field goal 3:41 Drive: 59 yards In 10 plays. Highlighted by three Morris runs for 14 yards.

SECOND QUARTER 7-3 DuBose 5 pass from Clayton 14:23 Drive: 74 yards In 10 plays. Highlighted by Clayton 15 pass to Frain and three DuBose runs for 28 yards. Conversion: Klein kick. 14-3 DuBose 3 run 3:51 Drive: 63 yards In nine plays. Highlighted by DuBose 13 run and three keepers by Clayton for 24 yards.

Conversion: Klein kick. THIRD QUARTER 14-10 White 1 run 12:57 Drive: 21 yards In four plays after Akers recovered DuBose fumble at NU 21. Highlighted by Morris' 19 run. Conversion: Moons kick. 14-17 Harbaugh 1 run 10:43 Drive: 38 yards In five ploys after Messner recovered Clayton fumble at NU 38.

Highlighted by 18 run by Morris, 19 run by White. Conversion Moons kick. 14-20 Moons 19 field goal mn :42 Drive: four yards In four plays after Arnold blocked Wingard 14-27 Harbaugh 2 run 1:53 Drive: 52 yards In seven plays, kept alive by two pass Interference penalties against Nebraska and Morris' 14 run. Conversion: Moons kick. FOURTH QUARTER 21-27 S.

Taylor 1 run jj 2: Drive: 77 yards In 12 plays. Highlighted by third-down pass from Clayton to Frain, two S. Taylor keepers on third down, nnH third-down run. Conversion: Klein kick. By Ken Hambleton Journal Sports Writer TEMPE, Ariz.

Going into the Sunkist Fiesta Bowl Michigan quarterback Jim Harbaugh had hit 41 of his last 50 By the end of the first quarter against Nebraska he had hit one of four passes. He completed just four more passes in the second quarter. He hit just one more pass, for a 1-yard loss in the second half. But Michigan Coach Bo Schembe-chler said, "Harbaugh won the game for us. He did what he had to do." The senior quarterback rushed for touchdowns in Michigan's 24-point third quarter that all but drained Nebraska's hopes of a victory.

He also eliminated the fumble snaps in the second half and became just the third Michigan quarterback to win a bowl game in 16 years under Schembe-chler. "I knew I wasn't having a stellar performance, but I was thankful that half-time was only 15 minutes long because I couldn't wait to get back out there as soon as we could to get back in the game and win," Harbaugh said. "Coach said, 'Just play like And that got us all fired up." The defense made the breaks and we got the scores we were supposed to in the third quarter." "It's hard to explain," Harbaugh said, "but we just knew things would come around for us. It's the confidence you get playing for Michigan." Safety was confident Safety Garland Rivers said he shared that confidence, despite the late Nebraska threat to take the victory away from the Wolverines. "We were in a prevent defense and they almost scored once in the fourth quarter.

Then, they did score and then, they even had another shot at us." Michigan fans Steve Thomas (M) and Jim Kaiser (GO) came and low, by Doug Mallory (8), in the counts painted for the occasion. Harbaugh said the victory was a vindication for the Wolverines and Schembechler. "Some people criticize Coach for his bowl record and that's bull," Harbaugh sakL "I've been going to Michigan bowl games for years, even for seven years when my dad was an assistant coach at Michigan. "Coach Schembechler never took the easy opponents, and it's not like he lost those games. It's not like we came in here having lost 10 bowl games either." Interception return No.

Rivers 1 Defense Tackles UT AT Harris 0 1 M. Mallory 6 9 Messner 4 5 Scarcelll 1 2 3 1 Moeller 3 3 T.O.Schulte 0 1 Hicks 0 1 D. Mallory 2 Gant 6 3 Cochran 3 1 Rivers 2 4 Mclntvre 1 0 White 1 0 Akers 2 1 Thlbert 3 0 Sutklewlcz 1 0 TlmSchulte 0 1 Randall 1 1 Relnhold 2 0 Bostlc 1 0 Hertn 1 0 Yds. 0 IS 33-27 Safety, Robblns stepped out of Nebraska Michigan Three polls put OUNo. 1 made our own breaks," he said.

Messner had his hands full Michigan defensive tackle Mark Messner said playing Nebraska did take some getting used to. "They were kind of reading and pushing the blocks instead of firing off the ball and it caught us because we're a quick- response team," Messner said. "I had my hands full all day. The key was we pulled together and won this for the seniors and Coach Schembecnler." Michigan The Oklahoma Sooners, who downed previously unbeaten Penn State 25-10 in the Orange Bowl on New Year's Day, received all 32 first-place votes in the final USA TodayCNN football poll published Thursday. OU moved up from the No.

3 spot The Sooners also were rated No. 1 in two other early polls released Thursday. In the USA version, Michigan moved from fifth to third with its 27-23 win over Nebraska in the Fiesta BowL The Corn-huskers finished 11th, just behind No. 10 Iowa, which lost to UCLA 45-28 in the Rose BowL The Associated Press and United Press International polls were to be released Thursday Michigan-Nebraska statistics Nebraska Offense Rushing Rivers ended the threat though, when he intercepted a Steve Taylor pass in the end zone with 28 seconds left. "I had the receiver covered in the end zone.

I went for the ball and I couldn't believe it when I got it. It felt so good," he said. "But we had confidence all along that we could shut them down. "We knew we gave them a lot with our mistakes. Maybe it was that physical play Nebraska gives you like nobody else does.

We just got physical too, and Kickoff returns No. Miles 3 K. Jones 2 DuBose 1 Sheppard 1 Yds. 67 31 16 30 Defense Tackles UT AT Slebler 3 1 Watklns 1 4 Parsons 6 7 Reeves 1 0 Knox 4 2 Skow 3 2 Miles 1 0 Forch 0 1 N.Smith 1 1 Noonan 3 6 Tucker 3 2 Davis 3 1 Washington 1 1 Spochman 1 0 Holioway 2 0 Carr 1 2 Schneider 1 0 4 5 13 Offense Rushing No. Yds.

Ave. Morris 22 156 7.1 Harbaugh 11 -20 While. 13 38 2.9 Perryman 2 1 0.5 Robblns 1 -4 Passing No. Yds. Clayton 14 48 17 99 Rathman 9 47 Shtppard 7 13 K.

Jones 2 0 S. Toy lor 10 76 Koelln 1 1 Huskers come out of game in relatively good condition 4.9 5.8 5.2 1.9 0.0 7.6 1.0 Passing No. Co. Clayton 6 4 S. Taylor 9 2 Yds 51 15 PI 0 1 Receiving No.

Frain 3 DuBose 1 R. Smith 1 Shtppard 1 Punting No. Yds. Wingard 3 121 Punt returns No. R.Schnitzler 1 Yds.

46 5 8 7 Ave. 40.3 Yds. 20 No. Co. Yds PI Harbaugh 15 6 63 0 Joklsch.

1 0 0 0 Yds. 38 15 10 Receiving No. 3 1 Joklsch. .2 Punting No. Yds.

Ave. Robblns 5 219 43.8 Punt returns No. Yds. Campbell .1 Kickoff returns No. 2 Yds.

29 Morris. TEMPE, Ariz. The players on Nebraska's football team suffered a lot of bumps and bruises in the Sunkist Fiesta Bowl game against Michigan here Wednesday. But NU trainer George Sullivan reported, everyone who had to come out of the game was able to return to action except one. Sullivan said freshman reserve linebacker LeRoy Etienne was kicked in the I fii4Tr tV iff 1H A fi- lfi rffl rT Ti 1--- -r 1- rti -f i fff ifT -fi iifr df 0 (T iff! tTfc rT Iff iffi ifT Qi iffB M.Jti.M.