Lincoln Journal Star from Lincoln, Nebraska • 31

1 Sports "SECTION Journal anb September 10, 1978 Lincoln, Neb. lice critics with 3626 win sile fM ,.1 7 4 1 via', I 1, 1 -rr I -d i 1 Offense comes alive in second half flurry Coi Neb at 60 percent was better suited for ss-am "urst-quenciung oranges. Roses woum Passing yards 270 190 have Wilted. Passe" VrdS i6 32 1 10-20-2 "We felt fr0m the Very S1" thal 5-39 these (Alabama and California) gave us Fumbles lost ii 34 the two toughest opening games in a long T'dlZZ'S 'I'-" time," Osborne observed "As a result, Time of possession 30:07 29:53 I'm real pleased with the win but disap- By Virgil Parker pointed at the number of silly mistakes Sports Editor we made on both offense and defense. Nothing silences the critics like a vie- We've got to correct those to become a tory.

better team." Coach Tom Osborne and his Nebraska Osborne said he felt California had an Cornhuskers, lustily booed when they left edge going into the game because the the field at halftime after a series of mix- gears were able to spend all of their pre- ups prevented a field goal try, stormed season workouts concentrating on Ne- back in the fourth quarter Saturday af- braska ternoon to register a 36-26 win over the We lhougM we-d offset that some by UUfonua Golden Bears havin had the experience 0f one game. The Ptisan crowd of 5,980 Big Red But w6e made SQ Uc errors it fans the 95th consecutive Memorial ook we.d laved one Stadium sellout changed to cheers and thisvear" smiles at the end. Before the triumph was assured, however, the Huskers had cauforma didn't play without error, to overcome a rash of errors including The Bears wh(J were the most nallzed four fumbles, two intercepted passes and team ta coU fQOtbaU last made a 10 penalties totaling 79 yards slart toward defendm UUOi In the "must win Nebraska was Ca, was rds on me nag facing the prospect of losing its first two tosses The Bears on fumbled once bul games for the first time in 21 years the that WM recovered for a Nebraska Huskers had to battle from behind on two touchdown. After Cal's only intercepted occasions. California led 7-0 and 14-7 be- NU deensive end Deme Nel.

fore Nebraska knotted the count for the on lne uskers fumbled the batk second time gomg into the final frame. on lhe npxt The Huskers, on a sensational pas3 play from quarterback Tom Sorley to "i don't know when I've seen a game wingback Maurice McCloney and with with so many bizzare plays," Osborne the aid of a critical Cal turnover, tallied noted. "You'll have to go a long time be- two touchdowns in the span of 45 seconds fore you see another one like it. But you to put the game out of reach. can't fault the desire and effort of our In bouncing bark from an opening- kids.

Thev battled the whole time." game loss to pre-season No. 1 rated Alabama, Nebraska was facing a Bear ball Nebraska's first error a fumble by club that was 7-4 last year, has most of wingback Kenny Brown after catching a its starters returning and its eyes on the Sorley pass led to California's initial Rose BowL'The Huskers were" trying to touchdown. Cal punter Dan Melville, who prove their pre-season optimism was jus- had a record-breaking 84-yard boot be-tified and that a goal of reaching the fore the day was over, pinned the Husk-Orange Bowl is realistic, ers deep with his first kick. It was The hot, steamy afternoon it was 86 downed at the Nebraska two. degrees at kickoff time with the humidity HUSKERS: cont.

page4D NW. (fcr.rjAaLwag. -J L. V- I 'C1r California Golden Bears' quarterback Rich Campbell (19) is in trouble as three of Nebraska's Black Shirts close in. Bill Barnett (97) is approaching from the left with Rod Horn (55) and Lee Kunz (38) STAFF COLORPHOTO BY HARALD DREIMANlS drawing up on the right.

Campbell drilled the Cornhusker secondary for 271 yards and two touchdown passes. Linebacker Kunz led the Huskers with 17 tackles, 10 unassisted. I erase eirors Freshman McCloney no longer secret in the 40 seconds preceding halftime, the Huskers managed to do twice in the spun of 43 seconds of the fourth quarter. The first came when Sorley whipped a 32-yard touchdown pass to Maurice McCloney with 13:22 left in the game, and the second came 43 seconds later when defensive end Lawrence Cole recovered a fumble in the California end zone. "I think everybody got pumped up when the defense got that score," Sorley said.

The two-point extra came on a Sorley-to Richard Berns-to Sorley bit of razzle-dazzle that Coach Osborne calls "gingerbread." Earlier the same play had failed, "The ball was just behind me," Sorley said of Berns' fust pass. "But I don't get on people for that. Most of the time in practice I drop it." The Huskers went to the sweet-bread pantry more than once Saturday afternoon. Nebraska's first touchdown was set up by a 57-yard pass play that went from Sorley to Isaiah Hipp to Sorley to Maurice McCloney. "We felt like their secondary really rotated up for quick run support," Sorley said.

"They get real quick secondary support, and we thought we could take advantage of it with motion plays. "I don't remember who I pitched to," he said. "But we set it up by running quite a few plays with motion, thinking their corners would pull in and leave the back side open then we came back with the pass." By game's end, it was clear that the Huskers knew what they were doing. The 36-26 score was evidence enough. But for lire 40 seconds that ticked away before the first half ended, you had to wonder just a little.

No one was laughing then. "When you're a receiver and don't have your feet, it can really be tough psychologically," observed Gene Huey, Nebraska's wingback coach. "When you're supposed to block a guy like George Andrews, who'll take your head off, it can get embarrassing when you try. "I could see that happening last spring with Maurice. He'd give you the effort, but you could see something wasn't there.

He has a lot of pride and it just wasn't happening for him." So McCloney, a 5-11, 196-pound package of :04.4 sueed, fluid motion and intense concentration, made it happen this summer. "I worked out every day, starting May 10 at Lamar University in Beaumont," he said. "I'd been through a whole year of the freshman blues and there were times I had thought about quitting. But I told Coach Huey before I left that if I didn't come back this fall with a stronger leg, I didn't deserve to play." That same spirit had made McCloney a prep All-American wide receiver. He had so much ability and so many credentials that Texas Coach Fred Akers made him his No.

1 recruiting target in 1977 after Daryl Sheppard announced he was signing with Houston. "He signed a Southwest letter with Texas and a Big Eight one with us (over Oklahoma)," defensive coordinator Lance Van Zandt recalled. "I was worried about UCLA, too. They wanted him just as bad and why not? He's a great atidete. He can bench press 340 pounds and run a :09.7 hundred Look at him.

He ought to be good and he's worked like a dog all summer to be good. He paid the price and we're all proud of him." Win helps By Mike Babcock Staff Sports Writer A not-so-funny thing happened on the way to Nebraska's first victory of the season Saturday afternoon. At one point, you could have called it a comedy of errors, but no one as laughing. What the Huskers had was an inability lo communicate: a breakdown in the flow of information on such a scale that everyone in Memorial Stadium was a bewildered participant. With 40 seconds left in the first half, Nebraska was playing beat the clock at the California 21-yard line 14 seconds, no plays and a five-yard penalty later they were at the Golden Bear 26 when quarterback Tom Sorley called time out.

"I remember we got a penalty but I don't know what it was," Sorley said. "We called a play which we mostly run to the wide side of the field, and it came in from the sideline that we should run it to the short side of the field. "I called it to the short side, but the man who came in with the play got me switched around. I started up to the line of scrimmage and in my mind I thought we were going the wrong direction. "It looked like we would have two receivers in the same spot, so I just decided we would be better off to call time out," he said.

That took care of Nebraska's first-half allotment of timeouts and still left the Huskers with 26 yards to go and 26 seconds in which to do it. "So I told him (Sorley) since we didn't have any more timeouts, call a pass play to Junior Miller up the middle, but if it wasn't open, throw the ball out of bounds," Coach Tom Osborne said. "He obviously thought he could make a first from center after Notre Dame had reached the Missouri 14-yard line. Earl Gant ripped off a 21-yard gain and then took a 16-yard pass from Phil Bradley to move into Nore Dame territory. Bradley connected on a 15-yard pass to David Newman down to the Irish 25 and four plays later Brockhaus booted his game-winning field goal Notre Dame's final scoring chance was lost in the heat with 3:31 remaining when Vagas Ferguson fumbled on the Missouri 24-yard line and Eric Berg recovered for the Tigers.

The Irish had their chances. Early in the second half, they moved to the Missouri 11-yard line where quarterback Joe Montana faded to gain on a fourth and one. Moments later Gerry Ellis fumbled and Jeff Weston recovered on the Missouri 7-yard line. Notre Dame got down to the 1-yard line where Montana failed to get it across and on fourth down the Tigers' Chris How AP's Top 20 fared Next week's opponent 1. Alabama, Idle at Missouri 2.

Arkansas, idle Vanderbilt 3. Penn State, def Rutgers, 26-0 Ohio State 4. Oklahoma, def. Stanford, 35-29 West Va. 5.

Notre Dome, lost to Missouri, 3-0 idle 6. Michigan, idle Illinois 7. Ohio State, Idle at Penn State e. Texas, idle At Rice 9. USC, def.

Texas Tech, 17-9 At Oreaon 10. Nebraska, def. California, 36-26 Hawaii 11. Washington, lostto UCLA, 10-7 Kansas 12. UCLA, def.

10-7 at Tennessee 13. LSU, idle Indiana 14. Pitt, idle at Tulane 15. Kentucky, idle at So. Carolina 16.

Texas def. Kansas, 37-10 idle 17. Flo. def. Syracuse, 28-0 Okla.

State 18. Clemson, Idle Citadel 19. No. Carolina, idle E. Carolina 20.

Iowa St. def Rice, 23-19 San Diego St. sPrts 1 Scene Sunday Football Missouri vs. Notre Dame, a.m., Bengals vs. Browns, noon, 3 C5; Cowboys vs.

Giants, noon, 6 10; Dolphins vs. Colts, 3 p.m., 3 C5; Tom Osborne Show, 10:30 p.m., 10. Tennis U.S. Open, 3 p.m., 6 10. Baseball Royals vs.

Angels, 3 p.m., CJ. Football Broncos vs. Vikings, 8 p.m., 7C4. Tennis U.S. Open, 11 p.m., 6.

Tuesday Boseboll Twins vs. White Sox, 7:30 p.m., C2. Football Cornhusker Football, 7 P.m., 12. Tennis U.S. Opsn, 11 p.m,.

Thursday Tennis U.S. Open, 11 p.m., "Our players worked hard and were in good condition," said Powers "I was convinced all along we could win this game and the players believed they could do it." The last time the Tigers visitied Nor-tre Dame, in 1972, Missouri upset an unbeaten Irish team. Notre Dame blew numerous scoring chances Saturday and Devine admitted after the game, "if I had to do it over, I would have gone for the field goal more often." "I'm critical of myself for not realizing field goals win games," said Devine. "The idea is to win and we were in range several times, including the first half." Missouri attempted a field goal ir? the first half and failed from 53 yards, but that didn't stop Powers from trying again when the chance presented itself in the fourth quarter. Missouri's winning drive began after the.

Irish failed on a field goal attempt wi.en holder Joe Restic fumbled the snap clown which also would have stopped the clock hut he didn't" Sorley dropped back, couldn't find anyone to whom he could pass, and salvaged three yards up the middle. But the clock was still running, and in came Billy Todd to attempt a field goal. Kveryone was aware of Todd's presence except Sorley. "I was trying to get to the line of scrimmage to call a quick-out audible," Sorley said. "I was sitting there underneath center, and the linemen were looking up at me yelling, 'Field goal, field "They'd seen him come in, and I hadn't," he said.

So Nebraska earned a penalty for an illegal formation and while the Huskers scrambled to get the ball snapped and kicked in two seconds, time ran out. The ball was centered, California tackle Daryle Skaugstad lunged through the line towards Sorley, who was setting the ball on the tee, and the official signaled the end of the first half before Todd could kick. "I lined up the tee and assumed he knew," Todd said of the confusion which had preceded the snap. "I think he was looking at the clock what down it was and what to do. But by then I knew we were in trouble." That may have been the nadir of the day for Sorley and Huskers.

As they ran to the lockerroom at halftime, most of the 75,980 fans in Memorial Stadium were wondering if it had finally come to this an Abbott and Costello routine in which no one knew who was on first. But that changed in the second half when the Huskers wiped the smile off California's face by storing a pair of touchdowns in rapid succession. What they had been unable to accomplish once Garlich and Kurt Petersen threw Ferguson for a loss. Once again the Irish got good field position on a punt and Montana hit Kris Haines with a 35-yard pass to the Missouri 3-yard line. A penalty put it back on the 18 where the fumbled snap on the field goals attempt occurred.

Turnovers by Montana repeatedly stifled Notre Dame's chances of getting on the board in the first half. Missouri had the game's first scoring chance. The Tigers moved to the Irish 36-yard line where Brockhaus attempted a 53-yard field goal which fell short. Notre Dame roared back and, with Montana passing to Pete Holohan for 18 yards and Ferguson for 15, the Irish had a first down on the Missouri 18. Montana fumbled the next snap and Garlich recovered.

The Irish got it right back when Gant fumbled and Jim Browner recovered. But the Irish were unable to move the bail. By Randy York Staff Sports Writer One of the best kept secrets on the Nebraska campus should silence the army of "Why don't we ever play any freshmen?" football critics. Wingback Maurice McCloney, the young man who swept out of nowhere and into your hearts Saturday in Nebraska's 36-26 soap opera win over California, is a freshman. Maybe not in the true sense of the word, but nevertheless a freshman, The important thing is the soft-spoken former prep All-American from Beaumont, has four years of eligibility remaining.

There was a time when some Nebraska coaches wondered if that was long enough for McCloney to even work his way into the picture. If life is a bowl of cherries, Maurice McCloney had every reason to wonder why he spent the last year in the pits. But he did and it's behind him now. His two catches for 88 yards and a touchdown against the Golden Bears changed (lie entire script. McCloney may have Walked into Memorial Stadium Saturday morning a virtual no name, but he walked out a few hours later with the thrill of having contributed and the excitement of regaining his pride.

It wasn't easy for an athlete of McCloney's stature to miss his freshman year because of knee surgery, then endure the embarrassment of finishing last spring as Nebraska's No 4 wingback, McCloney was so far out of the picture that he had no picture in this year's Nebraska press guide. It was merely another step in a downhill cycle which started for him on July 28, 1977, in Dallas. He was returning a kickoff in the Texas High School All-Star game. "I had on bad shoes," he remembered "I tried to reverse field and cut and my right knee buckled on me. No one hit me.

it was just a freak accident." Exploratory surgery no significant damage, so McCloney ended up running pass routes sooner than he should have when he arrived at Nebraska. Later, X-rays showed he had torn cartilage in the back of the knee joint Although surgery wasnt performed until last Nov. 4, McCloney never played last fall and therefore earned a hardship case and an extra year of eligibility. "I went through winter conditioning with less than 50 strength in my knee," he said. "I dont think it got much better last spring.

I knew the coaches were disappointed in me. 1 was, too, because I've never been less than No. 1 throughout my career and I wanted to meet high standards for myself as much as they wanted me to. The only difference was I knew why I wasnt because I only had one leg." That can make an athlete, even a great one, awfully shy in contact drills. Mizzou blanks Irish as Powers gets 2nd stunner Mo ND First downs Rustws-yards Passing vords Return yards Passes Punts Fumbles-lost Penaltlevyards 12 51 151 110 18 41-173 1SI 43 3 11 IB 0 13-W- 3-2 4-3 4-23 3-35 SOUTH BEND, Ind.

(AP) Notre Dame coach Dan Devine said "it was just as hot on both sides of the field" Saturday when Missouri's Tigers threw a 3-0 upset at his defending national champions. The victory came on sophomore Jeff Brockhaus' 33-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter. But the Tigers might have had an edge playing In the 95-degree heat. "We've had 95-degree heat for a long time, and we've been working in it," said Warren Powers, who was making his coaching debut at Missouri. "This is just great, it has to rank right up ith our Washington State victory over Nebraska last year," said Powers, in reference to his 19-10 upset of Nebraska in his single season at Washington State.

Midway in the second quarter, Notre Dame started another march and advanced to the Missouri 32 after Jerome Heavens had ripped off a 16-yard run. But Montana's next pass was intercepted by Eric Wright, who returned 33 yards to the Irish 47. Missouri had to turn the ball over again when Bradley failed to make a fourth and one. Notre Dame then gained 17 yards in three plays but Montana was intercepted again, this time by Garlich. A Bradley pass to Lamont Downer was good for 19 yards to the Irish 3Sr Gant and Bradley gained seven yards before Monte Montgomery shanked a punt for one yard to the Irish 30.

Montana attempted three desperation passes but failed to connect before the end of the scoreless half Missouri Dome Mo-FGBrockhous33. 0003-3 0000-0.