Lincoln Journal Star from Lincoln, Nebraska • 55

NOVEMBER 9, 1 986 SUNDAY JOURNAL-STAR Hllfitf PPft I I7R1 NU offense gets needed suark By Ken Hambleton AMES, Iowa The enthusiasm was there. The yards were there. But the points weren't until Nebraska scored 28 in the final 18 minutes to beat Iowa State 35-14 Saturday at Cyclone Stadium. "We have a key thing in the huddle where everybody is saying, 'Let's go, let's go, let's Nebraska I-back Ty-reese Knox said. "But it wasn't until Steve Taylor took charge in the huddle that we really got it all together," he said.

Knox, a reserve fullback three weeks ago, rushed for 126 yards in his first start as an I-back. Along with fullback Ken Kaelin, who also rushed for 126 yards, the Cornhusker offense rolled up 310 yards on the ground. The running helped offset one of the worst passing days in NU history. The Huskers netted a minus 3 yards on one completion in nine attempts. "It made for a long, hard day for linemen," NU guard Stan Parker said.

"But when we run like that and we score, it doesn't matter how we do it" Senior center Mark Cooper agreed The passing game was screwed up because of the wind, but we knew we could run. That's what we're all about 'anyway," he said. The fact that Nebraska was held to one 80-yard scoring drive in the first half surprised many people. "This was not the game I expected," Knox said. "We struggled early.

We just didn't get it all together." Knox had 14 stitches put in his right hand after the game. "I think it happened on the first drive. My hand felt numb and I felt something dripping down my hand and when I looked it was cut pretty good. "But it didn't keep me from playing and it shouldn't keep me from practicing on Monday," he sail Cooper said part of the problem in the first half was the stunting by the Iowa State line. "We did just fine on that first drive, but they started moving things around and it took us awhile to get our feet on the ground," he said.

"They were guessing right time after time and just getting to the right place at the right time in the first half. Another change occurred in the Nebraska power game. "Iowa State, like so many other teams, has become so conscious of our outside game, we catch them on the power stuff. "They kept shutting off the outside and Ken and Tyreese frustrated them by pounding up the middle," he said. The Iowa State defense, with a four-man or six-man front line, was another successful key of the inside running game, Parker said.

"You play an even front and the fullback is going to have a big day as long as we can get on them. I thought both Ken and Tyreese did a good job. "And Steve (Taylor) had to call a lot of audibles today and they were just the right calls most of the time in the second half," he said. Nebraska I-back Tyreese Knox lowers his shoulder Into Iowa State cornerback Aaron Manning en route to a 10-yard gain during Kaelin shows he can get job done, basically an Saturday. "If I hadn't been in shape, I would've! been struggling a little," he sail I But junior Micah Heibel, his back-up, was ready if he had grown weary.

"Micah's another blessing I have," said Kaelia "He told metf was fresh, keep going. All I had to do was myhandiflgottirel" As the game wore on, Kaelin seemed to get stronger. Sixteen of his carries came in the sc-j ond half. 'y. 'J, He just kept pounding away at the Iowa Stater defense.

"Ken doesn't have tremendous speel'JT said Frank Solich, Nebraska's running backs coach. "But he's got very good quickness, tre mendous leg drive and tremendous heartiT That helped spring the trap. ssi "It was just a matter of getting to where wen By Mike Babcock AMES, Iowa It was a trap and other pretty basic stuff. But it caught the Iowa State defense Saturday afternoon at Cyclone Stadium. That always seems to happen against 4-3, or "even," defenses, Nebraska Coach Tom Osborne said after the Cornhuskers' 35-14 victory.

Osborne was referring to fullback Ken Kae-lin's career-high 126 rushing yards. Nebraska fullbacks usually have their best games against even defenses, said Osborne. The reason is simple, according to Kaelin, a senior from Westerville who was picked by the coaches as an honorary captain for Saturday's game. The 4-3 defensive alignment "opens up the middle," Kaelin sail "They try to shut down the option, and that leaves it (the middle) open." The offensive line has to open it, of course, and after a sluggish start, Nebraska's did on Saturday. Fired up in open field "When you're running up in there, and all you see is a linebacker, and the tight end takes him out, and then all you see is the safety downf ield, it fires you up," said Kaelin, who carried the ball 25 times.

Going into the game, he had a total of 31 carries for 206 yards. Not to take anything away from Kaelin, who "did an excellent job," Nebraska linebacker Kevin Parsons sail "But our linemen were blowing open holes bigger than the Grand Can-yoa" Parsons didn't get any argument from Kaelin about that. At halftime, Kaelin and offensive guard Stan Parker made an adjustment in the trap play. "We changed it a little bit. Stan told me to follow right on his butt," said Kaelin, who did on his 5-yard touchdown run with 52 seconds remaining in the third quarter.

"Stan really blasted the linebacker." Parker's block on that play typified the efforts of the entire offensive line, especially during the second half, according to Kaelin. Full day's work "They really started putting the wood to people," he sail Nearly every time he got the ball, "all I could see was (ISU) red, and then it began to move," Kaelin sail Kaelin, whose previous single-game high was 74 yards on two carries against Iowa State a year ago, played all but a couple of downs on Hi played a physical game, Solich sail Very basic stuff, really. Ken Kaelin rumbles for yardage Huskers From pag 1E r. 5 Husker quotes yS, ft Sj6JX ihl fcas Mr :4 Robb Schnitzler, on his punt return fdr a touchdown "The ball hit the turf and then I grabbed it I started up field and they kind of relaxed I split the pp, then jumped over that last guy. It was I big thrill" Jr Cornerback Charles Fryar "WH were in a deep coverage early was frustrating because they weVey throwing underneath our coverage." the touchdown pass, we had a mistake' on who was supposed to release their guy and cover the deep man.

"But we didn't have those mistakes in the second half and we came up played them tough. "We knew it was just a matter of time. We weren't thinking about Colorado loss because once you start thinking that way, the game goes iljat way." Fryar on Esplnoza "He's the best passer we've seea He throws so quick. and with such accuracy. There werij? couple of times when I thought I halthf-; interception and, wham, their receiver has it" Tyreese Knox, on his 29 most by an Nil back this year "I pr- pared to play the whole game andnrC glad I was able to play as much ijl'J did" Middle guard Danny Noonan, on 'the! 58-yard run by Curtis Warren that set pp; an ISU touchdown "We had a slant I were attempted passes, and required at least six minutes.

That's why there was a 12-minute disparity in the final time of possession. The most significant disparity between the teams, however, may have been in the kicking game. To an extent, it was a double-edged sworl Iowa State took the lead after Cornhusker freshman Terry Rodgers lost a fumble at the Nebraska 18-yard line on the kickoff following the Cyclones' first touchdowa But Iowa State's kicking-game problems outnumbered Nebraska's 3-1. They began early in the second quarter, when kicker Rich Frank didn't get off a 28-yard field goal attempt because holder Brett Sadek couldn't handle the snap and was sacked by Nebraska's Tom Welter. The Cornhuskers regained the lead with 52 seconds left in the third quarter, on a 5-yard 'touchdown run by Kaelin, immediately following an Iowa State kicking-game mistake.

On a fourth-and-11 from the Cyclone 24, a low center snap went through Frank's legs. He retrieved the ball near the goal line and, under pressure from Nebraska's Dante Wiley, tossed an underhand pass to Anthony Hoskins, who was tackled by defensive end Jeff Jam-rog at the 5, where the Cornhuskers took over on downs. Nebraska's Robb Schnitzler capped the victory by returning a punt 70 yards for a touchdown with only 37 seconds re-, The Cornhuskers did it with an offense best characterized as ground-oriented, the sort of attack that was probably popular before droplocks went out of style and footballs were elongated to facilitate throwing. Nebraska completed just one of nine passes for a 3-yard loss. It could have been worse, of course.

Virginia Military finished with a minus-16 passing yards on two completions in a 1957 game. Nebraska's passing problems could be attributed, at least in part, to Iowa -State's man-to-man coverage in the secondary. "They really crowd you," Os--borne sail In addition, conditions in the open-ended stadium weren't conducive to passing, according to Osborne. Though the announced temperature at game time was 42 degrees, the wind-chill fac- at field level was 12 degrees because of a 15-mph wind gusting to 20 mph. Actually, aside from the embarrassment, Nebraska didn't really need any passing yardage Saturday.

The Cornhuskers' balanced rushing attack and special teams' play were more than enough to drop Iowa State to 5-4. How balanced was Nebraska's running game? Kaelin and I-back Tyreese Knox each rushed for 126 yards. The Cornhuskers finished with 310 yards on 74 rushes and had two scoring drives of 80 yards and another of 60 yards. Each of those three drives included at least 13 plays, none of which Husker injuries apparently minor AMES, Iowa The Nebraska football team appeared to come through Saturday afternoon's 35-14 victory over Iowa State in good physical shape, according to Coach Tom Osborne. Quarterback Steve Taylor suffered a bruised back, I-back Tyreese Knox had a gash on a knuckle of his right hand that required 14 stitches and offensive tackle Tom Welter had a strained knee.

None of the injuries appeared to be serious, although the extent of Taylor's injury might not be known until Monday, Osborne sail maining. By then, fans were filing out of the stadium, an exodus that began when NU back-up quarterback Clete Blakeman pushed into the end zone from a yard out with 4:56 left. "Was there a bomb scare?" someone in the press box asked Starting quarterback Steve Taylor scored Nebraska's first two touchdowns, on runs of 1 and 5 yards, before taking himself out of the game because of a badly bruised back. Knox, who got his first start at Nebraska, played the entire game despite suffering a gash on a knuckle of his right hand on the first series. The gash required 14 stitches.

The redshirted sophomore from Daly City, carried 29 times Knox carried nine times for 42 yards on the Cornhuskers' first possession, a 16-play, 80-yard drive that gave them a 7-0 lead with 7:46 remaining in the first quarter. Given that start, it appeared Nebraska might make short work of the Cyclones. But by halftime, Iowa State seemed to have an emotional edge. Osborne had visions of the Cornhuskers 20-10 loss to Colorado two weeks ago. "At halftime, I could just see it coming," he sail "I thought we might lose the game.

They were knocking us off the ball, and we appeared a little flat" Dadgumit, The time had come to do something. So Osborne did Statistics Jamrog 1 0.1 N. Smith 1 1 2 2 3 5 Pete 0 1 1 L.Jones 0 2 2 Rother 1 0 1 Tvrer 1 1 2 Holloway 1 1,2 Parsons 4 2 6 Etlenne 1 2 3 Munford 4 3 7 Davis 3 0 3 Custard 1 12 Fryar 4 0 4 Washington 3 0 3 Slebler 2 0 2 Blazek 0 2 2 Welnlak 1 1 Iowa State Offense Rushing No. Yds. Ave.

Jackson 8 25 3.1 Esplnoza 7 11 1.6 Henderson. 14 34 2.4 E. Brown 1 -9 Sadek 1 -9 Warren 5 74 14.8 Passing No. Co. Yds PI Esplnoza 23 9 93 1 Frank 1 1 19 0 Sadek 0 0 0 0 Receiving No.

Yds. Minor 2 30 and he just cut up between the Husker defensive back Bryan Slebler celebrates after intercepting an ISU pass at the NU 5-yard line in second quarter. didn adjust and he got loose. Scoring Time let 5 NU-ISU How scored FIRST QUARTER 7-0 Taylor 1 run Drive: 80 yards In 16 plays. Highlighted by nine Knox runs for 1 42 yards and four Kaelin runs for 25 yards.

Conversion: Klein KICK. E. Brown 2 Schultlng 3 Ross 1 Hoskins 1 Henderson 1 Punting No. Yds. Frank ..6 276 Punt returns No.

Dole 3 Kickoff returns No. Dote 1 Jackson 1 Henderson 3 23 37 6 -19 -3 Ave. 46.0 Yds. 31 Yds. 18 10 11 SECOND QUARTER 7-7 Henderson 1 run Drive: 70 yards In 7 plays.

Highlighted by Warren 58 run and aided by defensive holding penalty on third down. Conversion: Frank kick. 7-14 Minor 19 pass from Esplnoza Drive: 18 yards In 2 plavs. Set up by Rodgers fumble on kick off. Conversion: Frank kick.

tot Nebraska Offense Rushing No. Yds. Ave. Knox 29 126 4.3 Kaelin 25 126 5.1 12 43 3.6 Brlnson 4 4 1.0 Blakeman 2 5 2.5 Heibel 2 6 3.0 Passing No. Co.

Yds PI Taylor 9 1 -3 0 Receiving No. Yds. Knox 1 -3 Punting No. Yds. Ave.

Kroeker 6 229 38.2 Punt returns No. Yds. Brlnson 2 21 R. Schnitzler 1 70 Kickoff returns No. Yds.

Rodgers 1 1 Brlnson 2 33 Interception returns No. Yds. Slebler 1 0 Defense Tackles UT AT TT Thomas 1 0 1 TT THIRD QUARTER 14-14 Taylor 5 run 2:53 Drive: 80 yards In 14 ploys. Highlighted by Knox 16 ond 6 runs, flveKaellnrunsfor27yards, Taylor 10 run. Conversion: Klein kick.

21-14 Kaelin 5 run 0:52 Drive: 5 yards in 1 play. Set up by Frank fumbled snap on punt. Conversion: Klein kick. Defense Tackles UT Benson 1 Clnefro 0 Liter 9 Berthusen 4 Dabney 4 Gibson 6 Hoskins 0 Moore 5 Trleb 5 Sheffev 5 Manning 2 Pitts 9 Colon 2 Baker 2 Photos by Ted Kirk, Harald Dreimanis, Dan Dulaney 10 FOURTH QUARTER 28-14 Blakeman 1 run 4:6 Drive: 60 yards In 13 plays. Highlighted by six Kaelin runs for 29 yards, Knox 13 run.

Conversion: Klein kick. ti 35-14 R. Schnitzler 70 punt return 0:37 i Conversion: Klein kick..