Lincoln Journal Star from Lincoln, Nebraska • 58

1 HUSKERS NOVEMBER 1 986 SUNDAY JOURNAL-STAR ives Thomas i Iw apology for loss tofans9Tyrer I i ifX: Jfj 1f Ks 'v rf- disagreed with his coach. "I'm sure Coach Osborne won't like me saying this, but the referees gave, them (the Sooners) every opportunity to. make the big play. They (the officials; kept them in the game. They called penalties that didnt Prior to the game, Nebraska I-back Doug DuBose spoke to the team.

The senior from Uncasville, Conn, was sidelined for the season after suffer- -ing a severe knee injury in the first major scrimmage of the fall DuBose told the Cornhuskers "to get; this game for him," Thomas said. "But wanted to get it for Brad Tyrer." Tyrer also is a senior. "I really look up to him. The guy has, showed me a new way of life. I thank' God for having the pleasure of being! around Brad," Thomas said.

A victory on Saturday would have-been an expression of thanks. Instead, Thomas had to apologize. "I'd like to apologize to Nebraska's; fans, too," Thomas said. "The fans gave their best effort, ever; today, and I hate to disappoint them." The Sooners must come to Memorial; Stadium again next season, and accord-; ing to Thomas, they can expect to get-more of what Holieway got Saturday. "When he got hit, he got Thomas said, adding the Cornhuskers: may have lost on the scoreboard, but By Mike Babcock Broderick Thomas apologized to Nebraska football fans and, indirectly, to Comhusker teammate Brad Tyrer.

Thomas, Nebraska's sophomore defensive end, accepted the responsibility for the Cornhuskers' 20-17 loss to Oklahoma Saturday at Memorial Stadium. "And I've got two more years to make good on that apology," he said. "The next time they (the Sooners) come in here, they can expect to get punished." Thomas refused to concede defeat "Somehow on the scoreboard it shows they beat us, but they know who won the game," said Thomas. "Oklahoma didn't beat us today, not those 11 guys out there in red (maroon) and white." According to Thomas, the Sooners got an assist from the game officials. Nebraska was called for nine penalties totaling 79 yards.

Four of those penalties were for grabbing the face mask, including a crucial one during Oklahoma's game-tying touchdown drive. On a fourth-and-one from the Sooner 13-yard line, Comhusker cornerback Brian Davis recovered a Jamelle Holieway fumble, only to have it nullified by the face mask penalty. "That one just killed us," Nebraska Coach Tom Osborne said. "We had the game won there, I think. I've never seen so many face mask penalties, but I'm sure they must've been justified." Thomas, never one to skirt an issue, Marc Munford (41) leads a charge of Nebraska tacklers as they stuff OU's Patrick Collins for little gain early in the third quarter.

"we disnea it out toaay. wsker defense gives 'em their all, but gives up show-stopping big play ple of times, Switzer (Oklahoma Coach Barry) walked out on the field to yell at the officials," Thomas said. "That's against the rules and I pointed it out to the refs but they didn't do anything. "Oklahoma made a great contribution to the game, but they had a lot of help and they should have lost the game. That is the best game the Black Shirts ever played." Thomas and Noonan said the defensive effort in the first half stymied just about everything the Sooners tried.

Last year, OU tight end Keith Jackson ran a reverse 88 yards for a touchdown. This year, Thomas called the play early in the second quarter, pointing to Jackson and alerting his teammates. "The coaches warned us to watch for that and I read it As soon as he backed up, I knew that's what the play was," he said. Jackson was dropped by Neil Smith for an 8-yard loss. "They did nothing different from what we practiced for," Noonan said.

"In the first half, we stopped the reverse and got a few sacks and they didn't get the big play. They tried the big play in the second half and it worked." Thomas said the Black Shirts anticipated the Sooners would try something different when they were trailing in the fourth quarter. "I expect anything from them. Oklahoma is tricky and you always have to be ready for anything," he said "We just didn't stop it" By Ryly Jane Hambleton Danny Noonan admitted the Nebraska defense may have gotten a little tired. I still felt we were the better tem," said the Cornhuskers' senior middle "We gave up the big play agafh we've done that all year long." Like Noonan, safety Bryan Siebler was drained following Oklahoma's 20-17 victory over the Huskers Saturday at Memorial Stadium.

"I'm exhausted. I left everything out there on the field," he said. "I could feel it wearing on me. We were out on the field a long time in the third quarter and my legs just couldn't go like they did in the first half. we still played great defense we kept stopping them and I was really proud of the way the defense played." "Siebler credited Oklahoma for its gutsy comeback in the closing minutes of the game when the Sooners scored 13 points.

-You have to praise them for coming through and scoring like that They have a knack for doing that, it seems," he sail "But one of these days, that's going to change." The game brought back unpleasant memories for Siebler. "It reminded me of the 1984 game when our defense totally stuffed them and we still lost," he said. Oklahoma won 17-7 year. "I feel in my heart that weMiad a better team today and we should have won." NU's Bryan Siebler grabs the face mask of Jamelle Holieway with 12:52 left in the game resulting in one of the four face mask penalties assessed Nebraska. way (OU quarterback Jamelle).

He's short and when you run him down, he puts his head down kind of sideways. If you're tackling him by the shoulder, it's an invitation to get a finger in his face mask just because it's where your hand is." Like Holloway, Broderick Thomas was unhappy with some of the officiating. "There was a lot of holding and a cou Penalties hindered Nebraska's defensive effort. The Black Shirts were called for four face mask penalties in the game, including one on defensive end Tony Holloway. "Some of the calls were unnecessary.

I had the guy by the earhole in his helmet and his head didn't jerk at all," Holloway said. "The call shouldn't have been made. "And the other ones came on Holie I i4, it' 'f 1 iCQ:) vs- VxsC jl ilillli pia ill iilliij IHlllSfcstt, IsB! i NU's Jones not looking for sccipegoats By Ryly Jane Hambleton JEhere was dismay, lots of reasons and some explanation! $But Keith Jones didn't want to make excuses. tybsA two turnovers that were definitely important I feel it's my responsibility to hang onto the ball and away," Jones said Saturday after Oklahoma's 20-17, vittory over Nebraska. "I'm not going to say I blame myself for the loss, but they (the turnovers) were definite a cause of us not winning the game.

5should have taken better care of the balL" Jones fumbled twice in the second half. After Marc Muhford intercepted an Oklahoma pass in the third quarter, the junior I-back took a pitch from quarter-WcK Steve Taylor and gained 5 yards before the ball popped loose and Scott Garl recovered for the Sooners. Eleven plays later, Oklahoma kicked a field goal to cut Nebraska's lead to 17-10. 'the second fumble came in the fourth quarter, but tneSooners returned the favor two plays later. t'Jdh the first I carried it in my right hand the wje had surgery on and had the ball against my chest," Jones said, "I cut toward the sideline, one guy hit )iie and another came from behind and stripped the bail away.

The device (special cast) didn't allow movement in my thumb or let me grip it But I don't want to use that as an excuse. "I really thought I was down on the second one. The whistle had blown and a guy came over and snatched the ball from my hands and was jumping up and down." 7 But the offense watched with dismay as Oklahoma snatched victory from the Huskers in the final minutes- "I cant believe we could be up by seven points with a minute left and lose the game. It's unbelievable," said Nebraska kicker Dale Klein. "I thought it was pretty cheap to go for the tie, but I guess it worked out for them.

"We played a great game and deserved to win. I still feel like I should be celebrating." Nebraska did do some celebrating. Jones scored the first rushing touchdown against Oklahoma this year with a 2-yard run in the first quarter, Klein kicked a 32 yard field goal and Rod Smith scored on a 25-yard pass from Taylor. "Steve did a great job on that" Smith said of the TO pass. "I ran a post on it and the wingback runs a hook pattern.

Steve has to read the safety, and after I froze my guy, I broke away and there was the pass. I didn't have too much to do because he stuck it right in my numbers." Smith said he thought the NU passing game was effective most of the game. "When it started not to work was at the end when we kind of had to throw and they (Oklahoma) just put their ears back and rushed us," he said. "And then they caught us at the end. It's too bad the big play was the devastating factor in the game, like in the past because we were confident and really believed in ourselves.

I don't think any of us ever had the feeling that they'd beat us." Oklahoma had the ball more than 19 minutes in the second half compared to just over 10 minutes for Nebraska, but tight end Tom Banderas couldn't explain the change from the first half, which NU dominated. "I don't know what the problem was. It seemed like we were running out the clock," he said. "We didn't have the drive we did in the first half we weren't mowing them down. We had the lead, but it was like we were trying to hold on, like we didn't want to lose.

"We were in three plays and then out and you can't win like that But I thought we played a complete game against the No. 1 defense in the nation." Smith and center Mark Cooper agreed. "We outplayed them for the majority of the game and we played our hearts out" Smith said. "I feel particularly bad for some of the guys I spend a lot of time with (Danny) Noonan, (Marc) Munford, (Brian) Davis. It's too bad we couldn't come up with a win in their final game in Memorial Stadium." But things just didn't go Nebraska's way, according to Cooper.

"We just didn't get the breaks," he said. "We were a better team than they were today, but such is life." Dadgummit! Husker Coach Tom Osborne shows his displeasure, on a face mask penalty charged against NU. Huskers From JES22J1 ever you have," Parsons said. "At the end, we were playing solely on desire." Saturday, that was almost enough. "Like Vince Lombard! once said, the greatest feeling in the world is to go out' with similarly impressive statistics, ranking No.

1 in total defense, rushing defense and scoring defense. Though Nebraska was limited to 68 yards of offense in the second half, the Cornhuskers did score the first rushing touchdown against the Sooners this season, on I-back Keith Jones' 2-yard run with 6:27 left in the first quarter. Jones' touchdown capped a 13-play, 85-yard drive. Dale Klein's extra point gave Nebraska a 7-0 lead. A 32-yard field goal by Klein gave the Cornhuskers a 10-7 lead with 4:46 remaining in the first half Nebraska increased that advantage to 17-7 on a 25-yard touchdown pass from Taylor to split end Rod Smith with 10:48 left in the third quarter.

The two-play series, which required only 44 seconds, was set up by Dana Brinson's 48-yard punt return. Brief rest Ironically, the brief series meant the Cornhuskers' Black Shirt defense had to turn around and go back on the field. The defenders were a weary lot "After awhile, you run out of what the field as long as they were. But they played a great ban game." Averages cut in half Oklahoma, which went into the game leading the nation to total offense, rushing offense and scoring offense, came away with 224 rushing yards and 20 points, about half Its averages. Until the Holieway-to-Jackson touchdown pass, the Sooners' only points had come on Holieway's 4-yard scoring run and Lashar's extra-point kick with 2:30 remaining in the first quarter.

Oklahoma's defense came to town sive line that made the difference. The Sooners time of possession in the second half was 19:25, which meant they had the ball nearly nine minutes more than Nebraska. And Oklahoma's five Interior offensive linemen have a combined weight of nearly one ton. Even the psychological edge the Cornhuskers may have gotten from wearing their red road pants at home -couldn't of fset the effects of that line. "I think our defense got worn down a little bit at the end," Osborne said.

"That was to be expected, being on year in a row on New Year's night Except for the late-game efforts of Holieway and Jackson, Nebraska would have gone to Miami "Oklahoma obviously has a lot of talent and they were able to get some things done at the end because of it," Osborne said. for example, tipped the ball thetfcaught it on the pass play that set up Lashar's game-winning field goal. (secondary) coverage wasn't all that bad," Osborne said. the end, it may have been the physical strength of Oklahoma's offen ana piay ana aiterwara, couapse irorn exhaustioa I did that," Parsons said. But it wasn't a great feeling.

Even though he's from New Orleans, Smith wasn't happy about going to the Sugar BowL "I wanted a Big Eight championship ring," he said. "That's something I don't have." Saturday, Smith almost did. 1.