Lincoln Journal Star from Lincoln, Nebraska • 59

NOVFMRPR 1 96 SUNDAY JOURNAL-STAR iiusimnoc: 37E Ajf 'lvv -i IMiMiaMitlMMHIiaMMMaHHi Oklahoma's Tim Lashar (31) kicks the game-winning field goal with six seconds left out of the hold by Glenn Sullivan (11). air attack propels Oil By Ken Hambleton Barry Switzer walked across the field to shake the hand of Nebraska Coach Tom Osborne. 1 "Lucky again," the Oklahoma coach said. "And good players," he added in the locker room. Ti lt was a little of both.

Oklahoma offensive coordinator Jim Donnan explained that although the Sooner passing game was the reason OU beat Nebraska 20-17, it wasnt totally by design. "Nebraska mixed up their coverages so welL They had us guessing on the pass calls and we kept guessing wrong the whole game. We'd can something and it wouldnt work and it wouldnt work," Donnan said. "So in the fourth quarter, when we had to throw the ban, we told our receivers to do whatever they wanted to do out of basic patterns. "They adjusted wen and figured out-their own routes and Jamelle found them." Switzer said it was nothing special other than scoring 13 points in the fourth; quarter against the second-best deiense in the country.

"It's not this field It's not a jinx It's nothing but the two best teams in the; conference every year, every yeafc every year. Doing the things it takes to: win the ballgame," he said. "Keith Jack-; son catches the ban. Jamelle Holieway throws it "We were scared looking at 96 yards to tie the game. We had to score a touchdown and a field goal in the last breaths of this game to win," he said.

It wasnt until Holieway hit split end Derrick Shepard on a 35-yard pass on the score-tying drive that a tie appeared imminent to Switzer. "When we hit Shepard, I thought we'd get the tie and the conference champion, ship. I had said all along we'd go for the tie to get the conference title and go to the Orange BowL We did that and I had; no second thoughts. "Then, we got another chance and we' tried for the win," he said. "We've done, it so many times that we believed as long as we kept it close we're going to still be in the bafl game and have a' chance to win it" Oklahoma's famous linebacker Brian Bosworth said he felt there was chance for the victory an along.

"I dont think it was a comeback; it was just a matter of destiny," he "It's kind of strange when Nebraska and Oklahoma play. Both of them expect to win, but only one team can, and I think everybody knows who normally wins," he said. The problems presented by the Ne-y braska offense surprised the Sooner defense, Bosworth said. "Taylor (NU quarterback Steve) had a great game they hurt us with the passing. "We didnt ever intimidate Nebraska.

But the clouds came over Nebraska and we got momentum and they started, questioning their game." Donnan, who directed the final scor-, ing flurry that gave the Sooners the victory, said OU never reaUy got into its. two-minute drill "We were running options at the end, and that was partly because we hadnt practiced it much and we had to just" speed up our normal game," he said. "They made us impatient on our big" plays. We didn't complete any of our four passes on first down and the tight end reverse was sacked for a 10-yard loss," he said. "We didnt have any tricks today.

Just some good plays and some good breaks." Tying kick no surprise except to little Lashar i-i. fx tA I s'liM A By Chuck Sinclair Virtually none of the third-ranked Oklahoma Sooners seemed surprised when Coach Barry Switzer called on kicker Tim Lashar to tie the score in the final moments of Saturday's showdown with No. 5 Nebraska to assure Oklahoma an undisputed Big Eight championship. Judging from the reaction on the field, the Sooners were elated to even be in that position, considering they had trailed the Huskers 17-7 going into the final period. In the Jubilant Oklahoma locker room following the Soon-ers' stunning 20-17 victory on a 31-yard Lashar field goal with six seconds left, Switzer maintained there was never a thought of going for two points.

"That was our plan all the way down the field," Switzer said of the Lashar conversion. "That gave us the Big Eight title by ourselves and there was still time on the clock." "I wasn't surprised at all," said tight end Keith Jackson, whose circus catch and tightrope walk down the sidelines with nine seconds left gave Oklahoma the chance to win. "If we get the tie, the stakes are the same for us. We win the Big Eight and we go to the Orange Bowl no matter what "I thought we were walking out of here with a tie," Jackson added. "At that point, I never thought we'd get the ball back and have a chance to score." The feeling throughout the locker room was the same with one major exception.

Nobody asked the littlest of the Sooners what he thought "I was pretty surprised at the time," said Lashar, a 5-9, 165-pound senior from Piano, Texas. "I didnt think that was our style of play. We usually play to win." Lashar said he wasn't second-guessing the coach's decision to go for a tie at all "As it turned out, that was the best thing that could have happened," he said. The decision did, however, leave Lashar with a little more riding on his point-after try. After making a school-record 134 fries in a row, there was one thought lingering in his mind as he headed toward the field.

"All I could think about was how foolish I would look if I missed it," he said. Lashar didnt His kick was perfect, just like an earlier fourth-quarter field goal and the game-winner with six seconds left There was probably more pressure on the extra-point kick than the winning field goal, but Lashar said he didnt feel much at any time. "The pressure was on Keith Jackson when he made that catch to get the ban close," Lashar sail "That's what won the game for us. The field goal was just like any other extra point It was icing on the cake." Prior to Jackson's catch, Lashar was getting ready for a possible field goal try, but "I was expecting it to be about 60 or 70 yards," he said. Lashar's longest of his career was a 46-yarder against Oklahoma State as a freshman.

"I felt like I could make one from 60 with the wind today," he said. "But I didnt have to. Keith took care of that" Lashar said the Jackson catch caught him by surprise. He even thought the powerful tight end might have scored a touchdown on the reception. "I'm so small, I couldnt see over the other guys.

Everybody was jumping around," Lashar said. "I thought he might have scored when Coach Switzer yelled 'field goaL' He had no time to worry. Brian Bosworth grabbed him and said, "it's you, buddy, it's you." "I ran on the field and (Marc) Munford was out there screaming and cussing. He was upset" Lashar said. Then he started concentrating, and remembered nothing else but the snap, the hold and the kick.

"They were all perfect" he said. "This has to be the biggest field goal in my career. What a way to end the regular season." Despite the elation of the winning field goal Lashar was still a little confused. "I had real mixed emotions about that extra point" he said. "Fm a little bit of a perfectionist I wanted to take the Big Eight championship with a perfect record." He did with three perfect kicks.

NU linebacker Marc Munford (41), seated on Memorial Stadium turf, unsnaps his chinstrap while Oklahoma's Travis Simpson (53) celebrates winning field goal. Wans offset pre-game hype with post-game discussions mi um? A wwiwiwwwwgwwwj.taw A vAv 1 Although the Cornhuskers lost Carlson found some solace that the Huskers spoiled Oklahoma linebacker Brian Bos-worth's pre-game promise of a shutout "The Boz talks a good game but he cant back it up," he said. Jack Sindelar of St Edward said Bosworth had every right to talk up Saturday's game. He compared Bosworth to former Chicago Bears linebacker Dick Butkus. "AU the big gunners like Bosworth and Butkus talk a lot" he said.

"That's what makes the game interesting." Sindelar, a 51-year-old truck driver, said he satisfied with Nebraska's 131 yards passing. "We need someone who can throw the baU," he said. "I'm no coach, but I cant understand why (Coach Tom) Osborne didnt leave Clete Blakeman in. He came in and completed a pass and then he was taken out" Sindelar added that Oklahoma has traditionally been "a catch-up baUclub just like Nebraska. "They caught up to us in a hurry, that's for sure," he said.

Phyllis Rice of Waco said Nebraska should not be ashamed of losing to Oklahoma. "Nebraska is still championship material" she said. "The fans should be proud of Coach Osborne and the team." BUL a University of Nebraska graduate and employee at Yellow Freight System in Lincoln, was more subdued about the game than Mark. He grew up in Norman, and is an ardent Sooner fan, but enjoys living in the home of Nebraska football "I love it" he said. "It's the best of both worlds.

I've always lived around the two best teams in the Big Eight" Down the aisle from the Protivas sat Dennis Pealor and his wife, Melanie. The Oklahoma City couple made their first trip to Lincoln this weekend. is the most awesome place we've ever been to for a football game," Dennis Pealor said. "The Nebraska fans are terrific. We're definitely coming back." 1.

The Pealors said they were happy the Sooners won, but wished they wouldnt have to go to the Orange Bowl "We would rather go to the Sugar Bowl" Dennis Pealor said. "Those Miami fans are hideous." 1 Across the field from the Pealors were Joy Cohrs and Jeff Carlson, who study business management at the University of Nebraska. Their faces were painted with red and white grease paint and Cohrs wore a red wig, "We're fanatics," Cohrs said. "Even if the team had an 0-11 record, we would stUlbehere." By Mike Reilley As the final seconds ticked off the Memorial Stadium scoreboard Saturday, University of Oklahoma student Mark Protiva jumped up on the bleachers and began waving a white "OU" flag. Protiva, whose face was painted maroon and white, wanted everyone to know how he felt about the third-ranked Sooners' 20-17 comeback win against No.

5 Nebraska. 1 His joy was typical of most Oklahoma fans. Nebraska fans shared a variety of opinions and reactions after the game. "I've been to the last eight Nebraska-Oklahoma games and this one was by far the best" Protiva said. "It came right down to the wire.

"This was worth every mUe I drove to get here." J' ''The Sooners' late comeback 10 points in the final 2:48 was "exactly what -we didnt get when we played Protiva said. Oklahoma lost to the Hurricanes 28-16 earlier this season. Protiva said he was confident that the Sooners would defeat Nebraska for the Big Eight title and earn a spot in the Orange Bowl Jan. 1 in Miami 'We already bought our plane tickets," he said. His brother, Bin, is also planning to make the trip to Miami.

Bill sat with Mark and the rest of the Sooner fans in the southwest corner of the stadium. Oklahoma tight end Keith Jackson rumbles in for tying touchdown. Sooner quotes was tying the game. We went for the tie. It's a tremendous advantage to come out of here with a win.

A tie isnt like Oklahoma-Nebraska football It had to be demoralizing for us to tie and they had to be grief-stricken for us to win." Brian Bosworth: on going for a tie understood why we went for the tie. But tying in a war is no fun. A minute to go we had plenty of time, if we stop their offense. We put the pressure on them and took it off us." line so many times, he always comes through. He's the best pressure kicker around." Barry Switzer: on the fans' "We took an awful lot of abuse out there today from those fans.

I asked some of those fans, as we walked off, 'how come y'an arent saying anything Keith Jackson: on game-winning field Offensive coordinator Jim Donnan: on end of the game "The frantic part goal Timmy Lashar has been on the i.