Lincoln Journal Star from Lincoln, Nebraska • 34

"TV" ftPPTFMRFR gg. 1 985 SUNDAY JOURuStAR 6DC HUSKERS Bottom falls out stunned Illini j-1 i i nun mil im.iii nil I 1 1 hi mil ll num. iih.hihiwii.iiliiiuiiiiiui n. mil WP-'-J(M- i ifMlnmiiiro I si i ii yyiMMP ii.M HilW i- t'Kyf- ii 7 1 hand," White said. "I wish we could have put on a hotter show, but we were lousy.

Dropped passes, missed tackles and throwing the ball to anybody in another Searching for answers nw Trudeau threw four interceptidfts'to reach 10 for the season, the same number he had for the whole season of 378 passes a year ago. "I think embarrassed is a good word for it," said Trudeau, who set NU opponent records with 29 completions and 51 The Illini quarterback searched for answers to the debacle in the third quarter. "I saw them on offense two weeks ago and they weren't real sharp played with plenty of mistakes. Not today. "I looked at the defense andthjy were good.

They did some changesrtm the defense to take away our passing game. And once we got made it hard to do a lot of they're teeing off on ypu, rushing hard and playing the pass," Trudeau said. TDs little consolation Not even the back-to-back touchdown passes in the fourth quarter were much consolation for the Illini. "Nebraska just relaxed. When a team relaxes, any team can look good," White said.

"They probably had some of those 150 guys in there that are just getting their first taste of competition. "But I do appreciate the respect they showed us," he said. The problems of a 1-2 start can be solved during the two-week break before facing Ohio State, White said. "Well, it looked like Nebraska's twS weeks off did them a world of goodf "They were well prepared and executed very, very well They rushed three guys a lot of times and those three guys did a very good job. They are a super football team.

"Maybe we learned said. By Ken Hambleton For a brief moment, Illinois did just about everything it expected to do against Nebraska. Highly touted Illini passer Jack Tru-deau nit 7-of-8 passes for 52 yards and Illinois' running backs gained the rest in a 77-yard drive that closed the Nebraska lead to 17-10 with 1:25 left in the first half. "We were having fun and things were going along pretty well in the second quarter," Illini Coach Mike White said. "We hoped for more of the same at the start of the third quarter." Suddenly, the bottom fell out and Nebraska rolled to a 52-25 victory Saturday at NU's Memorial Stadium.

Nebraska scored just before the half after a 64-yard pass to Robb Schnitzler. Illinois lost nine and two yards on quarterback sacks to open the second half, threw a short pass, punted and watched Doug DuBose race 49 yards to scoreontheH uskers' first play From then on, it only got worse. Illini embarrassed "Basically we just got beat bad," White said. "We got embarrassed. This was our second taste of big-time college football and we failed about as convincingly as you can fail." Illinois didn't get a first down in the second half until there was 13:13 left in the game and Nebraska was leading 45-10.

"Nebraska came out in the third quarter and tore us hmb from limb just tore us apart," White said "It was nice to play USC (a 20-10 Illinois loss) and Nebraska and they kicked the tar out of us," he said. "I say 'nice' because it looks like we're just having a good time playing. "By that I mean that it just didn't hurt enough. Interceptions don't hurt, losses don't seem to hurt and that's not what I'm used to. "I talked about things important to winning football teams and we're missing most of them.

But you saw that first- ii A I i i Pass rush puts heat on Illinois t.Tn X- folium mitt WV jl Quotes David Williams, receiver "We felt ready, we just didn't play; ready. We're just not performing when it's time to perform. I'm embarrassed, by our record. "Once we got rolling I think if the score was still within reach that maybe we could have pulled it out But pncfcfiite give a team like traat' (Nebraska J3JIS ball and they just keep running bnQ3BS ning and running there's no way. yogg catch them." "Wne our offense is not going WelTanjr the defense is on the field all day.

jpi can't expect the defense to play goqSS; lot of times we went three plays and ut and anytime you play against a good fense like Nebraska and you keep gtVinJI them the ball, they're going ti put pgBrtsTf on." 'itT'Sj i Craig Swoope, defensive back "Right now Wire not a very geS team. That was just poor tackling oo SS defensive side.There wasnt any exjiise We didn't feel like we went completely stop them, we just wanted to minimize the big plays. If we coifid've kept the big plays away from thetfc, we felt like we had a chance, but unfjjtu-nately they had a couple of those," Jack Trudeau, quarterback On throwing the ban at NU Bnetnan8 Danny Noonan after a sack on, the first play of the second half. "I'm not a ref but it was after the whistle and 1 thought it was chicken. I guess it made me look like an ass." "This isn't the end of the world, but it would be nice to win a game.

We've got two weeks to get ready for Ohio state! and we can recover. Maybe we can'CM I think we can. Maybe the second, sea-, son, the conference, will get us "I don't think I played my best game" but I played better than the last two guinea." Mike White, head coach On Doug DuBose: "DuBose really impressed me. 1 saw a couple of others and they really Impressed me with the way they'd pop out there. Some guys did a heck of a job.

"DuBose is a big time runner. He runs with a lot of intensity and we got a taste-of Top 20 football playing against him." On Illini offense: "We tried and did; run a pretty good passrun balance, once the third quarter began that was ny- "I think we made the third quarter' look like the game was over. Youflay. big-time college football and you've got" to be in the game for 60 minutes. Nebraska was, we weren't" By Ken Hambleton and Curt McKeever Just two little words and a number of big players make all the difference in the world to the success and failure of Illinois' offense.

The words are "pass rush" and the payers were Nebraska's defensive line. results were four pass interceptions; four quarterback sacks, four tackles behind the line of scrimmage and a $t25 Nebraska win over the Illini. ihois quarterback Jack Trudeau, a Sec6nd-team All-Big Ten passer last Veaj'fand one of the reasons why the pickecj as the preseason Big Tjn favorite, may have summed it up have played two good teams aiul we played lousy," he said. 'Nebraska's defense played very well 3njthey helped force a lot of the inter-options. Some are my fault, but some are going to happen when a guy is in my fat, there's pressure all around and I'm tiding to do maybe too much," he said.

fudeau trying too hard receiver David Williams, who cajight seven passes for 119 yards, agreed. "I think that when he forces the ball, iff when guys are coming in on him and he5s Just trying to get it off," Williams said. he can get us the ball, we'll run wttfc the ball, but I think he might be trying a little too hard. "He's good if he can just sit there and throw the ball Hell always hit us. But if he has to run and throw on the run, it's kind of tough," he said.

Trudeau completed a record number of 'passes for a Nebraska opponent, but increased his season total of interceptions to 10, the same number he threw last season. Intensity level low The offense wasn't the only problem for Illinois. "We didn't execute on offense or defense," defensive back Craig Swoope said. "Right now, we don't have anyone taking charge out there." "We haven't had the intensity level that we should or are supposed to have when you play a top team like that. "We thought that by playing Nebraska maybe the guys would get more pumped up, more excited because it was a big-time game and a big-time team.

But it didn't happen." When the Illini were trailing 17-10 with 1:25 left in the first half, the players were feeling the expected high, Swoope said. "We had it there for a minute but we lost it," he said referring to the 64-yard pass from McCathorn Clayton to Robb Schnitzler that set up Nebraska's touchdown with 24 seconds left in the first half. "That was a big play. It was a turnaround. We were looking at going into the halftime down by just a touchdown," Swoope said.

"When they scored the touchdown after that play we went in at halftime down by two touchdowns and thl kind of took a little out ofts." j- HUMBERTO RAMIREZ. TED KIRKSUNDAY JOURNAL-STAR Grand larceny One of the most controversial calls of Nebraska's victory Saturday came late in the first quarter when NU's Brad Smith apparently outwrestled Il gets up and the official arrives (frame No. 4). "I won the fight for it on the way down," Smith said. "If he had hit the ground with me, it probably should have been their ball.

But I twisted away on the way down and came down with it. It didn't hit the ground. It was an interception." Illinois Coach Mike White (center) and an assistant express their disagreement with the officials' decision in frame No. 5, but it was to no avail. Nebraska drove 55 yards after the theft and scored on Craig Schnitzler's 35-yard field goal for a 17-0 lead.

Nebraska came up with four interceptions in all off Illinois quarterback Jack Trudeau, who now has 1 0 in three games this season. linois wide receiver David Williams for a pass and was credited with an interception. Journal-Star photographers Humbertd Ramirez and Ted Kirk captured theaction in this series of photos, with Ramirez taking the first four shots and Kirk the last one. In the frame No. 1, Williams (1) and Smith dive for the ball at the Nebraska 37-yard line, with lU's Eric Wycoff (20), an unidentified Husker and an official looking on.

Smith falls on top of Williams (frame No. 2), then rolls off triumphantly with the ball (frfcme No. 3) as Williams.