Lincoln Journal Star from Lincoln, Nebraska • 12

12E 3 FIESTA BOWL, SATURDAY, JANUARY 2, 1988 LINCOLN, NE. JOURNAL FSB receivers slip through Nebraska defensive openings WW By Ken Hambleton Journal Sports Writer TEMPE, Ariz. Covering the Florida State receivers is like holding a piece of ice In your hand, "You can only do It so long before something gets through and you've lost it all," Nebraska cornerback Lorenzo Hicks said after Florida State tipped Nebraska 31-28 in the Fiesta Bowl Friday at Sun Devil Stadium. "It's not a matter of speed, because eventually somebody is going to get open. And, if the quarterback can get the ball there, you can only try to catch up," he said.

The best example of that was Florida State's winning touchdown pass from Danny McManus to flanker Ronald Lewis with fourth down-and-li Lewis streaked in front of Hicks, turned to his right and lunged to catch the pass as Hicks tried to catch up. "I was on the outside cover and I thought I was getting ihty from underneath (in front of Lewis) and nobody was there," he sail Charles Fryar, NU's other corner-back, had a different analogy of the play. "We gamble to get extra coverage. The gamble is to have the robber (a linebacker or safety) break loose from their coverage and help out on short pass coverage," he said. "The robber just never got there in time." At times, the system worked wen for NU.

McManus, who had led Florida State to its most-productive offensive season ever, completed bis first four passes for just 10 yards, and was intercepted by safety Brian Washington at the Nebraska 2-yard line with 8:11 left in the first quarter. McManus, who broke the Fiesta Bowl record for passing set last year by Heis-man Trophy winner Vinny Testaverde of Miami, was still struggling early in the second quarter. But he completed nine of his last 11 attempts in the first half for 130 yards and two touchdowns, putting FSU ahead 21-11 He was 12-of-22 for 178 yards and a touchdown in the second half. McManus completed seven of nine passes to account for an the yardage in the Seminoles' game-winning 97-yard drive. "It's strange that he got so much time to throw," said Fryar, who played most of the game despite a deep thigh bruise.

"We shut down the running game and made them pass, which means our line was doing a great job. And when that happens, we usually get a great pass rush. "When you dont see Neil Smith in the backfleld a lot making trouble for the quarterback, you either have a whole bunch rf Ail-American linemen or something fuxsy Is going on." Nebraska defensive tackle Smith, who was named the defensive player of the game despite playing with a sore ankle, said he found it hard to believe that there were no holding calls against Florida State. "They kept me out with two guys and a back, but when it was one-on-one, it was ridiculous in there," he said. "We complained, but nothing happened and we didnt get the pass rush we needed." After Nebraska fumbled on the FSU S-yard line in the fourth quarter, Smith said he was positive the Cornhusker defense would hold up and not allow a long scoring drive.

"We kept saying, 'Dont give up the big plays, dont give up the big plays. Push them in the backfleld. Get some And we pretty much did that" he said. Florida State's success on the winning drive came on 15-and 43-yard screen passes to tailback Dexter Carter. "McManus had great poise and stayed in there and we were almost on him on those screens," Smith said.

"Give, him credit because Fm sure that was something to see if you werent trying to stop him. "For us, it was frustrating." McManus-completed three screen passes for a net gain of zero yards in the first quarter. He was 3-for-4 on screens for 33 yards in FSU's 21 -point second quarter, 1-for-l for five yards in the third quarter and 2-for-3 for 58 yards on the fourth-quarter drive. "Those screens worked partly because we were trying too hard to pres sure the passer," Smith said. Fryar said it was a sign of a great of fense.

"They can strike anywhere there is a little gap and they found one in our' defense," he said. "McManus is good, but he was not a great passer. We saw a couple of great passers this year and he wasnt in their category. But he got it done, caught us blowing assignments. "You'd think we'd control the game by shutting down Sammie Smith like we did (nine rushes for 28 yards) and facing a guy who floats the ball "That's the hard part," he said.

Bfebraska utilizes wishbone formation '-Nwi-ilX ft A By Mike Babcock Journal Sports Writer TEMPE, Ariz. Yes, Nebraska really did run some wishbone plays in its 31-28 Fiesta Botyl loss to Florida State Friday afternoon. It wasn't an optical illusion. We just looked at it," Coach Tom Osborne said. "I cant say whether well stay with it or not" If Osborne had based that decision on the first time the Cornhuskers ran a wishbone play Friday, he probably would have discarded it Miscue Quarterback Steve Taylor was charged with a fumble and 2-yard loss on an errant pitch intended for Keith Jones, who, along with Richard Bell, was a halfback in the alignment Nebraska was more successful on subsequent wishbone plays.

Taylor had gains of 9 and 7 yards with it The formation wasn't as dramatic a departure from the Cornhuskers' offensive philosophy as it might seem, according to Osborne. Options are an integral part of Nebraska's attack, and "we've actually played half a wishbone out of two different sets, the weak set and the power-L" said Osborne. Taylor, who rushed for 75 yards on 20 carries, didn't mind the wishbone experi Scoring 53j NU-FSU How FIRST QUARTER 7-0 K.Jones 3 run Drive: 18 yards In three plays. Set op by Bell 27 punt return. Highlighted by K.Jones 17 run.

Conversion: Drennan kick. 14-0 Brinson 52 punt return Set up after Thomas and N. Smith tackled Butts for 7-yard loss on screen pass at FSU 12 to force a punt. Conversion Drennan kick. SECOND QUARTER 14-7 Gainer 10 pass from McManus Drive; 40 yards In six plays.

Set up by Sanders interception of Taylor pass. Highlighted by Gainer 13 pass from McManus, Smith 16 run. Conversion: Schmidt kick. 14-14 D.Williams 4 run Drive: 75 yards in six plays. Set up by Taylor fumble at FSU 25.

Highlighted by McManus 19 run, McManus three passes for 45 yards to NU 4. Conversion: Schmidt kick. 14-21 Gainer 25 pass from McManus Drive: 55 yards in seven plavs. Highlighted by McManus 17 pass to Bennett, 18 pass to R. Lewis on third-and-17.

Conversion: Schmidt kick. THIRD QUARTER 21-21 Taylor 2 run Drive: 77 yards In seven plays. Highlighted by Taylor 48 pass to Banderas, Brinson 17 run. Conversion: Drennan kick. 21-24 Schmidt 32 field goal Drive: 42 yards In eight plavs.

Highlighted by two McManus passes to D. Carter for 32 yards. 28-24 Knox 4 run Drive: 52 yards in nine plays after 5-vard FSU punt. Highlighted by Taylor 23 pass to Gregory, four Knox runs for 17 yards. Conversion: Drennan kick.

FOURTH QUARTER 28-31 R. Lewis 15 pass from McManus Drive: 97 yards In 11 plays. Highlighted by seven McManus passes In nine attempts, including touchdown on fourth-and-15, ond despite 15-yard personal foul penalty. McManus also had 43 and 15 passes to D. Carter and 21 pass to Anthony.

ment "I think I can run any offense," he said. "If Coach wants to run the wishbone, do it We might keep it, and we might not" Dana Brinson, a wingback who lined up as a halfback in the wishbone, liked it But "I dont think itH be our formation (next year). It is nice, though. You can do more with it," said the junior from Nebraska hadn't practiced plays from a wishbone set before it came to Arizona to prepare for the Fiesta Bowl, according to Brinson. And "half the plays we worked on, we didn't run," he said.

Senior tight end Tom Banderas was asked where the wishbone came from. Sooners lesson "We got it from some school we lost to," Banderas said, referring to Big Eight rival Oklahoma. That may be the reason Cornhusker defensive end Broderick Thomas hopes Osborne discards it "I don't like it" Thomas said. Nebraska used the formation to throw Florida State's defense off-balance. But the first time the Cornhuskers used the alignment the Seminoles didn't seem confused.

They "just stayed in the same defense," Taylor said. scored Time left 9:31 1:15 10:30 4:48 0:44 11:41 7:49 0:40 3:07 Charles Fryar said "We looked a little slow because we weren't picking up on the screen passes and we weren't getting enough heat on the quarterback," said defensive tackle Neil Smith. "Nobody panicked, but nobody was too happy either." Nebraska's play in the third quarter was rerniniscent of its dominance in the first quarter. Taylor hit Banderas on a 48-yard pass, the first NU completion of the game, to set up a game-tying touchdown on Nebraska's first possession of the second half. Nebraska's defense stiffened and limited Florida State to a field goal and forced the Seminoles to punt the next time they had the balL After a 5-yard punt, Nebraska drove 52 yards and took the lead on a 4-yard fourth-down touchdown plunge by Ty-reese Knox.

Fumble ended drive But time in the quarter ran out and the Cornhuskers' next drive, a 13-play, 71-yard drive ended at the FSU 2-yard line on the fumble by Knox. "I saw the Florida State guys rejoicing. I didn't know if they were happy because they stopped us on second down or what" Taylor said. "They had the ball, all right. It was that kind of game." Nebraska's Keith Jones is tackled by Florida State's Paul McGowan as other Seminoles loom large.

FSU quarterback finishes on a roll By Virgil Parker Journal Sports Editor TEMPE, Ariz. Florida State football Coach Bobby Bowden called Seminole quarterback Danny McManus "a streak shooter." Nobody at a Las Vegas dice table ever got hotter after a cold start than McManus did against Nebraska in the Fiesta Bowl Friday. The 6-1, 200-pound senior opened the game by completing just seven of his first 19 passes for 69 yards. But then he got red-hot McManus completed nine of his next 11 attempts for two touchdowns and set up a third score. And that was just for starters.

He finished the game with two Fiesta Bowl records 375 yards passing (the most against a Tom Osbome-coached team) on 51 attempts, which topped the marks set last year by Miami's Vinny Testaverde. First time "I'd never had a 300-yard game in college," McManus said. "And I'd never come close to throwing 50 passes. I dont think I throw that many times during an extended passing drill in practice." McManus said it wasnt as easy as it may have looked. "It was a tough battle out there," he said "I think being in a Jan.

1 bowl game for the first time made me a lot more nervous than anyone else on our team. I'm not usually one to get very excited. But I was trying to rush the ball and make things happen by myself at the beginning. Then I settled down." The outcome was decided on a fourth down-and-15 touchdown pass with less than four minutes remaining in the game. "It was a 'double square-lri' pattern," McManus said "The tight end and outside receiver both went down to the end zone and cut toward the middle.

My Tead' was to watch and see what the Nebraska strong safety did. He went with the tight end, and that left Ronald Lewis one-on-one with the cornerback. Lewis faked out and then made a great move to the inside and I just put it in there for him." McManus said the Florida State game plan didn't call for so many passes. "We thought we'd use the passing game to open up the run," McManus said. "But Nebraska's defensive line was too tough up front.

We just couldn't run on them." McManus said Florida State got the break it needed when Nebraska fumbled near the FSU goal line, negating what could have been a clinching touchdown. "When we got that break," McManus said, "I figured that was going to be the last time we'd get the bah. If we were going to win it it was going to have to be right thea I didn't relish the idea of having to go 97 yards to win the game, but once we got the initial first down to get our backs away from the goal line, I thought we could make it" It was tough McManus said Nebraska's defensive schemes gave him a lot of trouble early in the game. "They were doing a good job of disguising their coverages," he sail "I had a hard time deciding which receiver to go to. So, in the second half, I started to read the field and quit pre-determining who I was going to throw to.

I finally got into a groove." McManus said he never thought that FSU would kick a field goal instead of going for broke on the fourth-and-15 play. "There's no way we could have done that," he said. "It would have meant getting the ball back from Nebraska again. And you're not going to score twice against a tough defense like Nebraska's in that short a time." Although McManus hopes to get a shot at playing pro football, he figures his education will be his best chance. "IH graduate this spring and get my degree in sports management," he said.

After performance be had against Nebraska, McManus may become his own first client I From 3 Huskers Pg felt the same way. "I was worried that we didn't come to play. I thought they may have come in more intense and we were more relaxed for some reason," he said. Brinson said by the second quarter, "Florida State played like they wanted to win more than we did and got back into the game. Then they got back into the lead and we didn't stop them." Difference-maker McManus, a 5-10, 210-pound senior quarterback, was the difference.

He completed six passes for 51 yards in the first quarter, hit nine ol his icst 11 passes in the second quarter and rallied Florida Slate to a 21-14 halftime lead. He hit receiver Herb Gainer on a 10-yard pass for the first touchdown following Deion Sanders' interception of a Taylor pass. He then connected on three consecutive passes for 45 yards to set up FSU's second touchdown after a Nebraska fumble. With 44 seconds left in the half, McManus threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Gainer who pulled away from the outstretched hands of three Nebraska defenders. In the Nebraska defensive huddles, there was no panic, but frustration.

Mistakes "We were trying hard, but we were blowing coverages," NU cornerback i A 1 1 i a) irtriWlllCTIl.Ww ir He was a thorn in NU9s side Florida State quarterback Danny McManus talks to crowd after being name the most valuable player of the Fiesta Bowl. f..