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Lincoln Journal Star from Lincoln, Nebraska • 34

Location:
Lincoln, Nebraska
Issue Date:
Page:
34
Extracted Article Text (OCR)

M' 1 I 1' I'UM't; tt 6DE 1 EJUSttEElS OgrOBFB11.1Pfi7 SUNDAY JOURNAL-TARx Nebraska's defense held Kansas to eight first downs and 13. 7VT7" total yards with plays like these (clockwise from left): Nell 11 9J UAZJ VI lot, smith buries KU's Frank Hatchett (3) for a 4-yard loss; Jon i Marco celebrates after decking KU's Darryl Terrell (on iiminirAO nmiiivn nr onnthor A-varii inM with NU's Mark ElaZflk 231 1 looking on; Broderlck Thomas returns an Interception 7 yards? p. 1 1 "''v- fS ww. A. nil a ill i .5 ii'in i ii 1 1 1 1 it Ik A vs 1 I I fjf MIL.

I NU's Blake Cornhusker notes, quotes fills in if admirably Blakeman connected with Rod Smith1" on a 24-yard sideline pass to set up NUte2 first score and he hit Richard Bell andi. Dana. Bnnson on back-to-back passes to set up the Cornhuskers' third Three of his passes were dropped, but" that didnt bother the senior from folk. "You dont worry about that; dont try to drop them. I know (Smith) was upset about the one he jug-J gled in the end zone, but we did other things right and that's important" Blakeman said the "bread-ai-butte4fru I-back pitch plays to Tyreese Knox Ken Clark worked better than ever the opUons' worked differently 'than ii? the past I trZ-Z "Our pitches worked well.

they pve us that, The options worke with me keeping the ball because they tion of a KU pass Saturday "was weird. The quarterback looked right at me and I think he was trying to throw the ball through me or something. I had nowhere to go, though, but I wanted to score." Defensive tackle Nell Smith said Kansas quarterback Kevin Verdugo was impressive, even though "he did a lot of talking when he handed off to someone -else who got punished. When he carried the ball, he didnt talk much. But he was a cocky little guy." With Tyreese Knox, Jon Kelley and Bryan Carpenter scoring their first touchdowns of the season, and Craig Schnitzler kicking his first extra point of the campaign, Nebraska has had 15 different players score this season.

Kicker Chris Drennan took over the team scoring lead with his 10 points Saturday. He now has 39 points, including 24 consecin tive extra points and five consecutive field goals. Drennan kicked field goals of 40 and 43 yards. The 43-yarder hit the crossbar and went through. "I hit it (the ball) on the laces," said the sophomore from Cypress, Calif.

"I knew it was going to struggle to get through. I've seen other kickers do it before, but I never have in a game. It was a freak NU Coach Tom Osborne said three of the most important points in the game, besides winning, were: Nebraska got 104 players in; there was no obvious letdown after a string of three tough games, and none of the officials caught on to the fact that at one time Nebraska had two players wearing the same number on the field at the same time. (Linebacker Mark Hagge and place-kicker Dave Cheloha both wore No. 39 and were both in, illegally, on two Wckof fs).

Osborne also noted that Kansas was third in the Big Eight Conference in total defense before the game. "I don't know if many people noticed that they hadn't given up many yards or points before today," he said. iS Defensive end Broderlck Thomas, talking about Oklahoma State, Nebraska's opponent next week, said he didnt expect the Cowboys to score 42 points as they did in a 42-17 win over Colorado Saturday. "I hope they dont intend on scoring 42 points against us. They're in for something else, if that's the case." Thomas, who worked out with OStf running back Thurman Thomas this summer, said the OSU back talked about upsets.

"The only upsets are going to be upset feelings on their side," NU's defensive end said. "It might be worse for Thurman than it was for Gaston Green (UCLA Heis-man Trophy candidate whom Nebraska held to 44 yards rushing) because this is a conference game. We wont be run on this year," NU's Thomas said. Tm going to pray for him. Pray that he doesnt get Thomas said his intercep By Ken Hambleton At times, losing your top quarterback your top running, back might be devastating.

Against Kansas, it didnt seem to mat-ter to Nebraska that injuries kept Steve Taylor and Keith Jones from playing. "The thing about playing here, there's only maybe two or three small things that separate the first-, second-and third-string guys," Nebraska tight end Tom Banderas said. "Maybe just a hair faster in the 40-yard dash, or maybe do this a little better. When yon lose someone, you can make it up in a "Taylor may be a step faster, and have natural ability, but with Clete (Blakeman) in there, we get a certain leadership and knowledge of the offense that makes up for the difference. "I think we'd be 54) with Clete in'there every game; it'd just be a little different," he said.

-5 Blakeman, who finished off a 17-point rally to help Nebraska beat South Caro-s Una last week, passed for 100 yards, including a touchdown to Banderas, and ran for 26 yards to spark the Cornhusk-ers Saturday against Kansas. "We needed a high-productivity day offensively and everybody did their job," said Blakeman, who also started in place of Taylor in the Kansas game a year ago. "We showed progress in certain areas and I was pleased. We didnt have any turnovers. In the past few games we had been turnover-bound.

"This was different than the last three weeks where we played topaliber football teams," Blakeman said. "But I think we pUfyed well enough this game that we could have gotten past South Carolina or Arizona State." covered the pitch man an the time," he said. "Now, if we can just get the pitch-back pass to work." The pitch4)ack pass involves a hand-off to the I-back, who. laterals back' to the quarterback, who throws the ball downfield. The play was nullified because of a pass interference penalty Saturday and on a ttneman-downfield penalty against Arizona State.

Blakeman said he spent time with I Jr "i Taylor on the sidelines when the NU de; fense was on the field. "He's very supportive of me and I try to do the same when he's in the same." Blakeman saiL "Steve is a great triple-option player and he becomes the show on of fense and puts pressure on the defense to contain him My strength is getting everybody involved, doing a lot of diverse things, with a lot of different people," he sail J-x "Both ways seem to work so far," lHf said. The Cornhusker injury report was limited to bumped shoulders suffered by strong safety Jeff Tomjack and I-back Ken Clark. Neither appeared to be serious. NU quarterback Clete Blakeman rolls out in second quarter.

msemttvmmmmmimm. -v 2 -Aula ssij jnLusjkers -gM tlirc might have been tougher. Tm not putting Kansas down, but we have better people in the Red-White game than they showed today. We had to avoid looking at the scoreboard to keep ourselves up and playing hard." Etienne, Thomas and Smith were among the cheerleaders on the field, stoking the fires of the crowd of 76,053 when things got too quiet in the third quarter. The battle to stay excited was tough, said NU tight end Tom Banderas, who caught his second pass and second touchdown of the season on a fake counter-sweep bootleg pass in the third quarter.

"I'd rather play a schedule like Notre Dame (listed as the toughest by the NCAA) where week after week you -have to play your best against the best," Banderas said. "We knew it was a game against ourselves by the time we were ahead 27-0. No matter how bad it got, we r.nr By the end of the game, all the bers were as projected before the fracas- started. Nebraska had 13 ball rush for 376 yards. NU gained 100 yards 1 passtag and averaged 6.5 yards per The Cornhusker defense limited to 138 yards total offense.

The goals set by the Nebraska, de a fense allowing 75 yards rushing and three points were met, according to1" McBride, whose defense gave up two3" points and 74 yards rushing. Nebraska's depth was utilized so much that" even defensive end Greg1-; Ching, who had just moved from offense-7 to defense a week ago, played. But the fun and frolic of Nebraska tJ 19th consecutive victory over was quickly put aside. "I think it will be a tremendous game next week with Oklahoma State," borne said. "They appear to be awfully good." v.

After Saturday wiSP Kansas, thaT had our pride on the line, and that's about it" Charlie McBride, NU defensive coordinator, said he'd rather spend his time preparing for tougher opponents. "Play the good ones, that's the fun," he said. Coach Tom Osborne even said he was glad the game was over because be had such a tough time getting people to focus attention on Kansas throughout the week. Nebraska fulfilled its wishes against the 1-4 Jayhawks, who have only a one-point victory over Division I-AA Southern Illinois to their credit The Cornhuskers, without their top two total offense leaders, Taylor and I-back Keith Jones, stomped through the Kansas defense for five scores in five possessions, stopping to punt just once before halftime. The first scoring drive was 41 yards and ended with Micah Heibel's 3-yard touchdown dive.

Tyreese Knox capped a 38-yard scoring drive five minutes later and kicker Chris Drennan hit the first of two field goals on the next drive. Before the half, Ken Clark scored on a 4-yard run after Blakeman hit wingback Dana Brinson on a 33-yard pass, and Drennan added a 43-yard field goal that bounced off and over the crossbar. After one possession in the second half, Blakeman hit Banderas on a 10- yard touchdown pass and second-string I-back Clark scored on a 21-yard run before the Jayhawks managed their first score against Nebraska in two years. Kansas' Clint Normore.burst through the line and blocked a punt by Craig Schnitzler out of the end zone for KU's only score. In the last three years, Nebraska has outscored Kansas 221-15.

Reserves more than made up for the two points allowed as senior reserve I-back Jon Kelley scored on a 52-yard run and reserve fullback Bryan Carpenter scored on a 4-yard run after a 28-yard sprint by quarterback Gerry GdowskL it Husker wingback Dana Brlnson (33) catches a 31 -yard pass to set up NU's third touchdown as Kansas' CurUt Moore (19) defends..

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