Lincoln Journal Star from Lincoln, Nebraska • 35

i 17B pCTOPq 13,1997 8UNOAY JOURNAL-STAR .11 I 1 1 1 11 111 MZ arrival i I spelled doom for Cowboys li illlinii 'aNJltS; III If it -u. -J hiOTtTimWi'inftfirimiir un mm ii wHife3tt By Virgil Parker STILLWATER, Okla. While most Oklahoma State boosters felt the turning point of Saturday's 35-0 loss to Nebraska was an pass interception in the end zone by the Huskers' Charles Fryar, Cowboy Coach Pat Jones disagreed "The turning point of this game," Jones said, "came when the Nebraska team got of the bus." Right after Nebraska gained a less-than-insurmountable 14-0 lead in the second quarter, the Cowboys had first-and-goal at the NU 2-yard line. But, on the very next play, Fryar picked off the pass. Jones said that before the game, he felt if his defense was forced to be on the field too long, "we wouldn't be able to hold up against them.

And that's exactly what happened." Nebraska's offense controlled the ball for 38 minutes to just 22 for the Cowboys. "You've got to give Nebraska a ton of credit," Jones said. "Their defensive unit is excellent I think they have improved throughout the course of the season and they were obviously well prepared. "We felt like we could move the ball and score some points," Jones said. "But we could never sustain anything against them." The Cowboy coach said his defensive unit deserves high praise.

"That may sound like a strange thing to say after they had 35 points scored against them," he said, "but they battled pretty good. Nebraska is a very, very fine football team and we absorbed a sound whipping. There isnt much more I can say." Jones said Fryer's interception hurt OSU's chances of taking the momentum away from Nebraska. "But I didnt think we could run the ban effectively on them," Jones said. "We've been in that situation against braska before and couldn't hammer it in there.

When that happens, we're in a position of being forced to throw. By passing on first down I thought we might catch them off balance." Jones said the Nebraska defense "was just what we wanted for the play. They had single coverage out there. But, we didn't execute it weQ. It became a jump ban and they caught it and we didnt" The OSU coach caDed Nebraska "more athletically talented" than in recent years.

"And it showed up," he said, "particularly in the pass rush. Mike (Gundy) wasnt scrambling back there, he was running for his life all afternoon. And against guys who can run faster than he can." "I got away from them some of the time," Gundy said, "but that's the fastest team we've played They caught up with me quicker than the other teams we've played" OSU Coach Pat Jones can't bear to watch as his team trails 28-0. Center Reggie Christian (66) does the watching. Oklahoma State quarterback Mike Gundy saw scenes like this all day as Nil's Nell Smith moves In from the front and Brian Washington from the rear In the first quarter.

and Cornhusker notes quotes have been some pre-game inspiration from the press and the OSU players. "When our kids heard that Oklahoma State players said they could score 50 points on anybody, you could see our guys gets serious," he said 1,000 yards. He has 990 rushing after a net gain of 43 yards Saturday and he had 1,471 yards passing after throwing for 140 against OSU. I-back Keith Jones moved up to 12th on the NU career rushing chart with his 115 yards Saturday, He has 1,771 rushing yards, just behind Joe Orduna (1967-70) who had 1,968. Jones also scored a pair of touchdowns to move into a tie with Rogep Craig with 26 career touchdowns.

Jones has also snapped the 100-yard barrier in four of the five pmes he's played this year He missed the Kansas game with a sprained ankle. lS NU defensive coordinator Charlie McBride said he was impressed with the runs of Keith Jones and Kenneth Clark. "When I saw Clark run I thought it was Mike Roaer out there, running people over like that" Clark finished with 83 yards on nine carries. He gained 54 yards on his first three carries aU In a five-play, 67-yard scoring drive that put Nebraska ahead in the second quarter. McBride said the defensive goals were to hold OSU to 10 points, 125 passing yards and 95 yards rushing.

McBride said the key to defensive effort might 1 Nebraska offensive tackle John McCormick said he couldn't explain the overwhelming success of the Cornhusker offense. "Some days you're just on. Today we were on. The pitch ran welL The counter sweeps got yardage they hadnt been getting and we had some new plays that worked" The quarterback draws by Steve Taylor were new plays for this game, McCormick said Taylor gained 55 yards on his last nine carries of the game, including 45 yards on quarterback draws. Taylor needs only 10 yards rushing to become the second NU quarterback to run for 1,000 career yards and pass for Nebraska did not have any serious Injuries in the Oklahoma State game.

Receiver Rod Smith had a bruised rib, linebacker Steve Forch a bruised thigh, middle guard Lawrence Fete a sprained ankle and I-back Ken Clark a strained I UIWININV 'v 1 Cowbo notes, quotes 1 1 Oklahoma State linebacker Sim Drain III was named the Cowboys' most outstanding player by CBS-TV. Drain led both teams by making 19 tackles and causing one Nebraska fumble. 5 That's Nell Smith's (left) arm around Oklahoma State's Thurman Thomas (34) as Husker Broderick Thomas (right) applies the hit. Smith was called for a face-mask penalty on this second-quarter play. I A.

but Nebraska didn't have a monopoly on choke holds. OSU's Garrett Limbrlck (32) has NU's Dana Brlnson around the neck on this first-quarter takedown. I OSU quarterback Mike have nothing to be ashamed of. We got in the top 20. Nebraska played super and we didnt play that well in this particular game.

But we are still having a good season. We're 5-1. We lost to the second-ranked team in the country. A lot of other teams are going to lose to them" before the season is over." I Gundy on NU's pass rosb? knew Td have to run some to get away from the Nebraska defensive linemen. But I didnt expect to have to do it al day." Gundy took the blame for Charles Fryars interception in the end zone, 5 "We've had a lot of success with that pass this season," Gundy said.

"It's just a lob over the defensive guy, but I under threw it and they intercepted. OSU's Curtis Luper on the Ne-; braska defense: "They stunted but mostly they played it straight Nebraska has a combination of speed" and strength. They can run around you oroveryou." Cornerback Melvln Gilliam: 1 thought we gave a good effort, but obviously you always feel you could have played better after you lose." OSU Coach Pat Jones said he nt feel his team "stunk the place up. We just went out and got whipped by a good, football team. They just hammered away at us and we couldn't sustain anything." Jones said the Cowboys went into tho game with a pass first, run second pW-t losophy.

"We didnt think we could run consistently" he said, "but we needed to ruff some. But we couWnt do that when we got behind, we just had to. fire away. It became obvious that we had to throw the hall if we hoped to T. 28 16 6 6 3 Ave.

49.6 Yds. 73 13 Scoring Time left How scored NU-OSU Statistics Defense Tackles UT AT TT N. Smith 2 7 9 Hicks 5 2 7 Fryar 3 1 4 Blazek 2 2 4 Thomas 13 4 3 0 3 0 2 2 Jackson 1 2 3 Forch 1 2 3 Etlenne. 1 2 3 Jobman 2 1 3 Tomlack 2 0 2 Welnlak 0 2 2 Washington 1 0 1 Murray 0.1. 1 Rother 0 1 1 Oklahoma State Offense Rushing No.

Yds. Ave. Sanders ..................7 60 8.6 Thomas ..................9 7 0.8 Gundy. 6 -24 Passing No. Co.

Yds PI 20 1 221 C. Smith 1 0 0 0 Receiving No. Yds. 113 Green 49 Williams ........................5 Keith .......1 Ma vfield 1 Sanders .1 Thomas 2 Punting No. Yds.

7 347 Kickoff returns No. Sanders ........................3 Nash 1 Defense Tackles UT AT 5 14 R. Smith 2 8 2 8 5 4 Bailey Shaw 3 3 Nunn 2 3 2 3 0 5 0 4 2 2 Cockrell 1 1 Cumby 0 2 1 1 Victor 1 1 McCalister 2 0 Limbrlck Colbert 1 1 1 0 0 1 Nebraska Offense Rushing No. Yds. Ave.

K. Jones 21 "5 5.0 Clark 83 9.2 i 2 Helbel 50 8.3 Taylor ...................11 43 3.9 37 12.3 Kellev 24 4.8 6 20 3.3 Bell ......................2 18 9.0 Gdowskl ....1 14 14.0 2 9 4.5 Schmidt 1 4 4.0 Hawkins 1 -3 -3-0 Passing No. Co. Yds PI Taylor 12 7 140 0 Blakeman 1 1 0 11 Receiving No. Yds.

R. ................3 Brlnson 3 55 Banderas 1 22 Gregory 1 8 Punting No. Yds. Ave. Kroeker.

4 161 40.3 Punt returns i. No. Yds. Brlnson 5 31 interception returns No. Yds.

--1-' FIRST QUARTER 7-4) R. Smith 29 pots from Taylor 5:48 Drive: 92 yards In six plays. Highlighted by Taylor 22 pass to Banderas, 26 pass to Brlnson. Conversion: Drennan kick. SECOND QUARTER 144 Clark28run .10:30 Drive: 67 yards In five plays.

Highlighted by two Clark runs of 12, 14. Conversion: Drennan kick. 21-0 Jones run 0:33 Drive: 62 yards In six plays. Highlighted by Taylor 15 run, 18 pass to Brlnson, 16 pass to Smith. Conversion: Drennan kick.

THIRDQUARTER 284 Jones17run 6:08 Drive: 74 yards In 10 Plays. Highlighted by Taylor 21 pass to R. Smith, Heibel 17 run. Conversion: Drennan kick. FOURTH QUARTER 354 Clark Iron 11:43 Drive: 72 yards In 14 plays.

Highlighted by Bell 12 run, Blake-nian 11 pass to Brlnson. Conversion: Drennan kick. TT 19 12 10 10 9 7 6 -5 5 5 4 4 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 -t 1 0 tt.