Lincoln Journal Star from Lincoln, Nebraska • 29

SEPTEMBER 8. 1987 SUKinV -iQURNAL-STAR iiusicEns 5D Old OOhson mi nil i mil i- J-t i "ljH(MMimWJ, JWHWir'rnWMWJtf i I A 1 xkyrr playi Defense best side for Smith like dad did By Paul Hammel With a football-flattened nose and' stin-muscular figure, former Oakland: Raider Jim Otto still looked like old number "00." Saturday, the former All-Pro center, stood beside his son Jim's locker as he dressed following a 56-12 drubbing by Nebraska. Jim, a junior reserve linebacker for Utah State, played most of the game, making six tackles and intercepting a pass to stop a first-period Nebraska drivel "That was kind of nice," said his father. Tm too much of a critic to say anything good. In a victory, I was never In defeat well, it's hard to jni say His son said the interception came lllippl ByKenHambleton Ieil Smith roared with laughter when he was told what Utah State Coach Chuck Shelton said about him.

Shelton said, "They (Lee Jones and Smith) might be the two fastest defensive tackles in America -1 don't know if arty are faster. That one, No. 99 (Smith), if he was at Utah State, he toould be a tailback." After his first reaction, of shock, Smith smiled and said, That's what I've been trying to tell Coach Osborne for two years. Put me in the backfield. I can And the holes.

"I'm only joking. I'm a hitter, not a htttee. I hate to get hit, without starting it myself," Smith said. cSmith started plenty of trouble for the Utah State offense Saturday in Nebraska's 56-12 romp at Memorial Stadium. He.

batted down a pass on the second play of the game and repeated the feat in the second quarter. He also sacked Utah State quarterback Brent Snyder for a 10-yard loss one of eight Cornhusker sacks. Defensive pressure The Nebraska pass rush was credited with 10 "hurries" of the quarterback and only gave up five runs of three yards or more. Utah State rushed for yards, huUost65. fWhat'd we give up? Minus 1 yard rushing," said Charlie McBride, Nebraska defensive coordinator.

"We ran some in-line stunts to make things happen Up front When you've got people like Smith, Jones and (Tim) Bother, and yw start slanting them, they've got a chance to go." the fastest defensive lineman hfjhe country according to 40-yard dash comparisons, said the "stunts and stouts," were added as the game pro- Nebraska's Neil Smith (right) delivers a telling blow on Utah State quarterback Brent Snyder with 3:32 remaining in the second quarter. after Aggie safety Chad Troxclair, stripped the ball from a Husker er, "He really made play. I just' Jumped on it," said young Jim. "I wish I could have done more throughout, the day," he said. "I dont feel we backed off at alL but at the same time, they put more, points on the board." Nebraska's "cut" blocking (aiming for the feet rather than the chest) bothered Utah State's linebackers, Jim said.

A cut block to starting Aggie linebacker Steve Davis sprained his foot, knocking him out of the game. Otto played most of the game as a result Did "00" cut block? "I used everything, I used by shoestrings, I used my nose, anything to make a block," said Jim Sr. "They called me the garbage man." Jim Sr, who played his college ball at Miami of Ohio, now lives at where he manages real several restaurants and five banks he owns, as well as a walnut I His son wears his original pro num-' ber, 50, rather than his trademark 00. "His name is Jim Otto, but he's his own man," Jim Sr. said of his son.

Jim Jr. chose Utah State because he; liked the coaches "and we like to hunt and fish," said his father, mentioning the Utah countryside. After playing on special teams as a-freshman and redshirting a year, Jim Jr. played sparingly behind an All-Amer-' lean last year, said his father. "This is really the first game he's! played, so he's got a lot to learn," said Jim Sr.

"He's a good young man. Maybe hel be a football player." -iWiMMu jimiih .1 mpvmm'ts'xm piwmy.y -v mmmmmmmmm -tfftiA Aggie notes and quotes iiii Smith finishes the job as he spills Snyder for a 1 0-yard loss. The ball bounced loose, but it was ruled no fumble. Despite loss, Aggies say all is not lost kept it pretty simple, running the base defense because we had so many new guys in the secondary and because Utah State passes so much," he said. "Then we started calling out the in-line stunts where somebody on the inside of the line says, you go' and their line kind of gave way.

"I was double-teamed with the tight end and the tackle most of the first quarter, and a half. Then, they must have figured I was tired and they Just bad one gay on me and it became my turn to get the quarterback. The thing was, I wasnt tifed, I was just madder." Sack attack $mith was credited with one sack and two passes knocked down. His backup, Ray VaBadao, had one tackle behind the line. On the right side, tackle Lee Jones provided constant pressure and Rother, his backup, was credited with two sacks for a total of 14 yards in losses.

Tim Briber's brother Brad had a sack late in thfc game. Defensive end Jon Marco had a sack and on interception, and middle guards Lawrence Pete and Mike Murray each had a sack. "We wore them down," Smith said. "I think we were all so tired of hitting each other in practice we took it out on Utah State a little bit" Smith declined the chance to rate Nebraska's defense. 1 fl cant rate our performance.

I dont know about Utah State. They wanted to wfiVUke anybody else. I think we are going to make that tough for people this year," he said. McBride said the Utah State game will help. "Playing a team that throws tlft ball this much has to help us.

We had a lot of passes Uirown at us and we had a lot of chances for pass coverage. It's 1 just that our line didnt give them a lot of time to work on their passing," he said. "It just took us awhile to loosen up and play without hesitation," be said. "Bui once we got a sack, it was a little more the way we expected." faced third-and-10 at the Nebraska 16-yard line. Demetrius Brown gained two yards up the middle on a trap and Dene Garner came on to kick a 29-yard field goaL "We wanted the trap because we wanted them to overpursue.

It was a great call it Just turned out bad," Shelton said. "Nebraska is pretty good on defense. They're probably the best team I've coached against on defense so far. Their front line is quick and their linebackers run welL Like every other phase of their game, they are extremely well-coached." Shelton said the Aggies have two choices after the loss. "We can blame everything on Nebraska being so good or work to get better," Shelton said.

Snyder has made his choice. He even had to convince his. younger brother that all wasn't lost in the defeat. Brook, who is 12 years old, had tears in his eyes when he ran up to his brother after the game. "It was emotional I haven't seen him in awhile and he was a Utile upset," Snyder said.

"But this team has just shown itself something that we can play. We're still upbeat and we know we have a lot of potential" By Ryly Jane Hambleton Brent Snyder is confident Utah State won't have to go back to the drawing board. "We have a few things to iron out, but we matured in this game and experience like this will help us later," the Utah State starting quarterback said after a 56-12 loss to Nebraska Saturday. "Not a person outside of our locker room thought we could beat Nebraska. "But we knew that if we played at the top of pur game, played to perfection and executed, that we had a good chance to beat them.

We wanted to avoid their big plays and as you could see, they got a few." The Cornhuskers' two punt returns for touchdowns were particularly annoying to Aggie Coach Chuck Shelton. "I'm totally disappointed in our punt coverage. It really broke down," he said. "Butthat one guy led the nation last year in punt so I imagine there were a few conversations like this last year. "The big special teams plays take so much out of you.

And they were after great punts, too." Like Snyder, Shelton also saw some things in the Aggies' play that were encouraging. "I liked our personality, on the field and the sidelines. Unlike last year, we stuck together. And we hit awfully well and took some good hits," he said. "We didn't sit back and let them carry the physical load.

Even though basically we were out-talented, I thought our kids showed an aggressive attitude." He was also pleased with the play of quarterbacks Snyder, who passed for 132 yards, and Russ Widerburg, who threw a 50-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter. "Snyder handled himself well in pretty heavy traffic. And Widerburg did (weu although he was playing against their thirds and fourths (teams). wouldn't think after today that quarterback is going to be a problem," he said. "I felt good about our passing game.

But I think maybe we overdid it a bit We can run better than we did." Nebraska held Utah State to minus 1 yard rushing on 29 attempts. Running back Scott Munson led the Aggies with 10 yards on four rushes. The negative yardage was a result of the swarming NU defense, which sacked Snyder seven times for losses of 47 yards and sacked Widerburg once for 12 yards. The situation leading to Utah State's first field goal was indicative of the Aggies' problems. Utah State Halfback Unto Tagaloa, who scored the Aggies' touchdown on a 50- yard pass, was originally a rugby winger for his hometown team in Waitemata, New Zealand.

He was discovered by for-, mer Utah State Coach Chris Pella at a football clinic four years ago on the island south of Australia. 1 "Football is a whole lot tougher. It's more technical, very disciplined. You've got to know what you're doing all the time," he sail The Kiwis' rugby match crowds do not compare with the 75,910 fans who packed Memorial Stadium, he said, but American-style football is becoming more popular. Tagaloa learned playing flanker on a club football team called the Henderson Rangers in New Zealand.

"It's like Pop Warner League," he said, in comparing the caliber of play. i Junior wide receiver Kendal Smith said playing Nebraska wasnt what he expected. He'd always hoped to play against a traditional football power like the Huskers, or Oklahoma or Miami "They're just like any other team, but the things they do, they do well I'm not 1 trying to put them down, they are a good, team. They get lots of national media attention. I guess it's built up." lV Brent Snyder said the Aggies'" game plan emphasized the short pass patterns that were effective against the NU defense.

"I'm the type of quarterback who canl take what the defense gives us," he "A lot of teams dont realize that by taking the underneath stuff, you can work your way downfield. "Nebraska is the type of team that didnt have to play tight defensively because they're so overpowering physically. We thought we'd take the underneath stuff and then if they came up, we were -prepared to go long. But they were" never in the situation where they had to come up." i' Utah State Coach Chock Shelton said the youth of his squad prompted him to take the wind when the Aggies won the coin toss, therefore having to kick off to Nebraska. "I wanted the wind at our back.

When you have a team that certainly is superi-" or, which we knew they were, and you have a young team, having the wind at your back can be an important factor," he said. Shelton conferred with officials after Utah State receiver Pat Newman and Nebraska defensive back McCa-thorn Clayton collided near the end zone on a pass in the second quarter. "When I looked up, I saw the collision. But I think the official was right The collision kept Newman from being able to come back to the ball, but it was pit: 'U i i lf-tttJL. f7 NU quarterback Steve Taylor (9) is all alone on 44-yard TD scamper.

Huskers From Nebraska comerback Charles Fryar. Osborne's pep talk "was mild," Corn the intensity Osborne would have liked. "I didn't think there was a whole lot of aggressive play," he said. "I only saw one good hit in the first half." Doug Welmak, a Nebraska linebacker and tn-captiun, made that one. At halfilme, Osborne encouraged his players to be more aggressive.

"He said there wasnt enough hitting going on out there, and he didnt see people laying around on the ground," said thing real wild happen to ui Utah State attempted 46 passes, completing 19 for 226 yards. The Aggies' only touchdown came on a 50-yard pass play from second-team quarterback Russ Widerburg to fullback Timo Tagaloa against a defensive comprised of lower-unit players. Dene Gamer accounted for Utah State's other points by kicking field gbalsof 29and28yards. husker defensive end Brodenck Thomas said. "I've seen worse." According to Thomas, the defense was "just a little rusty." "Our pass rush was generally pretty good," said Osborne.

"Our (pass) coverage with the first units didnt have any major breakdowns. We gave 'em some short passes, but we didnt have any Lawrence Peete (96), Mark Blazek (23) and Husker teammates come charging out to begin the 1987 football season. '1 1 1 m-Ti i "i ifr 11 4.