Lincoln Journal Star from Lincoln, Nebraska • 29

Home, 16 Sunday Journal-Star NOVEMBER 22, 1987 -f 1 pTU to eM words A I'HT BO'iww 'i 'A ft -A 1 I. -v. Is lit 'j i 1 4. i i-' i 4 A K'i -V Mil li iiiTiiWir- Mim i imrl itvi iTr fi r--t irTlrt TrTT 'I By Ken Hambleton 1 It's late in the game, Oklahoma is win- ning and the last hopes of a Nebraska winfade away with an interception by Sooner linebacker Dante Jones. All of the boasts of the week before and all of the uncharacteristic confident predictions all came back at Cornhusker quarterback Steve Taylor and defensive end Broderick Thomas.

There was never so much talk about talk as there was after No. 1 Nebraska lost to No. 2 Oklahoma for the fourth straight time, 17-7 Saturday at Memorial Stadium. Last week, the Oklahoma locker room at Norman, was decorated with posters of Taylor's statement that Nebraska was a better team and that it was possible the game wouldn't be close. Thomas' boasts about outplaying Oklahoma covered the large Sooner bulletin board.

Painful questions Saturday's post-game questions for Taylor and Thomas were pointed and somewhat painful, but there were no retractions. Til always say what I feel," Taylor said, "I just might be a little more tactful next time. "It's tough. I said a lot of things, but I still feel they shouldn't have beaten us." The Oklahoma victory, the sizable disparity in offensive production and time of possession still weren't enough to convince Taylor that he was wrong. "I'm not going to take anything back.

Ill eat my words and that's no fun. But they beat us and that's that," he sail Taylor said he still has confidence about playing Oklahoma. "We've won a lot of games and lost a few. I dont want to lose again. I think we are a better team, but there's no reason to listen to that today.

Oklahoma proved itself the best team today." The walk across the field to the locker room and up the stairs to meet the press wasnt as hard for Taylor as some people might think. But there was a lot of time to think about how to answer an the questions, he said. "I knew what was coming. It would have been a lot easier if we would have won. It wasn't hard to face the press and the questions about my talking," Taylor said.

"I'm a man and 111 give credit where credit is due. We didn't feel pressure from my quotes or anybody else's." Take words back Nebraska offensive tackle Keven Lightner differed in his opinion of the pre-game hype. "I wish a lot of things were left unsaid. The less you say the less you have to take back. There's plenty of time to talk when the work's done." Thomas said he could understand Lightner's statement "This is hard.

I didn't want to do this. My feelings are hurt and it's very difficult since we lost the game," he said. "We lost as a family. I'm not worried about Oklahoma; they're going to Miami I wish them luck If we can't win See TALKING on page 6D i Oklahoma quarterback Charles Thompson (6) gets set to pitch to halfback Patrick Collins (33), who touchdown in he third quarter. OU's Anthony Phillips (68) blocks Nebraska's Mike Murray (74).

Nebraska loss more of same, and this one wasn 9 even close Quote of the game NU defensive coordinator Charlie McBride: "It was one of those old-time, rear-end shots, a butt kicking." Scoring, team stats Oklahoma 0 0 14 3 17 Nebraska 7 0 0 0 7 NU K. Jones 25 run (Drennan kick) 0U Stafford 1 1 run (Lashar kick) OU Collins 65 run (Lashar kick) 0U FG Lashar 27 APUPI This week 17 I.Nebraska (9-1) lost to Oklahoma 17-7 at Colorado 2. 2. Oklahoma (11-0) def. Nebraska 17-7 season complete 3.

3. Miami, Fla. (9-0) def. Toledo 24-14 Notre Dame A.I 4. Florida St.

(9-1) was Idle Florida 5. 5. UCLA (9-2) tost to Southern Cal 17-13 season complete 67 6. Syracuse (11-0) def. West Virginia 32-31 season complete 77 7.

Notre Dame (8-2) lost to Penn St. 21-20 at Miami, Fla. 87 8. Clemson (9-2) lost to South Carolina 20-7 season complete 9710. Louisiana St.

season complete 107 9. Auburn (8-1-1) was idle vs. Alabama (Friday) 1 1 1 1 Michigan St. (8-2-1 def. Wisconsin 30-9 season complete 12712.

South Carolina (8-2) def. Clemson 20-7 idle 13713. Oklahoma St. (9-2) def. Iowa St.

48-27 season complete 14716. Georgia (7-3) was idte at Georgia Tech 15715. Tennessee (8-2-1) def. Kentucky 24-22 Vanderbilt 16714. Texas (8-2) def.

TCU 42-24 Texas (Thursday) 17719. Alabama (7-3) was idle vs. Auburn (Friday) 18720. Iowa (9-3) def. Minnesota 34-20 season complete 1 97 1 7.

Pittsburgh (8-3) def. Kent State 28-5 season complete 207 Indiana (8-3) def. Purdue 35-1 4 season complete 18. Southern Cat (8-3) def. UCLA 17-13 season complete 2 7 4 RANDY HAMPTONSUNDAY JOURNAL-STAR scoots 65 yards for the go-ahead accomplished that goal, limiting the NU junior to 54 yards rushing and 58 yards passing.

"Taylor's a great quarterback he can be a one-man show if you let him," said Oklahoma linebacker Richard Dillon. "When you don't contain him, you have trouble. Stopping Taylor was the key." The Sooner offense contributed greatly to the defensive success, control-. ling the ball 35 minutes of the game. I "That kept us off the field, so instead of us being worn out, their defense was worn ouL" said Gibbs.

"In the fourth quarter, our offensive line controlled the line of scrimmage." The defense provided the offense with its first scoring opportunity when Rickey Dixon intercepted a Taylor pass on the opening drive of the second half and returned it to the NU 13. Two plays later, Anthony Stafford tied the game. "We had a couple of key interceptions, but (safety Rickey) Dixon's first one was big-time because it let us tie the game," Gibbs said. "It also kept Nebraska from getting some momentum. Once they have that, their offense is so diverse, it puts you in a bind." The Sooner offense eliminated that See SWITZER on page 7D Oklahoma has now won 20 consecutive games, the longest streak in the na tion, and 24 straight conference games.

Nebraska had won 10 in a row, dating back to its 20-17 loss to the Sooners in Lincoln a year ago. There's that number 17 again, 4 In 1972, the year after the 71 Game of the Century, when Nebraska won its second straight national championship, Oklahoma rebounded with a victory by scoring 17 points. That was also the magic number that enabled the Sooners to gain a victory in 1979, 1984 and again Saturday. Four-for-four. Nebraska, on the other hand, also has scored 17 points four times in the recent past 1976, 78, "80 and "86.

Yet only in 1978 did that total produce a victory. One-for-four. Despite all the hoopla leading up to See PARKER on page 80 OU NU First downs 23 11 Bushes-yards 70-419 41-177 Passing yards 25 58 Total yards 444 235 Return yards 54 18 Passing 2-9-1 6-18-3 Punts Fumbles-lost 8-3 0-0 Penalties-yards 3-15 5-47 Time of possession 35:11 24:49 Third-down conversions 8-17 3-14 Fourth-down conversions 1-1 0-0 Dominating the main word Switzer uses to describe OU Same song, second verse. Make that the fourth verse, now that Nebraska has dropped its fourth straight game to Oklahoma. Husker quarterback Steve Taylor predicted a couple of weeks ago that the game wouldn't be close.

Unfortunately, for Nebraska fans, he was right. It wasn't NU defensive end Broderick Thomas had been saying all season that Memorial Stadium was "our house" and that he and his teammates had the But the Sooners brought along some-' body who picked the lock As the clock wound down Saturday, the Oklahoma players alternated shouting "Our house, our house" and "We're No. 1." Both statements had a ring of In the series of "shootouts" between the perennial Big Eight Conference con- defense lets Memorial Stadium history. Nebraska, after driving 80 yards for a late first-quarter score the only time this year OU allowed points in the first 15 minutes was held to just six first downs the rest of the game. Four of those came in its final possession.

Surprising? Maybe; But maybe, somewhere in between the concern about OU not having quarterback Jamelle Holieway or fullback Lydell Carr, somebody forgot about the Sooners' top-ranked defense. "A lot of the media, every time they'd ask you a question, they'd ask 'What about the two offensive players that are OU strong safety David Vlck-ers said. "Well what about the de Virgil Parker Colunvitst tenders, Oklahoma has now won eight of the last 11 games played in Memorial Stadium. When Nebraska scored first and held onto a 7-0 half time lead, the partisan crowd the largest in Memorial Stadium history had high But the record book makes it clear that the team that scores first has no guarantee of victory. In 20 of the last 25 games between the two Big Red rivals, the winner has come from behind.

actions do fense? We were stronger than ever, everybody was back and we were ready to play. "All the talking all week long about Steve Taylor, how he hated Oklahoma and the game wasn't even going to be close. Hopefully, hell shut his mouth up and just play next year. I mean, I hope he's learned a lesson." Of course, the most obvious one would appear to be that Oklahoma doesn't need added incentive when it plays Nebraska. "Let 'em talk, well just beat them every year if they keep on talking," Vickers said.

"I mean, we havent been this fired up for anybody. Texas we weren't that fired up for them. North. Actually, Nebraska has scored five touchdowns in losing to the Sooners the last four years. "I think we stunned them with what our defense did to them today.

We had a great defensive effort today. We didn't even miss the Boz today," Switzer said, grinning ear-to-ear. OU All-American linebacker Brian Bosworth is now a rookie with the Seattle Seahawks. Switzers memory may be fuzzy, but his point carries no less weight All the Oklahoma defense did was hold Nebraska to 235 yards in total offense almost 300 yards below its nation-leading average of 524.6 and 177 yards on the ground, which was more than 200 yards under its average, which is ranked second only to OU. There wasn't anything fancy about the Oklahoma scheme, according to defensive coordinator Gary Gibbs.

"On their touchdown drive, particularly (Keith) Jones' sweep for the TD, we were caught out-of-position on a check we thought would be good," he said. "Obviously, it wasn'L so we didn't use it anymore. We went back to our basic defense." Containing Taylor was a priority for the Oklahoma defense mlthe Sooners By Ryly Jane Hambleton The Oklahoma football team didn't use any sleight of hand and Barry Switzer didn't pull any punches. "You talk about Sooner magic. Well we didnt need Sooner magic today," Switzer shouted above the roar in the Oklahoma locker room.

"We totally dominated this game from start to finish, on of fense and defense. "This was a tominating win there was oo question that Oklahoma was the best team. This team was ready to play. That's why kids go to Oklahoma to get ready to play Nebraska and in the big games." Switzer couldn't find enough adjectives to praise the Sooner defensive effort, which was largely responsible for No. 2 Oklahoma's 17-7 victory over top-ranked Nebraska.

"It was amazing to me that they were talking about 35-10 in this game," he said in reference to Nebraska quarterback Steve Taylor's pre-game prediction that the Huskers would win convincingly. "This is the same defense as the 1984 team, which beat Nebraska 17-7 up here when they were No. I We've given up four touchdowns to them in four years, so what are they talking about that kind of score (for)?" the talking Carolina we weren't that fired up for them. This is the first time we've been emotionally ready. People said we didn't deserve to be No.

I think we changed people' minds today." The Sooners did that by reverting to simplicity after giving up Nebraska's touchdown. "I thought after the first drive we'd, shut them down," linebacker Richard Dillon said. "(On the TD drive) we had some checks and they were hindering us, so after that we went back to our basic defense." Basic defense? "It was simple coverages that we'd OPITELEPHOTO Oklahoma offensive tackle Jon Phillips (66) triumphantly punches the air as a dejected Nebraska defensive tackle Ray Valladao (75) walks by during the final minutes of the fourth quarter. Tar Heels Onain revenge in first game PagelOD Oklahoma By Curt McKeever Oklahoma linebacker Dante Jones saves his dreaming for evenings. And "I've been having wild dreams all week," Jones said.

But the wayOkla-homa won Saturday's game against Nebraska was no illusion to the senior from Dallas. To Jones, the domination was expected. ij'It should have been 27-0 if it hadn't been for fumbles," he said. "(Nebraska quarterback Steve) Taylor said, 'OU can't play with I don't know how many college teams can say that fjiaybe a pro team." Jones and his teammates certainly convinced the Cornhuskers of that Saturday before the largest crowd in USC rallies to earn Rose Bowl bid Page 2D Ferdinand noses out Alysheba Page 1 3D See OU on page 70 E3.