Lincoln Journal Star from Lincoln, Nebraska • 17

mT ryryr-p r- r1 rr HUSKERS Lincoln Journal Star Sunday. October 22, 1995 03 Page design: Karl Vogel Black Shirts blitz batter, braise Wildcats9 offense. sl BY KEN HAMBLETON Lincoln Journal Star They came flying in at the Kansas State quarterback on the first pass play of the game. They came crashing through the line on the last play of the game. 'l Nebraska's defense blitzed, bothered and bewildered the Wildcats' offense for nine quarterback sacks, at least six hurried passes, two interceptions and an afternoon of bruises and bumps.

"The first unit guys gave up one touchdown," Nebraska defensive coordinator Charlie McBride said. ''That's going to happen now and ST 4 A tp' TED KIRKUncoln Journal Star i A Outside linebacker Grant Wistrom celebrates a first-quarter sack. I I I then. We did a pretty good job with everything else but some blown coverages with our backups. Well work on that But overall the plan worked." The "plan" included some minor changes in the defensive attack.

"We felt all day we'd need some special things to work to get to their quarterback," said Nebraska linebacker Coach Craig Bohl. "And for the most part, they were successful We gave enough different pictures to keep them guessing and we got plenty of pressure from enough different places even the fake blitzes were working." Kansas State was penalized four times for a false start by the offense. Two more times the Wildcats were penalized for delay of game. "We only did a few new blitzes but first we had to find out what they were going to try to do," said McBride. "After that, they went to more shotgun (dropping the quarterback five yards behind the center), and we started to get to him." Nebraska sophomore outside linebacker Grant Wistrom sacked K-State quarterback Matt Miller on the first pass attempt of the game.

He chased Miller to the ground on the next play. The next Kansas State possession ended in a touchdown but not before Wistrom made two stops for minus-2 yards and Jamel Williams slammed Miller down just as he tried to pass. Jared Tomich, who plays on the side opposite Wistrom, ended the half with a one-arm slam of Miller for an 11-yard loss. He sacked Miller for a 10-yard loss three plays earlier. "We're getting in there to pres- W.

JAMES JOHNSOfWJncom Journal Star A NU outside linebacker Jared Tomich puds down Kansas State quarterback Matt Miller in the second quarter. TED KIRKUncoln Journal Star A Five plays later, Jared Tomich (93) sacks Matt Miller on a fourth-and-1 4 to end a KSU scoring threat. 1 4 left a lane wide open for me to go right to the quarterback," he said. The scheme worked for two Colman sacks. "You've got to give Christian some big credit on those because they don't happen without him," Colman said.

Bohl explained that it takes the entire defense to get the pressure on the quarterback. "Some of the pressure comes from the pass coverage and we can get a rush on the quarterback. Some comes from a great K-State throws in everything except for towel, little works a MIS fast. I don't think he came back with much after that." Miller had just one completion in the second half before leaving the game. At the same time Kansas State rushed 10 times for minus-13 yards.

The Wildcats finished the game with minus-19 yards rushing. i "Kansas State was the No. 1 defense in the nation," Wistrom said. "We wanted to go out and play well and show that in a head-to-head competition that maybe they weren't better, than us." ASSOCIATED PRESS hit by Nebraska safety Eric Stokes had to say 5i s-Z-s BY RYLY JANE HAMBLETON Lincoln Journal Star Kevin Lockett didn't think it could be done. "I thought we were past the point anyone could beat us like this," said the Kansas State wide receiver.

"I don't think there was any point of game we won they won offense, they won defense, they won special teams. Maybe we won in punter passes." Until the fourth quarter, the No. 8 Wildcats didn't have much to cheer about Nebraska jumped to a 42-6 lead and forced Kansas State to adopt a different game plan than the one the Wildcats had used to post a $-0record. 1 "Anytime you get as far behind as we did, where you have to throw the ball virtually every snap, you are not going to stop them from getting in those pass rush dances," said Coach Bill Snyder, whose team had minus-19 yards rushing. "After the first half, when we were throwing the ball all the time, their defense had the chance to pin their ears and come after us." Snyder agreed with Lockett's assessment of the game.

"We were not very good in any aspect of the game," he said. "We were not very good on offense, we weren't very good on defense and we weren't very good in the kicking i vi- a game. The kicking game got us in a hole to begin with and then it happened to our offense and our defense." Emotion played a key role in the game, according to Snyder. "Our players were emotionally charged to play this game and, I think, too emotionally charged. That's my responsibility and my fault," he said.

"I think I put them in a position where maybe they were destined to fail. We just couldn't handle the emotion of the ball game and my role "I've seen us play well when we were emotionally at a peak, but I think it wasn't the right thing for us at this point in time and that's He said that inability to handle the emotion of the game hindered his team's performance. "There's a maturity level you reach where you can handle emotion and execution at the same time. We always talk about playing with great effort and execution," he said. "But the lack of execution loses ball games, which was quite evident by what took place today." Mike Fullman's 79-yard punt return for a touchdown got Nebraska started.

The Wildcats answered with a touchdown drive, but the Huskers grounded out a 15-play, 75-yard scoring drive, then drives of 61 and 50 yards for a 28-6 lead. But it was a rOMW' it Kansas State receiver Mitch Running (89) drops the ball after being in the fourth quarter. sure the quarterback because our interior guys (Christian and Jason Peter) are caving in the middle of the line," Wistrom said. "Then, when we ran a stunt, where we'd go inside and they'd come outside on the rush, it seemed to work just as well." Another twist in the Nebraska defense came when linebacker Doug Colman would come to the line of scrimmage, then back up at the last second. "That forced them to double-team block Christian Peter and batted (by Chad Kelsay) and intercepted (by Luther Hardin at the KSU 6) shovel pass for a Husker score that punctuated the Wildcats' demise.

"All of a sudden, they started to hit and they were getting good pressure. They racked up some points and then I get my shovel pass tipped and they score a touchdown," said quarterback Matt Miller. "Things dwindled down after that They were damned good and they took it to us." Snyder said Nebraska made it difficult for the Wildcats to mount any rally. "We just weren't good enough against an excellent football team. We gave up the first score and then got it back.

But then we gave up a couple more cheap ones and the gates opened," he said. "You can't beat Nebraska if you cant stop the run. I dont know if we've faced a running team the caliber of the University of Nebraska. They are the best running team we've played." Lockett said the caliber of opponents had an affect Nebraska was the first ranked team the Wildcats had played. "The big difference playing a top-ranked team is that things sped up a whole lot more," he said.

"A big difference is that on almost every play, they executed very well. If they weren't in the right defense, the defense they were in worked anyway. Kansas State notes K-State Coach Bill Snyder on injuries "DeShawn Fogle (who was injured late in the game and removed from the field on a stretcher) got hit in the head and had pain down both shoulders, so you take extra caution with that He had sensitivity and feeling back and it came back very quickly." Fogle was taken to a local hospital for precautionary X-rays. Snyder on the nine sacks Nebraska got "There were a few times they got sacked because we can't get the snap up. We haven't been very functional the last couple years on a few occasions in regard to managing crowd noise.

There were a couple of things their defense did we haven't seen before not from them, but we've seen them, so it's nothing we shouldn't have the poise and wherewithal to handle." Snyder comparing this year's Nebraska team to last year's national championship team "They're certainly every bit as good. To really compare, I would have to think about it Tomorrow morning I might look at the tape and say they are better. Of course, last year, Tommie (Frazier) wasn't involved in our game." Snyder, on his team's expectations and how it will react to the loss "There aren't any inoral victories. A loss is a loss. This football team came with the idea that if they played well and played hard, they'd win the football game.

It's going to hurt tomorrow morning. I've said so many times, the greater the invest ment, the greater the pain if you don't achieve the success you're aft- rush that forces a hurried pass. But to play run defense and to play pass defense it takes 11 guys doing it all." Weakside linebacker Terrell Farley, playing in his first start, benefited the most from the attack. He finished with nine tackles, including two for losses. "We were all getting into rattling the quarterback," Wistrom said.

"I think Jared got the best shot on him with that clothesline job he did in the third quarter. He went down real What other writers K-State a sham Unbeaten. Untested. And unprepared. That's what bookies thought of Coach Bill Snyder's eighth-ranked Kansas State Wildcats before they met Coach Tom Osborne's second-ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers.

And that's what I kept thinking as I watched the Cornhuskers race to a 36-point lead before settling for a perspiration-free 49-25 victory Saturday afternoon. Unbeaten. Untested. And unprepared. From a K-State perspective, that's the story from Nebraska's Memorial Stadium.

The Wildcats almost covered the 23-point spread, but the Cornhuskers definitely unmasked K-State as a top-10 fraud. A legitimate top-10 team doesn't finish a game with minus-19 rushing yards. A legitimate top-10 team doesn't start a quarterback who wets his pants at first sight of a pass rush. A legitimate top-10 team doesn't start two tackles who block as if they have never seen a swim move, a bull rush or a stunt. And a legitimate top-10 team doesn't wait until week seven before facing a high-caliber opponent.

The Wildcats, now 6-1 and plum-menting in the polls as you read this, were unprepared to face Nebraska because their non-conference schedule Temple, Cincinnati, Akron and Northern Illinois would barely prepare Rockhurst High for the state playoffs. Yes, I know that Kansas got away with playing a cupcake non-conference schedule and managed to beat Colorado in Boulder. But that was an aberration. In order to compete with the Big Boys, occasionally you have to slay one of the Medium Boys in preparation for a bigger challenge. In dashing out to a pretty-to-look-at 6-0 record K-State also beat Big Eight cellar-dwellers Missouri and Oklahoma State Snyder's Wildcats raised expectations among K-State faithful and even some Huskers followers.

That's what Peter McNeeley Why, after a dead-ball, personal foul penalty against in the first quarter, did the Cornhuskers have a first-and-10 i "They took over offensively. We couldn't stop them and our offense couldn't do anything to move the ball. We didn't have the chance to establish our running game to have the balance attack we've used. er. It's painful now and tomorrow morning it's going to be more painful.

But that tells me the players have made a great investment." Defensive tackle Tim Colston "They execute very well. I think they grow these guys on trees. This is a hard thing to swallow for the defense. I don't think stats are a big key for us because you can't put a whole lot of faith in them. This (Nebraska) offensive line is good.

The guards are not as quick, but everyone else seems to be the same. We weren't blown off the line as much, but they got the job done." Linebacker Percell Gaskins "Nebraska is a team that plays their butt off. They don't make any mistakes. There are not many teams out there like Nebraska and that's why they're rated No. 1.

1 mean No. 2." Offensive lineman Scott Heun "We were prepared. They might have caught us off guard a few times, but they line up about the same every week. We came here and in our minds, we knew we could win the game. But today, they were a better football team than we were." Wide receiver Mitch Running has now caught at least one pass in 30 straight games.

The K-State record is 32 games. Running had 10 catches for 110 yards. That is a KSU single-game mark for receptions. The Wildcats were 3-for-4 on fourth-down conversions, bringing them to lS-for-18 this year. scheduling will do.

It will allow your team to lead the nation in scoring defense and total defense. It will allow your team to rank second nationally in pass efficiency defense and eighth nationally in rushing defense. It will allow A mediocre quarterback to complete 66 percent of his passes and throw 13 TDs. But Bill Snyder's schedule doesn't prepare a team for the Cornhuskers, who look just as lethal offensively and just as deadly defensively as, they did a year ago. Bowl-friendly scheduling eventually leads to disappointment.

Thg Wildcats waited until the Aloha Bowl before breaking hearts last season. K-State heartache came before Christmas this season. How does it feel? Would you gladly exchange a meaningless 67-0 victory over Akron for a real test against Syracuse, Michigan State, Purdue or Arizona State? Jason Whitlock; Kansas City Star What showdown? Some showdown. No. 8 Kansas State blinked first and blinked often Saturday against.

No. 2 Nebraska. Far too often for a spirited fourth-quarter rally to make any difference. The final score was 49-25, but it wasn't that close. The Wildcats needed two fourth-quarter scoring-passes by backup quarterback Brian' Kavanagh and a blocked-punt touchr down to close the margin.

So, no, K-State didn't quit. But neK ther did it offer much of a challenge. Understand, Nebraska is Huskers improved to 7-0 overall and 3-0 in the Big Eight by shutting: down the K-State offense and shred1 ding the Wildcats' heretofore top-ranked defense. So, does that mean the Wildcats, 6-1 and 2-1, are nothing more than top-10 pretenders? "That's a hard question to an swer," Nebraska linebacker Dou Colman said. "It's hard to play us here." BobDutton, Kansas City Star instead of a nrst-and-257 Nebraska had already picked up the first down when the penalty occurred.

After a 15-yard stepoff, the rule is first-and-10 instead of first-and-25 because the NCAA football rules committee determined a few years back first-and-25 was too harsh of a penalty. When is Nebraska playing Colorado? Nebraska will play CU at 2:30 p.m. Lincoln time. The game will be broadcast regionally on ABC channel 7. Will Nebraska be healthier for the Colorado game? Coach Tom Osborne said Brook Berringer, out for three weeks with a knee injury, was warming up better than he has recently.

"It will be important to get him back because we're awfully thin at quarterback the last few weeks," Osborne said. "Hopefully, we II have Phil Ellis back at full speed, too." Ellis, who started the first five games, missed the last two with a broken bone in his foot. What Is a shovel pass? When the quarterback lines up in a shotgun formation and tosses the ball underhanded to a crossing running back. Tommie Frazier threw two of those short passes for touchdowns to Ahman Green. Nebraska outside linebacker Chad Kelsay said one way to guess the play is coming is when he is not blocked.

Kelsay broke through untouched into the backfield and tipped Kansas State's attempt at a shovel pass. The ball ended up in the hands of teammate Luther Hardin, who scored a touchdown. What's up with the Nebraska defense on Kansas State's fake punts? "We're obviously vulnerable and unsound on the fake punts," Nebraska defensive coordinator Charlie McBride said. Kansas State completed passes from punter James Garcia to fullback Dedrtek Kelly for an 18-yard gain in the second quarter, and Garcia hit Mario Smith on a 12-yard gain in the fourth quarter. "We're dropping three guys back on the return and we probably won't be doing that much In the future," McBride said..