The Manhattan Mercury from Manhattan, Kansas • 10

B2 THE MANHATTAN MERCURY COLLEGE SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 1 6, 2 008 Nebraska 56, Kansas St. 28 Nebraska 14 21 0 2156 Kansas St 7 7 7 728 First Quarter KSU Herndon 57 interception return (Rossman kick), 1 1:51. NU Helu 1 run (Henery kick), 7:13. NU Castille 37 run (Henery kick), 2:28. Second Quarter KSU Pierce 63 pass from Freeman (Rossman kick), 14:07.

NU Helu 24 run (Henery kick), 11:33. NU Peterson 5 pass from Ganz (Henery kick), 7:05. NU McNeill 18 pass from Ganz (Henery kick), :44. Third Quarter KSU Coffman 1 run (Rossman kick), 2:52. Fourth Quarter NU Ganz 25 run (Henery kick), 14:47.

KSU Banks 98 kickoff return (Rossman kick), 14:33. NU Ganz 14 run (Henery kick), 11:57. NU Mendoza 31 run (Henery kick). 3:05. Neb KSt Firstdowns 29 13 Rushes-yards 53-340 32-59 Passing 270 188 Comp-Att-Int 16-25-1 12-26-0 RetumYards 48 61 Punts-Avg.

Fumbles-Lost 1-1 3-1 Penalties-Yards 7-56 5-25 TimeofPoss. 36:35 23:25 1 i 4 JV OX. INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING Nebraska, Ganz 1 1-95, Helu 13-72, Mendoza 10-58, Castille 6-51, Lucky 11-47, Lee 2-17. Kansas Brown 13-49, Dold 9-1 9, Banks 2-1 3, Coffman 2-5, Freeman 6-(minus 27). PASSING Nebraska, Ganz 16-25-1-270.

Kansas Freeman 7-18-0-1 14, Coffman 5-8-0-74. RECEIVING Nebraska, Swift 4-98, Peterson 4-47, McNeill 3-52, Paul 3-31, Young 2-42. Kansas Pierce 4-94, Murphy 4-65, Banks 3-16, Mastrud 1-13. Staff photo by Rod Mikinski Kansas State's Brandon Banks returns a kickoff 93 yards in the fourth quarter Saturday at Bill Snyder Family Stadium. Nebraska overwhelms Cats, 56-28 '5 A fa (r would have to spread them out and distribute the ball to neutralize their size and strength, and that didn't happen in the first half.

We had a really tough half." After the first series of the second half, Carson Coffman entered in place of Freeman. "He wasn't his normal self for whatever reason, and because of that, I pulled him out of the game," Prince said. Of the move, Freeman said, "At that point in the game, Carson was a better option. Coach made a perfectly reasonable decision." One Wildcat hinted that Freeman might have a concussion. Coffman completed 5-of-8 passes for 74 yards, plus scored on a one-yard plunge to cap a 92-yard drive.

KSU's other second-half score came on a 98-yard kick-off return by Brandon Banks. It ended a streak of 16 straight times that K-State has won when its defense and special teams have both scored. While pleased with the win, which improves NU's record to 4-3 and 7-4, Husker coach Bo Pelini said, "To me, allowing 28 points means we were sloppy. You are going to give up some extra points when you make mistakes. We were sloppy." K-State (4-7, 1-6) has only pride to play for next week against Iowa State (2-9, 0-7) in a 2:35 p.m.

start at Bill Snyder Family Stadium. The game will be for fifth and sixth in the six-team Big 12 North. head coach Staff photo by Rod Mikinski Kansas State assistantcoach Frank Leonard argues a call with the officials from the sidelines at Bill Snyder Family Stadium. struggling Other than that play, K-State netted only 44 other yards on the other 26 snaps in the first half. In the first half, K-State netted only four total yards on 11 first-down plays, which left them needing an average of nine yards to convert third-downplays.

Of KSU's seven first-half possessions, five included no more than four snaps. Freeman was just 7-of-18 in the first half for 114 yards, while the running game netted 7 yards on 18 carries. Playing against a very physical Nebraska team, Prince said. "We feltpretty certain we than putting it on one person. "When it was Max (Urick) or Tim (Weiser) making the decision (as AD), there was just a more comfortable feeling on who was pulling the trigger because they had experience in the field," Lockett said.

"Bob's made important decisions, but this is a new arena for him. It Staff photo by Rod Mikinski Kansas State running back Lamark Brown is wrapped up by Nebraska defenders. Brown finished the game with 49 yards on 13 carries. K-State officially out of bowl hunt after loss No. 1, From Page B1 153 yards, looked like Johnny Rodgers, netting 95 rushing yards with a pair of untouched rushing scores of 25 and 14 yards.

"It was pretty clear that we couldn't tackle their quarterback," said KSU coach Ron Prince. "It didn't matter who it was defensive ends, corners, safeties, linebackers we couldn't tackle. Tim (Tibesar, defensive coordinator) had the perfect call at times, and we just bounced off of him. We didn't tackle him." For K-State, it was a re-re-replay of a defensive year filled with holes. NU has now scored 129 points on the Wildcats in the last two years.

This also marks the first time in school history that a KSU defense has given up at least50 points four times in one season 58 to Texas Tech, 58 to Oklahoma, 52 to Kansas and 56 to Nebraska. "We didn't execute on some plays and missed some tackles," said linebacker Alex Hrebec, who was credited with nine stops. "You do that against a good team and you're not going to win." "It's tackling. It's the same story," said Campbell, who had eight arrests. "I know you're sick of hearing me say that, but I'm not going to lie." Kansas State's ground attack was in reverse for the majority of the day as Josh Freeman was chased by rushers who sacked the Wildcat QB four times for negative-49 yards.

Lockett in No. 2, From Page B1 Lockett said. "I've talked with coach Prince and I know he He just didn't win fast enough. I told him to take this as a great learning experience, and that he was going to have the opportunity to be a head coach again. Time-wise, it just didn't work out here." While not questioning the abilities of Bob Krause to be a top-notch athletics director, Lockett did express concern over his newness to the position, which adds up to a tenure of just seven months.

Playing in 39-degree wind-chill, Kansas State warmed the hearts of its fans early when Courtney Herndon returned an interception 57 yards for a touchdown just 3:09 into the game. Prince called it a "big play," but one that K-State failed to gain any momentum from. "That was very disappointing." It marked the first time since Oct. 18 at Colorado that K-State had scored first in a game, and led in a game. K-State's other first-half score came on a 63-yard pass-and-catch from Freeman to Ernie Pierce.

favor of Snyder as next Kansas State went with an all-purple uniform look. Head count The attendance Saturday was 48,444. Entering the game, KSU's home average was 47,054, which ranked 11th in the league, only ahead of Baylor at 37,145. Leading the league as Texas at 98,518. Miscellaneous Alex Hrebec scored nine tackles.

The walk-on at middle linebacker has averaged 7.8 tackles in his last.six games. Josh Freeman ran his tbtal offense for the year to yards, and his passing total' to 7,799. His 3,008 total yards this season is fourth high in KSU history. I' NU now leads the series'76-15-2 overall and 34-7-2 in games played in Manhattan. Nebraska has won the last four in this series.

At kickoff, it was 44-degres with winds out of the northwest at 11 to 21 miles per hour, making for a wind-cbill of 38-degrees. No. 3, From Page B1 feelthereisanylackofiightinthe locker room." Murphy's future Asked whether he planned to return to K-State next year, junior receiverreturn man Deon Murphy said, "I've thought about it, but I'm not talking about it to anyone but my family. It's a personal decision with me staying or leaving, and I'm not sure yet." Juggling line K-State once again juggled starters on the offensive line. Starting Saturday were Nick Stringer at left tackle, Colton Freeze at left guard, Jordan Bedore at center, Gerard Spexarth at right guard and Penisini Liu at right tackle.

On the pre-game depth chart, Stringer waslisted as a righttack-le, Freeze at left guard, Spexarth as a reserve right guard, and Liu as a right guard. purple iv, For the 'ffrst time this year, Because of that, Lockett said he hoped this would not be the decision of one individual. "I'm not saying that Bob is not qualified, and yes, ultimately it is his responsibility, but if Bill does not want the position, he needs to be involved in the selection process," Lockett said. "Generally, a collective group "We all impact has on a Because need to of minds make that Former know the that football university. of that, we get a collection the best together and decision." Kevin Lockett KSU receiver wouldn't be that difficult to assemble a group of highly qualified people around him that truly know football." Lockett said from the voices of former KSU players and fans that he has heard, there is an agreement that Wildcat football is at a crossroads.

"We have to get the right person. We all know the impact that football has on a university," Lockett said. "Because of that, we need to get a collection of the best minds together and make that decision." can make a better decision 4.