The Daily Oklahoman from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma • 23

November '27, 1.993 -23 SATURDAY OKLAHOMAN TIMES Nebraska 21 Oklahoma 7 13 Seconds Lifted Huskers, Stifled Sooners JfcwBL JOHN Mi ROHDE Rickey Brady said. "If I was an our defense I'd be really mad. They played such a good game. They deserved to win." "The score doesn't indicate what went on," OU defensive coordinator Tom Hayes said. "I thought we played well.

It was the preparation, and it definitely was the effort." Of the discouraged Johnson, Hayes said: "He's too discouraged in my book. He's a highly emotional and a high-strung kind of athlete most good ones are. "I told him he has to overcome this. You can't think about the last play or it'll haunt you the next play. He is down right now, and he should be disappointed, but he did some good things in the game, too." The Huskers came in with the nation's top rushing offense (304.5 yards per game and 5.6 per play).

Against OU, they managed 122 net yards in 42 attempts (2.9 per play). All told, NU collected 179 yards. It was the fifth-lowest offensive total in Tom Osborne's 21 seasons as head coach the lowest total in an NU victory during his regime. On the flip side, the Sooners rolled up 294 yards (200 in the first half). What did in OU was everything negative turnovers (four, including two on kickoff returns); penalties (seven for 51 yards); and poor field position (OU's average start was at its own 21.

NU's was at its own 47). "Our defense played outstanding," Sooners senior tight end frustrated OU squad essentially crumbled and lost by a 21-7 count. Afterward, a downcast Johnson faced his toughest battle of the day questions from the media. Of the go-ahead touchdown, Johnson said: "Before the play I was saying, 'If they throw it, just make sure they don't get the first I tried to make a big play and was trying to knock the ball down." Of the fumbled kickoff, Johnson said: "I broke the first tackle and was about to go outside. It (the runback) could have gone all the way, that's what kind of (blocking) wall there was.

I tried to switch (the ball to the other) hand I was running too fast It was somethin', I don't know. It was instinct, so I probably was trying to sophomore cornerback, unfortunately took center stage. With the score tied at 7 and 13:20 remaining, Johnson was covering NU wingback Abdul Muhammad on a third-and-9 play at the OU 11-yard line. Huskers quarterback Tommie Frazier, given far too much time to throw, found Muhammad at the 3. Johnson missed the tackle, and Muhammad found the end zone to make the score 14-7.

On the ensuing kickoff, Johnson fumbled during the runback and NU recovered at the Sooners' 20. On the next play, with 13:07 remaining, Calvin Jones who had managed just 50 yards on 19 carries to that point went almost untouched into the end zone. From then on, a dejected and LINCOLN, Neb. For Oklahoma and Darrius Johnson, it was 13 seconds from hell. For Nebraska's football team, the 13 seconds were heaven sent.

For 46 minutes and 40 seconds on a frigid Friday at NU's Memorial Stadium, the Sooners stuck the Big Eight Conference champion Cornhuskers. OU hadn't simply stuck with Orange Bowl-bound NU. The ISth-ranked Sooners had flat-out stuck the second-ranked Huskers, limiting them to 118 yards in 47 plays (2.5 yards-per-play) through three quarters. Then came 13 ugly seconds for OU in front of 75,674 fans and a national (ABC) television audience. Johnson, a talented and likable switch hands.

"The most disappointing thing was the fumble." Aside from the 13 hellacious seconds, Oklahoma dominated. Nebraska's three touchdown drives totaled just 73 yards 15 yards in four plays; 38 in nine plays; 20 on one play. Upset-Minded OU Won War in Trenches Early kers to 122 yards on 42 attempts, a paltry 2.9 yards per carry. "We had a really good, aggressive defensive scheme. They tried to run the ball, and we didn't let them, period," said OU strong safety John Anderson.

"With the exception of one drive they really didn't do much against us all day. They just took advantage of some Give Nebraska's defense credit. After a solid first-half showing (in which OU had 200 total yards), the Sooner offense gained just 94 yards in the second half. "We didn't move it very well in the second half. They backed us up, and we had illegal procedures on first down the first three times we had it," said OU offensive coordinator Watson Brown.

"From that point on we were back on the 4 or the 1 and the 2 and just couldn't get it out." Since OU owned a statistical edge, some fans might wonder if Nebraska actually was the best team on Friday. "The better team doesn't turn it over," Brown said. "All four of our turnovers were on our end of the field. With weather like this you have to take care of the ball." It was all OU early as the Sooners owned an unfathomable 168-13 edge in total yards five minutes into the second quarter. Even though the Sooners domi-.

nated the first half statistically, three turnovers allowed the Cornhuskers to escape with a 7-7 halftime tie. "We have to dominate a whole game, not just one half of a game," said OU freshman tailback James Allen. "It's all about digging deep down inside and wanting it." Oddly enough, Allen was well on his way to a career-high effort with 81 yards on 10 carries at halftime. Allen, though, didn't have an official carry in the second half. His only attempt was wiped out by a penalty.

"I would have liked to have carried it some more. I had confidence in the offensive line, but I'm not disappointed." By Mike Baldwin Staff Writer LINCOLN, Neb. Snow flurries late in the game seemed appropriate. Just when it appeared Oklahoma might upset Nebraska, things snowballed on the Sooners. Much to a capacity crowd's surprise it was 16th-ranked Oklahoma, not top-ranked Nebraska, that was winning the war in the trenches early in the contest.

"That's what really hurts about this loss," said OU senior tight end Rickey Brady. "It's one thing to feel you got beat by a better team, but we felt we could have walked away with a win." A season-high four turnovers proved to be the difference. With the game tied 7-7, the Cornhuskers scored two TDs within 13 seconds early in the fourth quarter to escape with a 21-7 victory. "We didn't step up and make the big plays and Nebraska did. We stopped ourselves," Brady said.

"We had four turnovers, two on kickoff returns. You can't win games if you do that, especially if you play a team like Nebraska. Our defense played outstanding today." OU's defense certainly did its part. Nebraska boasted the nation's top rushing offense, but it was the Sooners who were running the ball down the Cornhuskers' throats in the first half. "Personally, I felt Colorado had a more physical line.

We weren't as healthy for that game as we were today, but Colorado assaulted us and Nebraska couldn't do that today," said OU senior linebacker Mike Coats. The Cornhuskers didn't exactly march down the field. Their three scoring drives covered 15, 38 and 20 yards. "We stuffed the run, and they had to go to misdirection and counters just to get us off balance," Coats said. "We're happy with how our defense performed today.

I think we proved to the media and people across the nation that Oklahoma's defense is for real." After averaging more than 300 yards rushing a game, OU limited the Cornhus Staff Photo by Doug Hoke Nebraska's John Reece grabs OU running back James Allen by the face mask during Friday's gams in Lincoln, Neb. Allen carried 10 times for 81 yards. NU Defense Rose to the Occasion Loss of Alberts Had Huskers Playing Inspired Football has been the heart of our defense," he said. "Trev means something to you By Mac Bentley Staff Writer LINCOLN, Neb. It wasn't exactly a "Win one for the Gipper," scenario, but emotions ran strong on the Nebraska bench when All-American Trev Alberts was knocked out of Friday's game just five minutes into the first quarter.

"I was standing on the sideline when it happened, and you could see his arm bent, dislocated," said Dwayne Harris, one of his backups at outside linebackerrush end. "Everybody's heads dropped for a second, but we were right back up, saying we've got to do this for Trev. "He has been there all year to carry the defense, almost literally by himself. So now it was our time to repay him." The Cornhuskers, thanks in large part to Harris' play, rallied from a 7-0 deficit to defeat Oklahoma 21-7. Alberts is one of three finalists for the Butkus Award and has made every All-Ameri-ca team released to date.

He had 14 sacks this season, but on Friday departed just nine plays into the game following an encounter with OU tight end Rickey Brady. The Huskers first moved Donta Jones to Alberts' side and tried Bruce Moore at Jones' spot, but that didn't get the job done. Harris, a junior from Bessemer, entered for one three-and-out Sooner series, then really made an impression late in the first half. He had back-to-back, 6-yard sacks to knock the Sooners out of Cornhusker territory in the final minute of the half. He added a third sack late in the game, forcing OU to punt from its own 3-yard line.

Besides the three sacks, Harris caused a fumble, one of three Sooner psychologically too, because he's the guy who has made more big plays for us than anybody else this year. "With Trev out, them moving the ball and our not moving the ball, it didn't look very good. The first half it didn't even look like we were in it. But as the game went along we got progressively stronger. The fourth quarter we were' definitely the dominant football team.

Why it happened that way I don't know." It all reminded Osborne of last year's OU-Nebraska game, won by the Cornhuskers 33-9. "I thought, along with last year's game, it was one of the bigger changes (of momentum) I've seen," he said. "Even though we were ahead 10-9 last year, we got pushed all over the field the first half. Then the second half we did the same thing to them, and today I felt there was quite a switch as the game went along. "I wish I knew the answer to those things." Osborne realizes the victory wasn't pretty, particularly for a No.

l-ranked football team. But he said he's no longer concerned with satisfying those who are critical of his team's performances. "I've really given up trying to understand what the national perception of our team is," he said. "I don't worry about it any more, We have won 11 games, and I'm sure there will be some more shots taken at us, but we have beaten five teams that will be in bowls this year. Our schedule is probably a little stronger than what people think it has been.

"We'll certainly get a test (in the Orange Bowl), we'll have a good measuring device to see if we're good enough." SUN Photo by B(v Oooch stiff arms Nebraska's Tyrone Williams in the Sooners' opening OU running back James Allen drive Friday In Lincoln, Neb. OU Still Unsure of Bowl Destination Staff Photo by 8lov Qoooh Oklahoma's Mario Freeman hits Nebraska quarterback Tommie Frazier during the first half. turnovers in the second period. Harris said defensive coordinator Charlie McBride didn't mention Alberts at halftime, but had already said enough before the game. "He talked about the seniors and about Trev, about this being his last game at Memorial Stadium," said Harris.

"Being an underclassmen, you had to leave your guts out there on the field for the seniors. I guess that's what everybody tried to do, including myself." The loss of Alberts was concern for head coach Tom Osborne, "That was a real blow, because Trev which will be held Dec. 25 In Honolulu. A fourth Big Eight team is to receive a bid to the Copper, which will be held Dec. 29 in Tucson, Ariz, League champion Nebraska (11-0; 7-0) definitely is headed to the Orange Bowl.

If the remaining Big Eight bids hold true to 31st post-season bowl game. The Big Eight is a member of the boal coalition and also is under contract with the Aloha Bowl and Copper Bowl. The third-place Big Eight team (or a third league team, depending on who Is picked by a coalition bowl) Is slated for the Aloha, By John Rohde Staff Writer LINCOLN, Neb. Oklahoma's 21-7 loss to Nebraska on Friday gave the Sooners an 8-3 regular-season record and a fourth-place finish in the Big Eight Conference with a 4-3 mark. However, it has yet to be determined where OU will play its form, Colorado (7-3-1; 5-1-1) will go to a coalition bowl, probably the Hancock; Kansas State (8-2-1; 4-2-1) will go to tho Aloha; the Sooners will go to the Copper.

However, If all involved representatives agree, a switch can be made, meaning could play in the Cop-, per, OU In the Aloha, i -ir.