The Miami Herald from Miami, Florida • 125

wv wm yp rrrry UM 23 NEBRASKA 3 TUESDAY JANUARY 3 1989 7n THE MIAMI HERALD I Nebraska Notebook OB turf gets good reviews ANDREW INNERARITY Miami Herald Staff Nebraska cornerback Tahaun Lewis 5 leaps to intercept a pass by Steve Walsh in the third quarter returning it 31 yards mask frustration By MIKE PHILLIPS Herald Sports Writer Nebraska Coach Tom Osborne said before Monday game he is glad the Dolphins have moved to Joe Robbie Stadium Why? Because he found the Orange Bowl turf which took a beating from NFL games in better condition the past so many times when the Dolphins were there using the field by the time we got down here there any footing" he said Nebraska defensive coordinator Charlie McBride said: is grass this year When we were here before it was so sandy out there They painted the Orange Bowl emblem over dirt The grass is much better this year We knew it would be better You could tell on the film that the grass was much better" Cheers for no beer Also before the game Osborne downplayed old concerns about treatment of Husker fans in Miami Orange Bowl Committee and the people in Miami have always treated us he said treated badly in when UM beat Nebraska 31-30 The crowd in was a little rough on some of our fans I think that was due to the fact that we were ranked No 1 and their coach Howard Schnellenberger did a good job of mobilizing the community to have some pride in that game alcohol was served in the stadium no beer was sold Monday night We had a lot of people who were somewhat abused at the game I know there are some that probably come back because of that That the fault of the Orange Bowl Committee or the attitude of the community as a whole Not having alcohol helps I think that has any place in a college football stadium" Nebraska technically was the home team again this year as Big Eight champion but Osborne had no illusions Only an estimated 8000 to 10000 of the full house were expected to be Comhusker backers Despite being the UM had its regular locker room at the south end Big Eight traditionally wants the north said Bob Epley of the Orange Bowl Committee Early conflict Nebraska linebacker Broderick Thomas had his game face on ear-ly He took the field and warmed up on the UM sideline playing catch with defensive end Jeff Mills Ex-Hurricanes Melvin Bratton and Tolbert Bain spotted Thomas and ran up to him shouting out of here We knew you always wanted to be a Hurricane" Thomas flinch or say anything If Thomas is a linebacker why does he wear No 89? Simple Thomas is playing the same position (in theory) he played a year ago but Nebraska used to call Thomas a defensive end in its 5-2 or 4-3 alignment Now Thomas is called a linebacker in 3-4 set Had Nebraska not changed its alignment Thomas have been eligible for the Butkus Award given to the top linebacker Thomas finished second in the voting to Derrick Thomas of Alabama a graduate of South Miami High Whatever his position Broderick Thomas had 98 tackles (including 10 sacks) in the regular season Fryar connection Husker backers at the game included Nebraska alum and New England Patriots receiver Irving Fryar (his cousin is starting corner-back Charles Fryar) James Davis a safety on the 1979 team and Lee Jones and Neil Smith defensive linemen on the 1987 team will win by predicted Smith a member of the Kansas City Chiefs knew I was coming to this game as soon as they beat Oklahoma Kansas City sure going into the playoffs So I knew be There was a lot of talk about the layoff before game Miami played in four weeks (Dec 3 against Brigham Young) and Nebraska played in six weeks (Nov 19 against Oklahoma) Osborne said however that it a big concern He remembered quick start against his team in 1984: were ahead of us 17-0 in the first Traveling man The most traveled fan in the Orange Bowl might have been Mel Hanson 65 who attended his sixth bowl game of the season Hanson who lives in Fair Oaks Calif completed his bowl journey with a ticket he bought for face value outside the OB gates Hanson a retired engineer had seen the California Bowl Dec 10 in Fresno the Sun Bowl Dec 24 in El Paso Texas the Liberty Bowl Dec 28 in Memphis Tenn the All American Bowl Dec 29 in Birmingham Ala and the Peach Bowl Dec 31 in Atlanta game plan We got down and we run the ball right at them This was the worst because we got down and then it just dragged out We were frustrated and embarrassed We come down here to have our fans watch something like To put this game into true Corn-husker perspective you have to get out the record book and start dusting off pages As favorite comic Johnny Carson would ask: bad was 1) It was the third-worst defeat in 26 bowl appearances dating back to 1941 The Huskers lost a 34-7 laugher to Duke in the 1955 Orange Bowl and Nebraska was burned 34-7 by Alabama in the 1967 Sugar Bowl 2) It was the first time since the 1978 opener against Alabama that the Huskers failed to score more than three points If it have been for Gregg 50-yard field goal (a career best) Nebraska would have suffered its first shutout in 173 games dating back to a 27-0 loss to Oklahoma in 1973 3) The Cornhuskers entered as the leading rushers with 3823 yards per game and gained only 80 yards on the ground 4) Taylor all-time leading rusher at quarterback entered with 826 yards this season and 2125 career He gained 12 yards on 17 carries and was sacked six times It was so bad in the first half that Taylor went to the locker room with minus two yards passing and eight yards rushing It was even worse for I-back Ken Clark who entered with 1497 yards He finished with 36 yards on 14 carries By MIKE PHILLIPS Herald Sports Writer Nebraska quarterback Steve Taylor stopped briefly while walking off the Orange Bowl field Monday after 23-3 loss to the University of Miami A fan shook hand saying did the best you could Taylor know what to say His offense had been grounded and battered Later he found the words is the worst beating ever had to take here at said Taylor who was sacked six times is the first time really been beaten physically They the Hurricanes really have quick people They are tremendous And so it went in the Nebraska locker room after the Orange Bowl Classic Most Cornhuskers agreed that they were physically beaten Frustration was discernible in their words said All-American center Jake Young play well We got beat That is that They are a great team But we do a damn thing tonight They came to play and we Guard Andy Keeler appeared more upset than Young over the play of offensive line which was dominated by UM were all over the Keeler said referring to defenders who held Nebraska to 80 yards rushing and 55 passing protect Steve Taylor We stunk the place up They are the best in the country I think they would beat Notre Dame if they played them slanted and looped a lot more than we thought they Keeler said we got out of our BRIAN SMITH Miami Herald Staff Nebraska players show disappointment in another Orange Bowl loss to UM Stoic Osborne faces the reality of defeat would get a touchdown and make it said Osborne a couple of sacks really hurt us in the first half a couple of penalties hurt us one when the quarterback was over the line of scrimmage and the other a holding Osborne thought his team would be more physical and would be able to control the line of scrimmage wanted to run the ball right at them" he said guess we should have done that more but once you get behind like we did you have to try to move the ball down field in a hurry and we got down 14-0 and needed to go away from running the ball normally a second-and-five sec-ond-and-four team Tonight we were second-and-10 when UM would come after Taylor with blitzes "Their stunting and blitzing really hurt us and we block Osborne said thought we had a chance to be more physical and hammer at them I wish we had scored first and have had a chance to try sharp "You've got to give Miami a lot of credit We just got beat by a better team The best? Is UM bound to finish second in the polls the No 1 team? awfully Osborne said probably as good as faced this season know if the best team in the country sure Notre Dame will be No 1 but Miami is a great team I think that any team that would come down here would be favored may be the best But Notre Dame under the circumstances deserves to be the national Nebraska managed only 29 yards total offense in the first half and never reached mid-field But Osborne felt his team out of the game In the 1984 Orange Bowl Classic against the Hurricanes Nebraska surged back from a 17-0 deficit to tie the game at 17-17 before losing 31-30 There was barely a semblance of a comeback Monday night thought we had a chance at the half if we consistently long enough was hard to audible If we could have checked off more we might have counteracted their Osborne serves as his own offensive coordinator and the running game led the nation this season for the fifth time in the 1980s But it managed only 80 yards net rushing and just 10 first downs against UM two in the first half just got beat by a better football he said big problem was that we generate enough offense to keep the pressure off of our defense blitzed us at times We had a few guys open on occasion but there wasn't enough time to get the ball to them really felt our defense played well enough to win a lot of football games The strength of their team is the defense and they played very well felt very bad for our seniors embarrassed we play better I felt before the game we had a good chance to beat Miami We probably played hard but we By JIM MARTZ Herald Sports Writer As Tom Osborne watched stoically from the sideline Monday night his expression reflected his offense bland When Nebraska cornerback Tahaun Lewis intercepted a pass by UM quarterback Steve Walsh early in the third quarter and returned the ball 31 yards to the Miami 37 for the most electrifying play of the Orange Bowl Classic Osborne showed no reaction WTien Huskers quarterback Steve Taylor was sacked four plays later and Nebraska settled for a field goal its only points in the 23-3 loss to the University of Miami Mr Placid didn't bat an eye Surely he must have wanted to slam his ever-present earphones to the ground at least once But he kept his frustration bottled up I felt a lot of Osborne said after his bowl record in the 1980s slumped to 4-6 kept grappling to find something that would work a little bit but we couldn't find anything that would work for us i 4 4 -J.