The Miami Herald from Miami, Florida • 319

THURSDAY JANUARY 2 1992 Cfl THE MIAMI HERALD ORANGE BOWL UM 22 NEBRASKA 0 Night ends in futility for Nebraska Osborne endures shutout IHiSH SIjmbbJI mf ISesdflM Ik 9 MPTpRf lU -Jm Mi1MBi tai fcilfilaaBaBK8aBaaaaaBBaaaaaaaBBB wEBlwBfejiSHlsi By SUSAN MILLER DEGNAN Herald Sports Writer When you think of Nebraska football coach Tom Osborne what comes to mind? Losing games? Couldn't be After 19 years of coaching the Cornhuskers Osborne ranks as the winningest active coach in the NCAA's Division I at 186-42-3 an 812 percentage Losing bowl games? Could be Osborne 52 not only is 8-11 in bowl games after the Huskers' 22-0 loss to the University of Miami Wednesday night in the Federal Express Orange Bowl his team has lost its last five postseason games and the last seven of 10 Wednesday's loss was a shutout no less the first time Nebraska has been blanked since 1973 the year Osborne took over at age 34 Could Division Fa most productive football coach also be its unluckiest? "No it's not a jinx" Osborne said "We just didn't play well We have played some awfully good football teams in pretty tough situations "Miami played very well tonight Their defense penetrated and controlled the line of scrimmage better than I thought they would We knew they would be hard to run laterally on and that they have a great pass rush but we thought we could run at them and control the ball" The biggest post-game question asked more than once and in more than one way: Who is No 1 Washington (34-14 winners over Michigan in Wednesday's Rose Bowl) or Miami? Said Osborne who will vote in the CNNUSA Today coaches' poll but wouldn't say how: "They are both great football teams Washington had more yards on us but at CW GRIFFIN Miami Herald Staff ka's first shutout since 1973 Osborne is now 8-1 1 in bowl appearances OVER AT LAST: Nebraska's Tom Osborne winningest active coach in NCAA Division I leaves the field after his Cornhuskers fall 22-0 to Miami's Hurricanes It was Nebras- that point Sept 21 we weren't probably anywhere near as good defensively "We scored more points against Washington (21) than we did against Miami "Washington beat us by 15 points and these guys beat us by 22 but of course we played them at their place on their surface "Washington probably runs the ball better and Miami has a better passing game Miami has a little more overall speed and on defense is a little stronger" OK OK So who's No "Anybody that stays undefeated deserves to be national champion I think it's a coin toss" In closing Osborne admitted he was upset about the Omar Soto situation but that it did not affect the outcome of the Orange Bowl "The only thing that bothers me about it is if indeed whoever knew about it knew about it several weeks ago or months ago or years ago the time for Omar's sake was to handle it then and not to wait until the day before the game Soto a fullback was declared ineligible Tuesday for the Orange Bowl for apparently playing five seasons of football NCAA rules allow five years to complete four seasons "We talk a lot about hypocrisy about coaches and athletic departments abusing athletes" Osborne said "But if anyone cared about the guy they wouldn't have done it like they did "The NCAA was closed We had no chance to appeal I really feel bad for Omar It was a downer for me the last couple of days" Soto leads cheering Omar Soto the Nebraska fullback declared ineligible for the Orange Bowl didn't lie low for the big game A senior starter who grew up in Miami and attended Miami High Soto stood outside the team tunnel as the or huskers raced onto the field He high-fived his teammates and played the part of the emotional sparkplug Some Nebraska people surmised that the Soto flap would help fire up the Huskers Roddy Matfia an NU coach's friend who has spent the entire week with the team thought so "He never did anything bad in his life" Maffia said of Soto "He's a beautiful kid" Watching from the Nebraska sideline was former Husker nose guard Rich Glover who won the Outland and Lombardi trophies in 1972 Glover now a physical-education teacher at a junior high in San Jose Calif finished third in the Heisman Trophy balloting in 1972 What did he say to this year's Huskers? "I told them to kick butt and take names" Nebraska treated game day like any other The only deviation: The Huskers slept in later than usual There were no team movies and no inspirational speakers Perhaps the loudest cheer of the night from Nebraska fans came during pre-game warmups when the stadium announcer read a fourth-quarter score from the Rose Bowl: Washington 34 Michigan 7 Nebraska fans also cheered aiong with members of the press corps who were worried about deadlines when it was announced that the Orange Bowl halftime "Back to the Future" extravaganza had been canceled Much of the $350000 laser and fireworks show had been rendered inoperable by the rain so the halftime show was reduced to 20 minutes with bands performing MrmF1-' ANDREW INNERARtTY Miami Herald Staff Tight end Johnny Mitchell pulls in a 32-yard pass for the Cornhuskers' biggest gain UM's 'quickness' is word of choice for Huskers By TODD HARTMAN Herald Sports Writer Speed kills On New Year's night it killed the Nebraska Cornhuskers run over by those small trucks in green and orange and left to huff puff and chew up Hurricane dust "They were quick" said battered Nebraska quarterback Keithen McCant mildly exasperated by this 22-0 Orange Bowl loss and a fruitless effort from the NU offense "They just cud a great job and you have to hand it to them" McCant one of the key weapons in Nebraska's previously potent offense was a nonfactor He completed only seven passes had two intercepted threw a bad-pitched-turned-fumble on an option play and was sacked five times "We tried to practice against it Miami's quickness but you can't really practice against that It was something we didn't see all year" Nebraska guard Eric Wiegert said "They don't come right out and go after you head on They stunt and blitz and do a lot of things like that" "Miami doesn't play a Washington-type of physical defense" Jones said "They use speed" Here was Nebraska the big bulky ball-control team losing in every category its supposed to win at especially when playing a passing posse like Miami First downs: Miami 25 Nebraska 9 Time of possession: Miami 34:29 Nebraska 25:31 Everything was turned upside down Series after series Nebraska went three-and-out and Miami marched those 30 yards that ate up minutes and wore down Nebraska's overworked defense "We just kept our defense on the field too long" McCant said Said cornerback Tyrone Legette: "The key was to get some pressure on the quarterback and not give him so much time to throw" The whole ugly mess was summed up nicely by Nebraska's tight end Johnny Mitchell who incidentally said he'd be happy to come back here and play Miami again Mitchell who caught just three passes but totaled 57 yards on those said "We made some mistakes but they played great defense" he said "They have speed a lot of speed on defense" Fullback Lance Lewis who filled in for the ineligible Omar Soto said it best: "They're one of the fastest teams I've ever played against" "When they blitzed" Husker I-back Calvin Jones said "They disrupted the execution of our offense" It was all over midway through the third quarter when the Cornhuskers had their hands on their hips and their hopes trampled under Miami's lightning legs Player after player wandered out of the Husker locker room hoping to escape the media madhouse declining to say if Washington or Miami was better and when pressed speaking the word of the day "Quick' "Quick" Nebraska tackle Lance Lundberg said "And they blitzed a lot" In the battle of Nebraska's beefy offensive line and Miami's small-but-fast defense the Huskers were destroyed Miami held the NCAA's No 1-ranked rushing offense to 122 yards on the ground one-third of its normal output I.