The Lincoln Star from Lincoln, Nebraska • Page 43

ID UMCOLW JOUKNAL AWD STAR WovemiMyr 24, 1968 May Be Wrong MiiiniHiiiiiiNiiiiiWiiNiitiiiiiiiiiHiiiHiimmittmmiiiNiiiiirai By Curt Mother Sunday Sports Columnist Why is it that it takes a tragedy sometimes to put things in their proper perspective? That Oklahoma and Nebraska were going to play a football game was the biggest thing in Lincoln and all of Nebraska for that matter. No one could talk of anything else. Cornhusker Line Stymies Sooners But then something dreadful happened. Something of national significance took place and suddenly football was just a game again. It the do or die thing it had been hours before.

It something worth getting wrought up and destroying property for. It was a game for young men to play and fans to watch and enjoy and writers to tell about. So. as great as football is, the next time you hear your neighbor talking about firing the coach or belittling a player for a mistake or telling you some team win by enough points, just ask him how he felt about football Friday afternoon. To Plav or to The University will undoubtedly receive a lot of criticism for going on with the game.

But it would have received criticism for postponing it also. The decision was not a hasty one. There were conferences held throughout the day with officals from all over the Big Eight. Whether or not the decision was the right one is strictly a matter of each opinion. But here are some of the problems which faced Chancellor Clifford M.

Hardin: There was a scheduling problem. Oklahoma has a dale with Oklahoma State next Saturday and that would have forced this game back to Dec. 7 at least. This then brings up a weather problem since that is quite late for football in this part of the country. There was the question of the distance between the two schools.

They represent extreme points in the Conference. Both of the coaches wanted to play the game and hundreds of Oklahoma fans were either here or en route. The Chancellor said no business reasons were considered, but since the Orange Bowl and the Big Eight are in a tie up this was a game which should be played at some date. The Bij; AvWiiuiiiptioii The final one, right or wrong, is the assumption by many that the sports-loving President, who devoted so much of his time and energies to athletics and physical fitness, would have wanted the game to go on. The National Football League chose to play out its schedule on Sunday and its commissioner Pete Rozelle, said: has been traditional in sports for athletes to perform in times of great personal tragedy.

Football was Mr. game. He thrived on Confidence Aided NIJ gillllllllllllllillliillllitlllllfllllllilllilllllltllliillllllfe Continued from Page ID year we went into the Missouri and Oklahoma games (the Huskers lost both) so keyed up that we play well. But this year we were confident, but more gay or anything, but relaxed. say a good team makes its own breaks and we did, but I think they helped us a little bit.

They (Oklahoma) are a fine football team, you take anything away from them. But today as just our day and all there is to Dennis said that on Wednesday he didn't think he would be playing, but he did think Nebraska would win. the beginning of the season I thought it would be between us and Oklahoma. But all during this week I had that definite feeling that we would win. I told everybody I knew about it.

It was just a foot seemed to be bothering him some, but he complaining. He was tickled, however, that his folks who came all the way from Texas, could be in the stands. think of it during the game, but I knew they were Rudy said. An unknown pre-game casualty was Willie Ross, the free and easy halfback who turned in one of his finest runs of the season late in the game. had a bad charley Willie said.

walk before the game. 1 see how 1 played. 1 usually go to Mass before the game, but I walk. The last time I missed was the day we played Air Force. I wanted to go, but I just bend my leg.

before the game Paul (Schneider) and George (Sullivan) worked on it and got it loosened up leg and the Huskers were just alike. Football BIG EIGHT NEBRASKA 29. Oklahoma 20 WEST UUh 25. Utah SUte 23. Briftum Youns 24, Colo.

State Univ. 20 MIDWEST Bowlins Green 26, Xavier, Ohio 15 Northeast Oklahoma 13. Southeast Mia- aouri 7 Ohio University 17. Marshall 0 Kent State 23. Dayton 0 SOUTH Florida 27.

Miami 21 C. Smith 66. Fayetteville SUte 0 Eastern Kentucky 34. Youngatown 14 Tennessee 19, Kentucky 0 Vanderbilt 31, George Washington 0 Emory It Henry 26, GullftHxl 0 Winaton-Salem 18, St. Paul's 0 Florida AAM 38.

Bethune Cookman 14 Louisiana State 20. Tulane 0 Auburn 21. Florida State 15 Prairie View, AltM 35, Southern La. 0 Howard Payne 26. Sul om 22 SOUTHWEST Arkansas 27.

Texas Tech 20 Eastern New Mexico U. 40, Central Oklahoma 21 Lineups Hockey CHL Pts GF GA St Paul 13 5 0 26 74 Omaha 12 2 St. Louis 6 10 Minneapolis 5 9 Cincinnati 2 12 RESULTS Omaha 5, St. Louis 2 TURKEY SHOOT SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 24 1:30 P.M. MILFORD GUN CLUB MILFORD, NEBR.

Continued from Page ID it was dampened momentarily by the death of President Kennedy Friday. However, the spirit returned as Husker partisans settled in their stadium seats Saturday and it grew with each Husker tally. Anyone who had left the stadium at halftime and it is doubtful if anyone did could hardly have believed the final score. The two unbeaten Big Eight teams had battled to a near standoff through the first half with successful field goal kick in the opening quarter being the only mark on the scoreboard at the intermission break. Drfeiise So tough was the Scarlet and Cream defense in the first half that Oklahoma get a first down until after 11:13 was left in the second quarter when they gained a new series of downs at the Nebraska 37.

The Sooners advanced into Husker territory only on that drive in the first half, getting to the NU 25 before being stopped. George field goal attempt from that point was short. Nebraska played most of the first half In Sooner territory but could manage only the successful field goal attempt by Dave Theisen from the 17-yard line with 4:19 left in the half. This gave the Huskers their 3-0 halftime edge. An earlier field goal attempt by Theisen from the 25 was wide to the left.

Nebraska fans began smelling Oranges early in the second half when Theisen punted to the Sooner eleven where OU halfback Lance Rentzel fielded the boot. Oprtiing But he have it for long as all-America guard candidate Bob Brown smashed Rentzel and the ball squirted away. When Voss fell on the ball at the Oklahoma 15, it signalled a barrage of oranges from the nearby fans. Ross barged to the seven and Claridge rammed for four. But the Huskers were penalized 15 yards for illegal use of hands, pushing the ball back to the 19.

But this only served to slow the NU touchdown bid. Claridge, showing no signs of the injury that had kept him out of the last two games, fired a pass to Larry Tomlinson at the six. Three plays later Johnson bulled into the end zone behind Brown to give the Huskers a 9-0 advantage with 8:47 left In the third stanza. The fans had the courtesy to wait for Theisen to boot the extra point. But then the game had to up momentarily to clear the field of oranges.

For the next several minutes the game settled back to a battle of defenses again. Oul of Reudi? But when Brown fumbled and Chuck Doepkc recovered for the Huskers at the Sooner 32, it signalled the start of a drive that was to put the game out of reach NU fans thought. With Duda directing the charge, Nebraska moved the ball to the two-yard line in nine plays. At this point old pro Claridge entered and two plays later followed Brown and Michka across the goal from one foot When Theisen kicked the extra point, it looked like the game could turn into a Husker rout with 14:29 left to play. The game did turn into a rout the final quarter, but It all Oklahoma took the ensuing kickoff and went directly to a score, gobbling up the yardage in huge chunks.

The touchdown play came on a 22-yard pass from Ron Fletcher, a quarterback-turned-halfback, to John Flynn. Interceptions Help From this point the game turned into a wild scoring spree with the Huskers scoring two quick ones, both being set up by pass interceptions. Theisen intercepted a pass that led to the fourth NU score, McCloughan getting the tally from two yards away as Voss led him in. Then McCloughan grabbed off an Oklahoma aerial to lead to the final Husker score. Duda got this counter on a rollout from the one-yard line.

The rest of the OU scoring was merely an afterthought as happy NU fans began congregating near the goal posts. Few fans who saw the game will remember that Wes Skidgel went 27 yards for an OU score and Tommy Pannell i Skidgel with a 25-yard pass for the other. By the time these two scores came, Scarlet and Cream rooters had forgotten all except the thought of making reservations in Miami for the New Years Day period. Visiting Scribes LaudNb Nebraska Left White, Haug. Love Left Jones, Strohmcycr Left Dervin, Kennedy Center Michka.

i 111 Barnes, Bishop Right McGinn, Drum Right Griesse, Kiffin Right End Jeter, Callahan, Docpkc Claridge, Tucker Left Half Ross, Theisen, Smidt, W. Johnson, Skilich Right Half McCloughan, Hohn, Vactor, Paschall Fullback Smith, Johnson, McNulty, Young Oklahoma Left Porterfield Left Goldsby Left Guard McQuarters. Schreiner McAdams Right lion, Right Stokes i Right Baumgardner Quarterback-Page, Pannell Left Running, Fletcher Right 11. Rentzel, Skidgel, Mayhue Grisham Officials Earl Jansen, referee; John Lloyd, umpire; Glenn Bowles, head linesman; Jay Anderson, field judge; George Bourrette, back judge. 2 26 77 46 4 16 61 69 5 15 68 77 7 40 77 I Huskers Gobble Sooner Bobbles Continued From Page 1-D one for Nebraska football fans as their team defeated Oklahoma here Saturday, 29-20, for the first time since 1960.

game was more sided than the score indicates, although it was a close battle for the first half. John Cronley, The Daily Oklahoman, Oklahoma City: 23 long, lean years, the football drouth is over for Nebraska, and the splendidly-equipped Comhuskers will celebrate their first conference championship since 1940 in the Orange Bowl. was not the slightest shred of doubt the start-to-finish superiority over defending champions Saturday as they battered the Sooners from pillar to post, 29-20, before 38,485. the proud Nebraskans have they need in the weirdly-finishing Big Eight title game, which down the stretch sometimes turned into a comedy of errors after the Huskers had firmly established the upper Wally Provost, Omaha World-Herald: war-whooping football team quickly accepted an Orange Bowl invitation Saturday after mastering Oklahoma, 29 to 20, to give the school its first conference championship in 23 years. victory more impressive than the bare score a whirlwind o- year comeback for the Comhuskers under coaching of Bob Bob Hentzen, Topeka Capital Journal: came up oranges for Nebraska here Saturday afternoon.

Comhuskers won their first Big Eight football title in 23 years and a berth in the Orange Bowl by belt- i mistake- prone Sooners, 29-20. game, a defensive battle 0 three periods, turned into a scoring bee in the last 15 minutes. But Nebraska never was in trouble after erecting leads of 17-0 and 29-7. Bill Connors, Tulsa World: swift and aggressive Nebraska used a colossal defense to keep Oklahoma contained and under relentless pressure in first half and then rattled the erring Sooners into submission during a wild fourth quarter Saturday to win the Big Eight Conference foot- a 11 championship, 29-20, a a trip to the Orange Bowl. the melancholy atmosphere created by the asassination of President Kennedy, the partisan and capacity crowd of .38,435 watched in subdued fashion until the finish, when jubilation erupted and the field was covered with Alex Stoddard, Sioux City Journal: three years is a long time to wait, but for title-hungry Nebraska football fans the long spell was rewarded here Saturday when the Corn- huskers smashed down Oklahoma.

29-20. before 38,485 howling onlookers. Nick Seitz, Norman Transcript: brawny and bruising Comhuskers spent a whole year thinking how good it would feel to beat OU, and Saturday afternoon they found out. Huskers Larry Kramer, Lloyd Voss are set to pounce on Oklahoma fumble. Bud Offers No Excuses; NU in Conference By LARRY DENNIS There was a lot of quiet but no excuses in the Oklahoma dressing room after 29-20 football victory at Memorial Stadium Saturday.

think Nebraska played very said Sooner coach Bud Wilkinson. a fine football team. They have excellent speed, good size, good strength and morale. played a little better than we did in everything they did. Not much but a have no excuses of any kind.

They won the the best team in our conference. I hope they play well in Wilkinson, whose Sooners had suffered only a 28-7 loss to Texas in eight previous games, refused to compare the Huskers with previous Oklahoma foes. He also refused to bring up the battering which the Sooners received against Missouri last week. plays a hard, tough game every he pointed out. The consensus among the players was that this was far from best game, but Wilkinson insisted his team was emotionally ready for the game.

think everybody is always up he declared. The graying Sooner boss, who is chairman of the late President Council on Physical Fitness, indicated the assassination Friday had no effect on the game. Asked if he would rather not have played the game, he answered, Wilkinson made no reference to the tragedy in his pre-game remarks, according to John Garrett, center and co-captain of the dethroned Big Eight champions. something that would touch any Garrett said quietly. there was no special reference to it before the The lanky lineman gave full credit to Nebraska, al- SoiHteA DRESSING though he noted that Oklahoma had played better.

just out-played us, I he said. else can you say. I thought play them a better game than that. have all the breaks today, have to admit that. But they had better people.

a good team, and no use trying to deny Garrett also compare Nebraska and Texas, currently the No. 1 team, but he said, guess you always want to have excuses, but game and the Texas game were not two of our better games. giving Nebraska credit, you understand, but we can play Despite furious charge, which caused at least some of seven fumbles and limited the Sooners to 98 yards on the ground, Garrett declared this the hardest-hitting team Oklahoma has played. hit us he said. Jim Grisham, all-American football candidate, agreed.

believe the Missouri game was a harder-hitting football he contended. were still pretty much beat up from Grisham felt the Sooners still were in the game with the count 17-7 against them. NEBRASKA Rushing Player Att. Gain Loss Tot 5 15 0 15 Claridge ..........12 31 823 McCloughan 4 19 019 Hohn 5 14 68 Ross .................12 60 7 53 24 024 Johnson. ........11 50 0 50 Young 1 2 0 2 Vactor 1 0 00 Passing Player Att.

Intc. Yds. Claridge ..9 4 0 33 Duda 6 2 1 27 0 0 0 Pass Receiving Player No. Yds. TD Jeter 1 8 0 McCloughan ............1 180 Tomlinson ................2 10 0 White 1 9 0 Hohn 1 7 0 Punting Player No.

Avg. Claridge Theisen 532 Kickoff Returns Player No. Yds. Tomlinson 1 2 Solich 1 18 Punt Returns Player No. Yds.

Solich 2 9 Pass Interc. Player No. Yds. Theisen 1 33 McCloughan 1 5 OKLAHOMA Player Att. Gain Tot.

Page 6 6 12-6 Shields 6 14 10 4 Boll 53 2 Grisham 5 If) 016 Rentzel 6 19 5 14 Brown 036 1 5 0 25 Skidgel 127 027 Passing Player Att. Intc. Yds. Pannell 6 3 0 57 5 1 1 36 1 22 0 0 Pass Receiving Player No. Yds.

TD Page Fletcher 2 1 Shields 1 0 Porterfield1 36 0 Flynn 2 38 1 1 26 1 No. Avg. 6 27 Skidgel Punting Player McCurdy Kickoff Returns Player No. Yds. Shields 3 45 Rentzel .............................2 45 Pannell ..............................1 8 Pass Interc.

Shields 1 5 figured we were going to take over he said, those two quick touchdowns we gave them killed us. Grisham had praise for Bob Brown, the guard candidate, and for end Larry defensive play. did a fine job on he declared. was all over the Lance Rentzel, whose fumble on a punt reception at the Oklahoma 15 led to first touchdown, said, sure hate to be the goat. lost it in the he explained.

I found it at the last minute, and I was three yards back of where I was supposed to Rentzel, who lost a scrimmage fumble to Nebraska deep in Sooner territory, said, can say the sun got in your eyes, but w'hen carrying the ball around end and just drop it, I understand that. guess they had to make some of the Rentzel conceded. were ready to play. But our team was ready, too. I thought our line played a good game.

But we just gave them the ball. But tell you one thing. We give up there in that fourth quarter. We tried, but we just play good Ralph Neely, the 243-pound tackle standout, said, just hope Nebraska goes ahead and wins the Orange Bowl and puts on a good Wilkinson would make no comment on whether Oklahoma would accept a bid to another bowl game if it were offered. know a thing about it, so I he said.

See the 3 Live WHITE TURKEYS On the GATEWAY Mall (Turkeys to be given to Lincoln Orphanages) EVERY 'TIL SATURDAYS TOO! OPEN miHT 9 Seating Method Proposed By DICK HERMAN Addition of 15,000 permanent seats to the University of Nebraska Stadium, along with a method of financing the athletic expansion, has been proposed by NU Regent Clarence Swanson of Lincoln. There was amused ticism among Regents and high University officials when Swanson laid a rough drawing of his plan on the table Saturday morning. But, he protested later, he was and sincere. What Swanson envisions is the Stadium, dosing it in on the south with a half-circle band of seats. Then, below these permanent seats would be constructed dormitories to house all athletes with scholarships, as well as other students as space might permit.

Guaranteed income from dormitory rentals would be sufficient surety, in opinion, to attract revenue bond money. Without some kind of a revenue guarantee that a dormitory operation affords, pemanent expansion of the Stadium as a long- range bet involves a lot more money than is seen currently floating loose around Nebraska. A high-cost expansion unquestionably would bring a Iwost in football ticket prices. And this alternative is acceptable as a pair of 0-10 seasons, back to back. Swanson said for the immediate future, the University probably would have to go to steel bleachers to gain additional viewing capacity.

He added that the NU track ringing the football field could be preserved with adoption of his 15,000 seats-and-dormitories-below plan. Banner Greeted Team A banner reading, The Way To was hung from the fieldhouse roof as tlie Nebraska grid- ders ran from the field- house to start the NU-Oklahoma game. The banner hung only a few moments before the wind blew it to the ground. THE HONDA TRAIL 55 Ptrftct for tifhormofl, omaftur oxplon powerful HONDA TRAIL "5S" oai earriot rldor plus 190 of tooO, cHn 45 degroo hlili, yot only woltht pounds, is oasy and safo to rido. Worl most popular troll machino.

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