Omaha World-Herald from Omaha, Nebraska • 79

5 ST 9 4 t' r' 7 I Sundaj fflorld Bcrald rxll wrt 1 Mfrr xV rt 1 ek BfhrJ j'Jv 99 scores summaries 9 TW OMAHA NEBRASKA SEPTEMBER 19 1999 PAH 1 jrz3zzzzzzz 1 2 T'T i Nebraska 20 Southern Mississippi 13 Whew! Defense SdSl Wins One for NU 54C fijMw i w9 A X'' "W'wZ 5 i 'MSiwibS mM tX h4? a jt jdaBfc Two scores from linebacker Julius Jackson bail out the Husker offense BY STEVEN PIVOVAR WORLD HERALD STA WRITER Lincoln Nebraska linebacker Ju lius Jackson's dream game Saturday against Southern Mississippi rescued the Huskers from an offensive night mare Jackson scored two touchdowns one on a 1 6 yard return of a fumble and another on a 28 yard interception return as the Huskers turned to its defense for big play after big play in a 20 13 victory over the Golden Eagles before a record 77826 at Memorial Stadium Never have so many seen the Ne braska offense look so sickly on its home turf The Huskers finished with just 185 total yards and committed five turnovers narrowly averting what could have been a disastrous sixth when quarterback Eric Crouch recov ered his fumbled center snap on 6 yard line with 1 1 1 to play The output was lowest since a 1993 win over Oklahoma when the Huskers gained just 179 yards no doubt the reason we won this game is because of the way our de fense Crouch said al ready thanked a couple of our defen sive 'guys and told them that going to try to make it a little easier on them next Jackson and his defensive mates I I fr 9 I 1 I BLACKSHIRTS STRIKE: At top Kyle Vanden Bosch wraps up Southern Miss quarterback Jeff Kelly forcing a tumble witli 7:50 in the first quarter that Julius Jackson returned for NU first score Above Jackson scores his second TD of the day on a 28 yard interception return as Keyuo Craver and Derrick Nix of Southern Miss trail the play Revenge: 1999 Blackshirts Lincoln Charlie McBride's secret is out No not his Blackshirts Not the 1999 Nebraska defense which rode in like the cavalry and saved the day against Southern Missisippi on Saturday The Blackshirts pulled the Huskers out of the quicksand untied them from the tracks before they could get smashed by a devastating defeat Now we know Nebraska's got a great defense Might be a national championship type defense Judging by offense on Saturday it might have to win it themselves That would be fine with McBride Maybe then the proud crusty coordinator could live with him self a volcano of guilt festering Tom Shatel Jli inside the fiery McBride and with Ne braska clinging to a 12 7 lead some of it seeped out in halftime speech The Blackshirts must have felt like they were in confessional halftime I told them we could have had two more national champion ships here if we had had a better de McBride said win any championships without defense I know There was one year we had all the offensive talent in the world and our defense was ranked 87th or some thing We didn't hold up our end of the The year was 1983 McBride's Black shirts couldn't even walk at the time much less give pursuit McBride has three national championship rings since then He's been the genius time and again This is 1999 And with pu pils Carlos Polk and Mike Brown rov ing the halls of Memorial Stadium's classroom McBride looks more profes sorial by the minute But he can't let go of 1983 Any Ne braska football historian can tell you that was the year of the Ex See SHATEL Page 7 ootbal I INALLY: Keyuo Craver pulls in a pass interception at the Nebraska 6 yard line to end Southern Mississippi's last drive with 1:17 left in the game Intended receiver Todd Pinkston brings down Craver JEREY CARNEYTHE WORLD HERALD might not mind the assistance but Sat urday's performance showed they're more than capable of strapping the team on their shoulders and carrying it In addition to big plays the Nebraska defense came up with four other turnovers including a pair of fourth quarter interceptions by sopho more cornerback Keyuo Craver The defense never wilted in spite of being on the field for 79 plays in 80 degree heat providing the lift that improved the fourth and sixth ranked Huskers to 3 0 heading into next week's Big 12 Conference opener against Missouri a defense we felt like we had to win the game said Jackson who became the first Husker defender to score two touchdowns in a game since at least 1974 just had to keep reaching down deep inside and making Said Nebraska Defensive Coordina tor Charlie McBride: tell you how proud I am of those guys 1 can't say enough about Overall Southern Mississippi gained See HUSKERS Page 7 ootball BOB BAILIETHE WORLD HERALD THE WRIGHT STU: UNO tailback Adam Wright breaks one last tackle and gets one last block from teammate Nick Shaw on a second quarter touch down run Wright rushed for 170 yards and four scores Mavs Roll jin 62 31 Blowout Option game clicks as UNO offense smashes 36 year old 1 record with 645 yards of total offense BY RICH KAIPUST WORLD HERALD STA WRITER Minnesota State Mankato matched strides with UNO for a while Saturday but the visitors weren't prepared to keep the same pace for 60 minutes The University of Nebraska at Omaha never seemed to slow down it ran away with a 62 31 victory ield Before reaching thefinish line the Mavericks wiped outa 36 year old school record with 645 'yards of total offense "It was like we haven't seen Minnesota State CoachDan Runkle said completelydominated us on their offensive side of the ball They knocked us down day long They just kept knocking down Defensively I don't know whatwe did right You don't do too many right if you give up 62 UNO picked up four touchdowns and two field goals on its first six possessions to lead 34 24 at halftime before a crowd of 6200 The Mavs tacked on touchdowns on three of their first four series after halftime then delivered the final blow with free safety Chad 87 yard in terception return in the fourth quar ter ran the option well to get them stretched out a little bit then we hit them up UNO tail back Adam Wright said pass ing game was clicking Overall we just played a great football game" Wright a junior from Omaha North led the way with 170 yards rushing and four touchdowns Soph omore tailback Jess Holland added 147 yards and junior quarterback Kwanzi Watts ran for 93 yards and passed for 1 86 With the 645 yards (459 rushing 186 passing) the Mavs topped the 609 total from a 34 29 win over Drake in 1963 what we pride ourselves on is putting up some points and put See MAVERICKS Page 8 ootball Gators Bite Back Against Vols Gainesville la (AP) lorida waited a year to prove it was better than Tennessee Thanks to a defensive end who couldn't be stopped and a quarterback who wouldn't quit the Gators just did make their case Doug Johnson threw for 338 yards and two scores barely enough to overcome his three interceptions and Alex Brown had five sacks Satur day night to lift No 4 lorida to a 23 21 victory over the defending na tional champions made a statement" Brown said can play defense still the mighty Gators But young The guys before us had to start somewhere We started tonight" And they did it in fashion lorida (3 0 1 0 Southeastern Con ference) snapped No 2 14 game winning streak and kept alive two equally impressive streaks of its own The Gators won their 30th straight game at The Swamp and stayed unde feated at home against the Volunteers (1 1 0 1) since 1971 when Tennessee Coach Phil ulmer played offensive line for the Vols and lorida Coach Steve Spurrier was a backup quarter back for the San rancisco 49ers Most important the victory pro vided healing for a loss that haunted the Gators all year the 20 17 defeat at Tennessee last season in which they committed five turnovers and missed a chip shot field goal in overtime Just like last year lorida tried to give this one away This time Tennes see take it Tee Martin drove the Vols 97 yards for a touchdown with 5: 10 remaining to shave a one time 16 point deficit to 23 21 On next possession Johnson threw his third interception of the night and second to Deon Grant But lorida stopped Jamal Lewis on a toss sweep on fourth and 3 and Earn est Graham helped the Gators run out the clock After the victory Spurrier jogged to midfield pumping his fist in the air celebrating a win the Gators had prac tically taken for granted until last year Brown showed he may be the best pass rush guy in the Spur rier said players take a lot of pride not letting them run up and down the field on us The game looked like a yawner until lorida and Johnson let Tennessee back in with a pair of interceptions and two critical failures on fourth and inches Brown spearheaded a defense that had come into serious question after being torched for 794 yards passing in two nonconference victories over lesser opponents The sophomore lineman stopped one Tennessee threat in the first half drop ping into coverage from his end posi tion and intercepting Martin's pass on fourth and 3 In the third quarter Brown sacked Martin twice in a row Late Penn State Bomb Beats Miami Miami (AP) As quickly as you can say foUrth and 2 No 3 Penn State turned a soggy Saturday into a victory celebration at the Orange Bowl irst the Nittany Lions stopped No 8 Miami a yard short of a first down Then on the next play Kevin Thompson threw a 79 yard touchdown pass to Chafie ields w'ith 1 :41 left and Penn State had a 27 23 victory over the Hurricanes games like these that are the reason I stay in the Nittany Li ons Coach Joe Paterno drenched but smiling said were a little lucky today You've got to feel great for these kids" After ields shook off two tacklers and raced into the end zone Penn State players ran onto the field jumping and thrusting their helmets into the air The rain soaked crowd of 74427 was stunned Just seconds earlier they were cheering what they thought would be biggest win since" Coach Butch Davis took over five years ago had the taste in our mouths" Miami cornerback Leonard Myers said then it was gone" Penn State linebacker LaVar Arring ton who had another shoving incident with a punter said he thought his team See PENH STATE Page 10 ootball '5.