Tulsa World: OU Finishes With With Bang, Shoot Self

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OU Finishes With With Bang, Shoot Self

By JOHN KLEIN
Published: 11/25/1995
Last Modified: 3/16/2008 7:37 AM

LINCOLN, Neb -- Oklahoma had a few answers for Nebraska.
The Sooners defended the Huskers like no one else this year.
They didn't let Nebraska get outside and gave little ground up the
middle.
Nebraska quarterback Tommie Frazier, so deadly accurate in 10
previous games, was erratic.
But the haunts of this Sooner season were still around on
Friday at Nebraska's Memorial Stadium.
Fumbles. Interceptions. Penalties.
In the end, Nebraska did cover that 33-point spread. The
Huskers are still on target for the national championship game.
And, the Sooners, doomed by an offense that gift-wrapped two
touchdowns, headed home with a 37-0 loss.
In case your counting, that's now 10 straight quarters
without a point and the first back-to-back shutouts suffered in 30
years.
"We got some turnovers, a lot of field position and kept them
out of the end zone," said Nebraska coach Tom Osborne. "I don't
think they ever seriously threatened to score.
"I was probably more apprehensive about this game than any
game we've played in a long time. I felt they had good athletes and
I thought the Oklahoma State game (a 12-0 loss) would really focus
them."
It was a somewhat fitting end to a disappointing season. It
finished like it started. OU was its own worst enemy. The Sooners
lost two interceptions (one for a touchdown) and one fumble
(returned for a touchdown), and were penalized nine times.
"I'd really like to see these teams play without the
giveaways," said OU coach Howard Schnellenberger.
It didn't happen. Instead, the Sooners had to fight an uphill
battle against the nation's second-best rushing defense.
Oklahoma held the nation's top offense 16 points and 164
yards under its average. Nebraska got 80 of those yards, and seven
points, on the final five-minute drive to close the curtain on Big
Eight Conference football.
On the other hand, Nebraska was more than a full plate for
OU's offense. The Sooners did show some life, gaining 241 yards.
Still, their best chance to score came with a little over five
minutes remaining, trailing 30-0, when a drive was halted on downs
at the Nebraska 20.
It was only one of two OU drives that ended on Nebraska's
half of the field.
"We just could not get anything going all day," said tight
end Stephen Alexander. "The defense played great all game. The
turnovers just killed us. That's kind of the tale of the whole
season for us. We'd get something going and then we'd have a fumble
or an interception or a penalty.
"We just continued to shoot ourselves in the foot. We dug
ourselves a hole we couldn't get out of."
Defensive tackle Martin Chase and his mates could do little
but hope to keep the Sooners close. An interception return for a
touchdown dug a 10-0 hole in the first quarter. A fumble return for
a TD made it a 20-0 deficit midway through the third quarter.
"You see it happen and there's nothing you can do about it,"
said Chase. "You just fight and fight and try to give yourself a
chance to win.
"I think we showed we have a great defense but we gave a
great team too many breaks."
Cedric Jones, OU's best defensive player, knew there was only
one possibility for the Sooners.
"We knew we had to keep it a low-scoring game," said Jones.
"We gave them some points. We knew we couldn't do it. As a result,
we came up short."
Frazier's Heisman Trophy hopes probably took a big dip.
Unable to get outside on the option, he averaged only 3.5 yards per
carry (about half of his season average). He came into the OU game
hitting nearly 60 percent of his passes but managed to connect on
less than half of his 25 attempts and was intercepted once.
"Tommie Frazier did not have his usual Heisman Trophy day,"
said OU running back Jerald Moore. "We just gave them 14 points. It
should've been a lot closer."
Schnellenberger added, "The two teams that played out there
are a lot closer than 37 points apart."
But the Huskers were too good. Even with its offense shackled
for much of the day, Nebraska overwhelmed the Sooners up front on
offense. They kept the heat on Garrick McGee, who went the final
three quarters for OU at quarterback. They put the skids on Moore,
who managed only 39 yards in 14 attempts.
"Our offense just kind of kept plugging away," said Osborne.
The Huskers have now plugged away to three straight
undefeated regular seasons and third straight national championship
games.
"We did some things well and some things we didn't do well,"
said Frazier. "But I take my hat off to the Oklahoma defense.
Offensively, we struggled at times but when we hit the Fiesta Bowl
this will really help us not hurt us."
So, Howard now comes home to ponder what went wrong this
5-5-1 year.
A defense that dared teams to run and an offense that never
ironed out the wrinkles.
It's a safe bet he'll get plenty of suggestions before next
September.
By JOHN KLEIN

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