AP game story: 1987 Nebraska vs. UCLA football

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – The season is only two games but there’s not much’ left for Nebraska quarterback Steve Taylor to accomplish. Last week, the . 6-foot, , 195: pound junior rushed for 157 yards, a school; record for a quarterback, in a 56-12 rout of Utah State. On Saturday,, he took to the air after a first-period injury to his left non-throwing shoulder forced Nebraska to abandon its option game and threw a school –record five touchdown passes as the second-ranked Cornhuskers ended Gaston Green’s string of eight 100-yard rushing games and defeated No. 3 UCLA 42-33. “I knew I was hurt pretty bad,” said Taylor, who was injured midway through the first period when he was sacked by linebacker Melvin Jackson. -“But we were playing UCLA and -I knew I had to get back in there.” Taylor was treated on the sidelines during a UCLA scoring drive but was back in action as soon as Nebraska got the ball back. “The doctors say it’s just a bruise,” he said. “It could have been a lot worse. I’m not really in much pain. We didn’t run any options after that, so it didn’t get any worse.” The five scoring passes tied the Big Eight record set by Ralph Miller of Kansas against Washburn in 1938. Miller is currently the basketball coach at Oregon State. “I’m pretty happy with my passing,” Taylor said. “Most of them were play-action passes. Our receivers ran excellent routes and the line did a great job of blocking.” Key plays by wingback Dana Brinson preceded Taylor’s second-period scoring passes of nine yards to tight end Tom Banderas and 11 to tailback Ken Clark less than 4Vi minutes apart as Nebraska erased a 7-0 deficit. The speedy wingback set up the first touchdown with a 47-yard kickoff return to the UCLA 48 and the second with a 19-yard reverse after Cartier Walker blocked a UCLA punt at the Bruins’ 34. “It looked like Taylor was playing with a lot of pain,” Nebraska Coach Tom Osborne said. “We stopped running the option because of that and I think that really hurt our overall running game, buV I just didn’t want, to get him beat up anymore.” Green, who had rushed for 1,236 yards in his last eight ‘ games, scored three times on short runs two in the final four, minutes but, was held to 46 yards on 1$ carries as UCLA, the Pac-10 favorite, again bombed against a highly ranked Big Eight opponent. In addition, UCLA quarterbacks were sacked six times for losses totaling 50 -yards. “They had a whole lot of pursuit on our running game,” Green said. “They concentrated on me and they were very hard to run against. That’s one of the best defenses I’ve ever run against.” The Bruins have dropped their last four meetings with “Nebraska bjr combined score-of 166-59. They were ranked fourth in the nation last year when they lost to Oklahoma 38-3. “I don’t think Taylor’s had a day of throwing like he had against us, but that doesn’t mean we didn’t think he wasn’t a good passer,” UCLA Coach Terry Donahue said. “I just didn’t think they’d be that open. “Nebraska is a real good football that made fewer mistakes than we made. They won the game in the kicking game and the play-action passing department. We just made too many mistakes to beat a team as good as Nebraska is.” Leading 14-10 at the half, Nebraska broke the game open with two touchdowns in the first four minutes of the third quarter. Clark dived across from one yard out, four plays after UCLA quarterback Troy Aikman was sacked and fumbled at his 12, with Nebraska linebacker Doug Welniak making his second recovery of the game. Welniak also had two sacks. Just under two minutes later, Taylor fired a 48-yard touchdown pass to split end Rod Smith on the first play after a UCLA punt went out of bounds. Taylor tied the Nebraska record with a 35-yard pass to alternate tight end Todd Millikan on the first play of the final period and broke it by hitting Millikan with a 33-yarder with 5:37 remaining. For the game, Taylor completed 10 of 15 passes for 217 yards.