Arizona Daily Star: 1987 Nebraska vs. Arizona State football

Osborne says ‘heart’ key to Huskers’ win over ASU By Ron Somers The Arizona Dally Star TEMPE The second-ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers brought their awesome college football reputation to Sun Devil Stadium yesterday. The Huskers’ reputation is based on 17 straight years ranked among the top 10, 18 straight bowl games, 25 straight winning seasons and 18 straight years with at least nine victories. Arizona State is looking to build a similar reputation, ASU Coach John Cooper said. Although they lost, 35-28, to the Cornhuskers, the Sun Devils left a positive impression on Nebraska Coach Tom Osborne. “We’re lucky to get out of here alive,” Osborne said. “It was a tough game.” Osborne was not just being diplomatic. It took an 82-yard drive in the final minutes for the Cornhuskers to remain unbeaten in three games. “Our team showed a lot of heart today,” Osborne said. The Huskers needed heart because of several miscues, Osborne said. “We put a lot of pressure on our defense with two turnovers deep (in Nebraska’s territory),” he said. In the third quarter, ASU nose-guard Saute Sapolu hit Nebraska quarterback Steve Taylor and caused him to fumble. Sapolu, playing his first game after suffering an eye injury, covered the ball at the Nebraska 15. Moments later, Darryl Harris ran for four of his team-high 110 yards to tie the score at 21. Then, strong safety Nathan La-Duke recovered a Taylor fumble on the Nebraska 13 with 7:14 left. Again, it resulted in a Harris touchdown. This one, from one yard, tied the score at 28. “I was surprised the way they moved the ball,” Osborne said of the No. 12 Sun Devils. “ASU is going to win a lot of games this year.” The crowd of 71,264 was the fourth largest in ASU history. “The noise was so bad we couldnt audibilize,” Osborne said. “Some of the motion penalties were because of that.” Several thousand Cornhusker fans showed up, too. They stood out because of their red outfits. At the end, after the outcome appeared to be a Nebraska victory, their chants of “Go Big Red” predominated the stadium. But by then, Nebraska didn’t need to call audibles. ASU defensive tackle Shawn Patterson said he was not intimidated by Nebraska’s reputation nor its performance. He said he expected the Sun Devils to win. “It’s an emotional loss,” he said. “Especially when you believe you can beat a team.” ASU cornerback Anthony Parker expressed respect, but appeared un-awed by the Cornhuskers. “Their defense wasn’t as good as I thought, but their offense was.” Sun Devil quarterback Daniel Ford said Nebraska’s reputation helped motivate him. “That makes it easy,” he said. “When you play a bad team, you worry about not getting up (emotionally).”