Mighty Nebraska falls in Ames, 19-10 By Dan Davenport Gazette Ames correspondent AMES For a mob woefully lacking in practice, Iowa State’s football fans certainly made quick work of Cyclone Stadium’s goalposts Saturday afternoon. But the swiftness with which they razed the posts was no match for the unlikelihood of their heretofore hard-luck Cyclones’ 1910 stunner over No. 7-ranked Nebraska. You’d need a thesaurus to summon the words to capture both the enormity and the manner of this upset. A slow-footed quarterback in the first start of a forgettable, five-year career ran for 144 yards. A 50-50 placekicker stepped out of his coach’s doghouse to make four straight field goals. And a Cyclone team that lost to Division I-AA Northern Iowa and blew a 26-point lead over Kansas out-and-out dominated what was generally thought to be the best Nebraska team in years. A Nebraska team that, in Coach Tom Osborne’s 20 seasons, had never lost to a team that finished the season with a losing record. ISU is 4-6 overall, 2-4 in the Big 8, while Nebraska drops to 7-2 and 4-1. “To be honest,” said quarterback Marv Seiler, “I don’t know how we did it.” Who does? ” Surely not the Cornhuskers, who saw their national title aspirations crumble with those goalposts. The Cyclones outrushed the nation’s leading running team with a season-high 373 yards to 192. They had 70 rushes to Nebraska’s 39. They held the ball 37 minutes 15 seconds to the Huskers’ 22:45. . Please turn to 2B: Cyclones
‘Cyclones: Mighty From page 1B They held the potent Husker offense scoreless for the game’s last 41:49. They didn’t punt until the fourth quarter. They had no turnovers against the nation’s top turnover-margin team. .”They had two penalties. “They played well,” said Husker Coach Tom Osborne, “and they coached well. Awfully well.” HIGH PRAISE for a team that, for most of the season, had (teen more awful than well. ‘ A team which last beat Nebraska 15 years ago, 24-21, when fcarle Bruce stomped the Iowa State sideline. “A team which, in its centennial season, had never beaten a team ranked higher than No. 7. (tStJ beat No. 7 Oklahoma State hi 1985). “You don’t beat a Nebraska without playing the ultimate,” said ISU Coach Jim Walden, a ftfrmer Husker assistant who almost appeared to be in shock, so calm was he in his post-game press conference. t “It’s a little overwhelming. More than I can handle, if you want to know the truth. There’s nothing I can say to change the magnitude of what’s been done.” i. Seiler made sure of that. iThe fifth-year senior had led the Cyclones to a 12-10 lead when Ty. Stewart kicked a 27-yard field goal with 1:38 to play in the second quarter. ;WHEN YOU’RE Iowa State, 31 minutes can feel like an eternity, v The Cyclones kept NU quiet in the third quarter, but still led by only two with 11 minutes to play in. the game. , After UNI and Kansas and Oklahoma State and Kansas State, who could forgive the w.ould-be goalpost-busters for waiting for the tears to drop? Instead it was 42,008 jaws that dropped when Seiler sliced through the right side of the Hisker defense and chugged 78 yards to the Nebraska 2. ‘”He looked faster than any quarterback I’ve ever seen,” Valden said. “Marv Seiler has to be a very big hero in my heart, all’ 5.1 (in the 40) of him.” 1,’And then Walden dug up the word you just knew he’d dig up: “tie played a marvelous game.” , Could there have been a more marvelous play in all of college football Saturday? –When Chris Ulrich plowed in “on the next play, finally finally, with 10:50 to play it was 19-10 and the Cyclone fans could begin thinking the unthinkable. i Not so the players. ;”WITH ABOUT five minutes left, I had to yell at the guys,” Seiler said. “They were starting tp- celebrate, but I’d seen it so pir&ny times: We start to cele-Hbrate and then we lose. , l uiuil l wcuil u iu Happen una One.” ;This time would be different. This time the Cyclones held Ne braska to just two first downs in Hiose final 11 minutes. S.J’This time, instead of leaving tt)e game with so many questions, the Cyclones had all the answers. And they had Stewart. This is the euv. vou’ll remem ber, whom Walden publicly berated just last week after making just 5-for-10 field goals this season. I -The first four times Iowa State Mad the ball, Seiler had his op- Ptlbh clicking and his offensive lipe bulldozing as he pushed the ball inside the 30. And each time the drive stalled, Stewart stepped in to sal- vage points. Four times from 37;:32, 45 and 30 yards he sent the ball over the soon-to-be MIA crossbars. upset, 19-10 BIG 8 STANDINGS com ah Nebraska 4-1 7-2 Colorado 4-1-1 8-1-1 Kansas 4-2 7-3 Oklahoma 3-1-2 5-3-2 Oklahoma St. 2-3-1 4-5-1 Iowa State 2-4 4-6 Kansas St.. 1-4 4-5 Missouri 1-5 2-8 SATURDAY’S RESULTS Iowa St. 19, Nebraska 10 Oklahoma 15, Oklahoma St. 15 Colorado 25, Kansas 18 Missouri 27, Kansas St. 14 NEXT SATURDAY Iowa State at Colorado Kansas at Missouri Oklahoma State at K-State EARLY ON, it appeared as though his team would need every one of them. The Huskers they of the 351-yard-per-game rushing average turned their own first possession into a Byron Bennett 33-yard field goal. Then, behind elusive quarterback Tommie Frazier, they went 80 yards in seven plays to take the lead on Francis’ 15-yard pass to Lance Lewis. But with Frazier slowed by a strained knee, the Husker offense punted seven straight times and never came close to scoring again. Derek Brown and Calvin Jones, both of whom average more than 100 rushing yards per game, totaled just 64 and 28, respectively. It was Iowa State, with Seiler’s 144 and Ulrich’s 105, that had the pair of 100-plus rushers. “Our defense played in the second half about as well a game as a defense has played since I’ve been here,” Walden said. “(After halftime), I thought they’d come at us the Nebraska way … pound, pound and crush. But we answered the call. It all worked today.” Marvelously. How They Scored 1st quarter IOWA STATE 3. NEBRASKA ft Ty Stewart 37 Vint field goal. Key play Chris Ulrich runs for 33 yards to Nebraska 45. Ulrich gains 13 on shovel pass from Marv Seller on 3rd-and-9. Seller runs for II yards to Nebraska 30. Drive 80 yards, U plays. Time left 9:46. IOWA STATU 3. NEBRASKA 3: Byron Bennett 33-yard Held anal. Key plays Derek Brown runs for 19 yards to Iowa Slate 22. Drlvt 5fl yards. 9 plays. Tim left – 4:20. 2nd quarter IOWA STATE g, NEBRASKA 3: Stewart 32-yard field goal. Key plays Seller runs for 32 yards to Nebraska 36-yard line. Seller runs for 6 yards on 3rd-and-3 to Nebraska 23. Drive 66 yards. 12 plays. Time left 14:23. NEBRASKA 10. IOWA STATE t: Lanct Lewis catches 16-yard pass from Tommie Frailer. Bennett PAT. Key Slays Frazier runs for 52 yards on lst-and-20 from ebraska 10. Calvin Jones runs for first down on 3rd-and-3. Drive w yards, 7 plays. Time left 11:49. …. NEBRASKA 10, IOWA STATE 9: Stewart 45-yard field goal. Key plays Seiler sneaks for 2 yards on 4th.-ar.d-l to Iowa State 40-yard line. Seiler runs for first down on 3rd-and-S to Nebraska 50-yard line. Drive 46 yards, 13 plays. Time left 5:49. IOWA STATE 12, NEBRASKA 10: Stewart 30-yard field goal. Key play Sundiata Patterson catches 12-yard shovel pass from Seiler to Nebraska 28-yard line. Driva 27 yards, 7 plays. Ttme left 1:38. 4th quarter IOWA STATE IS. NEBRASKA 10: Ulrich ayard run. Stewart PAT. Key play Seller 78-yard run to Nebraska 2-yard-llne. Drive 80 yards, 2 plays. Time left 10:50.
By Dan Davenport Gazette Ames correspondent AMES Ty Stewart, who had missed five of his 10 field goals this season, said he did nothing different before making four in a row Saturday. Unless you count not kicking for 10 days. Because the ISU fans who tore down Cyclone Stadium’s goalposts after a stunning, 19-10 Iowa State upset of seventh-ranked Nebraska weren’t the first to do so this month. Ten days ago, a band of miscreants stole into the stadium in the middle of the night and made off with the crossbars. Thus Stewart was left with no target at which to shoot for the past week. . “I guess I’m not going to have any (goalposts) to kick at this week, either,” said Stewart, referring to the fact that ISU’s final game of the season is at Colorado Saturday. “What the heck, maybe that’s my new approach to kicking.” It’s sure tough to argue. It was less than a week ago that Coach Jim Walden was quoted as saying Stewart was drawing perilously close to losing his job. If he can’t put it over the bar, the coach said, we’ll find someone who can. The job’s no longer open. Stewart made field goals of 37, 32, 45 and 30 yards to help the Cyclones to one of their biggest victories in school history. It was extra sweet for Stewart, who is from Omaha and has taken all too much razzing from his hometown buddies about the Cyclones’ woeful record against the Huskers. “I’m going to make some calls to my friends tonight,” he said with a grin. With the posts down last week, Stewart said he was relegated to kicking at designated spots in the stands or straight down a sideline. Other than that, he said he tried to approach this game the same as the rest in spite of Walden’s criticism. “It might have affected me a little, but I know he was just blowing off steam,” said Stewart, who also had a 51-yard attempt blocked. “That’s fine to single the kicker out. I was missing too many field goals.” Walden still had plenty to say about Stewart all of it good. “Wasn’t that nice?” he said when asked about Stewart’s 13-point game. “It’s nice for the ball to go over the bar for a change, instead of me wanting to kick him over it.” This week, it’ll be ducks and swans going over it the goalposts were last seen being dumped into Lake La Verne on the Iowa State campus. Don’t quote me Although goalpost-demolishing is usually left to the fans, Cyclone defensive end Dan Wat-kins could hardly be blamed for climbing up the post himself after the game. “How many times will we beat Nebraska here?” Watkins said. gets this kicks for D AP photo Iowa State kicker Ty Stewart played an instrumental role in the Cyclones’ huge 19-10 win over Nebraska Saturday, booting four field goals. “I just hope nobody got me on film. I don’t want to get billed for it.” Wide open spaces Speed and Marv Seiler rarely meet up in the same sentence, but the ISU quarterback was no slouch on his 78-yard dash in the fourth quarter. Seiler waited nearly five full seasons for his first start, but said the feeling he had when he broke into the clear was worth the wait. “I’ve never seen that much green field in my life,” said Seiler, whose previous claim to fame was converting a fake-punt pass in ISU’s 33-31 upset of Oklahoma in 1990. “I just kept waiting for somebody to catch me . . . I’ll remember this for the rest of my life.” Ouch! How much did this one hurt the Cornhuskers? One quote says it all: “This is probably the worst loss I’ve had since I’ve been alive,” said Nebraska center Jim Scott. . The Huskers had come off crushing wins over top 25 teams Colorado, 52-7, and Kansas, 49-7. With any luck namely an Ala X : j bama loss they had hoped to win the Big 8 and travel to the Orange Bowl with a shot at a national title. There will be no title in Lincoln this year. “This one is very, very disappointing for us,” said Husker Coach Tom Osborne. “We felt like we had a lot of things going well, particularly in the last two weeks. But I know you’re only as good as your last game.” Both Osborne and Walden who were assistants together at Nebraska in the late ’60s said a Husker letdown was understandable Saturday. “We caught ’em lookin’,” Walden said. “We have not closed the gap on Nebraska. We had a major upset over a football team with two tremendously emotional weeks behind them. “I knew in my heart that they couldn’t play emotionally inspired in the fashion they had in the last two weeks.” Nebraska can still win the Big 8. It is at Oklahoma Nov. 27 and at home against Kansas State Dec. 5. Sweet and sour Even in glorious victory Walden got more bad news. Lost for the season Saturday SHU was offensive lineman Jim Thompson, who straine4 ligaments in his knee. “Every time I win a game,-1 lose a player,” Walden said. “At least he’s a Nebraska kid (from Waverly, Neb.) At least he can convalesce with a smile on his face.” i I By design Walden said it was no accident that Seiler threw only one pass downfield all day. But why did ISU throw just three shovel passes and run 70 times? “Because we knew we couldn’t pass on ’em,” he said. “We knew we couldn’t even mix it up.” Added Seiler: “We knew if we tried to pass, they’d come after us and kill us.”