Nebraska 35
Oklahoma St. 0

Oct. 17, 1987 • 1:30 p.m. Central
Lewis Field • Stillwater, OK • CBS
1st 2nd 3rd 4th  F 
Nebraska 7 14 7 7 35
Oklahoma St. 0 0 0 0 0 
First Quarter
NEB: Rod Smith 29 pass from Steve Taylor
    (Chris Drennan kick) 5:48  
Second Quarter
NEB: Ken Clark 28 run (Drennan kick) 10:30
NEB: Keith Jones 5 run (Drennan kick) 0:33
Third Quarter 
NEB: K. Jones 17 run (Drennan kick) 6:08
Fourth Quarter
NEB: Clark 1 run (Drennan kick) 11:43

                     NEB       OSU
First downs ......... 36        16
Rushes-yards .... 74-466     22-43
Passing yards ...... 151       221
  Comp-Att-Int .. 8-13-0   20-43-1
Total offense ... 87-617    65-264
Returns-yards ..... 6-31       0-0
Sacks by .......... 4-19       1-5
Punts-avg. ........ 4-40      7-50
Fumbles-lost ....... 3-1       2-1
Penalties-yards ... 6-31      4-20
Possession time .. 38:06     21:54
Third-down conv. ... 3/8      5/15
Fourth-down conv. .. 0/1       1/2

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
Rushing
NEB: K. Jones 21-115, Clark 9-83, Dana Brinson 6-52, Micah Heibel 6-50, Taylor 11-43, Clete Blakeman 3-37, Jon Kelley 5-24, Brian Carpenter 6-20, Richard Bell 2-18, Gerry Gdowski 1-14

OSU: Barry Sanders 7-60, Thurman Thomas 9-7, Mike Gundy 6-minus-24

Passing
NEB: Taylor 7-12-0-140, Blakeman 1-1-0-11

OSU: Gundy, 20-42-1-221, Chris Smith 0-1-0-0

Receiving
NEB: R. Smith 3-66, Brinson 3-55, Tom Banderas 1-22, Morgan Gregory 1-8

OSU: Hart Lee Dykes 5-113, Jarrod Green 5-49, Ronnie Williams 5-28, Brien Keith 1-16

Missed field goals
NEB: Drennan 43
OSU: None

MORE INDIVIDUAL STATS

ATTENDANCE: 50,440

Coverage

Recap
Jon Marco & Thurman Thomas

Jon Marco tackles Thurman Thomas for a loss. | Courtesy of Nebraska Athletics
1987 Thurman Thomas and Jon Marco, Nebraska vs Oklahoma State footballNebraska’s Jon Marco stops Thurman Thomas for a loss.· The Tennessean · Newspapers.com

Huskers shut down Thomas and Cowboys

Twelfth-ranked Oklahoma State, off to a 5-0 start and riding an eight-game win string, both 42-year bests, had high hopes of pulling off an upset of No. 2 Nebraska, but the Cornhuskers dominated the game from the beginning and remained unbeaten against the Cowboys since 1961.

Nebraska yielded only 43 rushing yards (seven on nine carries by then-NCAA rushing leader Thurman Thomas), and stifled the Cowboys’ only scoring threat on a Charles Fryar interception in the end zone in the second quarter.

The Husker offense, meanwhile, churned out 617 yards of total offense, including 466 on the ground, while piling up 36 first downs.

Recap source: 1988 media guide

GAME ON YOUTUBE
Omaha World-Herald*
The Oklahoman
More sources
Lincoln Journal Star
HuskerOnline
Los Angeles Times*
Associated Press
Pregame & team info
1987 schedule
04/25 Reds 33, Whites 28
09/05 Utah St. W 56-12
09/12 UCLA W 42-33
09/26 @ Arizona St. W 35-28
10/03 South Carolina W 30-21
10/10 Kansas W 54-2
10/17 @ Oklahoma St. W 35-0
10/24 Kansas St. W 56-3
10/31 @ Missouri W 42-7
11/07 Iowa St. W 42-3
11/21 Oklahoma L 7-17
11/28 @ Colorado W 24-7
01/01 Florida St. L 28-31
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