Montgomery Advertiser: 2003 Nebraska vs. Troy State football
Huskers shut out Trojans By Steve Barnes Special to the Advertiser LINCOLN, Neb. Too many mistakes. Plain and simple. Troy State repeatedly shot itself in the foot against a team that didn’t need any help. The result was a 30-0 loss to 12th-ranked Nebraska here Saturday. The Trojans were penalized 13 times, fumbled the ball away twice and threw two interceptions to the delight of the 77,825 fans on hand at Memorial Stadium. “We gave them too many turnovers and penalties to compete with them,” TSU coach Larry Blakeney said. “Our kids played hard all afternoon. We might have even played better than we did last Saturday, despite what the scoreboard read.” (12) NEBRASKA r 1 Troy State’s Branden Hall tracks Nebraska running back Josh Bullocks during Saturday’s game in Lincoln. The statistics read like a horror novel. Nebraska ran for 186 yards and another 160 through the air. Troy managed just 66 yards on the ground and 84 passing. TSU played hard throughout and played well, defensively, in the first half. Despite giving Nebraska the ball in Trojan territory three times, the defense only yielded 10 first-half 30. TROY STATE 0 points. Nebraska (5-0) took a 3-0 lead late in the first quarter when David Dyches hit a 40-yard field. The Huskers’ drive started at their own 32, the worst starting field position for Nebraska in the period. The Cornhuskers added to their lead in the second quarter. After recovering a TSU fumble, Nebraska only had to drive 22 yards in . – – s i Karen S. Doerr Advertiser four plays to a Jamaal Lord 1-yard sneak to give the Huskers a 10-0 edge at half-time. Troy State (3-3) committed mistake after mistake in the first half. In the first half, 34-of-37 plays Nebraska ran were in TSU territory. The Trojans also turned the ball over three Troy State’s Bryant Stewart, left, reaches out to try to grab Nebraska running back Joch Bullocks during Saturday’s game. The Trojans were flagged 13 times for 1 1 5 yards. Penalties hurt Trojans all afternoon By Steve Barnes Special to the Advertiser LINCOLN, Neb. Troy State cannot wait to get into the Sun Belt Conference to get their own officials. Questionable calls from the Big 12 Conference referees went against the Trojans all day in their 30-0 loss to Nebraska. Troy was flagged 13 times for 115 yards Saturday, including a pair of unsportsmanlike conduct calls one of which was called on the bench for interfering with the referee. “One of our coaches was charting (plays) and he was squatting in the white (area of the bench),” TSU coach Larry Blakeney said. “When the play Troy: Black Shirts sack Trojans QB six times From Page 1 B times and were called for five penalties. The Trojans appeared to get back into the game in the third quarter. TSU went to its bag of tricks when Jason Samples took the ball on a reverse and he lofted a pass to Toris Rutledge in the end zone, but an offensive pass interference penalty was called to nullify the play. After assuming possession, Nebraska began to pull away. Lord hit tight end Matt Herrian with a 77-yard pass to put the Huskers at the Troy 3, and a play later, Cory Ross scored to give Nebraska a 17-0 lead. “Their tight end showed great speed on that play,” defensive coordinator Vic Koenning said. “I thought we had the play covered, ‘ but their guy just ran by us.” Nebraska added to its lead late in the third quarter on a short Lord run, but a bad snap on the conversion forced the Huskers to settle for a 23-0 advantage. “We tried to keep the energy up,” linebacker Leverne Johnson said. “We tried to keep up as long as we could, until they finally opened the floodgates.” The Cornhuskers finished out the scoring in the fourth period. .. .4 f i started the official was backing up, ran into him and fell. It was accidental.” Nebraska, however, was penalized five times for just 36 yards. Troy ended up with just 35 more yards of total offense than it was penalized. The Trojans also were penalized twice for personal fouls and were even called for too many men in the huddle during a no-huddle formation. But the topper was a pass interference call. In the third quarter with Nebraska leading 10-0, Troy State ran a gadget play. Wide receiver Jason Samples took the ball on a reverse and then passed to Toris Rutledge. Rutledge, who Backup quarterback Joe Dailey hit Matt Herian with a 21-yard scoring strike. The four-play, 61-yard drive was aided by a personal foul penalty on TSU. With the comfortable lead, Nebraska’s “Black Shirts” defense was able to tee off on Trojan quarterback Aaron Leak. Leak was sacked six times for 42 yards in losses. . “I tried to stay in the pocket as long as I could and I took some blows,” Leak said. “I knew they were going to come so I had to stand there and complete them when they were there, but we still couldn’t get anything going.” Leak completed 9-of-19 for 81 yards and threw one interception. On two occasions the Huskers knocked Leak out of the game and his replacement, Han-sell Bearden, went 2-of-4 in the air with one interception. DeWhitt Betterson led the Trojans with just 34 yards rushing. Lord ran for a game-high 72 yards and passed for an additional 135. Herian caught three passes for 110 yards. Troy State takes next week off and will be in action again Oct. 18 against Florida International. … k .V had gotten behind the defense, gathered the ball at the 2-yard line and backed into the end zone. After signaling for a touchdown, the back judge threw his flag and called Rutledge for interference. The instant replay on the Jumbotron showed no foul and even the Nebraska fans rolled their eyes at the call. “I was way behind him (the Nebraska defensive back), but I had to come back to the ball,” Rutledge said. “When I saw the flag I was just hoping it wasn’t on us. I might have put my hand on his back and I guess that is what the referee saw.” The play would have made the score 10-7 and could have – . In 1 Troy State quarterback Aaron Leak, right, dives forward for a short gain during Saturday’s game. Huskers sell out Memorial ‘ LINCOLN, Neb. Nebraska attracted its 259th consecutive sellout Saturday. The crowd was announced at 77,825 and the majority was in red shirts. The last time the Huskers failed to sell out Memorial Stadium was in 1962. The crowd was the second largest to ever see TSU play. Another pick: Derrick Ansley intercepted his sixth pass of the season early in the third quarter. Heading into the game, the Tallassee native was leading the nation in interceptions. Who is this guy?: In the Oma- Karen S. Doerr Advertiser possibly turned the game around for TSU. “That penalty really hurt us,” offensive lineman Branden Hall said. “If we make that catch and do not get a pass interference, it could have been a different game, but we will never know.” Troy State was called for six false starts in the game, five of them on first down. “Seems like every time we got the ball in the first half we started with a first-and-15,” tailback DeWhitt Betterson said. “Some of the calls we don’t agree with, but there is nothing we can do to change it. The refs call what they called.” Karen S. Doerr Advertiser Stadium again and again NOTEBOOK ha World-Journal, the newspa per reported a story about TSU coach Larry Blakeney in its Saturday edition. But, the pho to was of tormer otlensive coor dinator John Shannon. Oops. No so lucky: Troy State’s char tered airplane had a history of good luck until Saturday. The Trojans flew on the same jet and with the same flight crew that took Northern Illinois to Tuscaloosa. The Huskies defeated Alabama on the trip. Compiled by Steve Barnes