CLASSIC LOON DROPPINGS
Nebraska 17, Oklahoma 14
November 11, 1978
You might be interested to know why a marathon is 26 miles long. You also might wonder where that fledgling shoe company up in Oregon, Nike, got its name. And, as luck would have it, the answer lies in the same story: The marathon race commemorates the run of the soldier Pheidippides from a battlefield near Marathon, Greece, to Athens in 490 B.C., bringing news of a Greek victory over the Persians. Pheidippides collapsed, shouting, "Nike! Nike! We are victorious!" and died at the end of his historic run, thereby setting a precedent for dramatic conclusions to the marathon. Prompted by the marathon that Rick Berns ran inside Memorial Stadium against the No.1 Sooners on Saturday, this chant rang out across an Orange-Throwin', Suddenly-Osborne-Lovin' Cornhusker State, too. Hell, everyone was doin' it -- even those squares who were wearing Keds.
A few takes:
PILLEN ME SOFTLY: By pouncing on Billy Sims' fumble at the NU 3 in the waning seconds of this game, there's no doubt that Cornhusker monsterback Jim Pillen is the hero of the moment. But there were many valiant efforts on Saturday, starting off with a solid, unspectacular game played by quarterback Tom Sorley, who ran the offense efficiently enough to squeak out 17 points against the vaunted Sooner defense. And what about the inspired Husker defense? The Blackshirts had more big hits than KC and the Sunshine Band and Gloria Gaynor combined. Pillen made the play of the day, but Jimmy had definitely better share the game ball with the rest of Nebraska's tenacious ball-hawks.
RUUD AWAKENING: Did anyone get the number of that truck that hit poor Kelly Phelps on that kickoff return? My sweet lord, John Ruud's hit was so brutal, it made the Sandinistas look like Anwar Sadat. Once the homicide detectives determined that Phelps actually lived through the hit, word is the poor OU kick returner was asking for some whiskey on the sideline so he could "chase" his mouthpiece, which at that point was wallowing around in his stomach. Too bad the refs nearly hung the Huskers out to dry on this one: NU could've made it a 24-14 ballgame and sent the Sooners packin' had the zebras not gotten a case of the Three Blind Mice Syndrome at precisely the wrong time.
BERNS, BABY, BERNS: All week long, the talk was that the Huskers wouldn't be able to move the ball against No. 1 Oklahoma's defense. But when push came to shove, NU unleashed a big, red ground assault that would've made Leonid Brezhnev envious. No. 35 tore up yards and the clock and punished the middle of the Sooner defense, which turned out to be softer than President Carter's foreign policy, en route 113 key yards.You know, I wouldn't doubt if this kid sets a school record for single-game yardage someday.
SIMS LIKE OLD TIMES: Not that a certain No. 20 in white didn't roll up his share of yards against the Cornhusker defense. His 44-yard warning shot to open the scoring was a run for the highlight reels. When it comes to running the ball, Billy's as slippery as the Shah of Iran and faster than A.J. Foyt down the home stretch. The kid has powered his way to the top of a slippery Heisman heap, but cost his team the game with yet another yip in the clutch. In fact, the Okies fumbled around more times than Gene Rayburn on The Match Game. Too bad, Sooners. But I guess there's always next year in Norman to get revenge on the mighty Huskers.
THE BOTTOM LINE: You know, until Saturday I hadn't seen a monkey fly off someone's back that fast since watching The Wizard of Oz. And speaking of Dr. Tom, it looks like he finally has gotten his Huskers over a big, maroon-colored five-year hump. Now it's on to face Missouri before an end-of-the-world showdown against top-ranked Penn State in Miami. Sooners, then Tigers, then Lions -- Oh, my! Sure, Mizzou could jump up and bite the Huskers, but after today it looks like NU is on the yellow brick road toward the promised land. Of course, an upset is unlikely, for one reason and one reason only: The game is in Lincoln. And as every Ruby-Clad Loon knows, there's no place like home. Nebraska 35, Missouri 21.
==STEVE==