Crouch Stands Tall for Nebraska

Eric Crouch’s trip from end zone to end zone turned a somewhat tense situation into another easy Nebraska victory.

The fourth-ranked Cornhuskers were leading, 16-3, and backed up near their goal line when Crouch faded to pass, spun away from a tackler, deked two defenders at the 20 and then won a sprint to the end zone. His 95-yard run was the longest in school history and it led to a 36-3 victory against Missouri in a Big 12 Conference opener on Saturday at Columbia, Mo.

“It was probably a big momentum shifter,” said Crouch, who rushed for a school quarterback-record 191 yards in 17 carries. “I know the game was not totally in our control at that time.”

Dahrann Diedrick scored two touchdowns for Nebraska (5-0), which has a 23-game winning streak against Missouri (1-2) dating to 1978, with an average score of 38-14.

The Cornhuskers, playing their first road game, were far from perfect. They had two turnovers and a blocked field-goal attempt in the first quarter, and later botched an extra-point kick.

“It’s a four-quarter game, that’s just the way it is,” Coach Frank Solich said. “There are a lot of teams that are going to have problems at different times in games, there are going to be teams that have problems all game long.”

But Crouch’s run certainly stood out. His record run put Nebraska ahead, 22-3, with 2:21 to play in the third quarter.

“I saw a lot of green and I took the opportunity to run the ball,” Crouch said. “I was just trying to get as many yards as I could, trying to get to that end zone, and there was a lot of daylight out there for me to make some moves and try to get something going.

“I kind of amazed myself.”

No. 5 Texas 42, Texas Tech 7--The Red Raiders, with their big-numbers passing game, offered little resistance at Austin, Texas.

Texas’ Ivan Williams rushed for 152 yards and two touchdowns and quarterback Chris Simms added two short scoring runs and a touchdown pass. The Longhorns (4-0) have outscored the Red Raiders (2-1), 100-14, in their last two meetings in Austin.

Texas meets No. 3 Oklahoma next week in Dallas in a rematch of the Sooners’ stunning 63-14 romp last year.

“Words just can’t explain how long we’ve been looking forward to playing Oklahoma,” linebacker D.D. Lewis said.

Said Simms: “We see OU on TV and things like that, but we haven’t been a team to really discuss it. They’re undefeated and we’re undefeated and that makes it even better.”

Texas A&M; 24, Notre Dame 3--The Irish failed to avoid a 0-3 start for the first time in school history as the Aggies, backed by a record crowd of 87,206--the largest to watch a football game in Texas--scored on their first three possessions at College Station, Texas.

The Aggies (4-0) took a 17-0 lead and throttled Notre Dame’s offense and first-time starter Carlyle Holiday.

Notre Dame Coach Bob Davie hasn’t won since signing a five-year contract extension Dec. 5. Counting a bowl loss to end last season, the Irish have lost four in a row.

“What I see right now is a very anemic football team,” Davie said. “I really appreciate how we prepare and I appreciate the effort we get, all those things, the character. But right now we’re just anemic.”

Holiday lasted less than a half, knocked out late in the second quarter because of a sprained neck. He was replaced by Matt LoVecchio, who lost the starting job after the 0-2 start.

Notre Dame’s points came on Nicholas Setta’s 47-yard field goal, equaling the longest of his career.

Iowa State 41, Baylor 0--Seneca Wallace completed a Big 12-record 18 consecutive passes at Ames, Iowa, as the Cyclones won their sixth in a row for the first time since 1961.

It was the sixth consecutive game that the Cyclones scored 30 points or more, a school record.

Wallace completed 22 of 24 passes, including scoring tosses of 19 yards to Lane Danielsen, 29 to Lance Young, 11 to Jack Whitver and nine to Craig Campbell.

Iowa State (3-0) finished with 509 yards, including 330 passing and 179 rushing.

Josh Zachry passed for 115 yards for the Bears (2-1). He also led Baylor in rushing with 34 yards in six carries.

Oklahoma State 24, Northwestern State--Aso Pogi threw two touchdown passes and ran for a score and the Cowboy (2-2) defense shut down the Demons (3-1) at Stillwater, Okla.

The shutout was Oklahoma State’s first since beating Southwest Texas State, 23-0, last season.

Northwestern State was coming off a 27-24 upset of Texas Christian, but snapped the ball only twice in Oklahoma State territory.