Monday, November 16, 1998
The University Daily Kansan
Section B · Page 4
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College football
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Come on. You thought it would be a weird year in the Big 12 Conference.
Big 12 was as bizarre as expected
Why not? Nebraska seemed vulnerable for the first time in years, while teams such as Kansas and Iowa State appeared to be ascending toward football prominence.
Well, you were right. It's been a
Wein, you were performance of the theater of the absurd, ranging from Baylor losing on the last play because of a 99-yard touchdown run, to the Cornhuskers blowing a 24-point lead in Boulder, Colo. Now, with the season officially complete, the only thing left to do is give out
my not-so-official end-of-the-year awards.
Michael
Michael
Rigg
guest sports
columnist
sports@kansan.com
Green finished the season only 2-8.
Biggest Upset: Texas Tech entered the season expecting to compete for the South Division championship. So you can imagine what it was like in football-mad west Texas when unheralded North Texas waltzed into Lubbock, Texas, and beat the Red Raiders 21-14. It's one thing to lose to an underdog team, but it's an entirely different story to lose to a team that's from Denton, Texas, and called the Mean Green. To add insult to injury, the Mean
While the Red Raiders eventually would recover and finish 6-5, the fallout of this embarrassing loss eventually would lead to the retirement of coach Spike Dykes.
Biggest Win: While Iowa State winning at Missouri was huge, there was no win this season bigger than Kansas State's 35-17 win against Texas in Austin, Texas. Not only did this victory cement the Wildcats' place among the ranks of the college football elite, the victory also will do recruiting wonders for K-State in the high school football hotbed of Texas
Best Game: Trailing Nebraska 27-3 entering the fourth quarter on Thanksgiving weekend, the Colorado Buffaloes were in need of a miracle. In a dramatic fashion usually reserved for anther quarterback that played in Colorado — John Elway — Buffaloes signal caller Mike Moschetti led Colorado to 24 unanswered points, tying the game at 27. With 01 left on the clock, Buffaloes kicker Jeremy Aldrich missed a 34-yard field goal, and the game went into overtime. The Cornhuskers squeaked out a 33-30 victory in this epic game.
Biggest Choke: Straight from the "It Could Only Happen to Baylor" file. All the Bears had to do was have quarterback Jermaine Alfred kneel on the ball one last time so Baylor could hold onto a 24-21 victory against Nevada-Las Vegas. Instead, first-year Bay coach coach Kevin Steele chose to have running back Darrel
Bush try for one final touchdown. Great idea — maybe — but Bush fumbled; and the ball was returned 99 yards by UNLV defensive back Kevin Thomas for the winning touchdown.
Best Fans: In the last few seasons, the Missouri Tigers battled for bowl bids. This season, all the Tigers had to play for was avoiding the shame of being the Big 12's worst team. But despite the team's 4-7 record (trust me, Missouri wasn't even that good), the Tigers still drew nearly 59,000 fans per game.
The Big 12's Most Valuable Player: There was no player more valuable to his team than Colorado's Ben Kelly. If Kelly, a defensive back and kick returner, had a big game, the Buffalooes won. If he didn't, they lost. Want proof. In Colorado's six victories, Kelly scored four touchdowns and picked off four passes. In the Buffaloees' five losses, Kelly only had one interception and one touchdown. Without Kelly, Colorado may have been the worst team in the conference. With him, the Buffalooes are headed to a bowl.
A special mention in this section should be made to Nebraska punter Dan Hadenfeldt, who single-handedly won the Cornhuskers' close games against Kansas and Colorado.
A punter as the conference MVP runner-up? Yeah, it's been that kind of year.
Rigg is a Greenwood Village, Colo,
sophomore in broadcast journalism.
Nebraska wins Big 12 Championship
The Associated Press
SAN ANTONIO — Nebraska's
Texas hex is finished.
some fun."
Eric Crouch ran for two touchdowns as the No.3 Cornhuskers took out three losses worth of frustration against the No.12 Longhorns for a 22-6 victory in the Big 12 Conference championship Saturday.
"I didn't want to leave here without beating Texas," said senior defensive back Mike Brown, who endured losses to the Longhorns in October, last fall and in the 1996 Big 12 championship. "We showed them what Nebraska football is all about. Now we can go back to Lincoln and have
Despite the win, the Cornhuskers, 11-1, will not play for the National Championship. They could not vault Virginia.
Virginia Tech in the final Bowl Championship Series standings. The Cornhuskers will play No. 6 Tennessee, 9-2, in the Fiesta Bowl.
"We know as much as anyone how difficult it is to go undefeated," Nebraska coach Frank Solich said. "To Florida State and Virginia Tech's credit, they've done that. But I know we've got a great team that can
play in that game and can play well."
The Longhorns, 9-4, are headed to a second-straight Cotton Bowl, where they're expected to renew a once-intense rivalry against No. 24 Arkansas, 7-4.
Despite a three-game winning streak against Nebraska, Texas hardly put up a fight. The Cornhuskers had a 10-10 lead after three drives, were up 15-0 at halftime and made it 22-0 on their first possession of the third quarter.
The Longhorns avoided their first shutout since 1980 when defensive back Ahmad Brooks returned a Nebraska fumble 20 yards for a touchdown early in the fourth quarter.
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