A Few Kicks Get Huskers a 23-14 Win

The first game of the collegiate football season, featuring two top-10 teams, was essentially decided by a second-string kicker.

The way this game has gone, it might be better, or more accurate, for them to call it the Kicker Classic instead of the Kickoff Classic.

Nebraska, ranked No. 2 in the country, was led by redshirt sophomore Gregg Barrios’ three field goals as the Cornhuskers defeated No. 10-ranked Texas A&M;, 23-14, Saturday night before a crowd of 58,172 at Giants Stadium.

Nebraska didn’t need any last-minute heroics like the dramatic field goal that Tennessee needed to sneak past Iowa in last year’s game. Kicker Phil Reich, a one-time walk-on who was given a scholarship just four days before the 1987 game, led the Volunteers to an unexpected victory by hitting a 45-yarder with less than a minute to play.

In Saturday’s game, the Cornhuskers were seeking to ease the pain of last season, in which they lost their final two games, causing a mild uproar in Lincoln, Neb.

As for Barrios, he was just trying to nose ahead of first-stringer Chris Drennan, a junior from Cypress. He got his chance when Drennan pulled a thigh muscle a month ago. Drennan didn’t heal in time, and Barrios got the word Friday night that he would start.

He made his first appearance for Nebraska early on a 35-yard field-goal attempt with 9:06 left in the first quarter. It sailed wide to the right.

“I just showed my jitters there,” said Barrios, who is from Omaha. “It was my first big game. Once I was out there, I knew what they expected the next time. This is the kind of thing a kicker dreams about, being in a big game.

“Now I guess it’s up to the coaches who will start. I hope I gave them a few headaches with my performance.”

Nebraska Coach Tom Osborne may have made up his mind already.

“We used a lot of young players tonight, and we got some very big plays from them,” he said. “The Barrios kid is a backup kicker, and he hit three out of four field goals--a couple of pretty long ones. They were big kicks.

“He did a great job. He and Drennan are pretty much equal, but he (Barrios) hit a couple clutch field goals under difficult circumstances. We’re really excited about him.”

What Barrios did was keep the Cornhuskers within four points while the Aggies were shutting down Nebraska’s offense in the first half. Texas A&M; held Nebraska to 100 yards in total offense while containing quarterback Steve Taylor, who completed 5 of 10 passes for 47 yards, in the first half.

“Our kids fought like they had to,” Texas A&M; Coach Jackie Sherrill said. “The defense got tired. The defense was on the field a lot more than they had to. They (Nebraska) probably will not have a game as physical as that for a long time--maybe not all the way down to Oklahoma.”

Said Osborne: “Looking at the films and knowing the people they had coming in, we knew that A&M; would be a great defensive team, and they didn’t disappoint us. Early in the game, they were certainly in control. We told our players to keep coming--that’s all they can do. I thought that maybe in the second quarter, we began to assert ourselves.”

But first, the Aggies built a 7-3 halftime lead. Texas A&M; scored first at 12:38 of the first quarter on fullback Matt Gurley’s one-yard run. Scott Slater made the extra-point attempt to make it 7-0. Barrios cut the lead to 7-3 with a 44-yard field goal with 46 seconds left in the half.

At halftime, Osborne reminded his team why it was ranked No. 2 in the country, and Taylor, in particular, started listening. In the first half, the only words he heard were the constant jibes of Texas A&M; linebacker John Roper. Roper, a first-team All-American and a leading candidate for the Butkus Award, gave Taylor plenty to digest--in the ways of words--over the summer and in the first half.

In the second half, Roper was quieter, although he did deliver a strong blow to Taylor that knocked the wind out of the Nebraska quarterback.

“I’m not going to say he’s a talker,” Taylor said, laughing. “But I didn’t even hear him at all later. I didn’t even think he was there in the second half. It just made me play a little harder.”

Hey, one talker can easily understand another. Taylor, who was named the game’s most valuable player, ate his words when he predicted a victory over rival Oklahoma last season.

“I learned my lesson from last year against OU,” said the new, mellow Taylor, who completed 11 of 22 passes for 125 yards.

After Barrios kicked a 38-yard field goal to bring Nebraska within 7-6 on its first second-half possession, tailback Ken Clark put the Cornhuskers ahead, 12-7, with a one-yard run at 10:28 of the third quarter. Taylor completed a 20-yard touchdown pass to tight end Todd Millikan for another Nebraska touchdown at 1:37 of the fourth quarter. Nebraska stopped the two-game losing streak with this victory. It had to stave off a late charge by the Aggies, however. With Nebraska leading, 20-7, Texas A&M; cut the margin to 20-14 on a two-yard scoring run by Randy Simmons. Finally, it took a 48-yard kick, a personal best by Barrios, to push the Cornhuskers past the Aggies. Next for Nebraska is another group of Aggies, those of Utah State.

However, the Cornhuskers weren’t talking about back-to-back Aggie victories, they were looking ahead to yes, another big game.

“They won’t be much of a test,” Barrios said. “Especially if we play like we can. But, UCLA, it’s going to be another tough game just like this one.”

And, Osborne? No sooner than the victory was secured, he began plugging Taylor, perhaps thinking about those two quarterbacks in Los Angeles.

“He (Taylor) probably had as much flying around his ears as ever tonight,” Osborne said. “He didn’t play a perfect game, but he showed some things that are hard to measure in statistics. The guy doesn’t get sacked, he makes the big plays.

“I hope the people watching the game realize what a great athlete he is and realize that a pure dropback guy may not necessarily be the best quarterback.”