Big Eight Roundup : Oklahoma State Wins Behind Sanders, 41-21

All he needed was a small opening on a third-and-1 running play and Barry Sanders was off on a 65-yard touchdown run.

“That was the single biggest play of the game,” Oklahoma State Coach Pat Jones said Saturday of Sanders’ fourth touchdown run of the day, which helped power the 13th-ranked Cowboys to a 41-21 Big Eight rout of mistake-prone and previously unbeaten Colorado at Boulder, Colo.

“Colorado had gotten back into the game, but we held them somehow defensively and then we made the big play,” Jones said.

A touchdown at the end of the first half drew Colorado (4-1 overall, 0-1 in conference play) within 24-14. The Buffaloes held Sanders, the nation’s leading rusher, to 95 yards in 20 carries in that span, slightly below his per-game average of 213 yards and well below his per-carry average of 9 yards.

But on his second carry of the second half, Sanders, who finished with 174 yards in 24 carries, broke it open.

“They were kind of holding him early in the game,” said Oklahoma State split end Hart Lee Dykes. “But you can only hold him for so long.”

Sanders, who came into the game on a pace to better Marcus Allen’s all-time National Collegiate Athletic Assn. single-season rushing record of 2,342 yards, had three straight short-yardage scoring runs during a 24-point Oklahoma State spurt in the first half. During that flurry, the Cowboys converted on 7 consecutive third-down plays, while Colorado contributed 3 fumbles and several dropped passes.

Colorado committed 6 turnovers, 5 of which Oklahoma State (4-0, 1-0) converted into scores.

Nebraska 63, Kansas 10--Steve Taylor ran for 2 touchdowns and passed for 1 as the ninth-ranked Cornhuskers scored on their first 6 possessions to roll at Lawrence, Kan., in the conference opener for both teams.

Nebraska (5-1) stretched its winning streak against Kansas (0-5) to 20 despite giving up its longest touchdown in 12 years, an 89-yard pass play from Kelly Donohue to Willie Vaughn.

Missouri 52, Kansas State 21--Corey Welch ran for one score and threw for another in the third quarter at Manhattan, Kan., as the Tigers (2-2-1) extended the Wildcats’ winless streak to 21 games in the conference opener for both teams.

The Wildcats, 2-24-1 in their last 27 games, lost in their first outing since Coach Stan Parrish announced last Monday that he will resign at the end of the season.

Iowa State 20, Northern Iowa 17--Dennis Ross caught a 21-yard touchdown pass from Bret Oberg with 1:03 left to give the Cyclones a nonconference victory at Ames, Iowa.

The Cyclones (2-4) went 77 yards in 8 plays for the winning touchdown after Northern Iowa (1-4) had rallied from a 13-0 deficit. Northern Iowa is coached by Earle Bruce, who was at Iowa State before moving to Ohio State in 1978.