Kansas State Is No Patsy, but Nebraska Wins

Nebraska Coach Tom Osborne had called Kansas State a much-improved team, and the Wildcats proved it Saturday.

No. 9 Nebraska needed Derek Brown’s three touchdowns--the final one breaking a 31-31 tie with 2:47 to play--and a goal-line stand in the final minute to escape with a 38-31 victory.

“I know a lot of our people will be conditioned by the gamblers,” said Osborne, whose team was favored by 35 points. “No matter what we see on film and what I say, once that line comes out, that’s the official word. Kansas State has a much better football team than that.”

Before Saturday, both teams were 4-1 overall, 1-0 in the Big Eight, and had lost to Washington.

Kansas State quarterback Paul Watson completed 26 of 46 passes for 340 yards without an interception, but he missed his final three passes from the seven-yard line in the last minute.

The teams were tied, 17-17, at halftime after Kansas State held Nebraska to one first down in the second quarter.

C.J. Masters put Kansas State on top, 24-17, when he stole the ball from Nebraska fullback Lance Lewis and ran 40 yards for a touchdown. Keithen McCant hit Johnny Mitchell with a four-yard pass to tie it, 24-24, but the Wildcats refused to quit, Watson running three yards on an option play for a 31-24 lead.

Brown’s three-yard touchdown tied it, 31-31, with 6:49 to play after Kansas State’s Tate Wright missed a 32-yard field goal.