BIG EIGHT ROUNDUP : Nebraska Faces May-Day Scare Before Winning

On the 25th anniversary of Kansas State’s upset of Nebraska at Lincoln, the Wildcats almost did it again with the record passing effort of Chad May.

May threw for 489 yards and two touchdowns but Nebraska’s Calvin Jones ran for 138 yards and two touchdowns to help the sixth-ranked Cornhuskers beat the Wildcats, 45-28, in a Big Eight matchup of unbeaten teams.

“It seems that quarterback played out of his head on us,” Nebraska Coach Tom Osborne said.

The Cornhuskers went back to their ground game for their offense. Nebraska rushed for 391 yards in 57 carries. Quarterback Tommie Frazier also ran for 158 yards and a touchdown as Nebraska improved to 6-0 overall and 2-0 in the Big Eight.

Kansas State (5-1, 1-1) last beat Nebraska, 12-0, in 1968.

May completed 30 of 51 passes to break the Big Eight record of 480 yards set by Mike Norseth of Kansas against Vanderbilt in 1985 and tied by Missouri’s Jeff Handy against Oklahoma State last season. Kansas State’s previous school record was 439 by Lynn Dickey against Colorado in 1969.

May, who was intercepted once, connected with Kevin Lockett on a 58-yard touchdown pass play with 7:44 to play to cut Nebraska’s lead to 31-28. May earlier connected with Andre Coleman for a 31-yard gain to set up J.J. Smith’s third touchdown of the game, a one-yard run in the third period.

The Cornhuskers later added Corey Schlesinger’s 13-yard scoring run and Lawrence Phillips’ 46-yard touchdown sprint.

Missouri 42, Oklahoma State 9--The Tigers ended a four-game winless slump as Jeff Handy threw three first-half touchdown passes against the mistake-prone Cowboys at Columbia, Mo.

Both of Missouri’s victories have been impressive, but in between a 31-3 season-opening victory over Illinois and Saturday’s victory, the Tigers (2-3-1, 1-1) were 0-3-1 and were outscored, 148-31.

The Tigers entered the game with only 20 first-half points all year, but led 28-3 after Handy’s 30-yard touchdown pass play to Mike Jadlot with 8:17 to go in the second quarter.

The 28 first-half points were the most for Missouri since it scored 35 in a 41-7 victory over Oklahoma State in 1991, also at home. Oklahoma State (3-3, 0-2) hadn’t allowed a first-quarter touchdown all season, but ended up allowing a season high in points.

Kansas 35, Iowa State 20--June Henley rushed for four touchdowns and a Kansas freshman-record 237 yards in 27 carries as the Jayhawks (3-4, 1-1) held off the Cyclones (1-5, 0-2) at Lawrence, Kan.

The Cyclones tried to rally in a reversal of last year’s wild Kansas victory at Ames, Iowa, when Kansas scored 26 points in the fourth quarter to win, 50-47.

Kansas was leading, 21-6, early in the fourth quarter when freshman Gary Doxson threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Calvin Branch and the Cyclones got the two-conversion to cut it to 21-14.

But the Jayhawks held them off with a 77-yard touchdown run by Henley and Asheiki Preston’s one-yard run after a 91-yard drive.