No. 1 Nebraska Claims 27-24 Win Over Determined Notre Dame

NU fans proved they are the real thing

Football reflects certain primal urges in men that go all the way back to when they lived in caves.

In those days a bunch of guys who formed a tribe might wander into some other guys' territory and then decide on a plan. Like: "Let's take their cave! And kick their butts!"

Football still has a lot of that attitude in it.

And the Nebraska tribe - made up of NU players and fans - proved it Saturday as No. 1 Nebraska won a hard-fought 27-24 overtime victory over Notre Dame in South Bend.

The first victory wasn't on the field. It was claimed by the Big Red legion - those thousands upon thousands upon thousands of Nebraskans who went to South Bend without tickets to the game.

Nebraska's loyal fans shelled out gawd-knows-how-much-money buying tickets from willing sellouts, er, sellers. That is, they got them from Notre Dame fans who took the money, right there under the eyes of Touchdown Jesus and the Golden Dome, and thus opened the gates of their hallowed gridiron home to the Big Red horde from the West.

Thus, when the Huskers took the field, they were not alone. Veteran Notre Dame watchers said they had never seen so much opposing-team color in the stands.

So, when the Huskers actually undertook the butt-kicking thing, they could see that others in the Big Red tribe had done their bit and shown their faith by practically moving into the Irish cave.

But if resident Irish fans proved they could be had for silver, the Notre Dame team proved it could be undone only in hard-hitting, head-banging battle. It was a gut-wrenching fight, full of suspense to the very end and worthy of the grand traditions of both teams.

Nebraska had the muscle, particularly on offense, to smack the Irish around a bit. And the Huskers did just that.

The thing about the Irish in general, however, is that when they get smacked they will endeavor vigorously to smack back. And they smacked back at Nebraska a lot Saturday. They had fire in their bellies - but they didn't have enough wind in their lungs or muscles on their backs, or speed in their legs.

It was a slugfest. Not always pretty, but bursting with effort. The Irish dragged NU into overtime and had a couple of very real opportunities to win the game.

In the end, quarterback Eric Crouch scored from the 7-yard-line in OT behind a key block by Dan Alexander to secure the win for the Huskers.

Notre Dame, ranked No. 23/25 going into the game, scored first in overtime on a 29-yard field goal and led NU, 24-21. Nebraska had won the OT coin toss and elected to play defense.

Nebraska began its overtime scoring effort from Notre Dame's 25-yard-line with Alexander toting the ball for a gain of a single yard. Facing second down and nine yards to go, Crouch threw an incomplete pass - but on his next try connected with tight end Tracey Wistrom for the nine needed yards and a first down. Alexander gained eight yards on the next play.

Crouch then put the game away when he rolled to his left and scampered into the end zone behind Alexander's block on the only Irish defender who had a shot at the NU quarterback.

The win lifted NU to 2-0 and kept alive the Huskers' early-season hopes for a national championship.

Notre Dame fell to 1-1. The loss, like virtually every Irish defeat, will likely spark questions about whether ND Coach Bob Davie will keep his job. If there were a modicum of justice in either major college football poll, however, Notre Dame would move up in the standings, rather than down or out.

Nebraska's offense and defense proved that they are not prone to panic, and that they can take a punch and bounce back - with power.

Crouch opened NU's scoring with a 62-yard TD run in the first quarter.

Notre Dame, reflecting the collective Irish character mentioned previously, responded promptly in the second quarter with an 82-yard scoring drive. Tony Fisher scored from two yards out.

The slugfest was on.

Nebraska responded, starting deep in its own territory and putting together a 14-play, 80-yard scoring drive (including just one pass) that was capped by Crouch scoring from the one.

Nebraska went up, 21-7, early in the third period. Nebraska faced a second-and-14 on its second possession of the seond half. I-Back Correll Buckhalter barreled down a running lane, that would have handled traffic on I-80, for an 18-yard gain. Crouch hit wide open tight-end Tracey Wistrom to take NU to the Notre Dame 28. Alexander blew through another gaping hole in the Irish line to score on the next play. Alexander, Nebraska's biggest-ever I-back at 245 pounds, was too quick for the Irish secondary once he broke into the open.

Nebraska looked dominant, but the Irish kept matching the Huskers, eventually trading scoring punch for scoring punch with NU.

The Irish stayed in the game with the equivalent of a fighter's looping, hay-maker punches, hoping to catch the other guy off balance. And it worked for awhile.

No sooner had NU gone up 21-7 in the third period than Notre Dame's Julius Jones took the ensuing kickoff and returned it 100 yards for a TD. Bingo. The Irish had pulled to within a touchdown of Nebraska, and they had found a weakness in the NU kicking game coverage, and they would exploit it again before the day ended.

In the fourth period Notre Dame's Joey Getherall roared up the field for a touchdown on an 83-yard punt return.

That made the score 21-21 and set the stage for the overtime period.

Irish quarterback Arnaz Battle showed plenty of ability throughout the game as an open-field runner and he wasn't short on poise. But the Nebraska defense, despite some miscues, got over and around ND's blockers often enough to hurry and harrass him much of the day.

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