Football '98:
vs Iowa State, November 7, 1998

(14) NEBRASKA, 42, IOWA STATE 7

AMES, Iowa (AP) - There's still some life left in Nebraska after all.

Nebraska, down after losing to Texas and struggling in a victory over Missouri, looked more like the Cornhuskers of old in rolling past Iowa State 42-7 Saturday. Dan Alexander ran for 110 yards and three touchdowns in his first start, quarterback Eric Crouch did a nice job running the option and Joe Walker returned an interception 65 yards for a score as No. 14 Nebraska beat Iowa State for the 20th time in 21 years.

"Today our team showed we were competitive," Nebraska fullback Joel Makovicka said. "We have a lot of confidence. We haven't lost any pride."

Alexander and Crouch, starting for the first time since Sept. 12, put some spark back into Nebraska's inconsistent offense on a snowy day, although the Cornhuskers (8-2, 4-2 Big 12) got plenty of help from mistaken-ridden Iowa State. Iowa State (2-7, 0-6) committed four turnovers -- three interceptions and a fumble by a special teams player who made a serious mistake in judgment. The Cyclones also were penalized nine times.

"They're good, but they're still a beatable team," Iowa State center Charley Bogwill said. "We're a good team. But the penalties and mistakes we made, you can't give a team as good as Nebraska those chances."

The first big mistake came when it was still 0-0 late in the first quarter. Iowa State's Jamarcus Powers partially blocked Bill LaFleur's punt and Jarrott Lollis, a reserve defensive back, tried to pick up the bouncing ball and run with it. But he fumbled and Josh Kohl recovered for Nebraska at the Iowa State 42-yard line. Five plays later, Alexander zipped around right end on a 9-yard touchdown run.

"The muffed blocked punt and the mistake we made I thought was definitely a real critical error," said Iowa State coach Dan McCarney, who received a two-year contract extension Thursday. "It's something we coach in every single special teams meeting we have, but we didn't do a good enough job because he made a real critical mistake."

Iowa State drove right back down the field, only to lose the ball when Todd Bandhauer's pass ricocheted off receiver Chris Anthony and was intercepted by Clint Finley at the goal line. Finley returned the ball to the 21, setting up a 79-yard, 13-play drive that Alexander capped with a 3-yard run to make it 14-0.

Iowa State never got close to the end zone again until Ennis Haywood scored on a 19-yard run against Nebraska's reserves with 4:47 left.

Walker's score made it 42-0 early in the fourth quarter and gave him touchdowns this season on three different returns: interception, punt and kickoff. He became the fifth player in NCAA history to accomplish that feat.

"Since I don't get to play offense, I've got to take advantage of all opportunities I get," said Walker.

(14) Nebraska 42, IOWA STATE 7

               1ST 2ND 3RD 4TH  FINAL
               --- --- --- ---  -----
Nebraska        7  14   7  14    42
Iowa St.        0   0   0   7     7

First quarter
      NE-Alexander 9 run (Brown kick), :28.
Second quarter
      NE-Alexander 3 run (Brown kick), 6:50.
      NE-Buckhalter 2 run (Brown kick), :44.
Third quarter
      NE-Alexander 1 run (Brown kick), 3:11.
Fourth quarter
      NE-Christo 16 run (Brown kick), 13:07.
      NE-Walker 65 interception return (Brown kick), 11:05.
      IS-Haywood 19 run (Kohl kick), 4:47.
	

                          Neb      ISU
                          ---      ---
First downs                24       17
Rushes-yards           62-359   38-103
Passing                    44      124
Comp-Att-Int            4-9-1  11-32-3
Return Yards              109       51
Punts-Avg.             3-19.7   3-38.3
Fumbles-Lost              1-0      2-1
Penalties-Yards          3-31     9-70
Time of Possession      32:41    27:19


INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING-Nebraska, Alexander 22-110, Crouch 15-91, Christo 5-34,
Buckhalter 7-33, Makovicka 6-30, Runty 1-28, Wiggins 2-18, Miller
2-8, Soucie 1-7, White 1-0. Iowa St., Davis 18-48, Haywood 6-38,
Rosenfels 4-34, Moses 6-12, Parmentier 1-2, Bandhauer
2-(minus-14), Team 1-(minus-17).

PASSING-Nebraska, Crouch 4-8-1-44, Christo 0-1-0-0. Iowa St.,
Bandhauer 9-25-3-118, Rosenfels 2-7-0-6.

RECEIVING-Nebraska, Makovicka 2-25, Cheatham 1-12, Davison 1-7.
Iowa St., Groce 4-88, Anthony 3-35, Davis 2-(minus-2), Gibson
1-6, Haywood 1-(minus-3).

A-45,817.