Nebraska Not Sharp in Tuneup

Central Florida gave No. 6 Nebraska a good warmup for No. 3 Washington--and a good scare.

The Cornhuskers fell behind three times in the first half before getting two touchdown runs in the third quarter from freshman Correll Buckhalter to beat the Golden Knights, 38-24, Saturday at Lincoln, Neb.

“I’m definitely glad we didn’t have Washington today,” Nebraska quarterback Scott Frost said. “We weren’t as sharp as we needed to be. I’m definitely glad we got this game under our belt before we went to Seattle.”

Nebraska (2-0), which routed Akron, 59-14, in its opener, hadn’t figured to be challenged until traveling to face the Huskies next Saturday.

Central Florida (0-3), which got 318 of its 365 yards from the arm of quarterback Daunte Culpepper, built a 17-14 halftime lead to throw a scare into Nebraska, which last lost to an unranked opponent at home in 1978.

It only lasted for one half. Joe Walker returned the second-half kickoff 51 yards, setting up Kris Brown’s 21-yard field goal that tied the game with 10:20 left in the third quarter.

Nebraska then marched downfield behind Buckhalter to score on its next two possessions to pull away.

Central Florida--in its second year as a Division I-A team and guaranteed $475,000 to play the game--did enough damage to worry Nebraska Coach Tom Osborne.

“This team that we played today probably should have won one or two games by now,” Osborne said. “Because of their newness in Division I, they don’t get any recognition and a lot of people don’t realize they are a pretty good football team.”

Central Florida pulled to 31-24 with 7:17 left on Culpepper’s touchdown pass to Kendrick Moore.

Nebraska came back with an eight-play, 69-yard drive which quarterback Frost capped off with a five-yard touchdown run with 3:08 remaining.

Culpepper completed 24 of 35 passes for 318 yards and one touchdown and also ran for a touchdown.

No. 20 Kansas St. 23, Ohio U. 20--The Wildcats (2-0) built a 23-point halftime lead and then held off the Bobcats (2-1) at Manhattan, Kan.

Ohio, which threw only three passes in defeating Maryland last week, used the option to get back in the game, totaling 430 yards--256 rushing. Quarterback Kareem Wilson had 78 yards rushing.

Kansas State quarterback Michael Bishop completed only three of 14 passes for 93 yards and was replaced late in the first half by Jonathon Beasley.

Kansas 15, Missouri 7--Brett McGraw recovered Corby Jones’ fumble on the Kansas 17 with 44 seconds left, and Kansas (3-0) overcame 135 yards in penalties to beat the Tigers (1-1) at Lawrence, Kan.

Jones, who earlier broke Missouri’s career record for rushing yards by a quarterback, passed and scrambled the Tigers from their 37 to second-and-goal at the 10 with 49 seconds to go. But Ron Warner beat his blocker and dealt Jones a jarring hit and McGraw fell on the ball.

Eric Vann rushed for a career-high 137 yards and one touchdown for the Jayhawks , who avenged a 42-25 loss to the Tigers a year ago.

Oklahoma State 35, Fresno State 0--The Cowboys’ two-quarterback system worked perfectly at Stillwater, Okla. as they started a season 3-0 for the first time since 1988.

Tony Lindsay got his first career start for Oklahoma State and completed seven of nine passes for 139 yards and two touchdowns. Chris Chaloupka was 11-of-12 passing for 134 yards and three touchdowns. The five touchdown passes were a school record.

Fresno State (1-2) was outgained, 451-137.