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Nov. 26, 1999 SportsLine wire reports |
BOULDER, Colo. -- Nebraska's national title hopes are still alive.
Barely.
Dan Alexander ran for a career-high 180 yards, and Eric Crouch scored on a
1-yard run in overtime as the No. 3 Cornhuskers wasted a 24-point
fourth-quarter lead before recovering for a 33-30 victory over Colorado.
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Game summary T O P N E W S
With their eighth straight win against Colorado, the Huskers (10-1, 7-1 Big 12) advanced to the Big 12 championship game Dec. 4 against seventh-ranked Texas -- the only team to beat Nebraska this year.
The Huskers still have an outside chance to overtake No. 2 Virginia Tech in the Bowl Championship Series and gain an invitation to the Sugar Bowl against top-ranked Florida State. A wider margin of victory against an unranked team would have helped, especially since Virginia Tech blew out a ranked team, beating No. 22 Boston College 38-14.
Colorado (6-5, 5-3) came within a few feet of spoiling Nebraska's bid for its fourth national title in six seasons, but Jeremy Aldrich's 34-yard field goal attempt was wide-right as time expired.
Aldrich converted from 33 yards in the overtime, but Alexander had an 11-yard run to set up Crouch's game-winning plunge off left tackle to give Nebraska its eighth straight win over Colorado.
The last four games between the Huskers and Buffs have been decided by 13 points.
Nebraska, which reached 10 victories for the 20th time since 1963, led 27-3 heading into the fourth quarter before Mike Moschetti led the Buffaloes back with three touchdown passes in the game's final nine minutes.
Colorado converted a fumble into a 12-yard TD pass to John Minardi with 8:47 remaining and Moschetti capped an 80-yard drive with a 3-yard touchdown pass to Daniel Graham five minutes later.
After recovering an onside kick at its own 44, Colorado tied the game with 2:59 left when Moschetti found Javon Green in the corner of the end zone for a 21-yard score.
Despite gaining only 22 yards in the final quarter, Nebraska still had a chance to win in regulation after recovering a fumble at the Colorado 16 with 1:49 left, but the Huskers gave the ball back six seconds later with their seventh fumble of the day.
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| Colorado WR Roman Hollowell (front) pulls in a pass in front of Nebraska's Julius Jackson.(AP) |
Moschetti finished 21-of-41 for 317 yards -- 186 coming in the fourth quarter -- and Cortlen Johnson ran for 135 yards. Crouch threw for only 44 yards but had 123 on 19 carries.
The Huskers threatened to run away from the start as Alexander went 50 yards for a touchdown on the first play from scrimmage, marking the fourth time Nebraska has scored on its first play in the last six games played at Folsom Field.
Alexander made it 14-0 less than four minutes into the game with a 1-yard TD run and added an 80-yard breakaway that pushed the lead to 24-3 midway through the second quarter.
Nebraska had 312 total yards by halftime -- 1 more than Colorado's defense had allowed in the previous two games against Baylor and No. 9 Kansas State combined.
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