Roth Report
NEBRASKA 41, VIRGINIA TECH 21
December 31, 1996 - Miami, Fla.
Pro Player Stadium - Att: 51,212
MIAMI, Fla. - Virginia Tech's second
venture into Bowl Alliance territory wasn't
as successful as the first, but the Hokies'
41-21 loss to power-packed Nebraska,
was much closer than the final scored
indicated.
Nebraska out-gained Tech by
just seven yards,
415 to 408, in
total offense and
managed to lead
by only three
points with less
than one minute
remaining in the
third quarter. In the end, it was the
Nebraska depth that wore down the
Hokies.
A crowd of 51,212 at Pro Player
Stadium saw Tech quarterback Jim
Druckenmiller throw three touchdown
passes despite a fierce rush by
Cornhusker defenders. Tech opened the
scoring with 3:14 left in the first quarter
when Marcus Parker scored on a 19-yard screen pass from Druckenmiller.
Nebraska answered with a 25-yard field
goal by Kris Brown and a 5-yard scoring
run by quarterback Scott Frost. Then
came the play that may have been most
crucial in the Hokies' defeat.
Druckenmiller fumbled when hit and
Nebraska's Jason Peter scooped up the
ball and ran 31 yards into the end zone.
That made the score 17-7, Nebraska.
Tech came right back, scoring with just
19 seconds left in the half on a 6-yard
pass from Druckenmiller to Shawn Scales,
who took the ball away from a Cornhusker
defender. The score was 24-21 in favor of
Nebraska after Druckenmiller's 33-yard
scoring pass to Cornelius White late in the
third quarter. But Nebraska then salted the
victory away, scoring the final 17 points.
Tailback Ken Oxendine was voted
Tech's Most Valuable Player after running
for 150 yards on 20 carries - the fifth
best individual rushing performance in the
bowl's history. Druckenmiller wound up
completing 16 of 33 passes for 214 yards.
The Hokies' top defensive player was
safety Torrian Gray who had a total of 12
tackles.
Virginia Tech 7 7 7 0 - 21
Nebraska 0 17 14 10 - 41
VT (3:14 re 1st) - Parker 19 pass from Druckenmiller
(Graham kick)
NU (13:25 re 2nd) - FG Brown 25
NU (9:14 re 2nd) - Frost 5 run (Brown kick)
NU (3:36 re 2nd) - Peter 31 fumble ret (Brown kick)
VT (0:19 re 2nd) - Scales 6 pass from Druckenmiller
(Graham kick)
NU (9:54 re 3rd) - Benning 33 run (Brown kick)
VT (4:58 re 3rd) - White 33 pass from Druckenmiller
(Graham kick)
NU (0:20 re 3rd) - Benning 6 run (Brown kick)
NU (7:52 re 4th) - FG Brown 37
NU (3:26 re 4th) - Frost 22 run (Brown kick)
Team Statistics VT NU First downs 22 25 Rushes-yds. 39-193 49-279 Passing yds. 214 136 Return yds. 95 147 Passes 16-33-0 11-22-0 Punts-avg. 5-34 2-45 Fumbles-lost 1-1 1-0 Penalties-yds. 5-89 3-16 Time of poss. 31:02 28:58 Sacks by 0-0 3-24
Individual Leaders
Rushing - VT, Oxendine 20-150, Parker 8-22,
Druckenmiller 9-18, Stith 2-3; NU, Benning 15-95, Frost
9-62, Green 7-52, Sims 8-48, Makovicka 4-12, Turman 2-8, Schuster 4-2.
Passing - VT, Druckenmiller 16-33-0-214; NU, Frost
11-22-0-136.
Receiving - VT, Jennings 4-58, Oxendine 3-60,
Parker 3-28, White 2-38, Stuewe 2-23, Scales 2-7; NU,
Wiggins 3-36, Lake 2-27, Cheatham 1-23, Brown 1-23, S.
Jackson 1-11, V. Jackson 1-9, Holbein 1-5, Benning 1-2.
