[batted balls]

Lincoln, Neb.--When it was over, nothing had really been decided.

"It was one heckuva football game," said Texas head coach Darrell Royal after his No. 1-ranked Longhorns rallied to tie second-rated Nebraska 34-34.

Cornhusker head coach Tom Osborne added, "It looked bad for us early, pretty darn good in the middle but ended much the way it started."

Things indeed looked bad early for Nebraska. Mike Adams ran back the opening kickoff 101 yards for a touchdown. Moments later, Nebraska's Tom Rathman fumbled. The Longhorns cashed in on a 20-yard touchdown pass from Vince Young to running back Hodges Mitchell. Two series later, Young hooked up with Lam Jones on a 38-yard TD pass.

"It looked like a Texas-sized blowout at that point," said Osborne.

Yet, there was hope. Texas kicker Russell Erxleben missed one extra point and had another blocked.

Nebraska owned the second and third quarters. The Cornhuskers scored five touchdowns in that span. The final score came on a fourth-down gamble as quarterback Scott Frost hit Irving Fryer on an 18-yard TD pass. Nebraska held a seemingly safe 34-19 lead with just over a quarter to play.

"We needed something to spark us," said Royal. "It wasn't magical. It was just getting back to basics and some old-fashioned hard work."

The Longhorns cut Nebraska's lead to eight when Mitchell capped a 68-yard drive with a five-yard TD run with 4:22 left. Nebraska appeared on the verge of running out the clock with a time-consuming drive. Then came one of the game's key plays. Frost fumbled a snap and Brad Shearer recovered for Texas on the Longhorn 26 with 1:24 remaining.

A play later, seldom-used Texas running back Chris Gilbert turned in the biggest play of his season. Gilbert took a swing pass from Major Applewhite and rambled for a 57-yard gain to the Nebraska 16.

"That play should never have gained all those yards," said Osborne. "But, it did."

Texas drove to the Cornhusker three-yard line with 36 seconds remaining. Three incomplete passes brought up a fourth-and-goal. With the game hanging in the balance, Applewhite rifled a touchdown pass to Kwame Cavil. That set up the game-deciding two-point conversion attempt.

"We had talked about this possibility all week long," said Royal. "We wanted the ball in Vince Young's hands."

Young came off the sideline, ran the option to perfection and scored virtually untouched.

"You figured that's what they'd run, but you still have to stop it," said Osborne.

Nebraska tried its best to get within field goal range, but could advance the ball no further than its own 45 yard-line when time ran out.

Mike Rozier led the Cornhuskers with 133 yards rushing. Ricky Williams led Texas with 94 yards on 12 attempts. In addition to his two-point conversion, Young passed for two touchdowns.

The result leaves both teams with 4-0-1 records. If both teams win out, a special playoff game will be held on a neutral site.

"We can't worry about that now, there's still two games to be played by both of us," said Osborne.

BYU 34, USC 28

Tom Tuipulotu wanted the ball with the game on the line. LaVell Edwards agreed.

Tuipulotu took a handoff from Ty Detmer and raced in for the winning toucdown from six yards out with 1:12 left in the game to give BYU the win.

"Tom is a hard runner," said Edwards. "We thought USC might be expecting the pass so we went with it."

Tuipulotu ran for 31 yards and two touchdowns on the day.

Although BYU missed the extra point to open the door for USC, the Trojans failed to convert on their final drive. USC turned the ball over on downs when Carson Palmer's final pass sailed over Lynn Swann's outstretched hands.

"We let another one get away," said USC head coach John McKay.

Reggie Bush led USC with 96 rushing yards, including a 54-yard touchdown run.

Colorado 21, Arizona State 14

This proved to be a game of two halves.

The Buffaloes raced to a 21-0 halftime lead and then did virtually nothing in the second half. Arizona State, meanwhile, put together just enough offense to pull within seven points in the game's final minutes yet failed to prevent Colorado from running out the clock.

"We played hard, for a half," said Colorado head coach Bill McCartney. "We're fortunate to get out of here with the win."

James Mayberry, Rae Carruth and Rashaan Salaam all scored rushing touchdowns for Colorado. Terry Battle led Arizona State with 47 rushing yards and scored both Sun Devil touchdowns.

Colorado moved its record to 2-3 while Arizona State dropped to 0-5.

"We haven't given up yet," said Arizona State quarterback Danny White. "We'll get a win this season."

Washington 14, UCLA 7

The Huskies won this low-scoring affair by turning in big plays on defense.

"Give our defense credit for this one," said Washington head coach Don James. "They deserve one big game ball."

UCLA (3-2) jumped out to a 7-0 on a first-quarter touchdown pass from Gary Beban to J.J. Stokes. After that score, Washington (3-2) thwarted the Bruin offense the remainder of the day. Walter Bailey intercepted a pair of UCLA passes, including one in the end zone midway through the third quarter.

"Walter turned the game around in our favor," said James.

Washington's offense finally got untracked following Bailey's key play. The Huskies moved the ball 80 yards in nine plays. Corey Dillon's 31-yard touchdown run allowed Washington to tie the game.

The Huskies put together what turned out to be the game's deciding drive early in the fourth quarter. Dillon, Hugh McElhenny and Napoleon Kauffman did the bulk of the work on the 10-play, 77-yard drive that ended on Rich Alexis' 10-yard touchdown run.

UCLA managed just 88 yards on the ground. Gaston Green was the leading Bruin rusher with only 26 yards.

West Standings
Nebraska 4-0-1
Texas 4-0-1
UCLA 3-2
Washington 3-2
BYU 2-3
Colorado 2-3
USC 1-4
Arizona State 0-5

Week 6 Schedule
USC @ Arizona State
BYU @ UCLA
Texas @ Colorado
Washington @ Nebraska

West Player of the Week: Mike Rozier, Nebraska (shown below)