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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 21, 1975)
friday, november 21, 1975 page 10 daily nebraskan By Pete Wegman and Scott Jones Husker Tony Davis isn't one to dodge questions about the importance of Saturday's UNLrOklahoma (OU) football game. "It's the whole season, the most important game of my career," said the senior fullback. "There are 12 steps to the national championship, and we've gone 10." The Huskers, 100 and ranked second nationally, are riding an 1 1 game winning streak, dating back to the 13-10 Sugar Bowl win over Florida. . Oklahoma's Sooners are 9-1 and ranked seventh. A 23-3 loss to Kansas (KU) two weeks ago broke Oil's 37 game unbeaten string. Besides playing for the Big 8 champion ship (Nebraska has already garnered at least a share of the title), the game winner got a team of workers willing to pay the has a spot in the Orange Bowl New Year's Day in Miami against the loser of the Ohio State-Michigan game Saturday. The UNL-OU game will be an opportunity for Davis and his Huskers teammates to give Nebraska its eighth out right conference title, in what Sports Illustrated had called a rebuilding year for Nebraska. Bundle up! If you're going to be in Norman, Okla. Saturday, better take your heavy coats. The U.S. Weather service predicts rJoudy skies and temperatures in the upper 40s to lower 50s at game time. Rain is not mentioned in the forecast. Photo by Tad Kirk UNL's defense, leading the Big 8 in four statistical categories, will be the key for the Huskers against Oklahoma Saturday. Dave Butterfield, (34), Bob Martin (87) and Ray Phillips (80) stop Cyclone quarterback Mike Try on during last week's 52-0 win. Ton of supplies tackles emergencies By Jim Hunt With about one ton of equipment for each away football game, the UNL equip ment and medical training staff wants to be prepared for any emergency. For Gib Babcock, in his eleventh year as UNL's equipment manager, most of the work is done before the first road game. Before that game, he packs four large red trunks with everything from extra game pants to chin straps to remain there throughout the season. The 43 players who make a trip pack their own equipment the night before they leave which, Babcock says, saves a lot of sports sliofls Four openings still remain for the UNL Recreation Dept. canoe trip to the National Scenic River System in the Ozark Mountains in Missouri, Nov. 26-30. According to Mark Ebel, coordinator of the trip, cost will be $35 and includes equipment, , meals, transportation and loding. Contact Ebel at the Office cf Recreation and Intramurals, 1740 Vine St. or 472-3467, for additional information. , work. The team always carries an extra set of jerseys in case it is too cold to wear the mesh ones, and a few extra sweat suits are taken for the coaches. No extra helmets No extra helmets are taken because of the different shapes and sizes, Babcock said. "Usually I can fix It and if 1 can't, we use another player's," he said. "We don't take as much stuff as a lot of schools," he said. "One year 1 think Wis consin brought more equipment down here than we own." Lately the team has taken its own head phones, Babcock said, because they fit over the ear and muffle sound better than most other phones. The morning the team is scheduled to leave, Babcock and Bill Shepard (UNL's grounds keeper who helps on road trips), take the equipment to the airport. When the team travels by bus, Babcock and Shepard drive a van to the game. Last year when UNL went to the Sugar Bowl, the airline left behind 26 bags with players equipment in Lincoln, he said, and players had to borrow sweat clothes for practice until their equipment arrived that night. Packing, unpacking For the medical training staff, preparing for a game is a constant case cf packing and unpacking. On Wednesdays, student trainer Scott Cook receives a seven-p.ige list of medical supplies needed for a road game. Cook is helped by seven other student train r to pack two large silver trunks, he said, which usually takes about IS hours. The trunks are loaded into a student trainer's car and arrive at the game site about one hour before the team. Upon arrival, the trainers unpack, after the game, the supplies are repacked and on Sunday mornings, once again unpacked. The team takes between 400450 rolls of different kinds of tape on road games, Cook said, most costing more than SI a roll. 1 2 -person medical staff Usually a 12-person medical staff ac companies the team on the road, including orthopedic surgeons Pat Gare and Chuck Neuman. On game days, the trainers tape the players ankles at the hotel where they are staying and special taping (knees, hands, shoulders, etc.), is done at the stadium, Cook said. The trainers usually have about 90 minutes to complete the taping. In the Big 8, training staffs agree to help each other out, Cook said. At home games, UNL has one student trainer on the visiting team's sideline and the visitors can request the help of one UNL doctor. "There hasn't been i situation that we couldn't handle yet," Cook said. "We might not have superior talent, but we've got guts," Davis said. "We've price to win. We know how to compete." Davis is 101 yards short of the all-time career rushing mark of Nebraska, held by Jeff Kinney (1969-70-71), with 2,420 The Sooners, four point favorites by one chart, also have a runner nearing a career rushing record. His name is Joe Washington, ail-American and Heisman trophy candidate. Owens mark endangered Washington, who gained 142 yards on 21 carries against Nebraska last year, is 82 yards shy of the Big 8 career rushing mark, currently held by Oklahoma fullback Steve Owens (1967-68-69), with, 4,041 yards. Sooner coach Barry Switzer, with a 30-1-1 mark at OU, hasn't lost to UNL. "They (Nebraska's Comhuskers) are some team," Switzer said. "Those defensive linemen are awesome. Are they from Mars? "Ferragamo is a great quarterback and their runners are class. Well have to play our best game to even stay with them. I mean that." Conference statistics back-up Switzer's comments. Defensive kingpins Nebraska leads the Big 8 in four defensive categories: rushing, passing, total, and scoring defense. Oklahoma's defense, led by tackle Leroy Selmon,. middle guard Dewey Selmon and end Jimbo Elrod, is second in rushing and total defense, fifth against the pass and third in scoring defense. Hie Huskers also lead the conference in total offense and scoring offense, while the Sooners, traditionally leading the conference offensively, are second in scor ing offense and fourth in total offense. The game, to be played before 63,000 plus spectators at Owen Field (the snake pit), is a sellout. Ticket officials estimate about 4,000 Nebraska fans will attend. Unlike previous years when the undefeated Sooners had a chance at a high national ranking and the Huskers were forced into the spoiler role, the situation is reversed this year. OU title hopes dim OU's loss to KU virtually killed any hope the Sooners had of repeating as national champions, with the exception of a "back door championship." Nebraska, however, has been gaining in the polls each week and is now within striking distance of the top-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes. As one writer said, "Nebraska's got more on the line while Oklahoma's got nothing to lose." It will be the fourth shootout between the schools since the 1971 Game of the Century. The national championship was on the tine in the 1971 game, also called the Game of the Decade. Nebraska and Oklahoma, both undefeated, were ranked first and second, respectively. The Huskers rallied twice from four point deficits and won the game 35-31 with a 12-play, 74-yard drive late in the fourth quarter. ... v. im m ivn In 1972 the Sooners came to Lincoln with an 8-1 mark and were rated fourth nationally. Nebraska, number five with an 8-1-1 record, was favored by the odds makers. The game was the last regular season home game for Husker Coach Bob Devaney. The Sooners spoiled it for Dcvaney, however, with a 17-14 victory. The Huskers traveled to Norman again in 1973 to face the third-ranked Sooners. The Huskers, 8-1-1 and ranked fifth, already had accepted a bid to play Texas in the Cotton Bowl. The afternoon turned into a long one for the Huskers as OU held the visitors to 10 first downs, enroute to a 27-0 win. Last year, a Memorial Stadium attendance mark was set when the Sooners, number one in the nation, invaded Lincoln. Nebraska led briefly, 14-7, early in the third quarter when I-back John O'Leary hit quarterback Dave Humm with an 11 yard scoring pass. The Sooners stormed back, however, and scored three more touchdowns, taking home a 28-14 win. The two teams have met 54 times with OU holding a 28-23-3 edge over the Huskers.