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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 17, 1976)
f ridsy, dxsmbsr 17, 1073 dsi!y ncbrcsksn '.- . : v : - " v v T-1 1 T mm mm m m m m ' m . m A .C 1 fS 00:0300 vor repast oi i wo. an may y Hob Csmey ' Texas Tech University coach Steve So an said he hopes nobody takes it out on him personally" at the Astro Euebonnet Bowl in Houston, Tex;, Dec. 31. Sloan, in his second year as Tech's head coach, said he was the quarterback that led Alabama to a 39-28 victory over NU in the 1966 Orange Bowl. The victory cinched the national title for the Crimson Tide over the Huskers that year. Many of this year's Nebraska coaches, including head coach Tom Osborne, were coaches in 1966. This year, however, instead of contending with the on-the-field antics of Sloan, the Husker coaches and players will have r ? f .. "A ' 1- " .. 3. H I '- '4 , Photo by Ted Kiric Hunker sophomore guard Brian Basks shoots over a defender from the University of Iowa earlier this season. The Iludcers have lost to three Big 10 Conference schools this season. Their fins! shot at beating a Dig 10 school will corse Monday when the flickers play at North western University in Evanston, El., The game starts st 8rC5 pjn. aid wO be broadcast by KLIN, KFAB, and KFOR. ew-nine - 1 f g - i x By Pete Wesmsn Ninety-nine days ago, on Friday, Sept. 10, the Daily Nebraskan sports page carried an advance of the Huskers game with Louisiana State University (LSU). The headline for the story read, "Long climb to the top begins!".It was set in 48 point type, the largest head- fourth and twenty .rut Vt C rest cf the season, which, of course, is now history. Three terras finished above the Husker in the Elg 8 Ccnierenoe. The Bl$ Red wi3 enter the Asiro-EIusbcnnct . Eovii ranked about 15th, depending on which poU you For c::;h Tom G-bome, the lsrt month has t::a a to try to contain Tech quarterback Rodney Allison and the-Red Raiders. Tech finished the season at 10-1 (they were 6-5 in 1975); tying Houston for the Southwest Conference (SW'C) title. It was Tech's first conference title. "I'm real thankful for the fine year we had," Sloan said. '"We had good fortune and good breaks and the kids worked real hard.' Allison, a junior, started the season as the number two quarterback behind senior Tom Duniven. However, Duniven was injured in Teclfs third game against Texas A&M and Allison took over. Alternate quarterbacks "We alternated both quarterbacks at the start of the season," Sloan said, so we knew Allison could do the job. But we didn't know he could do it quite as well as he has." Allison is one of seven Tech players to make a!l-SV'C this season. While leading Tech's veer offense, Allison' amassed 523 yards rushing (third on the team) and completed 83 or 139 passes for 1,458 yards and eight touchdowns. Texas Tech's veer has produced results comparable to those of NU's 1-formation. This year the Red Radiers have shown offensive balance, averaging 228 yards per game rushing and 180 yards passing. T favor the veer if you have the material," Sloan said. "It gives a chance for the backs to get to the line of scrimmage faster than in the T. "The .veer is condusive to the drop-back pass and it gives the backs good position to release," he said. Vital cog Another vital cog in Tech's offensive wheel is all-conference senior running back Larry Isaac. Isaac led the Red Raiders in rushing this year with 685 yards, and in doing so became the school's all-time leading rusher. The record previously was held by former NFL star runningback Donnie Anderson. Junior running back Billy Taylor was second in rushing with 627 yards. He also was second in pass receptions with 1 4 for 1 85 yard s and two touchdowns. Tech boasted an all-SWC receiver in Sammy Williams. The junior hauled in 32 passes for 601 yards and two TD's. The Red Raiders also have two all-conference perfor- snorts shorts 7; g Val Martin, a sophomore forward from South Bend, Ind., has quit the Husker basketball team. Martin earned one letter at UNL while playing in five games for the Huskers during the 1975-76 season. He aver aged 1 .6 points a game. Martin may be remembered by most Husker fans for scoring the last basket in the Coliseum on a goaltending call against Iowa State University last spring. UNL students interested in officiating intramural bas ketball during second semester should sign up at the Recreation office at 1740 Vine St. before Dec. 21. There will be a meeting at 7 pm.t Jan. 18, in the Nebras ka Union Small Auditorium for those interested. tu rners on their offensive line. They are the Mutt and Jeff combination of guards Dan Irons and Mike bears, irons is 6 ft. 7 in. and weight 260 lbs. Sears, on the other hand, is 6 ft. 1 ia. .and weighs 235 lbs. On defense, the Radiers were just as balanced as the offense. Tech gave up an average of 1445 yards per ame passing and 153 yards on the ground. "We're not a real physical team," Sloan said, "but we do have quite a bit of balance both offensively and defens ively." Tech set a school record for pass interceptions this season with 22. - Junior defensive back Creg Frazier led the way with five thefts. Fraizer, a converted quarterback, is another all-conference performer for Tech. Defensive stalwart The stalwart of the Red Raider defense is linebacker Thomas Howard. A senior, Howard made this year's Kodak Ail-American team. He led the team in tackles with 1 06. He also had two pass interceptions. Other Texas Tech defensive performers to watch are all-conference performers Larry Dupre, defensive back, au Harold Buell, defensive end. If the game comes down to the kicking game, Sloan said he will be confident ""I dont know much about Nebraska's kicking game . but ours is the best it's ever been " Handling the kicking chores for Tech will be Brian Hall and Dave Mellot Hall, a senior, has converted over 90 per cent of his extra point attempts and over 72 per cent of bis field goal attempts during his career. As with UNL, this will be Tech's first appearance in the Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl classic This will also mark the first time the two schools have faced one another. The two teams have one common opponent, Colorado. Tech downed Colorado in their season opener, 24-7. The Huskers beat the Buffaloes 24-12. Overall, the Red Raiders are 12-3 against Big 8 schools. However, Ihey are only 3-10-1 in bowl competition. Then last bowl appearance came in 1974, whin Tech lied Vanderbilt 6-6 in the Peach BowL Vandy's coach at the time was Steve Sloan. We're not disappointed that we're not going to the Cotton Bowl," Sloan said. "We tied for the conference - title and that's a step in the right direction- ""We're happy to be playing Nebraska. They have a great team and a fine reputation," he said. . .1 .- The Lincoln Track Club will sponsor an all-comers practice meet Tuesday. The meet will start at 730 pan. and will be at the indoor track under the stadium. Events scheduled are the 60-yard dash, 300-yard dash, 440-yard dash, 880-yard run, mile run, three mile run, long jump, triple jump and shot put. There will be a 50 cents entry fee to cover expenses. The Nebraska men's bowling team won the Kansas Nebraska Bowling Conference this semester. UNL finished ahead of Wichita State, Kansas and Kansas State, respec tively. The league has a six-meet schedule with three matches per meet. For the 54-game total, UNL won 4305 points and lost 289 J Ray Koziol won the high average for the conference with a 189. Steve Mears had the semester's high series of 654 and the most individual points with 445. Jim Krebs had the conference's high game with a 259. The women's team finished last in the conference. long climb to fop' jbsgon ) line to appear on the sports page this year, perhaps je fiecting the Daily Nchraskan's optimism about a national charnpionship season. I remember listening to that LSU game and how the Hunkers marched methodically down the field to score on their first possession. All the preseason number one hopes sseir.ci to be coming true. :a point was not good, foreshsdowirg Losses to Iowa State University and the University of Oklahoma brought calls for bis resignation. The Deify Nebraskan published a story about alleged illegal sale of football players' tickets; and now defensive backfield coach Warren Powers has left UNL for another coaching jb- But Osborne might as well get used to such goings on. With the extension of his contract by the NU Board of Regents last weekend, he knows he must be prepared for continuing criticism from Husker fans in the future. However, Husker fans should have something to cheer for in the Astro-EIusbcnr.et BowL According to the for mula used by many jporiswriters late in the season when they get kind cf flaky (so and so beat so and so, who beat so and so, etc.), the Huskers should demolish the Red Here's how the computations worked: Nebraska lied LSU 6-6, LSU beat Rice 31-0, Rice beat Utah 43-22, which beat Arizona St2te by 3, which beat Arizona by 17, which beat Auburn by 12, which beat Tennessee by 10, which "beat Georgia Tech by 35, jhich beat Ncire Dims by nine, which beat Ahhama by three, which beat Z".U by 53, which beat Arkansas by four, which beat Houston by sewn, which beat Texas Tech by eiht. Therefore, the Hitxs should beat the Red Raiis by 213 points. However, following the ssme formula by reversing it. the Red Raiders are big favorites over Nebraska. The for mula that way is too lengthy to describe, but involves 35 teams and has Texas Tech being 533 point favorites over the Huskers. I might even bet a spread like that! With the Big 8 football season completed and since this is the last issue of the paper (hence no more nast letters claiming that I lack intelligence), I am printing my presea son conference forcast which appeared in the Sept. 3 Daily Nebraskan. Ely predicted order of fnish, with the actnl finish in parenthesis: 1. Nebraska (tied for fourth), 2. Kansas (7), 3. Oklahoma (tied for first), 4. Oklahoma State (tied for first), 5. Missouri (6), 6. Colorado (tied for first), 7. Kansas State (S) and 8. Iowa State (tied for fourth). . ' In my five semesters of writing sports for this paper, there has been one club sport which has deserved funding by the Atretic Dept. UNX's crew club has established itself as a dominant force in Klid western crew and has been giving Nebraska nationwide attention. The program has a winning attnude from top to bottom. The crew has yet to receive any official support from the university, but deserves it richly. Perhaps in the future the program wl receive funding from the Athletic Dept. One final note: Good luck next semester to coach John and coach Tony!