daily nebraskan
friday, September 29, 1977
page 14
Hoosiers may not be pushover
By Jim Kay
The Husker-Indiana game,, Saturday is not a sure
bet for Husker fans. -
" Indiana University Sports Information Director Tom
Miller and UNL head coach Tom Osborne warn that the
Hoosiers may be underdogs but they won't be push
overs. "Don't take us too lightly " Miller said at the weekly
KLIN radio sponsored review preview breakfast. "It's
gong to be a great game. It's been an up and down season.
We lost last week so this is our up week."
Osborne said games against teams like Indiana are not
his favorite.
"These are the kind of games I don't like to coach,"
Osborne said. "It's hard to convince people this is a team
that can beat us." '
Osborne added Indiana will have the second best offen
sive team the Huskers have faced this season, second only
to the University of Alabama.
Indiana has a 1-2 record this season. After an opening
season loss to Wisconsin, the Hoosiers beat 'Louisiana
State University 24-21. They dropped a one-point ball
game to Miami (Ohio) University last week.
UNL defensive line coach Charley McBride, who coach
ed at the University of Wisconsin before corning to. Neb
raska said he has had bad experiences wun inuiana.
"I've never been involved in an easy game with
Indiana," McBride said. "We're trying to ' get our players
not to turn their heads the other way."
McBride said the Huskers will have to watch for Ind
iana offensive dangers, fullback Ric Enis and split end
Keith Calvin.
Indiana head coach Lee Corso said the Hoosier's
biggest concern as they face Nebraska is injuries.
'We've got a lot of guys out. But that goes with the
game of football. It's hit us a little bit more this year.
We'll just have to rally behind the guys we have and come
back better," Corso said.
Corso's biggest loss came in a pre-season scrimmage
k when sophomore tailback Mike Harkrader injured a knee.
Harkrader, who led Indiana in rushing as a freshman
with 1,003 yards last year, had surgery three weeks ago.
UNL's leading rusher Rick Berns remains doubtful with
a hip pointer injury. Redshirt sophomore Isaiah Hipp,
who rushed for 122 yards in last week's win over Baylor
University, is scheduled to start in Berns' place.
The game is expected to be the 91st consecutive sell
out of Memorial Stadium.
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Wake up, fans!
Nine "sons" and their "mom" faithfully turn out
at 5 ajn; every Thursday morning to play music for
early-rising Big Red fans.
The 10-member UNL Pep Band jolts sleepy-eyed
fans awake to the tune of the Husker fight song at the
KLIN radio review-preview breakfast held at Nebraska
Center for Continuing Education on East Campus.
"Mom" is senior Debbie Wehrmann, who is .the
student leader of the band. She is the only female in
the ten-member band, so the rest of the members refer
to her as "mom".
"Actually we're nine guys and a house mother"
Wehrmann said.
"We're up at five every Thursday to practice"
Wehrmann said. "People say we're crazy, but it's a lot
of fun."
The members of the pep band also are pait of the
university's marching band.
"It's really double duty," Wehrmann said. "We
always gp to (marching band) practice after we're done
here."
The football breakfasts begin at 6:45 a.m. and the '
pep band has marching band practice by 8 a.m.
She said the pep band's extra work is good public
ity, "but , it's a lot of work " Wehrmann said. "We were
contacted by KLIN to play on Thursdays. Traditional
ly, when anyone wants the pep band, it has to be done
through the main office with Jack's blessing."
Jack Snider is the director of bands. The marching
band is directed by Robert Fought.
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Photo by Tim Ford
Husker cross country runner Cindy Dixon will
lead UNL tomorrow at the Kearney State College
Invitational,
Husker jogs daily
By Lisa Broman
An early morning jog may not thrill late sleepers, but
one Husker cross country runner says getting up with the
birds makes her day.
"In fact," says Cindy Dixon, "if I don't go out and run
in the morning, I feel draggy all day." ,
At 5 feet 2 and 100 pounds, Dixon, a senior, is the
Husker Women's top runner this year, She won the
GiinneU Iowa Invitational last week and tomorrow she
will lead the Huskers in the Kearney State College Invi
tational. The Utica native, however, said she is not a morning
person and sometimes wonders why she makes her early
morning jogs,
"I think every runner thinks every now and then about
quitting, but I really like it and I don't think I will ever
reach the point of quitting," she said.
Dixon, who considered herself a "not too serious"
runner in high school, said her interest in cross country
started when she enrolled at UNL three years ago.
UNL did not have a team then but Dixoa said she and
other women runners pushed cross country until it be
came a recognized sport.
Although she prefers track to cross country, Dixon said
to excel in long distance track events, a runner must be
involved in cross country training.
Training for Dixon is a year-round program. Dixon
runs about 10 miles a day,
The cross country team has organized practices every
day except Saturday, when women are expected to run
on their own, she said.
In addition to running, Dixon lifts weight two
times a week.
Leading receiver ignores rankings,
enthusiastic about 'horses up front'
By this time of the season, one might have expected
Missouri's Joe Stewart to be running away with the Big
8 pass receiving title. He led the league last year with 45
receptions and had quarterback Pete Woods back to get
the ball to him.
But Woods has been out since the first game with a
knee injury, and Stewart is nowhere to be found among
the receiving leaders, Husker tight end Ken Spaeth and
Colorado's Bob Niziolek lead the list with 10 catches
each. '
But to hear Spaeth talk, such rankings are the farthest
thing from his mind. In fact, he seems to be more enthu
siastic about the Huskers stress on the running game this
year. . , . .
"It takes a great running game to win, and this year
we've got the horses up front," he said. "It's also safer
to move the ball on the ground." .
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Spaeth talks about the unity of the offensive line,
the most he's seen in his five years at UNL. .
"These guys are close friends on and off the field,"
he said. "This year we know we have to really pull to
gether."
Unity seems to have paid off so far-the Huskers are
averaging 263 yards a game rushing, better than the school
record of 252.5 yards a game set in 1971.
Spaeth said blocking is about 65 per cent of the tight
end's game, with receiving the other 35 per cent. But he
doesn't mind blocking for such speedy Husker backs
Rick Berns and I.M. Hipp, who both have clocked 4.5
seconds over 40 yards.
"You know if you block well, they're going to do a lot
of great things," he said. "It's an inspiration to block for
them."
Spaeth started for the Huskers last year. He caught 19
passes for 265 yards and four touchdowns and was named
second -team All-Big 8,
This year the Nebraska football guide is touting him as
an Ail-American candidate, and he was the pre-season
All-Big 8 pick of Big Eight magazine. However, Spaeth
said he tries to disregard such predictions.
"Anybody who put's any store in them shouldn't go ov
on the field," he said. .
Spaeth came to Nebraska in 1973 from Mahnomen,
Minn, (pop. 1 ,300), where he earned 10 sports letters in
high school. He sat out 1974 as a redshirt, before lettering
in 1975 as a" backup to Larry Mushinskie and Brad
Jenkins.
"When I got reshirted, it was a letdown, but now I
realize it was the best thing that ever happened to me,"
he said. "It gave me another year to mature, and I am
now able to play two years as a starter instead of just
one." j
Spaeth said about half of his receptions this vear have
come alter the quarterback audibled (changed the play
at the line of scrimmage to take advantage of a defensive
weakness),
With his 6-foot -5, 230 lb, frame and 4.7-second speed
over 40 yards, Spaeth seems like a good pro prospect.
"Everybody would like to try the pros," he said,
"I'd like to give it a shot, too."
The Big 8 regained some of its respectability last week
by winning seven out of eight games to raise its noncon
ference record to 14-10. Only Missouri failed to win,
dropping a 28-21 decision to California, ranked 17th
in the Associated Press national poll,
Missouri, the only Big 8 team without a win, has lost
to second-ranked Southern California and Illinois. The
Tigers face another tough task against 20th-ranked
Arizona State this Saturday. If they lose that game, it
will be their most inauspicious start since 1955 when they
dropped their first six games in a 1-9 season.
On the bright side, three Big 8 teams are rated this
week, No. 1 Ohoma, No. 7 Colorado and No. II
Nebraska.
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If Oklahoma scores against Kansas in the Big 8 opener
this Saturday, it wtfl mark the 123rd straight game in
-hich the Sooners have scored, tying the NCAA record
they set in 1946-57,
. The Huskers have scored in 41 straight games since
Oklahoma shut them out, 27-0 in 1973. That Sooner
Ain broke a 58-game scoring string for the Huskers,
eaving them one short of the team record of 59 set
ji 1961-67.
Cross country team faces Wildcats
The Kansas State University Wildcats will host the
UNL men's cross country team in Manhattan tomorr
row. The dual meet against the Wildcats will be the open
ing meet for the Huskers. It is the third outing for KSU.
Last weekend, the Wildcats finished second behind
the University of Colorado in an invitational meet, Husker
coach Frank Sevigne said.
"They ran well against Colorado, Kansas and a few
others he said. "Kansas State is a fair to good team,
probably on the good side."
KSU finished fourth last year in the Big Eight Con
ference meet. UNL finished last.
MkVe don't know at this stage, but we feel this year's
team is better than last year's," Sevigne said.
The Manhattan Country Club, is the site for the
dual meet and the site for the Big 8 meet later this year.
"It's a nice course, very hilly. It's right on a golf course'
which makes for pretty good running. It's one pf the
better courses in the Big 8," Sevigne said.
The seven-member Husker team will include; Pat
Colburn, Harold Stelzer, Steve Allen, Brian Dunnigan,
Kevin Hoffman and Mark'Fluitt.
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