page 8
daily nebraskan
monday, September 14, 1981
IU defensive line confused Huskers, says Fry
By Bob Asmussen
IOWA CITY, Iowa - After Iowa's 10-7
victory against Nebraska there Saturday,
Iowa Coach Ilayden Fry apologized to the
Nebraska press.
No, Fry didn't apologize for his Hawk
eyes upsetting the sixth ranked Huskers.
He apologized for avoiding their calls all
week.
"I didn't want to have to lie to you,"
Fry told Nebraska press members after the
game. M You'd have asked me questions
that I couldn't answer. I figured it was
better not to talk than to lie."
Maybe what Fry didn't want to have to
talk about was the Hawks extensive use of
an unbalanced line on defense. That un
balanced line caught the Cornhuskers off
guard, Fry said.
"Early on, you could see that Nebraska
was confused," Fry said. "It was the first
time we've used an unbalanced line at
Iowa."
During the first half the Cornhuskers
had trouble moving Iowa's defensive front
out. The first half statistics reflected this
as the Cornhuskers gained only 69 yards on
25 carries, a 2.7 average per attempt. UNL
had only six first downs at the half.
Coach Tom Osborne shouldered the
blame for the loss saying, "I don't think I
had them prepared. If there's anyone to
blame for the loss it's me."
"Iowa played well," he said. "They
played emotional football. Their front
people played extremely well."
Osborne said the Cornhusker's main
problem was inexperience at the ball handl
ing positions.
"We didn't execute well," Osborne said.
"Inexperience had a lot to do with the
poor execution. Iowa played so well we
couldn't overcome our mistakes.
Osborne had one major concern and
that was how well the Hawks controlled
the ball at times.
"Iowa was able to move the ball against
us especially in the first quarter," Osborne
said.
The quarterback situation appeared un
settled. Nate Mason and Mark Mauer both
played extensively while sophomore
Turner Gill didn't see any action.
"I didn't want Turner to go into the
game with all that pressure," Osborne
said. "There wasn't any point in the second
half that I wanted to put him in. We'll have
to see about next week though."
Osborne said there was no lack of in
tensity on the part of the Cornhuskers.
Nebraska's only points of the game
came with 11:42 left when Roger Craig
plunged over the 1-yard line. It appeared as
if the Cornhuskers would rally in the
fourth quarter as they did two years ago
but it was not to be. The Cornhuskers had
the ball three times in the last four minutes
but were unable to cash invWhen Lou King
intercepted Mason's pass with 34 seconds
left, the upset was sealed.
Fry called the win the greatest in his 18
years 'of coaching and had nothing but
praise for Nebraska.
"I've had big wins before but this is the
biggest," Fry said. "This was a great
victory for the University of Iowa."
Fry said the Iowa strategy to stop Roger
Craig was to "knock him flat on his back."
"'Roger Craig's a great back," Fry said.
"The way to stop him is to just get in front
of him and expect to get hit. He bruised up
some of our defense good but I imagine
he's got some bruises himself."
The Hawk's ability to beat UNL had
been questioned by the Iowa press which
caused Fry to say, "Doubters, now you
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Nebraska junior linebacker Steve McWhirter (45) goes out of the game late in the
first quarter with a knee injury. Things went from bad to worse for the Huskers as
they dropped the season opener to Iowa 10-7.
know Iowa's speaking the truth. I can't run
a successful program with people around
who are pessimistic."
Fry said his team would have to con
tinue its improvement.
For Nebraska, it's Florida State next
week in Lincoln, a game that center Dave
Rimington said the Cornhuskers have to be
ready for.
"If we're like a traditional Nebraska
team, we'll do alright," Rimington said.
"From now on'we'U be looking towards
Florida State. If we play like this against
Honda Mate, well
Results of games Sept. 12:
Colorado 45, Texas Tech 27
Iowa 10, Nebraska 7
Iowa State 17, West Texas State 13
Kansas 19, Oregon 10
Kansas State 31, South Dakota 10
Missouri 24, Army 10
Oklahoma 27, Wyoming 20
Schedule for Sept. 19:
Florida State at Nebraska
Iowa at Iowa State
Kansas State at Washington
Rice at Missouri
Tulsa at Oklahoma State
Washington State at Colorado
Freshmen defeat Wyoming
By Jeff Goodwin
Nebraska's junior varsity opened its
season Friday afternoon by overwhelming
Wyoming 62-0 in Memorial Stadium.
Wyoming was unable to generate any
offense, gaining only two first downs all
day. One of those came on a forward
fumble that went out of bounds.
The Huskers, in contrast, were able to
move the ball almost at will, gaining a total
of 442 yards.
After being stopped on its first two pos
sessions, Nebraska got on the board when
quarterback Todd Zart hit tight end Todd
Frain with a 7-yard touchdown pass.
The Huskers scored again moments later
after linebacker Stanley Wade recovered a
fumble at the Wyoming 7-yard line. Zart
kept the ball and scored on a 3-yard run.
Zart also figured in Nebraska's third
touchdown as he again found Frain open
and connected with him for a 47-yard
touchdown. After that the rout was on.
The Huskers scored another touchdown
oefore the end of the first half and added
four more in the second half.
The Huskers' scoring in the second half
was led by walk-on I-back Will Curtis who
scored on runs of 15 and 5 yards.
The Cowboys were their own worst
enemies as they fumbled eight times, los
ing four of them. They also had 62 yards in
penalties and threw one interception.
If there were any doubts about whose
day this was they were alleviated by a play
in the third quarter.
Punter Lane Bates dropped a high snap
from center, picked it up and carried it 46
yards to the Wyoming 2-yard line.
Nebraska Coach Frank Solich was pleas
ed with the performance of his team.
"We played well on offense and de
fense," he said. "In general we made
relatively few mistakes for all the people
we played."
The next game for the junior varsity is
Friday afternoon at Memorial Stadium
against Ellsworth Junior College. Kickoff is
set for 1:30 p.m.
Rugby club captures trophy
in Michelob Husker Classic
By Kevin Warneke
The UNL rugby club took home all the
chips when they captured first place in the
1st Annual Michelob Husker Rugby
Classic.
The club earned the first place trophy
by defeating the Great Omaha Area
Touring Side (Goats) in the finals 27-14.
UNL started the tournament on the
right track by crushing the Creighton rugby
club 43-0 and the River City rugby club
27-14. The Goats earned the right to play
UNL in the finals by defeating the Killer
B's, UNL's second team, 18-14 and then
the Columbus rugby club 32-0.
The Lincoln City rugby club captured
the fifth place trophy after losing to River
City 84, then defeating Creighton 13-3
and the Grand Island rugby club 8-6 in the
consolation finals.
The final game started off to be an even
match as the Goats tied the score at 4-4
midway through the first half. UNL pulled
ahead 14-4, until the Goats came storming
back to cut the deficit to 14-10. But the
UNL club resumed control of the match
and went on to win by 14 points.
"John McCann and Rob Martin were in
strumental in our victory in the finals. Hie
Goats had gained the momentum in the
match and had cut our lead to four points,
but McCann scored and Martin did the
same shortly after," said Vince Powers,
coach of the Nebraska club.
Also turning in fine performances,
Powers said, were captains Dan McGuire
and Bill Swearingen.
"Youth, hard workouts and a lot of
enthusiasm contributed greatly to our
success in the tournament," Swearinger
said. "But mostly we just had a lot of fun."
"We proved that rugby is a true 15-man
sport, everyone contributed in the victory
over the Goats, which were an excellent
team, and in the other matches," Powers
said.
sGs shorts
Southwest Missouri State defeat
ed UNL 15-12, 8-15, 15-3, 15-11 Sat
urday in the championship match of
the Mean Green Volleyball Tourna
ment, in Denton, Texas.
Earlier in the day, Nebraska de
teated 13th ranked Texas-Arlington
and North Texas State to gain entry
into the finals. The Huskers had de
feated Southwest Missouri State in
pool play Friday but were unable to
repeat the performance Saturday.
Sara Strieker and Janice Ohrt
finished first and second to lead the
UNL women's cross country team to
a win against Southwest Missouri
State, Nebraska Wesleyan and UNO
in a quadrangular meet at Wilderness
Park Friday.
Strieker finished the 5,000-meter
course in 18:48 and Ohrt finished
the course in 18:52. UNL placed
six runners in the top 10 finishers.