Page 10
Daily Nebraskan
Friday, October 8,1982
5
i fc. A - .. I
s
f
" Jm:-.
Photo courtesy Big Eight Service Bureau
Colorado quarterback Randy Essington.
Quarterback confident
that Buffaloes can win
By Bob Asmussen
Before the 1982 football season began, Colorado
quarterback Randy Essington made a comment that
made most people do a double take. Essington, a junior
from Whittier, Calif., told the football world that the
Buffaloes would beat Nebraska in Boulder Oct. 9.
It's now one day before the NU-CU matchup, and
the Buffaloes are 1-3. They defeated Washington State,
but lost games to UCLA, Wyoming and California.
Despite Colorado's problems, Essington still is full of
confidence heading into the game with the seventh
ranked Cornhuskers.
"We've been building for this game for a long time,"
Essington said. "We've got a good game plan. They'll
be surprised by a lot of the things we do."
To beat Nebraska, Essington said, Colorado will have
to score a lot of points. He said the key to the game
will be the Colorado rushing attack.
"We have to depend on our backs to open the of
fense up," Essington said. "They (CU backs) have to have
their best game for us to win."
Part of the problem for Colorado this season has been
injuries. Essington suffered a bruise on his bicep early
in the season opener against California. He played the
entire game, but was forced to sit out the Buffs' next two
games against Washington State and Wyoming. He
returned to action last week against UCLA.
"I'm doing fine," Essington said. "The injury went
away. It took a few days to heal it, but it's perfect now."
Essington said he is disappointed by Colorado's 1-3
start. He said he believes the Buffaloes should be 3-1.
He places part of the blame on himself.
"I've got a lot of work to do," he said. "We've had
a lot of turnovers. The turnovers are the reason we lost
two of the games."
Essington credits Colorado's new coach, Bill McCart
ney, with instilling the neccesary confidence and attitude
in the players. He said McCartney differs from his pre
decessor, Chuck Fairbanks, in that aspect.
"Coach Fairbanks would tell us we'd have to play
way over our heads to be competitive with certain teams,"
Essington said. "Coach McCartney is a never-say-die
type of guy. He tells us to believe in ourselves, and that
helps."
Essington doesn't blame Fairbanks for all of the prob
lems Colorado had.
"I got along with him," Essington said. "I knew where
he was coming from. I have doubts about the attack he
ran, but I don't have anything against him."
Essington said he remembers last year's game with
Nebraska. He described the game as the "worst of my
career."
"It was a nightmare for me," he said. "I had a ter
rible game. I remember throwing a lot of bad balls.
That day they (the Huskers) were one of the best teams
I've ever seen."
Viewing films of Nebraska's 27-24 loss to Penn State
has given Essington even more reason to think that Ne
braska is less than invincible.
"It's good to watch a game like that to know they can
be beat," he said. "I was inspired after watching the game
films."
"I don't think the guy from Penn State caught the ball
in the end zone," he added. "They (the Huskers) really
should be coming in here 4-0 and ranked number one."
CU Buffs may lengthen streak
in Saturday's game against NU
By Tad Stryker
A 14-year losing streak to your next-door neighbor
tends to make a football team anxious to wipe out those
memories with a single day of glory.
University of Colorado first-year Head Coach Bill
McCartney and several of his players have made it no
secret that they have been looking forward all season to
Saturday's game against Nebraska. Husker Head Coach
Tom Osborne said he expects a great physical and emo
tional effort from Colorado, which has not defeated the
Huskers since 1967.
"I suppose they felt that they needed a shakedown
period (in the non-conference season)," Osborne said.
'Their coaches were still experimenting and getting
acquainted with the players."
Now, McCartney has said, he feels like CU is "starting
a new season."
Osborne is taking the game just as seriously.
"I feel the same way," he said. "It's the most impor
tant game of the season so far for us, because it's the
first Bg Eight game. More is at stake. I told the players
that this one counts as much as any other."
The Huskers' morale is good going into the game,
Osborne said.
"This team has been one of the least troublesome in
the last few years as far as attitude goes," he said. "We
don't have too many problems, but usually you have a
few guys who are moody and get upset when they don't
play enough."
Osborne said he was more concerned with his team's
health and how well the defense plays.
Irving Fryar, the Huskers' junior wingback, has been
slow to recover from an ankle injury suffered in last
week's Auburn game, and probably will not play, Os
borne said. Shane Swanson will start at wingback. Jim
Thompson will take Fryar's place on the travel squad
if the trainers decide today that Fryar won't be able
to play.
Second string cornerback Jim Murphy has pneumonia.
Jeff Johnson, who is recovering from an ankle injury,
will take Murphy's place.
Running backs Roger Craig and Mike Rozier will be
at full strength for die game. Craig said he feels fine
, after sitting out last week's game with a deep thigh
bruise. Rozier missed a day of practice this week with
the flu.
The Nebraska defense, especially sophomores Bret
Clark, Neil Harris, Dave Burke, Bill Weber and Rob
Stuckey, showed a lot of improvement in the second
half of the Auburn game, and Osborne said, he hopes
that continues.
Defensive ends coach Geroge Darlington said Colo
rado probably will use a short passing game mat could
"create a lot of problems" for the Huskers. The Buf
faloes have thrown often to their running backs this
year.
"Their concept of throwing is like Stanford's," Dar
lington said. "They have backs that catch the ball and run
well with it." Darlington said the Huskers will have to
contain CU's short passing game without giving up the
long bomb or becoming too soft against the run.
Colorado stands last in the league in total offense,
total defense, scoring offense and scoring defense. The
only category the Buffs rank well in is kickoff returns.
On paper, the game does not look like a close one.
Huskers impress N.C. State's Kiffin
By Mark Krause
The school colors are red and white. The team's
basic defensive formation is the same as Nebraska uses.
They even run their offense out of the I-formation. But
Monte Kiffin, former assistant football coach at Ne-i
braska, and now head coach at North Carolina State,
said there is a big difference between the Huskers and
his Wolfpack.
"Our I-formation is very similar to Nebraska's,"
Kiffin said in a phone interview Wednesday, "but it
doesn't look quite as good on a Saturday afternoon."
But North Carolina State has looked good on Sat
urday afternoons this season. After posting a 6-5 mark
in 1980 and a 4-7 record last year, North Carolina State
is 4-1 in Kiffin's third year as head coach. The only loss
was to Maryland, a team that nearly upended both Pitts
burgh and West Virginia, Kiffin pointed out.
Victories have come against Furman, East Carolina,
Wake Forest and Virginia. The rest of the schedule pro
mises to be tougher.
"We will be getting into the meat of our schedule,"
he said.
That "meat" may be tough for the Wolfpack to chew.
North Carolina, Clemson, Penn State and Miami, Fla.,
are slated to meet the Wolfpack. All four are rated in The
Associated Press Top 20. The other two games are
against Duke and South Carolina.
Kiffin said the Atlantic Coast Conference is not just
a conference known for basketball anymore. He said
that the conference's football recognition was enhanced
when Clemson won the national championship last year.
A native of Lexington, Kiffin played for the Huskers
from 1961 to 1963. He received his degree in 1964.
After a brief stint of playing tackle for the Winnipeg
Bluebombers of the Canadian Football League, he re
turned to Nebraska as a coach in 1967.
Kiffin was defensive line coach for the Huskers for
eight years. In 1973, he also became the team's defen
sive coordinator. After the 1976 season, he accepted a
similar position at the University of Arkansas. He took
Cross country team
to compete Saturday
The Nebraska men's cross country team will meet
Iowa State and Missouri in a triangular Saturday at
10:30 ajn. at Pioneers Park.
Iowa State is the defending Big Eight champion and
will bring an experienced team to Lincoln. The Cyclones
are led by seniors Bob Verbeeck and Johnson Sirma
and sophomore Yobes Ondieki.
The Cyclones defeated Iowa, Northern Iowa and
Drake last week in the Big Four meet at Ames, Iowa.
Missouri is led by seniors Mark Kennard and freshman
Paul Skei. The Tigers are coming off a loss to Oral Roberts
and Wichita State in a triangular at Columbia, Mo., last
week.
over head coaching duties at North Carolina State in
1980.
The talk that this year's Husker team is one of the
greatest ever is warranted, Kiffin said. He said the 1982
Huskers could be on line with the 1971 and 1972 Husker
teams he helped coach.
"They have got to really be strong to beat Auburn
41-6 down in Auburn," he said. He predicted that Au
burn would not allow 41 points in another game all
year.
He called Nebraska's football program "tremendous."
He said he is working to develop a similar program at
North Carolina State.
"But realistically, we have got quite a ways to go,"
Kiffin said.
His team has set a goal to go to a bowl game this year.
Would Kiffin enjoy meeting Nebraska in a bowl game?
"I would like that because that would mean we would
be at a pretty big bowl game," he said.
"After we got there, we would probably like to call
it off," Kiffin said in praise of the Huskers.
v" :..? J7,
A
f 4.
9
X -. ; "
i
. -f .v. -
, .
Photo courtesy North Caroline State Sports inform it ion
Monte Kiffin
