Paga 10
Wednesday, October 20, 1982
Daily Nebraskan
Missouri fans not too confident about NU game
By Tim Woods
To followers of Missouri football,
the annual Tigers-Nebraska game has long
meant evenly matched, hard-hitting action,
often with a season's worth of highlights
mixed in.
But not this year, according to some
Mizzou fans.
Missouri, now in its fifth season under
Coach Warren Powers, has struggled all
season long, including consecutive ties
with Big Eight foes Kansas State and Iowa
State.
Saturday, Missouri looked as though
it would run away from the Cyclones in
Columbia, scoring two touchdowns within
the game's first 10 minutes.
"We were in the driver's seat," offensive
guard Bernard Laster said, "and that play
put them back in the game."
In "that play," Mizzou punt returner
James Caver was ruled to have touched a
Cyclone punt deep within Tiger territory
in the first half s final minute.
Despite Caver's vehement protests -television
replays showed that he was cor
rect - the officals awarded the ball to
Iowa State. Two plays later, the Cyclones
scored on a 4-yard swing pass and
Missouri's momentum "went down th
tubes," Caver said.
"That play was jus like them," said Ed
Reed, a cook at a Columbia motel and a
Tiger fan since his days at the university
during the early 1970s. "Why the hell did
Powers even have Caver back there in
the first place?
"I guarantee you that Nebraska
wouldn't pull a boner like that," Reed
said.
Powers admits that things aren't going
so well for his Tigers.
"We don't have a lot of confidence
right now," he said Monday. "It's like
we're just waiting out there for something
to go wrong."
But can Missouri turn things around
when it meets No. 5 Nebraska Saturday?
"Well, we'd better," Powers said. "It's
getting late in the season to keep struggl
ing. Other Mizzou fans, many of whom in
the past couldn't wait to play David against
the Goliath-like Huskers, are as wary as
Powers.
"In past years, we had a better chance
against Nebraska when we weren't too
good," said Bob Dorman, a retired U.S.
Army captain and an instructor at the Miss-
souri Military Academy in nearby Mexico.
"Now that Powers has brought the
program up to a higher level, it just seems
tougher.
"Maybe (Husker Coach Tom) Osborne
knows something Powers doesn't," he said.
"Because even while the games the past
few years have been close, Nebraska always
seems to find a way to bet us."
A look at the Mizzou-Husker series
since Powers arrived at Columbia after the
1977 season shows just that.
In 1978, sky-high Nebraska, fresh off
its first win over Oklahoma in six years
and with a national championship show
down with No. 1 Penn State all but guaran
teed in the Orange Bowl, fell to bruising
James Wilder and Mizzouri, 35-31.
But in 1979, when Missouri was picked
to finish in the Top 10 in several polls,
the Tigers stumbled and fell to a 7-5
record, including a 23-20 loss to then
undefeated Nebraska.
That game came down to the final play
when Powers decided not to try a potential
tying field goal and went for the win from
the Nebraska 7-yard line.
Husker defensive end Derrie Nelson,
sacked Mizzou quarterback Phil Bradley,
though knocking the Tigers further into
the "not-good-enough" category.
The 1980 contest featured two 5-1
clubs and promised to be another titanic
Tiger-Husker struggle. But early Missouri
turnovers dug a deep hole for the Tigers.
Husker linebacker Kim Baker's 77-yard
interception return of a Bradley aerial
applied the finishing touches of a 28
point first half for Nebraska, en route to
a 38-16 NU triumph.
"We were a little beat up going in
there," Powers said. "But you don't beat
Nebraska by making turnovers deep in
your own end. You may as well slit your
own throats.
Last year's clash in Columbia matched
two defensive powerhouses. Perhaps ap
propriately, the regionally televised contest
came down to the final 23 seconds, when
Husker fullback Phil Bates barreled over
from the Mizzou 3 to give the Huskers the
win, 6-0.
And Missouri seems to have regressed
this year, Dorman said.
"We didn't play anyone well, and domi
nated at Texas," he said. "And we just
looked so unenthused in the ties.
"In most cases, playing Nebraska would
really get my blood running," said Dick
Feld, a senior at Missouri. "Now, I hope
there won't be too much of our own blood
flowing by the time the game ends."
.
1 v
a
Staff Photo by Dava Bant
Nebraska wingback Shane Swanson takes a break at Saturday's Kansas State-Nebraska football game in Memorial
Stadium. Swanson is on the second-string but has seen extensive playing time because of Irving Fryar's ankle in
jury. Swanson adjusts to first-string duty
By Tad Stryker
Two years after he starred for a small western Ne
braska high school, Shane Swanson found himself starting
on college football's most potent offensive team, just
hoping that he wouldn't make many mistakes.
Swanson, playing in place of the injured Irving Fryar,
said he was nervous before taking the field at Boulder,
Colo., two weeks ago.
"The coaches just told me to concentrate on my
assignments," he said. "I did, and I was all right. I made
a few mistakes, but that's part of the game. You can't
keep looking back and worrying about them, or it's
going to offset the rest of your game. Besides, youU
hear about it Monday, anyway."
Swanson, a sophomore from Hershey, also started
last Saturday against Kansas State, but returns to the
second team this week with Fryar healthy.
At the beginning of the season, there were some
worries about who would back up Fryar at wingback, but
Swanson said he, Jim Thompson and Tom Vergith have
provided adequate depth.
"Irving' in a class by himself as far as talent goes,"
Swanson said, "but I feel that the guys behind him
complement him well.'
Although he has made the jump from Class C-2 to
Division I-A football, Swanson said he now feels less
pressure - in some ways - than he did in high school.
At Hershey, Swanson gained 1,175 yards as a senior
I-back, even though he was a marked man each time
he stepped on the field. He also played strong safety.
"I was expected to do more things then,'
'Now, I feel freer to be more specialized.
he said.
A little
pressure is off.
"Now, it's a thrill just to be a part of a great team.
I can just concentrate on what I'm doing."
Concentration has been important, Swanson acknow
ledged, ever since Coach Tom Osborne asked him to
switch to wingback on the third day of freshman prac
tice last year.
Learning to block and to catch the football have been
his biggest adjustments, he said.
"I didn't do much of either in high school," he said
"I mostly just ran the ball."
He said the Husker coaching staff has helped him to
mature. Fryar, as well, has "always been there to help
me," he said.
"I learn as much from watching him as anything
else," Swanson said.
Concentrating on football has taken away time for
other activities, Swanson said. That includes rodeo,
another sport he enjoys.
Swanson used to be a steer wrestler and calf roper
during the summer. He competed in rodeos across the
state and made it to the national high school finals.
"I was the only kid in my school that rodeoed,"
he said.
Swanson said he will decide about rodeo after he's
through with football.
"I'll probably go back to it after that," he said. "I
can do it for the rest of my life if I choose, but playing
for Nebraska is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."
Volleyball team faces
rematch with Sooners
Nebraska's volleyball team will face an improved
Oklahoma team this weekend at the Coliseum, Husker
Coach Terry Pettit said Tuesday.
"They have a lot of physical talent," Pettit said.
"It's just a matter of them trying to fit it together. They
should give us a good match."
The Sooners, who are M in the Big Eight, are led
by Marcy Crabtree. V''g
"She's probably their best player," Pettit said. "She
played for the South in the (UJS.) Sports Festival this
summer."
Pettit said the Sooners also return two other starters,
plus Jan Flood who was an all-Big Eight selection two
years ago when she played at Oklahoma State.
Nebraska has defeated the Sooners once already
this season, beating them two weeks ago at Norman in
the Oklahoma Invitational.
"They played us well down there," Pettit said. "It
went four games. Their coach seems to think it was
one of their better matches."
Pettit said he was satisfied with the progress of the
team so far this season.
"We're the top ranked team east of the Rockies,"
Pettit said, (Nebraska is currently ranked 11th in the
country.) "I didn't think we would be so highly ranked
this early in the season. On the other hand, I thought
we'd beat Missouri too, and we didn't."
Pettit said the Huskers still are unsettled at some
positions.
"We're a relatively young team," Pettit said, "but we
have a lot of experience, too. We've had a lot of our
young players come on and press for starting positions."
"We have to make adjustments better than we have,"
Pettit said. "Mentally, we need to handle problems
better than we have. I think we're working through it
but we'll know a little better after the next two week
ends." Pettit said the team's most important matches are
ahead.
"The next few games will determine who wins the
Big Eight, who wins the Big Eight championships and
who goes to the national championships."
Saturday's game against Oklahoma starts at 6 pjn.
in the Coliseum. People having football ticket stubs to
Saturday's game will be admitted free. Students with
season football tickets also will be admitted free.
KETV to air pre-game show
Omaha television station KETV has announced plans
to have its own pre-game programming Saturday in con
nection with the Nebraska-Missouri football game.
Channel 7 will b:gin its football programming at
1:30 p.m. Saturday with the Bob Devaney Prediction
Show.
At 2 p.m., the station will broadcast its own pre
game show that will include interviews with coaches
of both teams, UNL Athletic Director Bob Devaney and
Ralston native Randy Jostes, a defensive tackle for
Missouri.
The show also will include the pre-game activities of
UNL students and other Husker fans. That part of the
show will be shot at about 11 ajn. Saturday at Chester
fields. Channel 7 will switch to the ABC network at 2:30
p.m for its pre-game show. Kickoff for the game is
set for 2:50 pjn.
