Thursday, November 4, 1982
Page 12
Daily Nebraskan
Mistake-prone OSU 'closing gap' with Huskers
By Tad Stryker
With the nation's leading rusher and
a defense that Nebraska Coach Tom
Osborne calls "the best we'll have faced
this year so far," why does Oklahoma
State have a 2-3-2 record?
Mistakes.
Osborne and his staff have remarked
about how good the Cowboys looked
last Saturday in their 30-20 win over
Missouri, but OSU Coach Jimmy Johnson
said the Cowboy offense, defense and
kicking game played about the same
against Missouri as they have all year.
"The major difference in the Missouri
game was that we had only one turnover,"
Johnson said. "That kept us in position
to win."
After a season-opening win against
North Texas State, turnovers hurt OSU
as the Cowboys lost to Tulsa, Louisville
and Oklahoma and tied Kansas and Colo
rado. Still, Johnson said his team has what
it takes to be a winner.
"I think we have more players and
talent than we had four years ago," he
said. "Nebraska probably does, too, but
not that much more. We're closing the
gap."
One Cowboy burst into the national
limelight this year. Running back Ernest
Anderson leads the nation in rushing with
1,328 yards, and was the subject of an
article in Sports Illustrated earlier this
fall. The Cowboys' offensive mainstay
has averaged 33 carries a game.
Kicker Larry Roach is another bona
fide OSU star. Roach last year broke the
NCAA freshman record for field goals.
He has made 13 of 20 this year, including
his last nine in a row.
The Cowboys have given up an average
of 99.9 yards a game rushing and are ninth
in the nation in total defense.
Linebacker Mike Green and noseguard
Gary Lewis are two of OSU's defensive
leaders. The Cowboys have an experienced
secondary led by Raymond Polk, Roderick
Fisher and Chris Rockins.
Oklahoma State has not beat Nebraska
since 1961. The two teams tied in 1973.
Johnson is trying to build up his team
so he can leave streaks like that behind
him, but he said that day could still be
a ways off. -
"There's no way we can match up
man-for-man, either experience-wise or
talent-wise, with Nebraska," he said.
"But if we have a supreme effort and
keep our mistakes to the very minimum,
plus getting Nebraska to make a few
mistakes, then I think well be in the
ball game."
Cowboy kicks beyond obstacle
By Jack Denker
Placekicking is fun again for Larry Roach.
After getting off to a slow start this season, going
0 of 5 in field goal attempts the first two games, the
sophomore kicker from Oklahoma State was understand
ably dejected. But since then Roach has gone 13 for
1 5 and is a happy Cowboy once again.
In addition to that, Roach has connected his last nine
field goal attempts, including 5-for-5 performance against
Missouri last week, which tied a conference record.
"I just do the best I can and try to make the field
goals," he said.
Roach was voted the Big Eight player of the week
Monday for his performance against Missouri and now
stands 13-for-20 in field goals this season.
Last season, he broke the NCAA record for field goals
by a freshman, hitting on 19 of 28 attempts. In recogni
tion of that, he was named to the freshman ail-American
team and was the Big Eight freshman of the year.
In many ways, Roach's early season troubles have been
a direct parallel to the problems the OSU team suffered
at the beginning of the season - they were both expected
to do a lot better. Just as Roach seems to be turning
things around individually, the Cowboys appear to be
doing much of the same.
Prior to last weekend, he said, many of the Cowboys'
troubles were because of their inability to generate the
big plays, but they seem to have corrected that problem
during their 30-20 victory against Missouri.
"We only had one turnover and everything seemed to
be going right for us," he said. "We made very little mis
takes."
On the basis of that performance, Roach said he is
looking forward to their game with Nebraska Saturday
in Lincoln.
"This game is very important to us in that we just have
four games left, and it means a lot for our record and to
the team," he said. "This is probably our biggest game so
far."
Roach said he sees Nebraska as a team that is strong in
all areas of the game. The only way OSU can beat the
Huskers is to play hard football, eliminate mistakes and
play the way they .know how, he said. He also thinks a
win in Lincoln could enhance the Cowboys' chances of
a post-season bowl bid.
"I think that if we beat Nebraska and then continue
to do well the rest of the season, then a bowl bid is a
possibility," Roach said.
Nebraska Coach Tom Osborne has said that OSU's
defense could be the best unit the Cornhuskers will meet
this year, yet the Cowboys still gamed up 20 points
against Missouri in their last game. Roach said the scor
score was indicative of the way the OSU defense
controlled the game with Missouri and he believes that
performance will give them "momentum and show every
one that we can play defense."
The soccer-style kicker said he chose Oklahoma State
over football powerhouses Southern Methodist, Texas,
and Michigan, because he knew he could step right in and
play as a freshman at OSU.
The Dallas native said the most satisfying aspect of his
job as a placekicker is running off the field after a success
ful field goal and knowing he has contributed to the win.
It's one, two, three pro strikes?
The pro basketball season is barely two weeks old
and already there are rumors of, you guessed it - a
strike. The National Basketball Association players are
saying that if baseball and football can have a strike,
they can, too. So there.
The players are arguing that they are being paid too
much money and want a cut in salary.
However, the owners won't give in, saying the players
BUI Allen
either take the money offered or get sued for breach of
contract.
"We're not going to pay them any less," one owner
said. "If they can't play for the inflated salaries we give
them there are plenty of under-paid college faculty
members who will."
NBA players aren't talking yet, because the strike is
not official by any means, but some issues are causing
problems.
For example, many players believe their education
and seniority should give them more playing time.
WI have a degree in physical education " one six-year
veteran looked down it me and said. "It's not fair that
a player right out of high school, without my educational
background, should receive the same benefits."
He mentioned players such as "Magic" Johnson and
Isiah Thomas, who left college after two years, and
Darryl Dawkin and Moses Malone, who went into the
pros right out of high school and get plenty of playing
time.
"Doesn't my degree mean anything?" he said.
The owners are worried about how much money
in tax shelters the strike will cost them. Especially the
management of teams such as the Utah Jazz, who now
make about as much money as lame duck Gov. Charles
Thone's tax programs did.
The NBA will never find a better time to strike. They
already are far behind baseball and football in the tele
vision ratings. A strike now might actually make some
one say, "Oh, the basketball season has started."
It might give them recognition they usually don't
get until the playoffs, the unofficial starting time for
actual player effort on the court.
Television already is making programming changes
in the event of a strike.
Brent Musberger then would have two strikes to
cover, and Phyllis George said she would help, as long
as the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League
get an automatic berth in the NBA playoffs.
And they can always show reruns of their coverage
of the New York City Marayawn.
For the most part, I don't think there's much to
worry about. Nobody except a hard-core basketball
fan watches the NBA before playoff time, anyway.
So a good suggestion might be to watch college foot
ball on Saturday and spend Sundays playing polo with
friends.
As far as I'm concerned, in pro sports it's one, two,
three strikes, they're out.
UPI poll ranks Huskers fifth
Nebraska moved up to No. 5 in the United Press inter
national football poll released this week, but remained in
sixth place in the poll released by The Associated Press.
Pittsburgh, which was ranked first by AP last week,
held onto the position and moved up to No. 1 in the UPI
poll also. AP ranks Southern Methodist second, followed
by Georgia, Arizona State and Arkansas. UPI's top five is
rounded out by Georgia, SMU, Arkansas and the Huskers.
UPI does not rank Arizona State because the Sun Devils
are on NCAA probation.
Oklahoma, the only ether Big Eight team ranked, is
No. 14 in the APand No. 12 in UPI.
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Photo courtesy Big Eight Strvica Burtau
Oklahoma State kicker Larry Roach
Husker squad downs
Kansas V- ball team
With a showdown against fellow midwestern
power Purdue coming up Saturday, the Nebraska
volleyball team defeated an overmatched Kansas
squad for practice Wednesday night as the 12th
ranked Cornhuskers crushed the Jayhawks 1 5-5,
15-5,15-3.
It was the Huskers sixth consecutive win, and it
improved their Big Eight conference record to 7-1,
and 22 and 4 overall.
"I felt there were times when we played very
well," said Husker coach Terry Pettit.
"Considering we knew Kansas didn't have as
much talent as we had going into the match, I
thought our concentration was pretty consistent,"
he said.
Kansas stayed close scorewise in the first set,
but a combination of Jayjawk miss-hits and illegal
hits with ace blocks by Annie Adamczak, Sharon
Kramer and Gwen Egbert, broke open a 4,4 tie to
10-4 Nebraska. Mary Buysse tallied two ace serves
for the games final points.
Kansas, whose record fell to 1-8 in the
conference with the loss, surprised the Huskers by
taking a 6-2 lead in the second set.
That single Jayhawk highlight was wiped out
when Nebraska rallied for the next eight points
and coasted to another win.
The Jayhawks weren't given any such change in
the third set, as Nebraska jumped to a 7-0 lead. The
Huskers extended the advantage to 14-1 before
Kansas managed to score twice while fighting off
three match points.
After a Debbie Thompsen spike or a sideout,
Kramer, one of only two starters still in the game,
ended the match with her fourth kill of the night.
Pettit said he was pleased that the Huskers
managed to maintain a rhythm of play despite the
frequent substitutions. He also said the team had
succeeded in a practice goal of getting the ball to
Adamczak more. The freshman from Moose Lake,
Minn, responded with five solo blocks and five kills.
Cathy Noth led a balanced Nebraska attack with
seven kills; Erin Dean followed with six; Egbert and
Adamczak had five each; Kramer four and Sallye
Ramsey, Michelle Smith and Lynae Loseke chipped
in three each.