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Daily Nebraskan
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Osborne: Need some refining
Staff photo by Dave Bentz
I lack Mike Rozier is tackled by Rob Stuckey during Saturday's scrimmage at
Memorial Stadium. The Cornhuskers continue spring drills which will culminate
vicn the spring game is played April 23.
By Barry Trcvarrow
A goalpost wasn't the only thing missing
Saturday afternoon at Nebraska's first
major spring football scrimmage.
Cold north winds severely limited fan
attendance as the Cornhuskers began
serious preparation to keep the Big Eight
championship title. The Huskers practiced
without the north goal post that was
torn down by fans in Nebraska's 28-24
victory over Oklahoma last November.
"It (the scrimmage) wasn't a real po
lished performance," Coach Tom Osborne
said. "But I was generally pleased with the
play of the top units."
Six touchdowns were scored in the two
and a half hour-practice - three by the
first team offense. The top unit's first
drive was stopped by a Scott Strasburger
interception and their second attack
stalled at the 35-yard-line. The second
team, quarterbacked by Craig Sundberg,
drove 65 yards (all possessions began at the
35-yard-line) in nine plays against the
second defensive unit and scored on
Sundberg 's one-yard run.
The biggest play of the day came when
first unit quarterback Nate Mason, who
is playing while Turner Gill is with the
baseball team, optioned around right end
and scampered 30 yards before pitching to
I-back Mike Rozier. Rozier, who gained
99 yards on six carries, went the rest of
the way for the score.
On their next possession, the starting
unit scored when wingback Irving Fryar
reversed inside for a seven-yard-touchdown.
The drive was highlighted by a 35-yard-run
by Mason. Mason finished with 54
yards on live carries and completed three
of five passes for 27 yards with one inter
ception. Sundberg completed four of six
passes tor 65 yards and rushed for 28
yards on seven carries.
Playing against the first team defense,
Sundberg led the top offense to their last
score with two passes to split end Scott
Kimball - including a 34-yard aerial to the
five-yard line. Sundberg capped the nine
play drive with a three-yard touchdown
run.
Other scores came when Fullback Tim
Brungardt ran eight yards to a cap a 12
play drive by the second string offense a
and freshman quarterback Pcrnell Gatson
scamptered 23 yards to score for the
fourth team.
Osborne said the offensive line, which
returns only one starter (right guard Dean
Steinkuhler) from last year, needs some
work.
"We need a little better coordination in
the interior of the offensive line," Osborne
said. "There is talent out there. Their
ability just needs refining."
Osborne said the cold weather made it
difficult for receivers, but "the passing
game was fair considering the conditions."
Defensive coordinator Charlie McBride
seemed to have mixed feelings about
the Blackshirt performance.
"We played pretty well considering the
fact that we alternated a lot," McBride
said. "We were changing ends and line
backers all the time."
McBride said he was not satisfied with
the number two defense .
"Some of the younger linemen and line
backers were making fundamental mis
takes," McBride said. "Our major concern
is a lack of depth on defense."
Osborne plans to grade the practice
films and release a new depth chart
Monday. The team is scheduled to scrim
mage again Saturday .
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Yogi
'1 (Bo
Tiey call themselves America's Team, but for selfish
i.j.uns Til never like the name. To me, they are the
Bob I
I Asmussen
F'" mmu,.w ! . mm... i... i ..Hi.. --
'villi's Team, Georgia's Team, My Team, Atlanta's
le jin. Their real name, if you haven't figured it out
u'!, is I he Atlanta Braves.
Opening Day predictions
include Dodgers, Braves
Oi c measure of the extent to which baseball remains
'!... l' ilional pastime is that although there are seemingly
I 'MH) ) sports in the United States, when you talk about
o,rniig Day, sports fans know you are talking about
,Uull.
in lay, of course, is Opening Day, the day when the
litst I all and the first hundred predictions are thrown out
r st.i t the baseball season. With any luck at all, some of
uSi' predictions will be proven right, and the others will
1 c i mottcn by the time fall rolls around and proves them
ut.inf. With that in mind, some of the Daily Nebraskan
; .ns staff offer their predictions for the upcoming
v iM ii. We reserve the right to be as arrogantly confident
j: J notoriously inaccurate as any other set of predictors
HI v ill sec.
Tlx' Los Angeles Dodgers are the closest thing the
; nm staff could get to a consensus choice to win it all
M ar, but one holdout, Sports Editor Bob Asmussen,
t l iens they won't even win their own division. "I didn't
fvk the IX)dgers because they don't have Garvey and
( oy," he said, while also predicting a bad year for one
i th . Dodgers famed starters.
Buy Trevarrow cast the lone vote for a New York
Y.mkc s championship. "Billy Martin is back," he said.
li-s Jv'S, they can't play that badly two years in a row.
I! : y have awesome talent."
Mo t of the staff took a less analytical approach. Pat
( !i:k, for example, relied on the "put the names in a
. . .. Knj; drum" theory that has worked so well in the
i ; t. while staff photographer Craig Andresen boldly
n!!s that the Cincinnati Reds will vault from worst
; tiisi because they are the most photogenic team in
ll.f k.l;'Ue.
I am a Braves fan from way back - 1970 to be exact.
Like any true Braves fan, I resent the people who jumped
on the bandwagon after the 13-0 start last year. Those
same people who jumped on the bandwagon jumped off
in July and August when the Braves lost 19 of 21 games
and gave the Dodgers a big five game lead with a month to
go in the season.
At this time I have to admit I too was down on the
Braves. I questioned many of Joe Torre's decision yet I
never lost faith in him or the team. "The Braves are
dead. They were a fluke," my friends who are not Braves
fans would say. My response to them was "Just wait,
the Braves will come back and win the National League
West division title."
In the final week of the season, the Braves overtook
the Dodgens for first place in the division. With one day
left in the season, the Braves led the hated (by me)
Dodgers by one game. The Braves lost on the final day,
but Joe Morgan and the San Francisco Giants came
through and beat the Dodgers to give the championship
to the Braves.
The National League playoffs were almost anticlim
actic. The Braves had won the division championship
and anything after that would be gravy. No gravy was
had by Atlanta. The St. Louis Cardinals beat them three
games to none on the way to the World Championships.
Today brings us another baseball season. It's a day
I've been looking forward to since last October. At 1
p.m. today, Phil Niekro will step to the mound for the
Braves against the Cincinnati Reds. I will be in front of
a television watching WTBS - cheering on My Team,
the Braves.
Despite the fact that they won their division last
season, the 1983 Braves are not regarded" as the team to
beat. That honor goes to the hated (by me) Dodgers.
I feel the Braves have not been shown much respect.
They are picked as low as fifth in some of the national
baseball publications. Fifth! Come on, guys. They did win
the division last year, which should count tor some
thing. The Braves will just have to prove themselves once
again to the rest of the baseball world as a viable
contender. I may be a little bit prejudiced, but I believe in
them - they will prove themselves. '
Being a Braves fan has not always been something I
would talk about, let alone write about. The first year I
rooted for the Braves was 1970 and they had a good
enough team to finish three games behind the eventual
World Champs, Cincinnati.
Continued on Pa&e 1 1
DN spoirts staff plidfe
Name NLWest NL East ALWest """ AL East NL Champ AL Champ World Champ
Jeff Goodwin L.A. St. Louis California Milwaukee L.A. California California
Bob Asmussen Atlanta Pittsburgh K-C- N.Y. Atlanta New York Atlanta
Tim Woods L.A. St. Louis K.C. Baltimore St. Louis K.C. St. Louis
Ward Triplett L.A. St. Louis Oakland Baltimore L.A. Baltimore L.A.
JackDenker L.A. Montreal California Milwaukee Montreal California Montreal
Barry Trejarrow L.A. Montreal K.C. N.Y. L.A. N.Y N Y
JeffBuettner L.A. Montreal California Milwaukee L.A. Milwaukee L.A.
Kevin Warneke San Francisco Montreal Chicago Baltimore S.F. Baltimore Baltimore
Pat Clark L.A. St. Louis K.C. Detroit L.A. K C l A
Consensus L.A. Montreal K.C. Milwaukee L.A. KC LA