Friday, September 5, 1986
I
Daily Nebraskan
Page 15
Spor
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Practice makes
Cornhusker football players run through drills Thursday night in preparation for Satur
day's game. The evening match between Nebraska and Florida State will be the first night
game in Nebraska's history.
Freshmen
By Jeff Apel and
Rich Cooper
Staff Reporters
IOWA FALLS, Iowa The second
quarter power failure that hit the press
box at Cadet Field was representative
of the problems the Nebraska freshman
football team had during their 17-2 vic
tory over Ellsworth Junior College
Thursday night.
Nebraska had problems maintaining
a consistent offense, according to Coach
Scott Downing.
The Cornhuskers were twice unable
to convert fourth-and-short yardage
situations deep in Ellsworth territory
and were victimized by a first-half fum
ble by quarterback Gerri Gdowski.
"All in all, the offense still has some
gelling," Downing said. "We want them
to be a little more consistent."
Downing said part of the problem
the Huskers faced was their inability to
scout Ellsworth before the game.
Although the Husker freshmen defeated
the Panthers last year in Memorial
Stadium, Downing said the film of that
Nebraska-Ellsworth game was lost.
"Smaller colleges sometimes borrow
Columnist
Ah, Nebraska football.
So much for the Cornhuskers' snow
white, "we don't ever cheat here"
image. Welcome to reality.
Chuck
Green
I'm sure we'll all endure more of that
kind of conversation in the next few
weeks than we want in our lifetimes.
I'll let the rest of the Nebraska press
corps cry, whine, pout and tell the
Nebraska fans what they want to hear
by saying the Huskers aren't in the
same class as other schools who cheat
t - - s
I
y
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0
perfect
win season opener
films from us to take a look at their
players," Downing said. "That's what
happened and it didn't get returned."
Nebraska jumped to a 7-0 lead dur
ing its first possession of the game
when the Huskers marched 60 yards in
only nine plays.
Nebraska fullback Randy Gleasen
took a short kickoff and returned it to
the Husker 40-yard line to start the
drive. A pair of runs by fullback David
Petz, a 20-yard wingback reverse by
Brad Devall and an 18-yard pass from
Gdowski to Petz gave Nebraska a first-and-goal
situation at the Ellsworth 5
yard line.
The Husker freshmen then needed
three plays including a 2-yard
touchdown run by Petz to take a 6-0
lead early in the game. Gregg Barrios
added the extra point for Nebraska.
Nebraska increased its lead to 10-0
early in the second quarter when Bar
rios kicked a 37-yard field goal with
14:09 left in the half. But the Huskers
were unable to convert their second
scoring opportunity of the second half.
Following a six-play, 52-yard drive
which gave the Huskers a fourth-and-one
situation at the Ellsworth 13-yard
line, I-back Jim Gilbert was stopped for
tracks NU's
on a wider scale. I don't like to tell
Nebraska fans what they want to hear,
because half the time, it's not the
whole story. But it won't be easy.
Despite what has happened in the
past couple of days, the start of Neb
raska's football season still makes my
heart pound a little faster. I, like many
Nebraskans, have grown up following
the Huskers each fall with almost reli
gious loyalty. Since I went to my first
game in 1972 at the tender age of 6,
Husker football has been a non-stop
source of fascination for' me. Since
1972, I have missed only two home
games the Oklahoma State game in
1980, because I was at the World Series
in Kansas City, and last year's Oregon
game. I missed that one because
I was covering a gymnastics meet in
Minneapolis for the Daily Nebraskan.
I've also been to about 40 away games
'1 1
it
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Paul VonderlageDaily Nebraskan
no gain, allowing the Panthers to regain
possession of the football.
"We felt like our defense played
pretty tough," Downing said. "It was
good to see them in game-type con
ditions." Nebraska increased its lead to 17-0
in the second half when Gilbert scored
on a 4-yard run, but Ellsworth managed
to avoid a season-opening shutout when
Nebraska punter Tom Janky elected to
run out of the end zone following a bad
snap from center.
Ellsworth coach Loyd Sisco said his
squad was unprepared because of the
short period of time the Panthers knew
about the game against Nebraska.
Ellsworth originally was scheduled to
play the Iowa State junior varsity Sun
day, but when Sisco learned the
Cyclones had dropped their reserve
program, he scheduled for the game
against the Huskers.
"We had to change our offensive
blocking schemes," Sisco said. "This is
a young team, but it was a big advan
tage playing in front of the home
crowd."
Nebraska will face Pittsburgh State,
Monday, Sept. 29, at Memorial Stadium.
best wins,
and six bowl games, so I guess you
could say I've been raised on Nebraska
football.
Six years ago, Randy York, then a
sports columnist of the Lincoln Journal-Star,
compiled a list of what he
thought were Nebraska's 10 best wins
and worst losses of the 1 970s. Being the
sentimental guy I am and having a long
background of Nebraska football mem
ories, I thought I'd give it a try.
My list, however, is of personal
memories I have of attending these
games. For example, most Nebraska
football fans would agree that Nebras
ka's 35-31 win over Oklahoma in 1971
was the best Husker win ever. But I
didn't see that game, so it doesn't
count. With that in mind, keep your
nasty letters out of my office. OK?
So, for what it's worth and that
probably isn't too much here are the
NCAA delays sanctions
By John Carlson
Staff Reporter
UNL Chancellor Martin Massepgale "
announced Thursday that the NCAA
approved a stay of sanctions on the
suspension of 60 Cornhusker players.
The decision helps
a lot. We now just
have to go out and
play good football.'
Osborne
, The players, suspended Wednesday
from Saturday's football game against
Florida State, will wait until Tuesday to
see when their eligibility will be re
stored. Nebraska officials will meet
with the NCAA Appeals Board Commit
tee during Tuesday's meeting.
"We will play with the full roster of
players," Massengale said. "We're look
ing forward to an exciting game."
Nebraska coach Tom Osborne said
he is amazed by all the attention the
team has received on the matter.
"The decision helps a lot," Osborne
said. "We now just have to go out and
play football."
Osborne said the players learned of
the stay decision at practice Thursday.
"We talked over the objectives for
the ball game and then broke into
First Memorial Stadium night game
shouldn't affect Huskers' performance
By Jim Ballard
Senior Reporter
History will be made Saturday
night. It will be the first time in
Nebraska history the Cornhuskers
will play an official night game in
Memorial Stadium.
The stadium has donned lights
before, but those games had always
started while the sun still was shin
ing. This is the real thing.
Due to ABC's nationally televised
coverage of the Nebraska-Florida
State game, the network moved the
starting time of the contest to 7:30,
Nebraska coach Tom Osborne
said this should add a little some
thing extra to the game.
"We've had lights in here, but
never one (a game), that has been
lighted from start to finish, so that
will be a little bit of an interesting
concept to this ballgame " Osborne
said.
The other times the portable
lights were installed were for games
against Kansas in 1983 and Okla
homa in 1984.
Sports Information Director Tom
Simons said the same company that
installed the lights in the past, the
Musco Lighting Company of Iowa,
will do so for this game. He also said
that one or two banks will be put up
on the left side of the stadium, with
more lights above the press-box.
losses of all time
things I remember the most about the
Nebraska football games I have seen in
my life.
The 10 best wins:
1. Nebraska 17, Oklahoma 14,
1978 Emotionally, this is still my
favorite. Nebraska hadn't beaten the
Sooners since 1971 and once again,
Oklahoma fielded a cocky, seemingly
unbeatable team who just happened to
be undefeated and ranked No. 1 in the
country. In one of the hardest-hitting
games ever at Memorial Stadium
Nebraska caused six Sooner fumbles
the Huskers rolled to victory behind
a 1 1 3-yard rushing effort by I-back Rick
Bems. Nebraska ' iced the game by
recovering a fourth-quarter fumble at
the three-yard line and the goal posts
were assured of a ride down O Street on
the shoulders of thousands of delirious
Nebraska fans.
groups," Osborne said. "I then told the
players (about the stay)."
Nebraska was faced with several
options for the game against Florida
State, including forfeiting the game, or
suspending all or a portion of the ath
letes charged. Osborne said he's glad a
forfeit is no longer in the picture for
Saturday.
"We're all a little emotional about
this whole thing," he said. "We wanted
to play the game either way. This is our
best option right now and we're pleased
with that."
The Huskers must -now turn their
attention completely on the Seminoles,
who are ranked No. 1 1 in the nation.
Florida State defeated Toledo 24-0 last
Saturday.
Florida State is led by sophomore
quarterback Chip Ferguson, who com-
'We're all a little
emotional about
the whole thing. We
wanted to play the
game either way.'
Osborne
pleted more than 50 percent of his
passes in last Saturday's game. Tail
back Sammie Smith, who has seen only
limited action in practice and in last
week's game, gained 60 yards on 12
carries against Toledo.
Simons said he didn't expect
night games to become a regular
occurence after Saturday mainly
because of cost.
"The novelty is exciting to the
fans right now, but if we did it on a
regular basis it could cause a hard
ship on the fans coming in from out
of state," Simons said.
Since the game is at night and is
also on TV that should be good news
for Husker fans.
In night games the Huskers are
15-5-2, and 9-3-1 in regular season
night games. While playing on TV,
Nebraska has a winning mark of 53
33, 19-10 at home.
The bad news is that on opening
season night games, Nebraska has
managed only one win, a victory over
Penn State in the 1983 Kick-Off
Classic, They also have lost two and
tied ono when opening the season at
night.
Osborne said that because Flor
ida State has played a number of
night games it might give them a
slight advantage, but it may not
matter.
"Most of our players have played
at night before, and we will try to
have night practice, so I thing it's
still going to be a matter of how well
you play," Osborne said. "I don't
think if you play in daylight or night
it will make any difference to our
players."
2. Nebraska 21, North Carol
ina 17, 1977 Liberty Bowl Neb
raska scored twice in the fourth quar
ter on two Randy Garcia touchdown
passes to overcome a 17-7 deficit. Gar
cia replaced Husker starter Tom Sorely
and completed three passes for 56
yards and was named the Nebraska
Offensive Player of the game.
3. Nebraska 31, Alabama 24,
1977 Alabama had Jeff Rutledge at
quarterback and Ozzie Newsome while
Nebraska had been defeated by lowly
Washington State one week earlier. So
what happened? Nebraska led 10-7
after the first quarter following a fake
field goal attempt that set up a touch
down. The Tide came back with a
touchdown early in the second quarter,
but moments later, Rick Berns put
Nebraska back on top, 17-14.
See GREEN on 16