Snorts
Husker opener compares ‘men and boys’
By Jeff Apel
Senior Editor
Split end Kendal Smith issued a
warning, but Nebraska defensive backs
coach George Darlington said the
Cornhusker's secondary will be ready
when they open their season against
Utah State Saturday at Memorial
Stadium.
Smith said Utah State plans to over
come its underdog role by using a pass
ing attack that calls for the Aggies to
throw up to 75 times against Nebraska.
He said hat will give Utah State an
advantage because the Huskers aren’t
used to seeing such an offense.
‘‘Their defensive backs are used to
playing the run. That’s to our advan
tage,” Smith said. ‘‘Their conference is
a running conference. They don’t see
too many teams that throw like we do.”
Utah State coach Chuck Shelton
agreed.
‘‘Our offense is built around the pass
— period," Shelton said. ‘‘That’s an
advantage because it’s the only way to
offset physical differences in people.
‘‘Comparing Utah State to Nebraska
is like comparing men against boys,
but by being a passing team week in
‘Offense has never
really been our
strong point, but
we feel we will be
much better off
(this year).’
—Shelton
and week out, we can hopefully offset
those differences.”
Darlington said the Huskers will try
to control Utah State’s passing attack
by mixing up their defenses and mak
ing frequent substitutions. He said
Nebraska’s reserve players will play a
key role in the game’s outcome.
"If you don t substitute, you will
have some linemen dragging their
tongues by the third quarter," Darling
ton said. "That’s also true in the case of
the secondary.”
Darlington said the entire Nebraska
defense will have to play well if the
Huskers are to win. He said a break
Andrea Hoy/Daily Nebraskan
Nebraska quarteback Mike Preston (No. 8) eludes a rush by defensive end Jon Marco during the Cornhuskers’
scrimmage last Saturday. Nebraska opens its season Saturday against Utah State.
down at any defensive position could
prove costly.
‘‘We can’t allow their offense to
establish a rhythm or we could be in
trouble,” he said "Defense is team
oriented, so we have to play as a com
plete team.”
Shelton said he is confident that the
Aggies’ defense will be able to control
the Nebraska offense. He said Utah
State needs to shut down Nebraska
quarterback Steve Taylor and l-back
Keith Jones.
“Those two players are as good as
anybody in the country,” Shelton said.
Shelton and Smith said the game
against Nebraska will be special be
cause it will give the Aggies a chance to
prove they are capable of playing
against one of the top teams in the
country.
Smith said Utah State is often critic
ized because its victories last season
came against Pacific, New Mexico State
and Nevada Las Vegas.
“We get a chance to play a team that
everybody has heard of," Smith said.
“Everybody knows about Nebraska and
Oklahoma."
Smith said he is also looking forward
to the game because the Aggies will
unveil a new offense. He said the
offense will be more difficult to defend
because it involved more formations
and receivers.
Shelton agreed.
“Offense has never really been our
strong point, but we feel we will be
much better off (this year),’’ he said.
Smith said he spent the time before
the Utah State-Nebraska game remind
ing each of the Aggies that their record
is 0 0. He said the fact that Utah State
hasn’t suffered a defeat will work in the
Aggies' favor.
“It was tough last season, so we want
to avoid a repeat,” Smith said. “Our
goal is to have a successful season.”
Thomas to run steps for police scuffle
By Mark Derowitsch
Senior Reporter
Nebraska defensive end Broderick
Thomas faces a possible fine of $500
and/or six months in jail after being
charged with resisting arrest Wednes
day, but his only football-related pun
ishment was to run Memorial Stadium
steps.
Nebraska coach Tom Osborne said
Thursday that Thomas had to run sta
dium steps four consecutive days for
his alleged Aug. 24 scuffle with four
Lincoln police officers.
“We laid out the guidelines before
the season started and certain things
result in on-the-field discipline and
certain result in suspension,” Osborne
said. “He's been charged so far with a
misdemeanor offense. One factor is
that Broderick hasn’t been in trouble
before. And since he hasn’t been in
trouble before, and because it is a mis
demeanor and because we’ve punished
him on the field, we feel that whatever
the court hands out will be the
remainder of the punishment."
Osborne dealt with a similar situa
tion last summer when former Com
husker Danny Noonan was charged
with one count each of assault, destroy
ing the property of others, disturbing
the peace and hindering arrest follow
ing an altercation at Chesterfield, Bot
tomsley and Potts, a downtown bar.
Noonan was fined $400 after the
charge of assault was dropped by Chest
erfield’s.
Osborne said that Thomas’ scuffle
with the police was similar to Noonan’s.
“Danny’s deal was not good and he
was at fault,’’ Osborne said. “But he
had never been in trouble before and it
was a misdemeanor, so I feel that I
need to treat people about the same.”
Thomas was arrested Aug. 24 after
he was approached by police about a
moving violation for which he allegedly
had not paid the fine. Thomas told the
officers that he paid the fine and
showed them receipts. But the police
said they still had to take him in,
Osborne said.
Thomas allegedly refused to go with
the officers and then had to be res
trained with leg restraints and hand
cuffs.
Osborne said no other disciplinary
steps would be taken by him unless
other charges were brought against
Thomas.
"If they change the charges and all
of a sudden it's a felonious thing or an
assault, then that would change,"
Osborne said. "But on the basis of the
evidence I have now and what I know
about the thing, we put it all behind us.
We punished him here on the field and
he’s taken his shots in the paper and
whatever he gets in court is the last
bit."
Four Husker games set for TV; more are possible
By Tim Hartmann
Senior Reporter
Four Nebraska football games
will definitely be televised this sea
son and Assistant Athletic Director
Dorr Bryant said more games may
also be shown.
The games that are set to be tele
vised are the Sept. 12 UCLA game in
Lincoln (by ESPN), the Sept. 25
game at Arizona State (ABC), the
Nov. 21 Oklahoma game in Lincoln
tff tun *
(CBS) and the Nov. 28 Colorado
flame in Boudler, Colo, (either CBS
or ESPN).
The starting times of the UCLA
and Oklahoma games have been
changed to benefit television. In
stead of the usual 1:30 p.m. start,
the UCLA flame will start at 4 p.m.,
and the Oklahoma flame will begin
at 2:30 p.m.
Ir) addition, the Colorado game
was originally scheduled to be played
Nov. 14, but was moved for televi
sion purposes.
Bryant said the decision to tele
vise other Comhusker games will be
made later in the season. He said
the decision usually depends on the
win-loss records of the teams in
volved and the importance of other
college games being played that
day.
"The networks have until 1 J .tys
before the game is played to make
their decision," Bryant said.
Bryant said the Big Eight Confer
ence dropped a package it had last
season with the Kaycom Sports
Network.
Every televised game will pay
“roughly $600,000” to be divided by
both teams, Bryant said. The amount
Nebraska gets depends t n whether
the game is a conference or non
conference game.
“If they pay $600,000 then we get
$000,00," Bryant said. “It’s divided
into ninths if we play a non
conference game. We get two-ninths
and the rest of the conference
schools get one ninth. If we play a
conference school, it’s divided into
tenths. Each school gets two tenths
and the rest of the conference
schools get one-tenth."
Big Eight teams and other schools
across the country are now in the
fourth year of negotiating the rights
to football telecasts with networks
under contract with organizations
other than the NCAA. In 1984, the
Supreme court ruled 7-2 that the
NCAA violated anti trust laws by pre
venting individual schools from hav
ing negotiating rights.
The ruling came on a suit against
the NCAA by the University of Okla
homa and the University of Georgia.
