Sports _
NU aims at ASU streak
By Chuck Green
Senior Editor
Nebraska football coach Tom
Osborne will try to accomplish some
thing Saturday that he never has be
fore — to leave Sun Devil Stadium
with a win.
When No. 2-ranked Nebraska faces
No. 12-ranked Arizona State Satur
day in Tcmpc, Ariz., the Comhuskers
will be trying to improve on a 0-2
record at the stadium.
In 1975, Nebraska lost to Arizona
State 17-14 in the Fiesta Bowl, then
lost to Michigan 27-23 in the 1986
Sunkist-Fiesta Bowl. Osborne said at
his weekly media luncheon Tuesday
that the Huskers will again have their
work cut out for them.
“We re very impressed with their
football team,” Osborne said of the
Sun Devils. “They've got a lot of
experience there and the players they
have back are very good.”
Osborne said one of the main con
ccms he has about playing in Tempe
is the heat. The temperature often
reaches 1(H) degrees or more on the
field.
During practices last week, the
Huskers finished drills by running
sprints inside Schulte Field House,
where the temperature had been
raised to 95 degrees.
“We’ve tried to take what steps we
can in regard to the he t,” he said.
“How much good the indoor work
we’ve done with the heat turned up, I
just don’t know. We’ll have to wait
and see how much that's benefited
us.”
Osborne said the Huskers ran more
than normal last week in preparation
for the expected conditions in Tempe.
He said Nebraska players don’t nor
mally run that much before a game
“because we don’t want to have the
players leg-weary on the game day.”
But, he said, the open date allowed for
the extra conditioning.
Osborne said the week off also
profiled Nebraska in terms of inju
ries.
“I think if wc had had to play last
Saturday (wingback Dana) Brinson
would have been very doubtful and I
think (defensive tackle) Lee Jones
would have been incapacitated,” he
said. “I think this Saturday, those
players will be alright,”
He said he thought quarterbacks
Clcte Blakeman and Gcrri Gdowski,
who suffered in juries during practice
last week, also would be recovered by
Saturday.
Osborne said he wasn’t concerned
about former Nebraska receivers’
coach Gene Huey, who is now an
assistant at Arizona State, giving too
much information about Nebraska’s
passing game to the Sun Devil
coaches.
“He’s a good coach and a good
person and is very ethical in every
thing he would do,” Osborne said,
“but obviously he works for Arizona
ouiic mm, i wuuiu nt
wouldn’t withhold information. It
would he the same if we had hired
somebody from Arizona State. I’m
sure we would have asked him a few
questions this week.”
Osborne also addressed the topic of
Nebraska’s pre-season schedule. Ari
zona State coach John Cooper said
earlier that if he had his way, he’d
schedule four “easy” non-conference
opponents. He also said that schedul
ing a team like Nebraska was sense
less, because each team would “beat
each other up.”
“There’s two ways to look at that,”
Osborne said. “If you’re looking at a
national championshipand going toa
bowl game, if you can schedule four
patsies then you’re better off. But it
may not make you a whole lot better.
“On the other hand, if you really
want to be a great football team and
you want to do well in your confer
ence. then maybe playing some tough
people early is good,” he said.
“I guess from the standpoint of lon
gevity in coaching and national rank
ings, John is right. But if you’re inter
ested in being a gtxxl football team,
the other way is better.”
Huskers bake in sauna
preparing for Sun Devils
By Mike Kluck
Staff Reporter
In anticipation of a hotaftcmoon in
Tcmpc, Ariz., Nebraska has been
preparing for its game against Arizona
State on Saturday by practicing in
what seems like a sauna.
Nebraska football coach Tom
Osborne said the Cornhuskcrs have
spent parts of the last two weeks prac
ticing with the heat turned up in
Schulte Field hh
the HPIHJH
practices should •
neip tne Huskers
endure the 100 de
gree temperatures
that will be await
ing them in Tcmpe. Osborne
Osborne said he dec ided to practice
in the heat after talking with Nebraska
strength and conditioning coach Boyd
Eplcy. He said although Eplcy em
phasized that working in the field
house was mainly psychological, the
Huskers “wouldn’t do it if (they)
didn’t think it might do some good.”
“If we would have had 85 or 90
degree weather, I wouldn’t have been
Ux)concerned,”Osborne said. “When
we’re dealing with 70 degrees here
then I think we need to do something.
So we’ll see if it helps.”
Eplcy said he got the idea of a heat
chamber from Bill Cramer, Director
of Conditioning Research for the U.S.
Army. He said Cramer informed him
that it would lake 10 days for the
Nebraska players to adjust to the heat,
meaning the Huskers couldn’t have
used the chamber if they wouldn’t
have had two weeks to prepare for the
Sun Devils.
Epley said he first thought about
having ihc Nebraska players wear
extra clothing, but decided against it
because it would have to be done in a
gradual process. He said extra cloth
ing also presents the danger of heat
exhaustion.
“What we’re trying to do is gener
ate climatic heal rather than individ
ual,’’ he said. “We want the climate to
be hotter.”
Eplcy said the Huskers will have an
advantage against Arizona State be
cause they arc well conditioned. He
said Nebraska’s summer conditioning
program will help the Huskers adjust
to Arizona’s dry heal.
“We really don’t have a major
concern, Eplcy said. “It is probably
one of these deals where we made a
little bigger issue out of it then what
we really needed to.
“We will be well prepared physi
cally fbr the game,” he said.
Nebraska reserve quarterback
Cletc Blakcman said he was not fond
of practicing in the chamber.
“It’s something you really don’t
enjoy but then again you have to real
ize why you’re doing it— to get ready
for the weather down there,”
Blakcman said. “If it helps out a little
bit, that’s why we’re doing it.
“(But) I don’t think this little bit is
going to help us. We’re a pretty well
conditioned team and I think that
really takes care of it for us,”
Blakcman said.
Starting quarterback Steve Taylor
disagreed.
“I think it’s going to hclpoula great
deal,” Taylor said. “I think we’re in
good physical condition in order to
play under any conditions. We’re
going to be OK.”
—f _-_
Butch Ireland/Daily Nebraskan
Nebraska’s Frank and Harald Graham.
Runners are double trouble
By Rich Cooper
Staff Reporter
When Nebraska cross country
coach Jay Dirksen recruited Frank
and Harald Graham, he received a
two-for-onc deal.
Dirksen said the twin brothers
from Nebraska City have been a
benefit for the Comhuskers be
cause they both have a good a
chance of being included in the top
seven runners on this year’s team.
“Frank and Harald arc going to
push to be on the team all year,”
Dirksen said. “These two guys
work very hard and as the season
progresses they’re going to gel
better.”
Dirksen said the Graham broth
ers worked so hard when they first
came to Nebraska two years ago
that they would sneak in extra
mileage.
“...I give everybody on the team
a maximum amount of mileage to
run,” Dirksen said, “and 1 don’t
want them to go over that mileage.
“But Frank and Harald used to
sneak in extra mileage. It hurt them
because their bodies couldn't
handle it.”
Both Grahams agreed that they
trained loo hard when they first
became Huskers.
“The first year here at Nebraska
we tried to run with the big boys,”
Harald said. “We would be running
mile repeats and be right with the
front runners.
“But as the season progressed,
it got harder and harder to do be
cause our bodies couldn’t take it.
What’s so funny is, coach knew we
were sneaking because one of us
was sick every other week.”
Dirksen said he thinks the Gra
hams' hard work has begun to pay
off. He said the brothers, who grew
up in Darmstadt, West Germany,
and then moved to Nebraska City
in 1981, have perfect bodies for
running with their long, muscular
legs and little body fat.
The Grahams said they first
started running when they were
freshmen at Nebraska City High
School.
“We actually started out as pole
vaulters but our coach used to send
us out on runs before practice as a
pre-conditioning thing,” Frank
said. “And we would come back
before everybody, even the dis
tance runners, and the rest is his
tory.”
During the Grahams’ senior
year of high school, they finished
first and second in the Nebraska
State Cross Country Champion
ships. The Grahams were so domi
nant during their high school ca
reers that Dirksen said he began
watching them as juniors.
“1 first saw the Graham brothers
at the Waverly Invitational their
junior year and I thought to myself,
‘Boy, these guys are going to be
good,”’ Dirksen said.
Despite first impressions,
Dirksen said, he didn’t know if he
was going to be able to offer the
Graham brothers scholarships
because they didn’t impress Ne
braska track coach Gary Pepin at
first.
“In their senior year of High
School, I told coach Pepin to go
watch these guys. Well, it turned
out to be their worst meet of the
season,” Dirksen said. “Coach
Pepin said he didn’t think they
were that good.”
The Grahams said they remem
ber seeing Pepin at the meet.
“The meet was some kind of in
vitational, and before the race we
went over to our coach to get last
minute instructions and we found
out Pepin was there," Frank said.
“Well, that race didn’t go over too
well because we were so nervous
that we went out to fast and just
died at the end of the race."
Harald said he and Frank could
have accepted scholarship offers
from a Division III school, but
turned them down because they
were set on going to Nebraska.
“The main reason we came here
was because of coach Dirkscn,”
Frank said. “Even in high school he
would help us out when he came to
see us.”
Dirkscn said he thinks Frank
and Harald arc the closest brothers
he’s ever met. He said the fact that
they help each other out gives them
an advantage over other runners.
The two brothers are so close
that Frank was once disqualified
from a high school race because he
waited for Harald to catch him at
the finish line.
"We wanted to finish together
because it was our home town
invitational and Harald was behind
me,” Frank said. “So when I got to
the finish line, I stopped and waited
for Harald to catch up. Well, be
cause of that, I got disqualified for
not trying and Harald won the race.
Boy was our coach mad.”
Harald said the big difference
between high school and college
running is the intensity of the races.
He said high school competition
was so relaxed that he and Frank
used to have conversations during
the race.
Dirksen said the best thing
about the Grahams is their team
spirit
“You never know what those
guys arc going to do next. They ’re
both crazy, but in a good way,”
Dirkscn said. “These guys love life
so much and it seems like they’re
always doing something fun.”
During the summer, the Gra
hams run a fishing and hunting
guide service in Nebraska City.
They also publish a hunting and
fishing newsletter.
“Running isn’t the only thing
we love to do, we love to fish, hunt
-and listen to music,” Frank said.
