Huskers can take the heat
Arizona coach says he expects tough test
By Tim Hartmann
Senior Reporter
If Nebraska football coach Tom
Osborne listened to Arizona State
coach John Cooper, he wouldn’t
have his players running in Schulte
Field House with the heat turned up
every day.
The Comhuskcrs have been
ending practices by running in the
heated field house to prepare for
the hot temperatures they will have
to face in Saturday’s game at Ari
zona State.
Cooper said the heat won’t play
a role in the game, even though the
starling time is set for 12:30 p.m.
PST.
“I don’t think that it will be a
factor,” Cooper said. “It’s cooling
off down here. Today (Monday) it
was only 105 degrees, but last week
it was getting up to 112 to 113
degrees.”
Cooper said he also docs not
expect a sold-out Sun Devil Sta
dium crowd to affect the Huskers.
“Nebraska has played in front of
over 150 consecutive (home) sell
outs, so our crowd will be no factor
at all,” he said.
Cooper, who is now in his third
season at Arizona State, has com
piled a 20-5-1 record with the Sun
Devils. Before coaching at Ari
zona State, he coached at Tulsa for
eight seasons, where he compiled a
57-31 record.
Arizona State finished with a
10-1-1 record last season, includ
ing a 22-15 victory over Michigan
in the Rose Bowl. Cooper was
named coach-of-thc-year by sev
eral publications, including The
Sporting Ncwsand The Associated
Press.
The Rose Bowl appearance was
the first for Arizona State since
they joined the Pacific-Ten Con
ference eight years ago. Cooper
said he wants to return to the Rose
Bowl this year, and he thinks the
Sun Devils have a chance to do
that.
“We’ve got a shot,” Cooper
said. “We’re the only team with a
chance to repeat in the conference,
which says something. UCLA has
best talent in the conference, and
you guys (Nebraska) have already
beat them.”
Cooper said he expects a tough
test from the Huskers.
“We’re very impressed with the
Nebraska program,” he said. “Bob
Dcvaney and Tom Osborne have
done a tremendous job with their
redshirt program, their walk-on
program, their strength program,
their academic program - you
could go on and on. They arc a
model program for other schools.”
Cooper said Nebraska’s 56-12
victory over Utah Slate and the
Huskers 42-33 win over UCLA
were impressive. He said Arizona
Stale played poorly in its 21-7
victory over Illinois and 31-12
defeat of Pacific.
“We’re very disappointed in our
play so far,” he said. “We played
awful in the first half against Illi
nois, and we played awful the last
three quarters against Pacific.
“We need improvement all
over, special teams play in particu
lar. We have not performed well
there at all, and our offensive line
has not given our quarterback time
to pass.”
Nebraska is known for running
the ball, but against UCLA, quar
terback Steve Taylor passed for
five touchdowns. Cooper said
Taylor’s performance was tremen
dous.
“Five touchdowns — that’s a
career for some quarterbacks,” he
said.
Cooper said Arizona State is not
as blessed at quarterback. Jeff Van
Raaphorst, who threw for 2,181
yards and 17 touchdowns last sea
son, graduated and left the Sun
Devils inexperienced at that posi
tion, he said.
“Nebraska has a Heisman Tro
phy candidate, and we’re still look
ing for a quarterback,” he said.
Junior Daniel Ford, who threw
just 18 passes last season, has
played “decent,” Cooper said, and
will start against the Huskers.
In the latest polls, Nebraska was
ranked No. 2, while Arizona State
was ranked No. 12.
“In terms of national recogni
tion it’s a big game for both teams,”
Cooper said.
Cooper said the game will be
very important in Nebraska’s na
tional championship hopes. He
said the Huskers are a strong na
tional championship contender.
The Huskers have had two
weeks to prepare for Arizona State
because the Utah State game
scheduled for Sept. 19 was moved
up to Sept. 5. Cooper said he is not
sure if the layoff will work to
Nebraska’s advantage.
“It probably will give some of
the players a chance to heal, but
some coaches don’t like to slop
playing when they arc on a roll like
Nebraska is on,” he said. “It’s
debatable whether it will help them
or not.”
Cooper also down played the
advantage Arizona State will pos
sess by having Gene Huey, an as
sistant coach at Nebraska for ten
years, on their sideline. Huey is
now the Sun Devils receivers
coach.
“He knows a lot about Ne
braska, but we all do - we’ve stud
ied their films and we know what
they will do,” he said. “Successful
programs like Nebraska don’t
change what they arc doing. Where
Gene will help us is in knowing
their personnel - the size, strength,
and ability of some of the players.”
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