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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 7, 1988)
Gdowski wants to get snaps against NU By Mark Derowitsch Senior Reporter Gerry Gdowski perceives Sat urday’s game with Kansas as a prov ing ground for himself as a reserve quarterback, but nine Jayhawk fresh men won’t be able to demonstrate their abilities in a back-up situation. “It will keep my intensity up knowing there’s a good chance that I’ll play against Kansas,” said Gdow ski, who shares the No. 2 quarterback spot with Mickey Joseph. Gdowski is viewing the game against the Jayhawks as a trial for himself. He said he’s looking to get in quite a few snaps in the game. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. at Memorial Stadium in Lawrence, Kan. “I do think it w ill be a test because I want to gain some more experi ence,” Gdowski said. “I’ll be more intense about this game. I’m looking forward to playing a lot.” Last year against the Jayhawks, 2nd-team quarterback Clete Blakeman started because of a shoul der injury to starter Steve Taylor. Blakeman completed 10 of 12 passed for 100 yards while leading the Com huskers to a 54-2 win in Lincoln. Taylor, who also missed the Kan sas game his sophomore year with an injury, will be making his first start against the Jayhawks. However, Gdowski said, he hopes Taylor won’t have to play too much. ‘ “Coach (Tom Osborne) will try to give both Mickey and I ample time to establish ourselves,” he said. “But if there’s a tough situation during the game, Steve will be in there.” ‘As always, when you look at Nebraska's offen sive line as a coach, you drool. ’ —Mason Although there probably won’t be many tough situations in the game, Gdowski said, the 4-1 Huskers should respond by playing well. “Idon’tknow if we’re looking past Kansas,” he said. “But as a team, we want to start playing together a little bit better and cut down on our mis takes. If we do that, we should really be rolling for Oklahoma State.” Nebraska faces the Cowboys Oct 15 in Lincoln. While Nebraska is trying to get on a roll, Kansas is just trying to get a win. The Jayhawks are winless in four tries. Kansas coach Glen Mason said the Jayhawks’ youth makes them susceptible to mistakes. Of the nine freshmen who start for Kansas, six are non-redshirts. Last week, Kansas turned the ball over six times and lost to New Mexico State 42-29. “We’re not good enough to make the kind of mistakes we did and ex pect to be successful,” Mason said. “There’s not many good football teams around the country that can put the ball on the ground as often as we did and still win. We literally can’t make any mistakes againsta team like Nebraska.” Despite the nine freshman starters, Mason said, Kansas has a good of fense, led by quarterback Kelly Donohoe. Do nohoe. a junior form Harrisonville, Mo., has completed 41 of 81 passes this season for 554 yards and six touchdowns. He’s also thrown six interceptions. “I think Kelly has done a good job and he’s getting increasingly better even though he’s surrounded by an inexperienced supporting cast,” Ma See KANSAS ON 8 Oct. 8, 1988—1:00 p.m. (CDT)—Memorial Stadium-Lawrence, Kan. School location Lawrence, Kan. 66045 Enrollment Nickname Colors Conference Head Coacl^ Basic offense'4 Basic defense 1987 record 1987 Big Eight record Letter-men returning Letter-men lost Series record vs. Nebraska 28,720 Jayhawks Crimson & Blue Big Eight Glen Mason (Ohio State, 1972) multiple set 5-2 rl-9-l ^0-6-1, seventh-place tie 35 (18 offense, 16 defense, 1 Specialist) 23 (11 offense, 10 defense, 2 specialists) 21-70-3 “ _ I1UI ... --«■_ II_HU Last season, senior quarterback Qete Blakeman, subbing for the injured Steve Taylor, completed 10 of 12 passes for 100 yards and a touchdown to lead Nebraska to a 54-2 win in Lincoln. While Blakeman directed the offense, the Husker defense limited the Jayhawks to eight first downs and 138 total yards. I_I John Bruce/Daily Nebraskan Colorado to use Huskers as measuring stick By Jeff Apel Senior Reporter When Colorado volleyball coach Brad Saindon dreams about the future of the Buffaloes' program, he sees visions of Nebraska. Saindon said he is looking forward to Colorado's match against Ne braska Saturday night at the NU Coli seum because it will provide a good measuring stick. He said the Buffa loes, whose volleyball program was reinstated in 1986 after being dor mant for seven years, will use the match to determine if they have reached Nebraska’s talent level. The match, which features free admission for all University of Ne braska-Lincoln students who display their student I.D. cards and all area youths in kindergarten through 8th grades that participate on volleyball teams, begins at 7:30 p.m. “Nebraska is where we want to be,” Saindon said. “We’re starring to gain experience but we haven’t had a taste of success yet. So we're anxious to see how we stack up against them.” Saindon is confident about Colorado’s chances entering the match. He said the Buffaloes showed thev can compete with the best teams in the Big Eight when they dropped a 14-16, 15-8, 15-10, 12-15, 12-15 decision to Oklahoma last weekend in Norman, Okla. Oklahoma, which won the Big Eight’s post-season title last year by defeating Nebraska at the conference tournament in Salina, Kan., crushed theComhuskers 8-15,15-7,15-4,10 15, 15-5 earlier this season in Nor man, Okla. “We lost to Oklahoma but we played right with them,” Saindon said. “Nebraska also lost to Okla homa, so the key for us is we have to believe that we can go in and win.” Saindon said the combinations of offenses employed by Colorado and Nebraska are similar. He said the difference in the two offenses is found in the tempo. “Our tempo is a little different,” Saindon said. “We know Nebraska likes to play at a fast tempo, but we like to try and control it.” Saindon said he isn’t sure if Colorado’s offense can bum Ne braska. “I feel we can side out against them,” he said, "but I’m not sure if we can score.” Nebraska volleyball coach Terry Pettit said Colorado’s offense is built around speed and slides. He said the Buffaloes like to run their slides to the left, outside portion of the court Pettit said Nebraska, 12-3 overall and 1-1 in the Big Eight, will try and overcome Colorado’s dangerous of fense by playing its game and relying on strong crowd support. He said he expects between 2,000-3,000 people to pack the Coliseum for Saturday’s match. Pettit is pleased with Nebraska’s crowd support so far this season. He said Husker fans showed their loyalty on Wednesday night when 825 fans missed a vice presidential debate between Dan Quayle and Lloyd Benisen to attend Nebraska’s 15-9, 15-11, 15-8 victory against Kansas State. “Our fans have been supportive,’’ Pettit said. Saindon isn’t concerned about a large, vocal crowd because Colorado has learned to battle adverse condi tions. He said the Buffaloes refuse to be intimidated by any crowd. “It’s fun to play in front of big crowds,” Saindon said. “We’ve played in front of some this season and we’ve enjoyed it.” Huskers need consistent performance to stop Air Force today, coach says Ifeltyle Schurman StmReportor Though the 1988 Nebraska junior varsity football team has begun its season similar to last year’s start, coach Shane Thorell hopes the end to this season is different than 1987’s conclusion. In 1987, Nebraska opened its sea son with victories against the St. Thomas (Minn.) and Bethany (Kan.) junior varsity teams by a combined score of 117-0. This season, the Husker junior varsity has defeated those two teams by a combined 154 3. But last season, Nebraska lost tne three games that followed. The Husk* ers' losing streak began with a 21-19 loss at Air Force. Thorell said pre venting a repeat of last year’s late season demise begins by winning today’s rematch with Air Force in Memorial Stadium at 1 p.m. Univer sity of Nebraska-Lincoln students who present their student identifica tion cards wi)l be admitted free. The Air Force junior varsity also beat Nebraska 24-18 in 1986 in Lin coln. The back-to-back losses were the first for Nebraska’s junior varsity since it lost consecutive games to the Missouri junior varsity in 1965 and 1966. The Husker JVs nave never lost to the same team three straight times. Thorell, in his second season as the junior varsity coach, is not emphasiz ing the back-to-back losses to Air Force. “But it shouldn’t take an Einstein to Figure out things should change,” he said. “We’re not taking (the Air Force game) any differently. We’re not going to try to win it just because we’ve loss two straight to them. We’U treat it like any other game." Air Force, Thorell said, will be gunning for a third straight win over Nebraska. “It helps their recruiting to say they’ve beaten the Nebraska fresh men,” Thorell said. ‘Air Force is a good team — a disciplined team. We’llhave to be sharp.' —ThonU braska has not played well this year, despite the lopsided wins and will have to play better against Ah- Force to win. “Air Force is a good team — a disciplined team,” Thorell said. “We'll have to be sharp.” Since Air Force runs a wishbone offense, Nebraska’s defense will have to be more disciplined than it has been in its first two games, Thorell said. He said the Huskers have had 2 1/2 weeks to work on the wishbone, though, and should be ready for it. The Nebraska offense should con tinue to play well against Air Force, Thorell said, although it may not be Thorell said the Huskers will win if they play more consistently against Air Force than they did last year. Dunne last year s contest, Nebraska led 16-7 at halftime, but Air Force dominated the second half and won. The Huskers will have to play quality, consistent football for the entire game to defeat Air Force this season, Thorell said. He said Ne able to match its 595.5-yard-per game average. The Husker varsity will not be promoting any more junior varsity players for its game Saturday at Kansas, so the entire Husker of fense should be intact. Thorell said the varsity coaches had considered promoting freshman 1-back Scott Baldwin to the varsity after Monday’s season-ending injury to sophomore Terry Rodgers, but then decided not to. “We’re glad to- have (Baldwin)” Thorell said. “He and all of the backs will be a big part of our offense. Our offense is pretty good. We can move the ball.” The Huskers will need all of their weapons to combat Air Force’s major advantage over them — Air Force uses bom sophomores and freshmen on its junior varsity team, while Nebraska uses nearly all freshmen with a handfull of sophomores. Thorell said the entire Air Force JV team’s starting offensive line is made up entirely of sophomores. He said Air Force’s sophomores are more mature, faster and stronger players than they were as freshmen. Doug CarroM/Dalty Nobrmkan Nebraska junior varsity fultoack Scott Gray, a freshman from Coleridge, Is stopped by a Bethany (Kan.) College Junior Varsity player during the Comhuskers' 684 win against the Swedes Sept. 19. Nebraska faces the Air Force Junior Varsity today at 1 p.m.