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.