Sports
Team record most important to Mitchell
By Sara Bauder
Staff Report'r
Utah quarterback Scott Mitchell
took a modest approach toward his
record-setting season.
Mitchell said he was surprised
with his performance last year be
cause the only goal he had was to lead
his team to wins. He did that while
leading the nation in total offense and
passing yardage, setting 10 NCAA
records, five Western Athletic Con
ference records and 24( school rec
ords.
Mitchell said he did not set out to
do any of those things.
“It wasn’t even in my mind,’’
Mitchell said. “I just wanted the
team to win. This year, I want the
same thing.”
At some points last season, Mitch
ell’s goal of seeing his team win
seemed far away. With four games to
go in the season, the Utes were 2-5
and just had dropped a 61 -18 decision
to Wyoming.
Mitchell said his biggest thrill in
sports came when Utah rallied and
ended its season with four wins. In
their last game, the Utes beat
Brigham Young for the first time in
10 years.
Mitchell, a 6-foot-6, 230-pound
junior from Spring vi lie, Utah, said
that because Utah’s offense likes to
throw the ball a lot, he had the chance
to complete a lot of passes and com
pile the passing yardage.
Mitchell said his goal for this sea
son is to lead Utah to a bowl game,
preferably the Holiday Bowl. The
winner of the Western Athletic Con
ference’s regular-season title re
ceives an automatic berth to that
bowl.
“I’m not much into personal
goals,” he said. “I just try to do my
assignments and complete my
passes.”
Mitchell said his main strengths
are his love for football and desire to
work.
“I love to play football,” he said.
“I want to work hard at it and be good
at it.”
To do well against Nebraska, the
Utcs cannot be intimidated by the
Comhuskers, Mitchell said.
“Nebraska is a national power,
well-known, with a big stadium and a
lot of people,” he said. “We can’t
make mistakes and have to play good
hard-nosed football.”
Mitchell said he had a chance to
play quarterback at Nebraska once.
He was at a football camp where
Dave Humm, an All-America quar
terback for Nebraska in 1974, was
coaching. Humm liked what he saw
in Mitchell and said he would go back
to tell the Nebraska coaches about
him.
“But I knew that Nebraska didn’t
have a passing offense, so I didn't
really want to go there,” he said.
Mitchell was recruited by BYU,
Stanford, Colorado and most of the
WAC schools.
“I decided Utah was the best place
for me,” he said. ‘‘I felt I could
develop as a football player and get a
good education here.”
An all-state selection in football,
basketball and baseball, Mitchell
said his true first love was baseball.
He said he had a chance to play pro
fessional baseball with the Houston
Astros, Boston Red Sox and New
York Mets.
But, during high school, Mitchell
said he began to like football more
than baseball.
He said his favorite play is any
thing that has a pass in it.
“I hate running the football,” he
said. ‘‘I think running is boring.”
Utah coach says defense
is team’s Achilles’ heel
By Chuck Green
Senior Reporter
Football fans who enjoy lots of
passing will feel right at home Satur
day in Memorial Stadium.
Utah, led by quarterback Scott
Mitchell, will take on the No. 4
ranked Comhuskers at 1:30 p.m.
Mitchell, a 6-foot-6, 235-pound
junior, has thrown for 719 yards and
seven touchdowns in Utah’s First two
games, completing 45 of 89 passes
without an interception.
“I don’t think our fans will see a
better quarterback this season,”
Nebraska coach Tom Osborne said.
‘ ‘ A couple years ago, (former UCLA
quarterback Troy) Aikman came in
here, but I don’t think they were re
ally set with him at that point. Mitch
ell certainly compares to he and (for
mer Miami quarterback Steve)
Walsh.”
Last season, Mitchell broke 24
Utah passing and total offense rec
ords, and led the nation in passing and
total offense while passing for 4,332
yards.
Utah coach Jim Fassel said the
game with Nebraska is just another
one on the Utes’ schedule.
“Of course, I’d just as soon play
somebody else,” he said. ‘‘Nebraska
is one of the best teams in the country *
year in and year out.”
One of Nebraska’s main defensive
problems during the last few seasons
has been stopping good passing
teams. Fassel sees that as a chance for
Utah to have a good day against the
Huskers.
“Mitchell can cause a lot of
people a lot of problems,” he said.
“But there are other factors. Scott has
got to have a good game for us to be
successful.
“I think sometimes people play
Nebraska and they put so much into
it, they can hit a lull after that. We’ll
try hard not to fall into that situ
ation.”
Fassel said Utah’s offense isn’t
playing at the level he wants, “but at
least the progression is right.”
* ‘We didn’t have a good game the
first week (a loss to Fresno Slate), but
then we returned with a good show
ing against Utah Slate (a 45-7 win),”
Fassel said. “In the first game, the
whole team was just flat.”
Utah returns 13 starters from last
season’s team, which finished with a
6-5 record and a fifth-place finish in
the Western Athletic Conference.
Fassel said he hopes for more this
season.
“We have the potential to be bet
ter than last year offensively,” he
said. “The key to our success is to
See UTAH on 8
Dally Nebraskan file photo
Nebraska cornerback Bruce Pickens returns an interception against Kansas State last season.
Pickens and the rest of the Cornhuskers’ secondary will have tneir hands full Saturday, as they
will face Utah quarterback Scott Mitchell.
Husker to play former team in softball season-opener
By Darran Fowler
Senior Reporter
University of Nebraska-Lincoln infielder
Michelle Cuddeford made what she said was a
difficult decision two years ago when she
transferred from Kearney State College.
Cuddeford said leaving Kearney State was
tough because she played both basketball and
softball for the NA1A school. She said it was
difficult to give up basketball in favor of play
ing softball at Nebraska.
Cuddeford, a Lincoln High graduate, was
recruited by Nebraska, but chose Kearney
Stale because the Antelopes offered her bas
ketball and softball scholarships.
‘‘I always wanted to play basketball,” she
said, “(but) after a couple years it was time to
move up and realize a dream.”
Cuddeford’s dream was to play at Nebraska.
“It wasn’t an easy decision,” she said. “I
always wanted to play Division I and it was
always in the back of my mind that I wanted to
play at Nebraska.”
Cuddcford will be united with some of her
old teammates today when Nebraska opens its
fall season in a doublehcader against Kearney
State at 5 p.m. at the NU Softball Complex.
The match-up will be televised by NETV on a
tape-delay basis at 9 p.m.
Cuddeford was a two-year starter at second
base for Kearney State. She was an NAIA All
America selection during her sophomore year.
Kearney State won the NAIA national
championship during her freshman year.
Cuddeford $aid she is looking forward to
competing against her former teammates.
“ I’ll be a little nervous, but it’s just another
ball game,” she said. “You got to block out
that they’re your friends and gel the job done.”
Nebraska softball coach Ron Wolforth said
he is going to give all the Huskers a chance to
get the job done. He said everyone will play
against the Antelopes.
“Very few people will play a full game,” he
said, “because we want to see what we have.”
He said a starting line-up has not been set,
“but I have a fairly good idea in my mind.”
The Huskers will approach the fall season as
a tune-up for the spring, he said. Wolforth
wants the Huskers to be prepared by the time
they reach their spring season-opener on
March 1, 1990, when they face Texas A&M.
“We have stressed all fall that March 1st is
the date we want to be ready,” he said.
Wolforth said freshman catcher Kristina
Vucurevic is questionable because of a muscle
pull. He said Vucurevic, who was a highly
recruited player at Kennedy High School in La
Palma, Calif., last year, wants to play.
“Her status is day-to-day,” Wolforth said,
“but I’m not going to rush her into a game
when she’s not near 100 percent.”
With the loss of All-Big Eight catcher Katy
Wolda, who used up her eligibility last season,
Vucurevic is the Huskers’ only catcher. Sopho
See KEARNEY on 8
Returning champions, new faces open season
Tennis coach anxious for weekend invitational
By Paul Domeier
Staff Reporter
An abundance of new faces and
two reluming champions will join the
rest of the Nebraska men’s tennis
team when it opens its season this
weekend by competing in the Husker
Invitational.
Nebraska men’s tennis coach
Kerry McDermott said he is looking
forward to the invitational because it
will give him a chance to see his team
in action. The invitational begins
today and will run through Sunday at
the Cather-Pouild and East Campus
courts.
Joining Nebraska for the meet are
Colorado, Southwest Missouri State,
Drake, Iowa State, Wichita State,
Midland (Texas) College, Tyler Jun
ior College and Graccland College.
The meet, which will not have team
scoring, begins at 9 a.m. each day.
McDermott said Matthias
Mueller, a Big Eight champion at No.
3 singles last year, will make his
debut at No. 1 singles. Ken Feuer,
who won the conference title at No. 4
singles last season, moves up to No. 2
singles. Steve Barley will fill the No.
3 slot.
Barley, a junior from Wichita
Falls, Texas, transferred to Nebraska
from Northeast Louisiana State this
semester.
McDermott said the top three
players are close in skills. Barley
defeated Mueller in the Nebraska
Open earlier this month and Feuer
recently defeated Mueller in practice.
McDermott said Mueller, a sopho
more from West Germany, holds the
No. 1 spot because of his raw ability.
Matthias has the potential to be a
great player,” McDermott said. “He
needs to be in that No. 1 spot. Hope
fully he’ll show some leadership.”
Of the 10 Huskers slated to play
this weekend, only Feucr and Mueller
were part of Nebraska’s line-up at the
end of last season. McDermott said
he tried a new tactic this year by
taking four transfer students.
He said he took the transfers be
cause he lost four lop players to
graduation.
“I had to get what I could,” he
said. “If I would have gotten four
freshmen, I would be really nervous
now.”
The remaining Huskcr partici
pants in the invitational are Scoti
Randolph at No. 4 singles, Karl
Falkland at No. 5 singles, David
Moyer at No. 6 singles, Joseph
Rahme and Troy Bray at No. 7 singles
and Troy Larsen and Andrew Auch
Moedy at No. 8 singles.
The doubles teams are Feuer and
Mueller at No. 1, Barley and Ran
dolph at No. 2, Falkland and Larsen at
No. 3 and Bray and Auch Moedy at
No. 4. '