NelJraskan
Tuesday, September 25,1990
NU’s Osborne
still pondering
Minnesota rout
From Staff Reports
Nebraska football coach Tom
Osborne was still stunned Mon
day from theComhuskers’ 56-0
blowout of Minnesota two days
before.
“You can’t appreciate the
win with such a point spread,”
Osborne said.
The victory margin affects
the fans, too, he said.
“People have been mentally
conditioned to think that the game
wasn’t worth it if it wasn’t a
close game,” Osborne said.
Nebraska’s injured skill
position players should be back
when, the Huskers attempt an
other rout Saturday against
Oregon State.
Leodis Flowers, Scott Bald
win and Nate Turner, who missed
the Minnesota game, were back
at the half-pad practice Mon
day. Flowers, the starting I-back,
has been out with a knee injury
and Baldwin, Flowers’ alternate,
has been plagued by a turf toe.
Turner was X-rayed again
Monday to check his recovery
from a broken collarbone that
has kept him out of Nebraska’s
first three games. Osborne said
the junior wingback was still
sore.
Onenew skill position player
missed practice. Jon Bostick,
the team’s leading receiver, sat
out but should return today,
Osborne said.
NU junior varsity defeats Bethany
By Todd Cooper
Staff Reporter
The Nebraska junior varsity team
was afflicted with breakdowns in the
first half of Monday’s game against
Bethany (Kan.) junior varsity, but the
game ended with a healthy 45-0 vic
tory over the Swedes.
Plagued by turnovers and penal
ties that ended numerous scoring
threats, the Cornhuskers could only
manage seven points after 28 minutes
of the first half.
‘ ‘Offensively we didn’t get rolling
like we anticipated,” JV coach Bill
Weber said. “We had a number of
good plays, but our drives were get
ting about 10 to 12 plays long and
we’d start having breakdowns.”
With two minutes left in the first
half, Bethany had some breakdowns
of their own. A Jeff Lang punt sailed
to the 1 -yard line when Bethany’s Jay
Miller bobbled the ball. Nebraska split
end Travis Grant recovered the foot
ball at the 1, and I-back Bob Cook
scored on the next play.
Two changes of possession left
Bethany with the ball once again.
Nebraska safety Jason Simdom then
picked off a Jeremy Bacckel pass and
returned it to the Swedes’ 26 with 30
seconds left.
Nebraska moved into field goal
range when wingback Jeff Hughes
caught a 31-yard pass from quarter
back Matt Jones on the next play.
With time running out, Lang nailed a
19-yard field goal to put Nebraska up
17-0.
Although a 17-point lead was
comforting, Weber said he was disap
pointed with the three turnovers and
four penalties Nebraska suffered in
the first half.
“Their defense was doing a good
job of making us go the full distance,
we just weren’t disciplined enough to
execute,” Weber said. “You get
concerned that something wasn’t quite
right... they needed to be jostled or
something (at halftime) to get going.” j
But Nebraska’s defense didn’t need
much jostling, Weber said.
“We were pretty confident that
the 17 points we had would hold up
based on how our defense was play- 1
ing,” he said.
And it did.
Led by linebacker Leroi Jones with
six total tackles, Nebraska’s defense
held the Swedes to five first downs in 1
the game.
‘ ‘We did a good job of not giving
up the big play,” Weber said. “We
got a lot of pressure on the quarter
back and (when) that happens they’re
not going to be successful.” i
Matt Jones was successful more
times than not on Monday. After a
sub-par passing performance in Ne
braska’s opening win against Snow,
the freshman completed 9 of 11 passes
for 171 yards and one touchdown. I
“He’s a good thrower,” Weber
said. “When he gets his feet set and
makes a good decision, he can really
throw it in there.”
Despite the 45 points, Weber said
the junior varsity will have to im
prove on offense for the Oct. 5 match
up with the Air Force junior varsity, a
team that beat Nebraska 38-34 a year
ago.
“We’re really going to have to
improve our execution on offense. .
.we play in spurts,” he said.
“At times we’re just not hitting on
all cylinders and that’s our goal.
Nebraska junior varsity’s Michael Bowen breaks up a pass
from Bethany’s Jeremy Baecket in the fourth quarter Mon
day.
USC plunges in AP poll;
Nebraska remains No. 8
The Associated Press
Southern Cal and Arkansas
plummeted in the rankings after
losing their first games, and Vir
ginia jumped to its highest spot
ever in The Associated Press col
lege football poll.
Southern Cal dropped 13 places
to No. 18 after gelling blanked by
Washington 31 -Oand Arkansas fell
10 notches to No. 23 following a
21-17 loss to Mississippi.
Virginia’s 59-0 thrashing of Duke
moved the unbeaten Cavaliers up
three spots to No. 7. The best pre
vious ranking for Virginia was No.,
9 in 1949 and 1952.
Nebraska remained eighth after
crushing Minnesota 56-0 Saturday.
Notre Dame remained No. 1 for
the third straight week after edging
Michigan Stale 20-19. The Fight
ing Irish received 43 first-place
votes and 1,478 points from a na
tionwide panel of sports writers
and broadcasters.
Florida State is second, followed
by Auburn and Brigham Young.
Florida State, which beat Tulane
31-13, got 11 first-place voles and
1,397 points.
Auburn and BYU each received
three fim-place votes, but the Tigers
out-pointed the Cougars 1,384
1,261. Auburn had the week off,
and BYU beat San Diego Slate 62
34.
Tennessee is fifth, followed by
Michigan, Virginia, Nebraska,
Oklahoma, Miami, Texas A&M,
Washington, Houston, Illinois, Ohio
State, Arizona, Florida, Southern
Cal, Clcmson and Colorado. Round
ing out the Top 25 are Arizona
State, Michigan Slate, Arkansas,
Fresno Stale and South Carolina.
Fresno State and South Caro
lina moved into the rankings for
the first time this season, replacing
Texas and Pittsburgh.
Fresno rose to No. 24 after beat
ing New Mexico Stale 42-3 and
South Carolina moved up to No. 25
after downing Virginia Tech 35
24. It is the second straight season
that Fresno has been ranked. Last
year, the Bulldogs got as high as
23rd.
Texas, 22nd last week, is 1-1
after losing to Colorado 29-22 and
Pittsburgh, last week’s No. 25, is
2-1-1 after tying Syracuse 20-20.
JV player Cook says he scored
touchdown for ill grandmother
By Sara Bauder Schott
Staff Reporter
Nebraska I-back Bob Cook has no
miracle cure, so he ran hard to give
his grandmother what he could in
Monday’s junior varsity football game.
Cook had just found out that his
grandmother, who was in the stands,
has cancer.
‘T just wanted to score a touch
down for her,” Cook said. ‘‘I wanted
to do well for her. It makes you real
ize there’s more to life than foot
ball.”
Cook did score that touchdown
for his grandmother, as the Com
huskers beat Bethany College, 45-0.
He also was the leading rusher for the
Huskers, gaining 78 yards on 17 car
ries.
The 5-foot-9,180-pound freshman
from Omaha said he was happy with
the Huskers' performance. He thinks
the team is well-prepared for the rest
of the season, he said, but lacks con
centration. The Huskcr victory was
marred by mistakes like six fumbles
and seven penalties -- four of the
fumbles and four of the penalties
coming in the first half.
“We need to cut down on mis
takes and get more consistent,” he
said. “We need to get everyone - all
11 guys on the field -- concentrat
ing.”
Cook said Nebraska’s recent
dominance over Bethany made con
centration on the game more diffi
cult. In the past three years, Nebraska
has outscorcd Bethany 199-0. With
that kind of imbalance, it easy to look
past Bethany to the other teams on the
JV schedule, Cook said.
At times, Cook dominated the
Nebraska offense. In the Huskers’
first drive of the second quarter, he
ran the ball four consecutive times,
gaining 26 yards and two first downs.
Cook said eventually he’d like to
run the football more.
“I’m real happy that all the I
backs got in today,” Cook said, “In
the future, I hope to get a few more
snaps, but I’m not complaining.”
Cook, who played at Millard South,
came to Nebraska in 1989. A knee
injury kept him from playing for the
J V last year, and he received an injury
redshirt. He said he has recovered
from the injury, but has to wear a
brace on his knee.
“It slows me down a little, but I
just put my head down and go,” he
said.
Joseph manages to find flaw in weekend whipping
By Paul Dometor
Senior Reporter
Mickey Joseph had the luxury of
nitpicking.
Saturday the junior quarterback
led the Comhusker offense to six
touchdowns in eight scries, and 368
yards in 50 plays.
But after Nebraska’s 56-0 plaster
ing of Minnesota, Joseph was still
bugged by a first-quarter interception
and his three-game interception streak.
That’s a good sign, when the worst
part of the day is a pass thrown into a
25-mph wind, tipped into the air and
caught by a Golden Gopher defender
with no effect on the game’s out
come. But that’s the kind of day Jo
seph had, beginning with a 13-play,
89-yard drive to start the game.
“You can feel it from the begin
ning of the game that everything’s
going smoothly,” Joseph said. “When
you get a drive like that, you get
going pretty good.”
Joseph, wno was making his sec
ond start, finished with 32 yards rush
ing and 117 yards passing. Joseph
said he was pleased with his 7 of 11
passing, other than the interception.
Ncbraskacoach Tom Osborne said
Joseph only made one bad audible,
and estimated that Joseph changed
the play about half the lime.
Particularly impressive, if simply
because it was so obvious, was a 21
yard touchdown pass to Derek Brown
in the third quarter. Joseph looked
over the defense and audibled to a
new play, one that called for the spread
formation instead of the I formation.
I-back Derek Brown, though,
couldn’t hear the check call, so Jo
seph had to turn and wave Brown into
a flanker position. Joseph took the
snap, Brown look a few steps downficld
and turned out, and Joseph flipped the
pass to the wide-open back. Brown
scored without being touched.
So the passing and play-calling
was there. Also evident was Joseph’s
strength in effectively running the
option against the Gophers.
More than once Joseph ducked
under one defender, only to have
another player challenge him. Joseph
had to regain contact with the trailing
back and make the pitch. Only once
did he miss on a pitch, and it rolled
harmlessly out of bounds.
“You just got to keep going out
with him,' I-back Derek Brown said.
Joseph faces the prospect of stand
ing on the sidelines most of the lime
next week again si Oregon Suite. Mike
Grant, who started the first game, is
expected to be back from his bruised
knee.
“We did not play Grant today
because he said before the game that
he’d rather not play,” Osborne said.
“Hopefully next week we can play
Mike and play him a lot.”
Joseph took that prospect better
than he did the interception.
“Mike’s got to get back in a rhythm,
too,” Joseph said. “It’s only fair that
he get back in there.”