Grant will start;
Turner and Brown
recover from flu
From Staff Reports
Second-string comerback Jon Crip
pen may miss Saturday’s game at
Kansas State because of a pulled
quadricep, Nebraska coach Tom
Osborne said after practice Thursday.
Crippen, who apparently pulled
the muscle after Wednesday’s prac
tice, will be examined before the team
leaves, and a final decision will be
made then, he said.
Wingback Nate Turner and I-back
Derek Brown both relumed to prac
tice after sitting out Wednesday with
the flu, Osborne said.
Mike Grant, who was hampered in
the Oregon State game by a knee
injury, will start at quarterback Satur
day and is at full speed, Osborne said
“He’s running a lot better,” he
said. “He’s moving more like I thought
he can. It seemed like early in the
(Oregon State) game he didn ’t run so
well.
, “I don’t think he had run full speed
for so long that he seemed like he had
trouble with his balance.”
Men’s tennis team
to travel two roads
By Paul Domeier
Senior Reporter
The Nebraska men’s tennis team
will open its fall season short-handed
this weekend, and Coach Kerry
McDermott said that could be good.
Most Comhuskers will play in
the Intercollegiate Tennis Coaches
Association regional indoor tour
nament in Wichita, Kan.
No. 1 singles player Matthias
Mueller, though, will be playing in
a Los Angeles tournament with 15
of the other top 41 ranked players
in the country.
“It kind of works out good,
giving some players an opportu
nity to play in this tournament,”
McDermott said.
Karl Falkland and Todd Broad
erick will join returning starters
Scott Randolph, Steve Barley,
Anthony Kotarac and David Mo
yer in Wichita.
The tournament is split into
singles and doubles with no team
scores kepi. All players will play in
the same single-elimination brack
ets with the singles finalists and
doubles winners being invited to
February’s ITCA national indoor
tournament.
In California, Mueller will have
nothing to lose. He’s the lowest
ranked player at No. 41, so any win
would be a bonus.
“It will give him a chance to
play some guys from USC and
Peppcrdine and some of the lop
teams,’’ McDermott said.
And Mueller, a baseline spe
cialist whose game is geared to
ward slower surfaces, won’t have
to play on the quick indoor courts
in Wichita. Hard-hitters Broader
ick, Kotarac and Moyer will bene
fit from those courts.
“If we get a couple guys to the
quarters (quarterfinals) in the singles
and one or two doubles teams to
the quarters, it will be a good tour
nament for us,” McDermott said.
Injury, illness plague
gives NU softball team
chance to look at depth
By Erik Unger
Staff Reporter __
The Nebraska softball team will
play in Creighton’s six-team, thrcc
day tournament this weekend with
just 10 players.
Nebraska has been hit hard with
injuries and illness, causing the low
numbers. The Comhuskers still will
have pitchers Marie Bowie and Stepha
nie Skegas, although Skegas is troub
led with tendinitis in her pitching
elbow.
“It will be a good look at our
depth,” Wolforth said.
Sore arm and all, Skegas was strong
in her last outing Tuesday against
Nebraska Wesleyan. She was close to
throwing a perfect game when it was
called by the umpire because of rain.
Skegas needed just one more out in
the fourth inning for the the game to
count officially.
Wolforth is not as worried this
weekend as one might expect given
the situation. He said some players
may play out of position, but added
that that would help the Huskers in
the long run.
And, he said, except freshman third
baseman Amy Erlcnbusch, the play
ers that are available are experienced.
All of the other players have at least
one year of experience.
In addition to Nebraska and
Creighton, entered in the tournament
are the University of Nebraska at
Omaha, Kansas, College of St. Mary
and Southwest Missouri State.
With Kansas and Creighton fin
ishing in the top 20 at the end of last
season, however, it is not a good time
for Nebraska to be without a solid
bench. Regardless, those two teams
will expose what Nebraska will need
to work on in spring practice, Wolforth
said.
“It is important to play Division I
teams to sec where we arc at,” he
said.
After playing games against Ne
braska Wesleyan, Kearney State and
Wayne State when it was hard to
motivate the players, Wolforth said
playing Creighton and Kansas is a
great way to conclude the fall season.
“We arc excited because it is the
final week of the season and we get to
play Creighton and Kansas,” he said.
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Navy at Air Force
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Colorado at Missouri
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Soccer players
improve record
From Staff Reports
The University of Nebraska
Lincoln women’s soccer club
travels to York on Saturday to
play York College, and then
returns to the East Campus field
Sunday to play Kansas.
The team raised its record to
4-2 last Saturday.
Trish McGill scored two goals
in the contest, while Kristi Halik,
Ann Smith, Susan Lahmannand
Kim Phillips each scored once.
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JV coach: Air Force match
will be team’s premiere game
By Todd Cooper
Staff Reporter
Ii may not be the toughest, but
today’s game between the Nebraska
and Air Force junior varsity teams
usually is the biggest game of the year
for the Comhuskcrs, Coach Bill Weber
said.
Weber said the Huskers’ Sept. 7
game against Snow Junior College
was the toughest because it was the
First of the season, and there was
limited time to prepare. The team’s
premiere game probably will be to
day against Air Force, he said.
Today’s 2 p.m. game at Memorial
Stadium will be big because Air Force
has had ihc upper hand the last four
years, winning 38-34 last season and
taking games in 1986 and 1987 by a
combined total of eight points. Ne
braska’s win came in 1988, 35-16.
“It’ll be a big challenge for us,”
Weber said. “These kids from Air
Force will be very disciplined. They
always play hard and they never beat
themselves.”
When they do self-destruct, Air
Force has the ability to make it up
with quick strikes, Weber said.
"They traditionally score in big
chunks,” he said. "They may get a
long pass here or a bootleg or some
thing to get back in the game.”
Those big plays arc set up by Air
Force’s wishbone attack — a forma
tion Weber’s team has not seen this
year.
"It’salways tough to simulate it in
practice because of the speed of the
thing," Weber said. "The teams that
you play that run the wishbone arc so
good at executing it.
"The real pressure is in the secon
dary, you have to support quickly on
the run and not let them throw an
option pass deep.”
Weber said he hopes Nebraska’s
passing efficiency improves in key
situations this week. Quarterbacks Matt
Jones and John McMillen were 13 of
22 for 222 yards against Bethany on
Sept. 24. Those stats, however, were
racked up only when the Huskers
were willing to throw.
“We hope to be a I i tile bit stronger
throw ing it when we need to,” Weber
said. “One of the areas we needed to
improve was the passing situations -
second- and third-and-long.
Jones and McMillen have been
preparing against the scout team for
possible Air Force blitzes, Weber said.
“We’re having them give us some
pressure that we didn’t really spend a
lot of time on the first few weeks,’' he
said. “If they had a chance to look at
any films the first two games, they’ll
see that the blitz bothered us at times.”
Weber said Nebraska will stick
with its offense against any blitzing.
“We’re going to have to lest the
waters initially to see what we can do
moving the ball on the ground,’’ he
said.
Wildcats
Continued from Page 7
sota, in that they have two capable
quarterbacks,” he said. “Watson
can come in and they don’t seem to
drop off at all. Watson appears to
be a little bit better runner.
“They seem to want to run a
few more options when he’s in
j there.”
The Wildcats’ rejuvenated of
fense is averaging 440.5 yards a
game. Their defense has held op
ponents to 15.3 points a game --
third in the Big Eight.
But what really sticks out,
Osborne said, is Kansas Slate’s
turnover ratio. He said the Wild
cats lead the nation in takeaways, a
factor that can win a lot of games.
“You can take all the total of
fense, total defense, kicking, and
all those other stats, and if the
turnover ratio is bad enough you
still lose the game,” Osborne said.
The Wildcats have only six turn
overs, while having the benefit of
taking the ball away 19 times. The
Huskers arc even at 10.
‘‘We probably need to do a better
job of getting it from other people
and we need to do a little better job
taking care of it,” Osborne said.
Snyder
Continued from Page 7
play poorly, Kansas State must play
perfectly and it must have some luck.
“The good Lord is going to have
to be wearing purple that day,” he
said.
The football gods have given
Nebraska 21 straight wins over Kan
sas State, including a 58-7 rout last
year.
The Wildcats probably will be
without quarterback Carl Straw, who
injured an ankle against New Mex
ico. Junior Paul Watson would start
in his place.
Against New Mexico, Waison
completed 6 of 11 passes for 114
yards and rushed for 66 yards and two
touchdowns. Saturday would be
Watson’s sixth career start.
“He’s had ample amounts of ex
perience,’’ Snyder said.
Running back Pat Jackson leads
Kansas State with 377 yards and five
touchdowns in 83 carries. Jackson
has gained more than half of the
Wildcats’ rushing yards. Kansas State
has averaged 261.8 yards a game
passing, 178.8 rushing.
Brooks Barta with 34 tackles and
four sacks and Elijah Alexander with
29 tackles lead a defense that has
given up 390.3 yards a game.
The Comhuskers are coming off a
lackluster 31-7 victory over Oregon
Slate. Snyder says that could be bad.
“I can’t recall that they’ve ever
put together two bad ball games,” he
said.
And some of those positive sup
porters have indicated that, he said
‘ ‘Condolences are in order for this
week,” Snyder said. “That seems to
be the feeling for a few people.”
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