Tyrance, teammates thirsty for Citrus Bowl
By Todd Cooper
Staff Reporter
Nebraska inside linebacker Pat
Tyrance has a tart taste in his mouth
and only the Florida Citrus Bowl can
remove it.
Bittersweet memories of Novem
ber — of missed opportunities and
missed awards — have left Tyrance
and his teammates thirsty for a vic
tory over 10-0-1 Georgia Tech.
“We’d definitely like to go out of
here on a winning note,” he said.
“That would just kind of take the sour
taste out of our mouths from the last
two losses.”
The first loss came to now top
ranked Colorado, 27-13 Nov. 3. The
Comhuskers never returned to their
former shape, Tyrance said, losing
45-10 to Oklahoma on Nov. 23.
“It really wasn’t indicative of the
games that we had played early in the
year,” he said. “We didn’t play with a
lot of emotion the last few games. It
was hard for the players to bounce
back from the loss to Colorado.”
Now the Huskers must recover from
the larger defeat at Oklahoma.
“We’re trying to gain a little re
spect,” Tyrance said.
“We’re not in a position to win a
national championship, and we don’t
want anyone else to win it at our
expense.”
Tyrance led Nebraska with 98
tackles, 41 in the final three games.
He said he expected the strong finish.
“I think it’s just my willingdess to
try to get better every week,” Tyrance
said. “It’s really being focused on
what it is I want to accomplish and
not letting circumstances affect my
play.”
For his on-field performance and
his 3.5 GPA as a pre-medicine major,
Tyrance was named a First-team aca
demic All-American this past week.
Two weeks ago, Tyrance was
awarded a $ 13,000 scholarship by the
National Football League Founda
tion and Hall of Fame. He also has
received a $4,000 NCAA post-gradu
ate scholarship.
But he was left off the First-and
second-team AP and UP1 All-Amer
ica lists.
“It kind of disappointed me a little
bit,” Tyrance said. “I guess you can’t
-1
really dwell upon that. I kind of use
that as motivation to work a little bit
harder.”
A win over Georgia Tech would
help ease the pain of the losses and
lack of awards. A Nebraska victory
also could confound the race for the
national title.
“What we have to do is make the
most of this opportunity: Go out and
beat the only undefeated team in the
country,” Tyrance said. ‘ It’s a chance
to mix things up more than they al
ready are.”
For a while, the No. 19 Huskers
had their own shot at being No. 1.
“We did have more than a couple
of opportunities to take control,”
Tyrance said. “It was hard. I think
some of the players had the mentality
that the season wasn’t going to be a
success unless we went undefeated.”
As a result, hints of dissension
surfaced following the Colorado game.
“After a loss, people kind of have
the tendency to point the finger,” said
Tyrance, a Nebraska captain. “Over
all, I know the team attitude has been
good. We continue to be pretty close
and supportive of each other.”
A senior from Millard North, Tyr
ance has 208 career tackles, 12th on
Nebraska’s all-time list. He said he
would like to follow his Husker ca
reer with another type of personal
recognition as an NFL draft pick.
“It’s always been a goal or dream
to play in the NFL,” he said. “I’m
interviewing for med school right now,
and hopefully I’ll get a couple of
acceptances by the time the draft rolls
around.
“It depends on the circumstances
as far as where I gel drafted and when
I get drafted.”
Ideally, Tyrance wants both.
“The last few years I’ve really had
the motivation to be a doctor and
enter medical school,” he said. “I’d
really like to do both but if it doesn’t
work out, I don’t think going to med
school’s all that bad.”
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Uncertainty helps Grant
stay inspired in practice
By Sara Bauder Schott
Staff Reporter
Uncertainty over theComhuskers’
starting quarterback may distract Mike
Grant most of the day, but it helps him
focus during practice.
The junior from Tampa, Fla., be
came involved in a contest for thfe
Comhuskers’ starting quarterback job
after the Oklahoma game when coach
Tom Osborne declined to name a
starter for the Citrus Bowl.
But Grant said the uncertainty has
helped him.
“It keeps you up,” he said. “You
can’t lollygag, you can’t slow down.”
Grant admitted that he normally
has a hard time staying motivated for
practices.
“It’s hard to get yourself up for
doing the same thing over and over,”
he said. “At least in a game you run a
lot of different plays.
The Citrus Bowl will be Grant’s
first opportunity to play in a bowl,
and doing so as a starter is very im
portant to him.
“I want to the No. 1 man,” he said.
“I don’t want to get in and play at the
end or anything like that.”
The 20 family members Grant will
have attending the game will be a
little extra motivation. Tampa is about
75 miles from Orlando. His parents
last saw him for the Nebraska-Bay lor
game, he said.
Grant said that when he came to
Nebraska, he knew he would have to
wait for playing time behind Steve
Taylor and Gerry Gdowski. B ulGrant
also knew that he didn’t want to be
come “just another brick in the wall”
of players who never get the chance
to contribute.
He started the season opener against
Baylor this year. He injured his knee
in that game and missed the next two
contests.
Grant returned to start games 4
and 5, but Mickey Joseph beat him
out for the starting role. The spot
opened up again in the final game of
the season when Joseph went out with
a leg injury.
Anxiety about winning the start
ing job weighs on Gram now, but he
said he has to block that thought out
when he takes the practice field if he
wants to do a good job. Concentrating
on football will be easier once the
semester is over and he doesn’t have
to worry about school, Grant said.
' In order to concentrate completely
on football, Grant said he has to block
many things out, including press
coverage of the team and poll rank
ings. He can successfully block al
most anything out, except for running
backs coach Frank Solich.
“He just gets on us and stays on
us,” Grant said. “It’s good for us —
he doesn’t let us slack off at all. He’s
just on us and on us and on us.”
Grant said the Huskers want to use
the bowl game as a way to soothe
their aching spirits after losses to
Colorado and Oklahoma and kick off
1991 in the right way.
If Grant is cast in the leadership
role of quarterback for the Citrus Bowl,
he said he will try to lead by example.
“I’m not a cheerleader on the field,
but I don’t like to be a sideline assas
sin, either,” he said. “I like to just lead
by doing what needs to be done, but if
the team needs a pep talk I’m capable
of giving that, too/’
———IIMMMMIII—iMill— I ■
L Georgia Tech
IT (10-0-1)
Jan. 1,1 30 p m. Orlando sraOGfMDrlando.Fla ,on ABC-TV
_First meeting between the teams.
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