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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 18, 1991)
Yardage, touchdown bonanza Offense takes charge The year of the offense. , 1991’s regular season has been truly offensive. And everyone’s getting in on the show. First it was Penn State rolling to 300 yards rushing and a 42-24 victory over co-defending national champion Georgia Tech. Then it was Florida State the next night, exploding for 44 points against Brigham Young. While Florida State receivers renamed the Falcons Fly jyf Todd ijC Cooper BY-U, quarterback Casey Weldon made Ty-dye out of Detmer, passing for 268 yards on a 21 for 28 perform ance. Then came Houston. The Cougars’ David Klingler threw for 630 yards and nine touchdowns against Louisiana Tech in a 73-3 romp. Then came Miami. There went Houston. After racking up 42 points against Arkansas, Miami quarterback Gino Torretla threw for 365 yards, includ ing touchdowns of 71, 55, and 33 yards against Houston’s defense. Houston’s quarterback turned into Corporal Klingler in the Hcisman race, managing just 216 yards on 32 of 59 passing. Then Iowa found that there indeed was gold — and end zone — at the end of a rainbow. The Hawks ex ploded for 52 [mints against a Hawaii team that beat Wyoming (the Cow boys should have beaten Colorado). Florida, Michigan and yes, that’s right, even Kansas have all reaped dividends from this bonanza of offen sive production. Holy Toledo, the Jayhawks got in on the act with a 472- yard opening day performance against holey Toledo. Returning to whippings at home, Nebraska made sure that the Utah State Aggies knew who worked the land with 787 yards of offense. The same week, Washington, this week ’ s Comhusker opponent, blasted a Stanford team that will most likely upset, (make that beat — upset im plies one team is better than another) Colorado Sept. 28. The Huskies rolled off 415 yards against Stanford. That’s hardly comparable to Ne braska’s 696 yards against Colorado State. But go ahead, add up all the yards. Add up the touchdowns. There’s just one thing missing from these point charts and yardsticks. Defense. Penn State found out that they had no defense to their earlier whippings, falling to Southern Cal 21-10. Soulh em Cal, by the way, lost to Memphis State the week before. Houston found out the same at Miami. The only teams that have proven that they can field an adequate de fense to match the above offensive proportions are Clem son, Florida State, Florida, Miami and Michigan. And possibly Washington. The fourth-ranked Huskies travel to Lincoln with seven returning de fensive starters. That defense last year led the nation in rushing defense (66.8) yards per game while giving up just 13.7 points per game. What does that mean Saturday? Possibly nothing. The Huskies will field the same players that gave up 34 points to Iowa in the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day. In other words, they won’t stop Nebraska very often Saturday. Nebraska’s offense is as potent as it has ever been. But when looking back, Nebraska’s offense wasn’t exactly the problem last year. The defense was. And although it has improved from the 100 points they sacrificed in last year’s final three games, it’s not improved enough. Washington will win a high scor ing affair, probably 38-31 over the Huskers. Neither will win a national cham pionship. For like any other season, defense will win it all. Even in the year of the offense. Cooper is a sophomore news-editorial major and the Daily Nebraskan sports senior reporter. Green Continued from Page 7 • That Cooper had “stripped the players of their dignity.” • That Buckeye coaches didn’t care about their players’ physical well being. Smith said in the story that on at least three occasions, Uzelac pres sured him to miss class to attend football practice or meetings or other team related functions. Oi one occasion, Uzelac alleg edly told Smith that he was at Ohio State to play football, and that he took school too seriously. Naturally, the charges were dis missed by Cooper as a misunder standing, and Ohio State president Gordon Gee defended his school’s integrity by claiming that the Buck eyes’ 20 academic All-Americans were more than all the other Big 10 schools combined. Actually, according to the Big 10 Preseason College Football Yearbook, the conference’s other schools ac count for 80 academic All-Ameri cans. After Smith quit the team, Sports Illustrated reported, Ohio State offi cials allegedly began to circulate rumors about Smith’s practice of missing a few summer classes while not missing ladies’ night at the Co lumbus, Ohio, bars. This saga is far from over. While Smith’s college football career is in doubt — according to a story in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, he has con sidered transferring to John Carroll University, a Division III school near his Euclid, Ohio, home — his Ohio Stale scholarship has not yet been 1 ■ revoked by Cooper, and Smith will remain enrolled there this fall. This story is only one in a long string of a dangerous trend in college athletics. When something goes wrong, the players become dispensable pawns * whose scholarships and integrity are stripped from them, and are left to tell their stories to anyone who will lis ten. By that time, though, irreparable damage is done to their reputations, and their allegations are reduced to nothing more than “sour grapes” in the public’s eye. The reason is simple: The public is ready to accept any excuse so its weekend entertainment is not threat ened by NCAA sanctions, police ac tion or litigation. Two years ago, a former Notre Dame defensive linemen spun a web of allegations to Sports Illustrated that had Fighting Irish coach Lou Holtz screaming at him to play with pain and injuries, and to not take classes that interfered with football practice. Former Oklahoma quarterback Charles Thompson wrote a book about the Sooner football program in which he outlined under-the-table cash pay ments by Oklahoma football boost ers, indifference by the coaching staff and widespread drug use and grade Fixing. Thompson, who’s cocaine use landed him in prison, wrote the book from his cell only to be accused of lying and using the publication for financial gain once he was released. Maybe ... but that doesn’t mean his story wasn’t true. Likewise with the Notre Dame lineman. Truth and sour grapes are not always contradictory. Often, one comes hand in hand with the other. But all too often, it is met with doubt and even ridicule. After the Smith story began to unfold, ESPN college football ana lyst Lee Corso — a Big 10 coach at Indiana during the mid- and late- 1970s — sided with Cooper and Ohio State’s program on national television, call ing the Buckeye coach a man of in tegrity, and someone who would be honest and straight-forward about his program. Which implies that Smith is dis honest and deceitful. Undoubtedly, there arc more Robert Smith-type stories to come at various universities across the country. We have big-money college athletics to thank for it. Instead of dismissing such allega tions, and reminding ourselves to “consider the source,” maybe the next story should be met with closer inves tigation. Green is a senior news-editorial major, the Daily Nebraskan’s assistant sports editor and a columnist. If saving money sounds good, check out Twisters' Soundsaver Sale. — I Choose from hundreds of selected titles from the following artists on Polygram records: Cassettes Bon Jovi . m mm Eric Clapton fl? 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