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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 26, 1991)
— = ;NU Cornerback looks toward bright future I Todd Cooper ior Reporter romerback Mike Heins didn’t see :h of the lights above Memorial jium from the playing field Satur night against Washington. 3ut from the sideline, the sopho re from David City could see a ;ht future. ‘You can kind of see the light,” ns said. “Last year’s graduation a lot of places open. ‘So I’m pretty happy with where His position coach, George Dar ;ton, said he’s also pleased with ire Heins, who played in the first i games against Utah State and orado State, sits. After a redshirt r, the former walk-on has shot to second spot on the depth chart. He isted behind Tyrone Legette at it comerback. Heins’ versatility vaulted him there, lington said. ne piays oom siaes wen, Dar lington said. “He’s just a very good technician.” Darlington said his style could be copied by most Huskers. “There are certain techniques that Mike will play as well as any person in our secondary,” Darlington said. For that reason, Darlington said he’s comfortable putting Heins in big games like Saturday night’s against Arizona State. “We understand what he can do and what he can’t do, just like any other player,” Darlington said. “So we expect him to come in and play quite well.” Heins said he’d welcome such a f challenge. I “I’d treat it as a great opportu L nily,” Heins said. “You always have * tp be ready for that. “I’d jump at the chance.” According to Darlington, Heins will have plenty of chances to revel in this season. “He’s going to have an opportu See HEINS on 17 .... , - ■ W . -.*- ■ - .- I ^ Michelle Paulman/DN Free safety Tyrone Byrd zeroes in on Utah State wide receiver Rod Moore earlier this season. Byrd grew up in Chandler, Ariz., minutes away from Sun Devil Stadium, where Nebraska will battle Arizona State Saturday night. Huskers still among country's mediocre It has started again. The beginning of the end of a million national championship dreams, spreading from the Mis souri River to the Sandhills. The Comhusker football team has lost its first game of the season, and the whimpering, excuses and “what ifs” have risen from Ne Chuck Green Ibraska’s faithful fans like sewer gas from a swamp. it makes you wonder what will happen when — WHEN — the Huskers lose three more this year. That, of course, is counting the bowl game. Nebraska’s football program was once regarded as the cream of the crop in college athletics. Strong running backs with blistering meed running behind enormous offen sive linemen who eat cattle for lunch. Husker opponents would find themselves down 21-0 after the first quarter, and would be forced to try and come from behind against a defense that, for the most part, couldn’t be pushed around. But those days are gone. Recess is over. Nebraska’s football pro gram has slipped into mediocrity. Ignore the fact that Tom Osborne is the winningest active coach in Division I college football. It doesn’t matter. Most of those wins have come against out-manned, hope lessly over-matched teams like Colorado State, Utah State, UNLV and most of the Big Eight. It’s happened since Osborne became coach in 1973. Playing weak schedules does not a national champion make. Regardless of what seems obvious, weak schedules don’t cut it. If a team goes 11-0 during the regular season, they’ll just have to go to a New Year’s Day bowl game and play another 11-0 or 10-1 team that, chances are, played a tougher schedule and knows more about balanced football. Usbomc nas become lesiy over the past few years because of the amount of attention — and criti cism — the Huskcrs’ passing of fense, or lack thereof, and passing defense has gotten. Passing is the key, on both sides of the ball. And the theory is not a passing fancy. Back in the early 1970s, when Bob Devaney, now Nebraska’s athletic director, coached the team, he listened to fans’ cries for a change in the offensive scheme of things and took heed. Changes were made, not because the fans complained, but because Devaney recognized the need for something different. Osborne, apparently, won’t do this. He views criticism as some thing people “who don’t know much about football” do when they lose money on the Huskers. Us not . See GREEN on 17 West League symbolizes respect I listened to the Texas Rangers play the Seattle Mariners on the radio late Tuesday night. It’s more of an annual ritual than anything else; staying up with my boom box past midnight when my Rangers head to the West Coast in September. In a way, I feel like I’m vigilantly standing outside Texas’ usual early-autumn tomb. But Tuesday night was different. Granted, the Rangers and all but one John Adkisson other team had been eliminated from the American League West race, and yes, the season will not end with a World Series game in Arlington Sta dium. To me, though, the game symbol ized something more than two teams playing out the string. Instead it was two teams, each with respectable * seasons, trying to end their years as respectable as they started. And I realized that one word has characterized the American League West this season: Respect. From the division-leading Minnesota Twins all the way down to the last-place Cali fornia Angels, this may well be the best division in baseball. As of Wednesday: Every team in the division had a record over the .500 mark. This in cludes Seattle, a team which has never finished the season with a winning mark. The best record in baseball be longed to Minnesota. The last-place Angels have a nine game lead over any other last-place team in the majors. Chicago, nine games behind Min nesota, would be only 1 1/2 games behind AL-East leading Toronto. Seven of the AL’s top eight start ing pitchers — Minnesota’s Scott Erickson and Jack Morris, Califor nia’s Chuck Finley, Jim Abbott and Mark Langston, Chicago’s Jack McDowell and Kansas City’s Bret Saberhagen — arc pitching for AL West clubs. Texas’ Julio Franco led the league in hitting. In second place was Se attle’s Ken Griffey, Jr. Baseball’s best sluggers (with the exception of Detroit’s Cecil Fielder) arc ail in me wesi. examples.' lry Oakland’s Jose Canseco, Chicago’s Frank Thomas, Minnesota’s Chili Davis and Kansas City’s Danny Tart abull. You want relief? How about league leader Brian Harvey of the Angels, Rick Aguilera of the Twins, and Dennis Eckersley of the Athletics? Those three will battle down the stretch for the American League save title. Add ‘em up, and the facts scream that this division is not only the best in baseball now — but the best over all division ever. Ever? That’s right Consider this: The Angels’ dynamic trio of Abbott, Langston and Finley have combined for more than 50 wins this season — more than any other trio on any team. Yet, the Angels are the dregs of the West. And this: The Rangers have two of the top five hitting leaders in the league in Franco and Rafael Palmeiro, ana have a chance to have eight dif ferent players hit 15 homers. But they, too, are buried in the pile. History hasn’t been kind to the West. As recently as the early 1980’s, it was the AL East that played the role of the beast. Juggernauts like Boston, Baltimore and the New York Yan kees looked at West Coast swings as times to pad the win-loss record. But free agency changed all that. Guys like Kirk Gibson and Tim Raines landed in the West just this season when they found that the money was right. And don’t lode for much lo change. The White Sox have built a solid nucleus of young talent around Tho mas and Robin Ventura. The Seattle pitching staff has been a year away for a couple of years now. The Royals arc a shortstop and second baseman away. Texas has a 19-year-old catcher that may have the best arm in the American League. uniy me a s, me mrec-umc American League champions, are showing signs of aging. But we know that Canseco will probably be hitting 40 home runs until he’s 40, and that Eckersley will probably still be sav ing games well after his flowing long hair has turned gray. So as I turned the radio off Tues day after the one-run Texas win, I actually took pride in them beating the Mariners on the road. There used to be a day when beat ing Seattle was nothing. Now, be cause the M’s arc in the West, a victory is definitely special. And it looks like the West will be the best for a long time to come. For as long as there is baseball, the Cleve land Indians will always be in the East. J Adkisson to a Junior news-editorial major and a Dally Nebraskan staff reporter. 4
