The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current, September 25, 1992, Page 8, Image 7

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Huskers face aggressive Devil defense
t»y nick HytreK
Senior Reporter
On Saturday, the Nebraska foot
ball team will be going back for sec
onds.
By playing Arizona State, it will be
the second straight week the No. 15
Comhuskers will play a team from the
Pac 10 Conference.
It will be the second straight week
2-1 Nebraska faces an aggressive,
attacking defense.
And, Husker coach Tom Osborne
said, if the Huskers don’t play well, it
could mean ^heir second straight loss.
“If we don’t play our best football
of the year it’ll be very difficult,”
Osborne said. “We’ll have to play
belter than we probably did against
Washington.”
Kickoff will beat 1 p.m.at Memo
rial Stadium.
Last Saturday, the 1-1 Sun Devils
limited Louisville to only 13 yards in
a 19-0 win. Osborne said that was the
first time he had heard of such a
defensive performance.
“It was aboutas total a whipping as
I ’ ve ever seen a reasonably good foot
ball team take,” he said. “I thought
Arizona State played awfully well.”
Linebacker Brett Wal lerstedt leads
a defense that will look familiar to
Husker fans, Osborne said.
“They’ve got a good defense,” he
said. “They play a very similar style
of defense to Washington. They have
a lot of quickness. They’ve got some
defensive backs that can cover. They
come at you with eight people a lot.”
Against Louisville, the Sun Devil
defense had 10 quarterback sacks for
100 yards in losses. That led to a
Louisville rushing total of minus 73
yards.
But, Osborne said, Arizona State
can gel it done on offense, loo. T ailback
Mario Bates is second in the nation in
rushing with an average of 161.5 yards
Daily Nebraskan staffers pick the [
winners of the ten major college [
football games this weekend, with l
winners in bold:
Iowa at Colorado
TUIsa at Oklahoma St.
Missouri at Indiana
Temple at Kansas St.
Arizona at Miami
Clemson at Georgia Tech
San Diego St. at UCLA
Houston at Michigan
Mississippi at Georgia
N.C. St. at N. Carolina
Nebraska 31,
Arizona St. 17
Last week: 7-3
Year: 15-5 (.736)
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per game. The 6-foot-2, 206-pound
Bates rushed for 214 yards against
Washington in the Sun Devils’ 31-7
season-opening loss.
“Bates is probably the best running
back that we’ve faced,’’Osborne said.
‘Bates is a big guy, has great speed
and he bounces off a lot of tackles. He
has tremendous balance, tremendous
strength. He’s very hard to bring
lown.”
At quarterback, Garrick McGee
will get his first start. McGee was
suspended before each of Arizona
State’s first two games.
Despite losing by 28 points,
Arizonc Stale’s performance against
Washington was not an indication of
what to expect Saturday, Osborne said.
“I think (Arizona Slate) a very fine
football team and at this point they’re
Sun Devil coach ranks
Huskers among top teams
By Jeff Singer
Senior Reporter
It doesn’t matter to the Arizona
State football team that Nebraska lost
to Washington last week.
The Sun Devils still think they will
be playing one of the nation’s best
teams this weekend.
Arizona State will battle the 15th
ranked Comhuskers at 1 p.m. Satur
day at Memorial Stadium.
“We’re approaching it like we’re
playing the best team in the country,”
said Kent Baer, Arizona State defen
sive coordinator.
“You’re not going to shut their
running game down,” Baer said. “They
run the ball better than anybody in the
country.”
The Sun Devilsevened their record
last Saturday by shutting out Louis
ville 19-0 and limiting the Cardinals
to 13 total yards after giving up460 to
Washington two weeks before.
Baer said he thought the Sun Dev
ils were continuing to improve.
“We’ve improved tremendously
since the first half of the Washington
game,” Baer said. “We feel like we’re
getting better.”
Baer said it would take a big game
from everybody on the Arizona State
squad for the Sun Devils to pull off the
upset on Saturday.
“It’s going to take three great ef
forts — on offense, on defense and
with the kicking game/’ Baer said.
“We’re not as talented as Nebraska,
but hopefully we can play at a higher
level.”
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Nebraska’s Derek Brown carries the ball in the Cornhuskers’ win over Middle Tennessee State.
After losing 29-14 to Washington last weekend, the Huskers will play Arizona State Saturday.
much different than the team that
played Washington three weeks ago,”
he said. “They had an open date which
I think helped them get some things
organized.”
At the same lime, Osborne said he
hoped the Huskers would play well
after their 29-14 loss to Washington.
“I’m really, really anxious to see
how we respofid to the situation,” he
said. “The thing about athletics is you
really can’t afford to spend very much
time in introspection or reflection.”
Notes:
•Saturday’s game will be the fifth
meeting between the teams. Nebraska
leads the series 3-1 and won last
season’s game 18-9.
• Arizona State coach Bruce
Snyder is 0-1 against Nebraska. In
1979, the Huskers beat Snyder’s Utah
State team 35-14 in Lincoln.
• Osborne-coached teams arc 36
6-1 in the game after a loss and have
lost back-to-back games only once
during the regular season. The Iasi
time Nebraska lost consecutive non
conference games was 1958.
NU defensive effort
impresses McBride
By Phil Carter
Staff Reporter
An impressive defensive effort
last Saturday against No. 2 ranked
Washington was enough to satisfy
Husker defensive coordinator
Charlie McBride, but McBride said
he wasn’t impressed with the
game’s outcome.
“You should never be satisfied
when you lose a game,” McBride
said. “But the way the defense over
came mistakes and crowd noise to
play impressively, it was an effort
I was satisfied with.”
The effort, however, was costly
to the Nebraska defense. Defensive
tackle Jamie Liewcr broke his right
fibula early in the first quarter
against the Huskies and will miss
up to eight weeks following sur
gery and rehabilitation.
Nebraska safety Tyrone Byrd
was also injured.
“(Byrd) shouldn’t be out very
long. It looks like he’s doubtful for
this week because he bruised his
thigh and pulled his hamstring,”
McBride says. “Hopefully it’snoth
ing long-term.”
This week, the defense will be
getting a look at Sun Devil quarter
back Garrick McGee as he returns
to the AS U offense for the first time
since being suspended this sum
mer.
“It’s hard to say what they will
run because they have no consis
tency at quarterback,” McBride
said.
Crowd noise could also affect
the Sun Devils’ offense and its
success against the H usker defense.
“I was really impressed with the
Washington fans and the amount of
noise they produced,” McBride
said. “Their fans did a great job,
and I don’t mean that in a negative
sense. That’s college football, and
it really gives excitement to the
players and the game.”
NU volleyball begins Big Eight season tonight
By Jeff Singer
Senior Reporter
As the Nebraska volleyball team
opens its Big Eight season this week
end against Oklahoma, the
Comhuskers are hoping a good start
will launch them toward a 17th straight
conference championship.
Nebraska has won every previous
Big Eight title and will attempt to get
things off on a winning track against
theSoonersat7:30 tonight in Norman,
Okla:
, Nebraska will conclude the week
end with a non-conference match
against defending Southland Confer
ence c hampion South west Texas S tale
at*l p.m. Saturday in Norman.
The Huskers have a 219-6-1 all
time record against conference schools
and Nebraska has gone 34-4 during
the previous 16 seasons against Okla
homa.
Nebraska volleyball coach Terry
Pettit said that despite the Huskers’
dominance over the Sooners, Okla
homa might test Nebraska tonight.
“They have a lot of personnel re
luming, and they’re probably the big
gest team we’ll play all year,” Pettit
said.
The big Sooner lineup, which has
produced a 4-4 record so far this sea
son, includes 6-foot-3-inch outside
hitter Gretchen Anderson and middle
blockers such as 6-foot-2-mch Laura
Rappard, 6-foot-1 -inch Sara Biese, 6
foot-l-inch Heidi Luehman and 6
foot Gloria Holcolb.
Nebraska setter Christy Johnson
said Oklahoma’s talented lineup
showed how teams were improving in
the conference.
“They ’ re going to be a good team,”
Johnson said. “Tlie Big Eight is just
getting better and better each year.”
As for the Huskers, Pettit’s lineup
for the Big Eight opener includes last
year’s Big Eight Player-of-thc-Ycar
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middle blocker Stephanie Thaler and
outside hitters Eileen Shannon, Laura
Luther, Allison Weston and Kim
Tonniges. Johnson and N ikki Strieker
will split time at the setting position.
Pettit said he thought the lineup
could help increase Nebraska’s con
ference title streak to 17.
“I’m optimistic that we’re ready to
go do it,” Pettit said.
But, he said, the Huskers’ past
dominance doesn’t automatically
guarantee Nebraska a Big Eight title
again this season.
“The reason we’ve won 16 is that
wc haven’t approached it that way,”
Pettit said. “We approach it like we
haven’t won it before.”
Nebraska has a 5-2 record this year
after beating Wyoming twice last
weekend, and the Huskers are cur
rently ranked sixth in the national
coaches’ poll.
Johnson said Nebraska, which fin
ished undefeated in the conference
last season and 27-5 overall, might
just be better this year.
.“It’s a different team,” Johnson
said. “We’re a little bitcloser than last
year and there’s more chemistry on
the court.”
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