Sports
ISU may resemble Oklahoma team
__... . . , Shaun Sartin/DN
Nebraska '-back Derek Brown runs against Kansas. Brown is the second in the conference
in rushing behind teammate Calvin Jones.
Cyclones’switch to wishbone
is smart move, Osborne says
By Nick Hytrek
Senior Reporter _,^
When Nebraska football coach
Tom Osborne looks at film of this
season’s Iowa State team, he can’t
help but think of Oklahoma teams
from the 1970s.
Before the season, Cyclone coach
Jim Walden decided to go away from
his lone-back, passing-oriented of
fense and install the wishbone — the
same offensive set that Oklahoma
made famous.
“Some people may question Jim
Walden’sdccision logo with the wish
bone,” Osborne said. “I think it prob
ably was an intelligent move.”
Osborne said that during the ’70s,
it was hard to prepare for Oklahoma
because few teams ran the wishbone.
Because of the lack of ex posure to that
offense, it was hard to prepare for it,
he said, because the wishbone is so
much different from most offenses
the defense prepares for.
“It’s such a radical change defen
sively,” Osborne said. “You have to
have somebody on the fullback, some
body on the quarterback, somebody
on the pitch every play.”
And if the defense fails to set up
correctly, the wishbone can be even
more effective, Osborne said.
“You've still got to get lined up
right,” he said.“Against the wishbone
you can line up beat and if you’re off
one guy they can have a big play on
you.”
Kickoff for the game between the
No. 7 H uskers and Iowa Slate is set for
1 p.m. Saturday at Cyclone Stadium
in Ames.
At 3-6 overall and 1-4 in the Big
Eight, the Cyclones are in seventh
place in the conference standings.
“I think that obviously they’ve got
to be disappointed in their record,”
Osborne said. “They’ve had some
games that I’m sure they’re not real
proud of. You can look at some peri
ods of the season where they’ve played
quite well.
“The thing that we always try to
talk to our players about is that, we
want to look at a team at their best and
figure that they can certainly do that
again if not better,” he said.
~ it
They’ve got a lot of
Nebraska players
playing for them. A lot
of those kids are
going to play their
very best game.
Osborne
NU coach
--** "
One of those periods when Iowa
State was at its best was its 50-47 loss
to Kansas earlier this season, Osborne
said.
“If you look at Iowa State offen
sively against Kansas, you’d be quite
impressed. They scored 47 points,”
Osborne said. “There are only two
Learns that Uavc moved the ball on
Kansas this year and that’s Nebraska
rnd Iowa State, so we were impressed
with that performance.”
And Osborne said his 7-1, 4-0
bluskcrs could expect Iowa Slate’s
rest effort.
See CYCLONE on 11
Walden wishing NU wasn’t
next on Cyclones’ schedule
ocicmy riizpairiCK
Staff Reporter
Iowa Slate football coach Jim
Walden has no illusions about his
game Saturday against the No. 7 Ne
braska Comhuskers.
“(Saturday) would be a great time
for me to be playing someone else,”
Walden said, “but I guess that is prob
ably what all the coaches in America
would say.
“I think we have to play with all
our hearts and play with a football
team that on paper does not have a
chance.”
Walden’s realism is well-founded.
The Cyclones arc 1-4 in the Big
Eight and 3-6 overall. On Sept. 26,
they lost to Division I-AA Northern
Iowa 27-10. Only Missouri, with an 0
5 record in the conference, has had a
worse year.
One of the main reasons for Iowa
State’s lack of success, Walden said,
is that the Cyclones have had to learn
a new offense this year.
Walden did not follow the lead of
many teams — including Colorado
— of switching to a passing attack.
Instead, the Cyclones moved to a run
oriented wishbone offense similar to
the one Oklahoma ran in the 1970s
and 1980s.
“There’s a lot to learn,” he said.
“We threw everything we’d taught
these kids out the window and started
over.”
Walden said he had made the switch
to the wishbone because of the play
ers he had to work with.
“I’m in the4bone because 1 thought
it was the best for the talent we had
this year,” he said. “We’re going to
remain with a strong emphasis on the
run.”
Despite the Cyclones’ record,
Walden said the year hadn’t been all
bad.
“There have been moments during
the season—against Iowa and against
Kansas — that we have played pretty
damn well,’ he said. “We very easily
— in my own heart, I believe—could
be be 6-3.”
“We have done it to ourselves.
Nobody else has done it.”
But Walden said it would be hard
to believe his team could upset the 7
1 Huskcrs.
Not many would bet the house on
Nebraska losing,” he said. “If you
look at the last 20 years, they’ve
probably only lost four times to the
other five teams (in the Big Eight
besides Oklahoma and Colorado).
“But it’salways possible,and we’ll
play that way to the end.”
Walden said he wouldn’t try any
thing new against the Huskcrs.
“You can’t — they won’t let you,”
he said. “Tom’s too diverse — to the
average man in the stands, they don’t
understand how diverse his offense
is.”
The message Walden will give his
uSSSSSIS., I2SJS£: »|TE SSSS^S, agf
c I? jssr 15 ill £. | is Efoxss is hi *
St ni&«K;„ n as t e 2? a IS HI £
?e SSlSvSST HSoil S E sE7dEJ If “I?
08 15 Tommis Frazier 6-0 100 Fr. J) QB 10 Donris Smith 5-0 179
™ I? £° gj S' ? lhb , SS?«5S5ton IS 1™ £:
IB 21 Dink Brown 5-9 185 Jr. J RHB26 Jim Knott fun mi c~
PK 13 iST B^^2tmad 53 11% So. f? FB 39 Chris Ulrich tlO 208 Jr‘
WC 13 Byron Bsnnstt 6-1 180 Jr. PK 2 Ty Stswsrt 8-11 175 So.
I I
LTLB 02 ■■ ti 22 £• ft 2EI £ Str-Swilwy •-« 282 Sr
NG 2 M ** S’ S Sr ” SK?" tJ SI I?
RT 90 Bnio* Moot* <WJ 240 Jr. *) LOE 41 OwtSuL ti
,lb‘ b 54 SlSSSh tl S2 JuC 2^0 58 Dan M,,ner ti S sf;
wfB 5 ST^KS?’ K SI si a wtSS SSSTaSS*-" a S* £
LCB 19 Kwmy Wilhite M 175 Sr. tj RCB 6 8H«wn wiik*r til 171 jtr
§• 1 Ewss. a a: & kB s. SS 1 5
il :>ag&ag a;ss:Q£s saaasr* a jss
T_' iicort Maurer/DN
M1.. __ I_f .1 .....
piajvi a uviuic me game, w aiaen said,
is to play hard even if the odds are
against them.
“You just do the best you can and
say win for the moment” he said.
“Play with your heart — it’s no dis
grace.
“(Winning is)alwayspossiblc,”hc
said. “What else do the downtrodden
have to look forward to except the day
in the sun when you upset somc
hnHv/9”
Meet marks last opportunity for cross country teams I
By Tony West
Staff Reporter
For the Nebraska men’s and
women’s cross country teams, this
weekend’s District V meet in Ames,
Iowa, will be the end of the season foi
some, but just another step for others.
Time is not a factor at this point oi
the season, coach Jay Dirkscn said.
“If we had more time, I don’t thinl
it would make a difference,” Dirkscr
said. “We arc as ready as we are goin^
to be.”
With only the top two teams in the
District meciqualifying for Nationals
— scheduled for November 23 in
Bloomington, Ind., — Dirksen has
some mixed feelings about the team’s
chances.
“The men probably won’tgo,but I
would be happy to see them finish in
the top 10 teams,’’ Dirksen said. “The
. women have a good chance to go.
They probably won’t win, but have a
chance at a second-place finish.”
\ Dirksen didn’t discount the possi
, bilily of the men sending an indi
' vidual performer to the national meet.
The lop three individual performers
in the men’s field will run at the
national meet.
Junior David I left a, who won the
Big Eight Championship, will likely
finish in the top three, Dirksen said.
Ilcfla will probably have a great
chance at qualifying,” Dirksen said.
I he women will also have some
runners who could fall back on their
individual performances to qualify if
the team doesn’t finish in the top two,
he said.
Among the women’s contenders is
senior Fran ten Bcnscl, who finished
second at the District V champion
ships last season.
“Fran ten Bcnscl will probably
qualify, but we don’t want her to
destroy herself in the attempt to win
the meet,” Dirksen said. “We just
want her to finish in the top three,
because nationals are right around the
corner.”
Junior Theresa Stelling may also
have a chance to qualify for nationals,
Dirksen said.
Stelling has been running really
well,” he said.
Dirksen said the athletes might be
coming into the meet somewhat blind
in terms of knowledge of the course.
“None ol the athletes might have
run .on the course before,” Dirksen
m/ -
said.
Allhough the course is new lo most
of the runners, Dtrksen said he was
coni idcnt that his runners w ould adapt
well.
“This is a good course (in Ames)
and they run a good meet,” Dirksen
said. "This meet will not he easy, hut
I feel the runners will run well on it.”
Although some of his teams’ goals
weren t accomplished this season, he
said, the district meet will he a good
chance to make up for a long season.
“We are ready to run our host race
ol the year and we need it.”
