Sports
Stad McKee/DN
Nebraska’s Kate Galligan stumbles over Arizona Stat s Stacey Johnson after chasing
a loose ball.
Huskers’ second-half surge
scorches Devils in opener
By Tim Pearson
Staff Reporter_
The Nebraska women’s basket
ball team started off their season
with a fight, but it took the
Comhuskcrs some time to deliver
the knockout punch.
Huskcr coach Angela Beck was
pleased with her team’s 86-79 win
over Arizona State Tuesday at the
Bob Dcvaney Sports Center.
“We put up a great fight,” she
said. ‘‘We hung in there and really
battled hard. Wccould have folded,
but we didn’t.”
The Sun Devils, who have been
ranked as high as ninth in pre
season polls, came out of the gates
ready to run jumping out to a 14-11
lead.
From then on in the first half, the
Huskers adjusted to the Sun Dev
ils’ running game.
Guard Sara Offringa scored three
straight baskets to give the Huskers
a 26-20 lead, including one three
pointer.
Beck said that Offringa’s bas
kets gave the Huskers a needed
boost.
“Offringa hit a couple of key
threes tonight,” she said. “We didn ’t
have to lean on (All-American
Karen) Jennings as much.”
The Sun Devils double-teamed
Jennings most of the night, but she
still finished with a game-high 20
points, with 12 coming in the sec
ond half.
“(In the first half) we didn’t get
the ball inside at all,” Jennings
said. “Other people were doing the
scoring, like Rissa (Taylor), who
had a great first half.”
Taylor,a senior forward, scored
10 points in the first half, making
four of five shots.
The Huskcrs took a 43-35 lead
into the locker room at halftime,
but with three seconds left in the
first half, they received a scare
See HUSKERSon 8
Miami QB deserves Heisman because he wins games
1 haven’t heard anyone in this state
say that Miami quarterback Gino
Toretta deserves to win the Hcisman
Trophy.
In Nebraska, the logic for not want
ing to give Toretta the award goes
something like this: We hate Miami.
Nobody can seem to get past a deeply
rooted disdain for the Hurricanes.
But Miami’s 31 -30,23-3 and 22-0
Orange Bowl wins over the
Cornhuskcrs arc all history. There’s
no reason to hold a grudge. After all,
it doesn't look like the Hurricanes
will get another shot to bury Nebraska
this season.
So here’s why Toretta deserves the
award:
He wins football games. Imagine
this: A Nebraska quarterback, play
ing in a pass-oriented offense, leads
the Huskcrs to 25 straight wins, a
national championship and breaks the
records of former greats like Jerry
Tagge, Vince Ferragamo and Turner
Gill.
Would that guy deserve the
Heisman if the Huskers were again
11-0 and headed into a second con
secutive game for the national title on
New Year’s Day?
Sure he would.
As Tom Osborne says, though, it’s
more than winning. It’s about being
the best college player in the country.
Detractors will argue lhatany quar
terback could step into Miami’s sys
tem and throw for 2,500 yards in a
season. But a look at the statistics
shows that Toretta has fared better in
his career than any Miami quarter
back.
Others say that because Toretta
isn’t mobile, he won’t be a good pro
John
Adkisson
player. Agreed. Bui ihe Heisman Tro
phy isn’l reserved for the best pro
prospect in the country.
And the Hurricanes haven’t feasted
on the Sisters of the Poor. Toretta and
Miami didn’t play a schedule full of
palsies, as did his two closest com
petitors— San Diego State’s Marshall
Faulk and Georgia’s Garrison Hcarst.
The Hurricanes won games against
four teams that have been ranked in
the Associated Press Top 10 (Florida
State and Arizona at home and Penn
State and Syracuse on the road), and
beat two other teams (San Diego Slate
and West Virginia) that were at one
time ranked in the AP Top 25.
His stats didn’t come against a
regular diet of teams like Georgia
Southern, Vanderbilt, Kentucky,
UTEP and Colorado State.
Playing behind a green offensive
line, Torctta was able to make the
plays in the big games that counted:
He hit Lamar Thomas on a 33-yard
pass to beat Florida State late in the
fourth quarter while his opposition
couldn’t muster an offensive touch
down.
Add to all this the fact that the
Hurricanes’ practice facility was de
stroyed just a week before Miami’s
first game, and it’s clear. Torctta has
led his team through a difficult season
and again put them in a position to win
it all.
Who else has even come close?
Not Faulk, who was held to under
1(X) yards by Wyoming. His biggest
outings came early in the year, and he
wasn ’ t even able to play in the Aztecs’
season finale against Miami.
Certainly not Hcarst, who admit
tedly has pul up Hcrschcl Walker
type numbers, but was not enough to
lead his team to wins over either
Florida or Tennessee.
The Heisman should go loTorctta,
hands down. The silver lining for
Nebraska fans is that they won’t have
to watch him prove he deserves the
award in the Orange Bowl on New
Year’s Night.
Instead, they’ll get a chance to see
next year’s likely winner — Florida
Slalc’sCharlic Ward—run wild over
the Huskers on Toretta’s home turf.
Adkisson is a senior news-editorial major
and the Daily Nebraskan sports editor.
Trip to Tokyo
no vacation,
Osborne says
By Nick Hytrek
Senior Reporter__
For many people, a trip to Tokyo
might be a nice vacation.
But for Nebraska football coach
Tom Osborne and his players, their
trip to the Far East won ’ t be al 1 fun and
games.
The Cornhuskers will finish their
regular season Saturday by playing
Kansas State in the Coca-Cola Bowl
in Tokyo.
The team left Tuesday for Kansas
City, Mo., to make its flight to Tokyo.
That means Husker players will miss
four days of class.
Osborne said miised time left some
of the players with mixed feelings
about the trip.
“There arc some guys that are re
ally fired up about going over there
and some that have a lot of papers and
tests and things,” Osborne said. “One
of the concerns the players have had is
if thrv ran havr. <inmr rnmnntr.r tr.r
minals and some word processors
available over there so they can type
papers and they want to set up a study
room over there where they can do
some school work.”
Osborne said the time change could
also affect his players. The team will
arrive in Tokyo in the middle of the
day, but it will be the middle of the
night in Lincoln.
‘‘I just am very hopeful that (the
players) have been able to get a little
bi t of rest goi ng in to the trip. I hope we
handle all of the travel and the time
change,” he said. ‘‘I hope everything
works out.”
Travel ing in the m iddle of the week
will disrupt the team’s normal prepa
ration schedule, but the Huskcrs have
been able to compensate somewhat,
Osborne said.
- 44
I hope we handle all of
the travel and the time
change.
Osborne
NU football coach
— -ff ”
Nebraska played Oklahoma last
Friday and then look Saturday off.
The Huskcrs then practiced Sunday,
the normal day off when the team
plays on Saturdays. The coaching staff
has also put in its normal amount of
preparation, Osborne said.
Osborne said missed preparation
and classes were not the only con
cerns. Stadium facilities could also
make things interesting, he said. The
stadium the Huskcrs will play in is
usually used for baseball.
“I know it will be a little bizarre,”
Knrno coiH “\4\/ imHorclanriino K
that the pressbox facilities are such
that you can’t sec the field very well
when it’s set up for football. So in the
past they’ve had pressbox coaches
sitting the stands with headphones
»»
on.
Osborne said another team that
played in Tokyo a few years ago
brought a lot of video equipment. But
once there, it was discovered the elec
trical sockets in the stadium didn’t fit
the equipment
But the trip isn’t all negative,
Osborne said. Besides the money the
athletic department will receive for
playing in the game, the players should
get something out of the trip, loo,
Osborne said.
“I think it may be an educational
experience for our players,” he said.
“I’m sure most of them will never get
to Japan otherwise.”
Wildcats, Cornhuskers
to meet on foreign soil
By Tim Pearson
Staff Reporter ___
Kansas Slate hasn’t been able to
beat Nebraska on American soil for
23 years, so the Wildcats will try
something different this year.
In an effort to reverse their luck
against the Comhuskcrs, Kansas State
will play Nebraska halfway around
the world in Japan’s Coca-Cola Bowl.
The two teams will meet in the Big
Eight’s final regular season game in
Tokyo 10 p.m. this Saturday.
Wildcat linebacker Brooks Barta
said that he hoped the change in scen
ery would be beneficial to Kansas
State, and he looked forward to play
ing the Huskcrs in Japan.
“It’s going to be a unique experi
ence, plus we get to play Nebraska,”
he said. “It’ll be neat to see a whole
different culture.”
But Barta said that the Wildcats
^couldn’t let the attractions of Tokyo
distract their attention from playing
Nebraska.
“This could quite possibly affect
See WILDCATS on 8
