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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 3, 1993)
Daily , Nebraskan Friday, Saptambar 3,1993 SPORTS Nebraska could lose game despite score Nebraska wingback Abdul Muhammad Is tackled by defenders during a recent scrimmage. Muhammad % lead Nebraska’s wingbacks and split ends Into Saturday s 1 p.m. matchup with North Texas at Memorial Stadium. Eagles aim to upset NU,coacnsays By Jeff Grtesch Senior Reporter North Texas coach Dennis Parker isn’t about to pity Nebraska coach Tom Osborne and his Comhuskers. In fact, he said he didn’t feel a bit sorry for Osborne after the Husk er coach said he hoped Nebraska never scheduled a Division I-AA team like the Eagles again. Osborne said the Huskers were in a “no-win situation” against North Texas Saturday. “If you win but don’t win convincingly it’s almost like a loss,” Osborne said. “If you lose, it’s the end of the world. If you win real ~ 44 Were preparing to beat Nebraska. We're not flying to Nebraska to be their sacrificial lambs. —1Parker North Texas coach ---19 “ big, then maybe you ran it up.” Parker said he understood why Osborne made the comment, but had very little sympathy for the Huskers’ position. “If he feels that way, then don’t schedule us,” Parker said. ‘*No one forced them to schedule us. That statement to me is an admission of judgement on his part for putting us on the schedule.’* Parker said he was more con cerned with getting his team ready to play than with whether or not the See EAGLES on 11 Big game mixes quarterback s emotions By Derek Samson Staff Reportw . North Texas quarterback Mitch Maher is filled with mixed emo tions about the Eagles’ matchup with Nebraska Saturday at Memo rial Stadium. “It’s a great opportunity for us,” Maher said. “I’m real excited about it. There is really no pressure on us.” On the other hand, Maher said, he doesn't think the Eagles can afford to just try hard and settle for a loss. “There is nothing positive about a loss,” Maher said. “It doesn’t matter who your opponent is. When you lose a game, it stands as a loss and you can’t do anything about it.” Maher, who completed 151 of 293 passes for 2,096 yards and 11 touendowns in 1992, said the North Texas offense will face plenty of obstacles Saturday. “The whole defense is going to be good and we realize that,” he said. “I can look at their lineback ers and realize how good they are, but I can’t focus on that. The same goes for the defensive backs. ‘This will probably be the best defense I’ll ever play against, but 1 have to do my assignments. The receivers have to run good routes and I have to get the ball to them." Maher said that the Eagles are not expecting Nebraska to be look ing past them. “I think they’re going to be very prepared because of their coach es, he said. “Any time you have a team like Nebraska and a coach as great as Tom Osborne, you can count on them being ready to play." Even so, Maher said, beginning the season at Nebraska was an ex See MAHER on 11 Game Nebraska Saturday, 1 p.m. TV: none Radio: Nebraska Radio Network KLIN 1400 or KFAB 1100 15 Tommy Frazier 6-2 200 40 Corey Schlesinger 6-0 220 44 Calvin Jones WB m 15-11210 0 o WR OT 300 OT OG 300 6-4 OG 300 6-5 6-2 TE PK 8-1 LT 77 Lance Lundberg RG 66 Brenden Stal I LG 56 Rob Zatechka C 62 Ken Mehiin TE 95 Gerald Armstrong DEFENSE LOLB 64 Donta Jones 6-2 DT 67 Kevin Ramaekers 6-4 NT 99 Terry Connealy 6-5 5-11 32 LCB 14 Barron Miles RC3 6 John Reece ROVMiTQby Wright FS 4 Troy Dumas P 13 Byron Bennett QB 23 Mitch Maher FB 17 Stacy Anderson 14 Clayton George 77 Kent Endehardt 70 Chris Browns; 78 Scott Dukatnik 61 Greg Price . 57 Brian Gothand 88 Luis S iva 27 Richard Defelice 210 290 275 M DE 41 Chad Rudzik 200 OLB 50 John Luker 230 MLB 5 Shawn Hicks 215 OLB 4 160 CB 9< 31 1 Wayne Walker 21 Sean Mayes 85 John Chupp 6-1 6-0 185 5-10180 Wl 5- 10 1801 6- 5 2501 6-3 260 6-2 270 6-3 290 6-3 245 6-2 220 6-1 m 6-2 250 6*2 315 6-5 270 6-2 220 6-2 240 5-8 225 M 206 SO 180 5- 11 180 6- 0 200| 6-0 185| 6-0 180 ONI nranhic Osborne says victory won’t benefit Huskers By Derek Samson Staff Reporter ___ Nebraska coach Tom Osborne said his team was facing the impos sible in Saturday’s contest, and he wasn’t talking about the opponent. Instead, the Husker coach said, the Comhuskers will have a hard time getting any benefit out of the game, even if they’re victorious. “It’s a no-win situation,” he said. “If you win, but not convincingly, it’s just like a loss. ‘rIf you lose, then it’s the end of the world. If you win big, then everybody is going to say you ran it up. It’s a tough situation to play in.” A schedul 1 ng error on the part of Wyoming, Nebraska’s original opponent for Saturday, left Ne braska without a foe for Saturday. Out of more than 30 teams that were contacted, Osborne said North Texas was tire only one that showed interest in filling the empty spot on the Huskers’ schedule. “There is a lot of downside risk involved in games like this,” he said. “We wish that North Texas had that I-A connotation behind its name." However, Nebraska is no strang er to I-AA teams. Last season, the Huskers defeated Middle Tennes see State 48-7 in Lincoln. “I looked back at last year and Middle Tennessee State was more competitive than about three other teams that we played,” Osborne said. “How North Texas will fare, I don’t know. What I do know is that we are going to have to be ready to play. “We can’t worry about whether oot opponents arc better or ■worse than us. We just have to worry about playing as good as we can Play” -44 If you win, but not convincingly, It's Just like a loss. If you lose, then It's the end of the world. If you win big, then everybody Is going to say you ran It up. —Osborne Nebraska coach -ft - Osborne said the Huskers’ de fensive unit must be on top of its game for Nebraska to be success “North Texas runs a lot of dif ferent formations, so our biggest challenge will be defensively,” he said. “They have a good quarter back (Mitch Maher). He threw for over 2,000 yards last year, so that shows they have a number of good receivers also.” Osborne said probably the big gest problem would come from See OSBORNE on 11 Weekend tournament to challenge Huskers, coach says By Tim Pearson Senior flaparHr___ After a season-opening win against Iowa, the Nebraska volleyball team takes to the road to play ranked competition. The Comhuskers, coming off a 15-5,15-5, 15-8 win over the Hawkeyes, travel to Univer sity Park, Penn., for the Penn State Invitational. The Huskers will play three matches in the invite. The Huskere will play West Virginia today at 4 p.m. Nebraska will play twice Satur day —- against Pittsburgh at noon and against Penn State at 6:30 p.m. Husker coach Terry Pettit said the three matches in two days would be a tough test for his team. “The other teams will be well prepared for us,” he said. “The Iowa win gave us some confidence, and it’s a lot better for us to go in there with one win rather than a loss.” Sophomore middle blocker Allison Weston also said the win over Iowa would give the team additional momentum. “It’ll give us some great momentum going into a tough tournament like this,” she said. “There’ll be some tough teams that we’ll have to play.” Penn State, the Big Ten champion last year with a 28-4 record, entered the season ranked No. 11 in the country by the coaches and No. 13 by Volleyball Monthly. Lady Lion coach Russ Rose said his team was similar to this year’s Nebraska team. Both teams made it to the NCAA Mideast Regional semifinals last season. “Nebraska lost one of their best players ever in Stephanie Thater from last year’s team,” Rose said. “We also lost an All-American, among other players.” Penn State returns four starters from last year. But Rose said this year’s team was less experienced than last year’s, with no seniors on the squad. Rose said he expected his team to face a typical Nebraska squad. “I’ve been seeing them for 17 years, and I was coaching with Terry when he started, so I know Nebraskapretty well,’’ Rose said. ‘They’re the type of team with good athletes who play both front and back row wen. “They’ve always had a competitive, excit ing spirit for the game, and that’s why Nebras ka's been so successful over the past 15 years,” he said. Rose, who was an assistant to Pettit 1S years ago, said he had some doubts about his team playing a ranked team like Nebraska so early in the season. But that was only until he talked to Pettit a couple of days ago. “I spoke with Terry yesterday, and I felt better about my team’s chances after 1 got done calling him than before I called him,” Rose said. “We’re significantly down from last year, and Terry led me to believe that they’re kind of rebuilding this year. ”