Nebraskan SPORTS
Jones glad to have Cowboys back in saddle
Oklahoma State's L
football downfall I
Big 8 I
Year Record finish
1988 10-2 3rd I
1989 4-7 5th
1990 4-7 8th (tie)
1991 0-10-1 8th I
1992 4-6-1 5th
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By Jeff Singer
Senior Editor
Three years can seem like an eter
nity when you’re the coach of a col
lege football team on probation.
For Oklahoma State’s Pat Jones,
one of the longest and toughest parts
of his coaching career is finally being
laid to rest.
After four consecutive years of
sub-.500 records — including an 0
10-1 finish in 1991 at the height of the
Cowboys’ probation — Oklahoma
State is finally winning again.
The Cowboys arc 2-1 and are fa
vored to beat Texas Christian Univer
sity this weekend. Jones said starting
Big Eight play with a 3-1 record would
be a big plus for his program. Oklaho
ma State’s conference opener is Oct.
7 against Nebraska.
“Persistence and determination will
usually win out,” Jones said. “Our
talent level has gradually picked up,
but we’re still not out of the woods.”
In 1989, the NCAA placed the
Oklahoma State program on proba
tion through 1991 for recruiting and
other violations. The sanctionslcvied
on the Cowboys included a three-year
ban on television appearances, a two
year ban on bowl appearances and
reductions in scholarships and recruit
ing visits.
The probation came after Oklaho
ma State finished two of its most
successful seasons in 1987 and 1988,
when the Cowboys went 10-2 both
years and won both bowl games.
After being successful for so many
Persistence and determination will usually win
out
—Jones
£ OSU football coach
years — the Cowboys had posted six
consecutive winning seasons before
tire sanctions — it was difficult suf
fering through the limits placed on his
program, Jones said.
“The toughest part is when you’re
in the throes of it, especially with the
decreased margin of error you have in
recruiting,” he said. “Our talent level
started to erode, and even the two
years of rumors before we were actu
??
ally placed on probation hurt recruit
ing.*'
However, Jones said, Oklahoma
State’s downfall didn’t have to come
so quickly.
“Losing Barry Sanders was proba
bly the biggest factor,” Jones said.
“The questions people wonder about
is ‘What if Barry stays around?’*’
See OSU on 8
Coaches hoping
for NU rebound
against Wildcats
By Tim Pearson
Senior Reporter
After their first loss last Saturday to Notre
Dame, Nebraska coach Terry Pettit said, the
Comhuskers hope to start another winning
streak against Kansas State tonight in their Big
Eight opener.
Nebraska, 11-1, will try to rebound from an
8-15, 7-15, 15-3, 10-15 loss to the No. 14
Fighting Irish at the Golden Dome Classic. But
the Huskers won the invitational with a 2-1
record.
“I hope we can bounce back well,” Pettit
said. “WeTl know Wednesday night.”
Assistant Coach Val Novak said the Huskers
would bounce back from the loss.
“I’m sure they will,” she said. “It’s a loss, but
any team would bounce back from a loss like
that.”
Nebraska, which dropped two spots to fifth
in the coaches’ Top 25, will begin its quest for
an 18th consecutive Big Eight conference title
when it plays the Wildcats at 7:30 p.m. at the
NU Coliseum.
Novak said the Huskers had to play better
defense and play more consistently than they
did against Notre Dame. She said the team
worked mainly on defense in Tuesday’s prac
tice.
“Against Notre Dame, mentally, our consis
tency broke down,” Novak said. “It affects our
level of play.”
The Wildcats are coming off a seventh
place finish in the conference last year. They
were 0-12 in conference play.
But they return five starters from last season.
And they lost only one player after last year.
The Wildcats are 4-7 this season, and they
have won two of their last four matches. The
Wildcats lost their Big Eight opener to No. 11
Colorado.
Kansas State is winless in 46 tries against
Nebraska. The Huskers have won 59 straight
regular season conference matches. In the
Comhuskers’ last 113 Big Eight matches, their
record is 112-1.
But Nebraska setter Nikki Strieker, second
in the Big Eight in set assists, said the Huskers
weren’t taking the Wildcats lightly.
WNfiam Lauer/DM
Nebraska tight end Gerald Armstrong blocks Colorado State defensive end Brady Smith during the Huskers’
win Saturday.
Mr. Touchdown
Small town walk-on scores big as Husker receiver
By Jeff Grte4ch
Senior Fkperttr _
For Nebraska tight end Gerald Armstrong,
the touchdowns just keep coming.
His one-yard touchdown reception on
Saturday against Colorado State marked his
third touchdown—out of six receptions—
this season, putting him ahead of his record
setting pace last year.
Armstrong’s seven touchdown receptions
last season tied the Nebraska record held by
Junior Miller, Todd Millikan and Johnny
Mitchell.
Armstrong also tied an NCAA record last
year by Louisiana State’s Carlos Carson by
scoring a touchdown on six consecutive
receptions.
Armstrong’s 11 touchdowns in 1S career
receptions have come from a player that did
not earn a scholarship until after fast season.
Armstrong came to Nebraska as a walk
See ARMSTRONG on 8
Wine and roses not part ofpigskin and the playing field
On Saturday, the usually friendly
and lovable game of college football
turned into a battlefield.
The North Carolina-North Caroli
na State game erupted into a brawl
just before the first half ended.
The players got over the first fight,
but not all the coaches could let by
gones be bygones. •
While the players were kissing and
making up at midfield alter the game.
North Carolina assistant coach Donnie
Thompson and N.C. State assistant
Ted Cain exchanged blows.
For Thompson, the No. 18
Tarheels’ 35-14 win over the 19th
ranked Wolfpack was not enough^ He
refused to give up the fight witn Cain
and had to be dragged from the field
by other North Carolina coaches.
Virginia Tech and Maryland came
to blows, too. Virginia and Duke con
tinued the bad blood between their
schools, but managed to show enough
southern hospitality to keep from out
right punching.
Finally, in the marquee matchup of
the day, Colorado and Miami went
toe-to-toe for four quarters and blow
for-blow for five minutes more in a
bench-clearing brawl. It resulted in
the ejection of seven Miami players
and five Buffaloes. ...
What do these players think this is,
a professional baseball game? Has
college football taken a tum for the
worst?.
What can be done to stop this
violence in football before it’s loo late
and the game’s reputation suffers per
manent damage?
Hold it.
Violence can’t be stopped in foot
ball. Football is, by its nature, a vio
lent game. If you were getting hit by
five guys and knocked on your back
side every thirty seconds, you would
probably want to get up and punch
r
Jeff
Griesch
somebody every once in a while, too.
Iowa State football coach Jim
Walden agreed:
"Why does anybody want to stop
it? Why do we always have to psycho
analyze everything? Boys will be boys.
They fight on the playground, and
they will fight on the football field.
r‘lt’s not like a drive-by shooting.
That needs to be stopped, but no one
can do anything about it either.”
Usually, Walden and I don’t agree
on much when it comes to the game of
football. But in this case, I have to side
with Big Jim.
Now don’t get me wrong. I am not
advocating all-out, hclmets-in-hand,
knock 'em, sock ‘cm brawling.
But it just so happens that when
athletes get involved in big games,
emotions run high and sometimes spill
into anger. They are unable to vent
their frustrations within tire rules of
the game.
After the fight plays itself out and
the dust has settled, players are erect
ed and the game goes on without
them.
For the players who are ejected, it
means that they miss the rest of the
game, which is equal to at leas! one
twelfth of their season.
Despite this heavy punishment,
some people think the players should
be suspended for the next game too, as
in college basketball.
However, college basketball teams
play more than 30 games a year. Even
if the player misses two aames, the
suspension amounts to only one-fif
tcenth of the season.
Two games for a football player
means one-sixth of his season, which
would be about five games for a bas
ketball player.
I n professional baseball, most play
ers receive a three- to five-game sus
pension for fighting. Could you imag
ine if a player was slapped with a 27
game suspension — or one-sixth of
the baseball season — for one fight?
Fights don’t happen loo ofien in col
lege football, or any other sport for
that matter. When they do happen,
they grab our attention.
When fights happen, most fans
love it. Fans’ eyes bulge, they jump
off their couch at home and root for
their team to beat the crap out of the
other guys.
Immediately after the fight is over,
they talk about it being a great fight
See GREISCH on 8