Nebraskan
Wodnesday, October 10,1003
Sports
Nebraska outside linebacker Trev Alberts (left) grabs Oklahoma State quarterback Tone’ Jones while linebacker Ed Stewart^
closes in. Alberts and Stewart will try to help the Blackshirts atone for giving up a Big Eight-record 489 passing yards to
Kansas State quarterback Chad May.
1
Osborne welcomes defensive talk
by Mncn anerman
Staff Reporter _
After weeks oflistening to advice
on the struggling Husker offense,
Nebraska coach Tom Osborne wel
comed conversation concerning the
struggling Husker defense.
“This nas been kind of a refreshing
week for me,” Osborne said during
his weekly press conference Tuesday.
“I usually get a lot of help offensively,
and this week it has been a change-up.
We’ve suddenly realized there is an
other side of the ball. I’ vc been getting
a good deal of help on defense.”
After Wildcat quarterback Chad
May passed for a Big Eight record 489
yards in Nebraska’s 45-28 win over
Kansas State, Osborne said he under
stood some of the concerns.
“Certainly there were some bad
coverages, ne saia. dui me guy
made a lot of throws where he really
got in there, and the coverage was
good and the rush was good.”
The secondary’s spotty coverage
resulted in a few big plays, Osborne
said, but he isn’t ready to throw in the
towel.
*Tm certainly not panicking,” he
said. “I think we have a good defense
and we'U play well down the stretch.
The big thing is for our players not to
lose confidence and our coaches not
to decide they have to make whole
sale changes.
“I think that through the first five
games, we played well.”
The Blackshirts’ statistics back up
Osborne. Despite ranking fourth in
the Big Eight in pass-efficiency de
fense, the Huskers are second in scor
ing defense and first in rushing de
icnsc aiiu iuuu ucituac.
Osborne said May’s performance
Saturday may just have been another
in a line of solid performances by
Wildcat quarterbacks.
Last season, Wildcat quarterback
Matt Garber threw for 246 yards in a
38-24 loss to Nebraska last year in
Tokyo.Th 1991, Kansas State quarter
back Paul Watson completed 26 of 46
passes for 340 yards in a 38-31 loss to
the Huskers.
“Sometimes an athlete gets in a
little different zone,” Osborne said.
“Once in a while you have a day like
that.
“I’m tired of K-State passers hav
ing those kind of days against us.
That’s three years in a row I’ve seen
them play like I haven’t seen them
play before or since.”
Osborne said he thought the de
-M
This has been kind of
a refreshing week for
me. I’ve been getting
a good deal of help
on defense.
— Osborne
Nebraska football coach
-tf —
fcnsc would bounce back after the
poor outing.
“We made some big plays at key
times,” he said. “They scored 28 points,
which isn't good. But once in a while
you’ll see a good football team give
up 40.
“I think we’ll be all right.”
Missouri QB
could pose
threat to NU
By Mitch Sherman
Staff Reporter
After looking at film of Nebras
ka’s win over Kansas State, Nebraska
jutside linebacker coach Tony Samuel
laid he hoped he wouldn’t experience
leja vu Saturday against Missouri.
Tiger quarterback Jeff Handy is
apable of matching Kansas State
luarterback Chad May’s 489-yard
lassing performance against Nebras
;a, Samuel said. May set a Big Eight
ecord for passing last Saturday.
“Jeff Handy is a great quarter
lack,” Samuel said. “He’s probably
icking his chops looking at our film.
Missouri really is playing a lot better
han they were last year. They’re go
ngr to be playing hard.”
Handy has twice thrown for more
han 400 yards in his career, including
i 424-yard performance against Nc
>raska in Columbia, Mo., last year.
The Tigers beat Oklahoma State
12-9 Saturday behind Handy’s 199
>assing yards.
Although the secondary is usually
darned for big passing days, Samuel
laid, many of the defense’s problems
vith the pass result from an ineflec
ive pass rush.
“You always get questions about
the secondary,” he said. “You’ve got
lo have a good pass rush. You don’t
always have to get the sack but you
lave to get pressure on the quarter
oack.”
NOTES:
• Senior linebacker Darren Will
iams injured his knee and left practice
early Tuesday. Husker coach Tom
Osborne said he didn’t know the ex
tent of the injury.
•Linebacker Phil Ellis missed
practice for the second straight day
with the flu, Osborne said.
•Tight end Gerald Armstrong prac
ticed but wasn’t at full speed, Osborne
said.
Rebuilding still puzzles Tigers coach after four years
By Jeff Singer
Senior Editor
Missouri coach Bob Stull is used to resur
recting football programs.
But so far, Stull is still looking to give life to
the Tigers’ program.
In 1984, Stull became head coach at Massa
chusetts and led the Minutcmen to a 7-4 record
one year later.
Stull performed a similar rebuilding job at
the University of Texas-El Paso when he joined
the Miners in 1986. UTEP had a 4-8 record in
1986, but improved each season until hitting a
pinnacle in 1988 with a 10-3 record.
But since joining Missouri in 1989, the
Tigers have gone 14-34-2 under Stull.
Stull said finding the keys to turning the
Missouri program around has puzzled him and
his staff
“I’ve been in five rebuilding programs and
I* ve had a tougher go at it here than at any other
place," he said. “We’ve usually been improved
after three years but that hasn’t been the case
here.”
The Tigers have posted records of 2-9,47,
3-7-1 and 3-8 in Stull’s first four seasons with
Missouri. The Tigers are 2-3-1 so far this
season.
Stull said there are a few reasons why Mis
souri hasn’t been able to attain the other teams’
levels of success.
“We’re in a tough league and we’ve certain
ly had some tough schedules while I’ve been
here," Stull said.
Take, for instance, the Tigers’ 1993 sched
ule. With their Big Eight schedule, the Tigers
have played Texas A&M and West Virginia,
which are ranked 11th and 18th, respectively.
However, Stull said, it’s not time to bury the
Missouri program just yet.
Last weekYs 42-9 win over Oklahoma State
might be a step towards respectability, Stull
said.
“It reaffirmed that we have a belter team
than some people have given us credit for,” he
said. “It gave us back some credibility.”
The Big Eight signed a contract this year
with the Copper Bowl. The league’s fourth
place team is ensured a spot in that bowl if it has
a winning record.
Stull said receiving such a bowl bid would be
a sign that Missouri is on its way up. But for the
Tigers to go “bowling,” he said, the team needs
to prove itself in league play.
“The reality of it is there are a lot of teams
in the league that arc similar,” he said. “So
we’re going to have to beat a team like Nebras
ka or Oklahoma to get into bowl position."
Cornhusker dream team fades into Late-night fantasy
It was 3 a.m., and I had been asleep
for a little more than an hour.
I entered REM sleep and began to
dream.
My mind was filled with visions of
a Big Red Machine running up and
down the college gridiron.
Unstoppable. A force to be reck
oned with but not wrecked.
Indestructable.
Through its first six games, Ne
braska’s average margin of victory
was 63 points.
The Huskers could do whatever
they wanted because their offensive
weapons at the skill positions were
unmatched at the college level.'
Tommie Frazier had been throw
ing for more than 300 yards per game
and running for 50 more.
Corey "Dixon and Abdul
Muhammad were averaging between
75 and 100 yards a game receiving.
Gerald Armstrong was scoring two
touchdowns out of his three catches a
game.
Calvin Jones was a candidate for
the Heisman Trophy before an injury
kept him on the sideline for four
games. And while he was averaging
100 yards per game on the ground, his
Heisman hopes had to be put on hold
until next season.
Jones was not even the leading
Heisman candidate in the Nebraska
backfield.
Since Jones went down in the first
game of the season, Derek Brown was
averaging 180 yards per game on 20
carries, and the only thing standing
between Brown and die Heisman Tro
phy was teammate Johnny Mitchell.
Mitchell was hauling in 10 passes
per game and nearly200yards receiv
ing. He was all-Big Eight, All-Amcr
ica. All-World, All-Universe.
It was a foregone conclusion that
the Huskers would win the national
Jeff
Griesch
championship. The only question was
how bad the Huskers would maul
Florida State in the Orange Bowl.
My phone rings, but I didn’t wake
up. This dream was belter than real
life. There was no way I was going to
miss it.
So I stood on the sideline at the
Orange Bowl on New Year’s Day
witnessing the game that Huskcr fans
waited 21 years to sec.
Seconds after Nebraska scored its
fifth touchdown of the first half to go
ahead of the Seminoles 35-7, an or
ange thrown by one of the ecstatic
Husker fans hit me in the face.
SSSPPPLLLAAATTT!!!
The shock of being beaned by the
symbol that all Nebraska rallies around
during the football season snapped
me out of the dream.
It was so real. I brought my hand to
my face to check for orange juice and
pulp. But sadly, my face was dry
except for the line of drool running
from the side of my mouth.
I couldn’t get back to sleep. So 1
turned on ESPN, knowing that the
soothing sounds of Chris Berman’s
voice would sing me to sleep.
Super-late SportsCcnter was on,
and the NFL highlights ended any
hopes that my dream might actually
have been real.
Derek Brown was not in Miami at
the Orange Bowl. Instead, he’s the
Saints’ leading rusher in New Or
leans. And he’s running over some of
the best defensive players in the NFL.
Johnny Mitchell isn’t catching
Tommie Frazier passes; he s snag
ging touchdown passes from Boomer
Esiason.
I turned the TV off, dropped the
remote control on the floor, stumbled
back to my bed and fell face down on
mypillow. I was so sad.
The Huskers are 6-0, even without
the two woulda-becn, shoulda-been,
coulda-bccn All-Americans. But the
offense is not the unstoppable jugger
naut that might have surfaced had
Mitchell and Browndccidcd to stay at
Nebraska.
The Huskers could still go unde
feated this season. They could even
win an Orange Bowl. But 1 still have
to ask “What if?”
The team that might have been a
nightmare for all opponents to face is
only the dream of Husker faithful.
Grteich ti ■ Junior ncwi-edltorUI major
and a Daily Nebraskaa waior reporter.