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Thursday, November 4,1993 VyXVX k«-/
Bowl coalition poll
Oct. 31 standings
Point total
1. Florida State 3,097
2. Notre Dame 2,936
3. Ohio State 2,815
4. Nebraska 2,639
5. Alabama 2,583
6. Miami 2,568
7. Tennesse 2,241
The bowl coalition will use the combined point
totals of the Associated Press and the USA-Today
polls to rank the Top 25 teams.
The Big Eight champion will play in the Orange
Bowl. The Southeastern Conference champion will
play in the Sugar Bowl and the Southwest
Conference champion will play in the Cotton Bowl.
The highest-tanked team of those conference’s
champions may face the winner of the Notre
Dame-Fkrida State game Nov. 13, tf that team
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NU excites Orange Bowl officials
By Jeff Singer
Senior Editor
As long as Nebraska can remain undefeat
ed,for the rest of the season, the Comhuskers
will be welcome with open arms in Miami.
By winning its final three games, Nebraska
figures to be playing in a national champion
ship game in the Orange Bowl on New Year’s
Day.
And according to Orange Bowl president
Bob Epling, nothing could make him happier.
“We’ll be tickled pink to have a national
championship game and to have Nebraska in
there,” Epling said.
The Huskers’ 8-0 record and No. 4 ranking
in the bowl coalition — which totals both the
Associated Press and USA Today/CNN polls
— has Nebraska on course for a national cham
pionship game, most likely with the winner of
the Nov. 13 showdown, between top-ranked
Florida State and No. 2 Notre Dame.
However, the Huskers need to make sure
they win their last three games — against
Kansas, Iowa State and Oklahoma — for the
Orange Bowl to be able to determine the na
tional champion.
As it currently stands, Nebraska is the top
ranked team that has a bowl allegiance in the
coalition. The Orange Bowl and Big Eight
have a pact under which the league champion
goes to Miami. That would then enable the
Orange Bowl to select first from the remaining
eligible teams.
The other conference allegiances in the co
alition concern the Southeastern (Sugar Bowl)
and Southwest (Cotton Bowl) conferences.
Their respective front-runners, No. 5 Alabama
and No. 10 Texas A&M, trail Nebraska in the
coalition poll.
If No. 3 Ohio State wins the rest of its
games, the Big Ten-champion Buckeyes would
be locked into the Rose Bowl.
Epling said the possibility of having a na
tional title game in Miami on New Year’s Day
would help the Orange Bowl Committee reach
its goals. It would be the bowl’s first game in
which both teams had a chance at the national ’
crown since Miami beat Oklahoma 20-14 on
Jan. 1, 1988.
“Our goal on an annual basis is to put
together a national championship game be
cause it means the game has more esteem and
can bring in more fans,” he said. “A national
championship game is what we want and is
what Nebraska wants.”
A national championship game also would
draw stronger crowd support, which the Or
ange Bowl wants especially following last
year’s Nebraska-Florida State game that drew
a mere 57,324 fans, Epling said. The Orange
Bowl usually draws nearly 80,000 fans.
Not only do Orange Bowl officials want
Nebraska to win its remaining games, Epling
See ORANGE BOWL on 8
Danger real
for NU fans,
officials say
By Mitch Sherman
Staff Reporter
The initial scene in Madison, Wis.,
Saturday looked somewhat similar
to scenes at Memorial Stadium fol
lowing big-game victories in recent
years, UNL Police Chief Ken Cauble
said.
“There’s hardly a time when fans
rush the field that someone doesn’t
get hurt,” said Cauble, who heads
Memorial Stadium security on Ne
braska home football Saturdays.
“We’ve been fortunate that we
haven’t had any severe injuries.
“There’s al ways a possibil ity that
(the Wisconsin) situation could hap
pen here. Our main concern is the
safety of everyone.”
The nation watched in disbelief
last Saturday as 12,000 ecstatic Wis
consin fans stormed the Camp
Randall Stadium field, celebrating the
Badgers’ 13-10 victory over Michi
gan.
About 70 Wisconsin students were
injured in the stampede when the pres
sure of the fans caused a stadium
railing to snap. After the railing broke,
the fans in the front were forced to
the ground. But the crowd kept com
ing, nearly crushing several people.
Cauble said the situation in Madi
son was not likely to happen at Me
morial Stadium because of the tech
niques used by security officers at
the games.
“We’ve come to realize that if
you can’t stop the mobs — and you
usually can’t — you just have to let
them continue in as safe a matter as
possible,” he said.
Over the years, Cauble said, po
lice officers have realized that it is
more dangerous to attempt to stop
the rush of people than it is to control
it.
“Years ago we tried to stop it, but
it’s just not a real smart thing to do,”
he said. “We will probably continue
with this process because so far it’s
the best one we have come up with.”
See SAFETY on 8
Huskers' national title outlook shines brighter out West
Somewhere, someone must be
buzzing about the Big Red.
Lord knows hardly anyone is here.
Last year’s Cyclone disaster still cir
cles over head, reminding all that it
could land in Lawrence, Kan., this
weekend. Oklahoma’s Sooner Schoo
ner has the guns — and more impor
tantly, the Gundy — to feast on
Thanksgiving leftovers against the
Huskers. And an almost certain bowl
disaster looms on the Miami hori
zon.
Husker fans have been conditioned
by the catastrophic conclusions to
seasons. They know that the big hands
from the sky eventually, inevitably,
reach down, grab the Big Red’s neck
i raws neymg/ utm
Nebraska nose tackle Terry Connealy, shown here trying to corral Colorado quarterback Kordell Stewart, will try to slow
Kansas’ running game, which is ranked second in the conference.
KU must overcome perception, fullback says
By Derek Samson
Staff Report#
Kansas fullback Chris Powell
knows the difference one year can
make.
Powell said the Jayhawks’ atti
tude and situation heading into the
Nebraska game Saturday in
Lawrence, Kan., were completely dif
ferent than last year.
“Last year, we were 6-1, rated
13 th and really confident going into
Nebraska,” Powell said. “When we
got there, we saw that Nebraska had
one of the best college football atmo
spheres in the country, and we choked.
“This year, we haven’t had the
year we liked, and our attitude is a
lot different. We know we are good
enough to play with anybody in the
Big Eight, but we also know we can’t
make any big mistakes and expect to
win.”
Powell said Kansas needed to
overcome any inferiority complexes
before Saturday. Kansas hasn’t beat
en Nebraskan in 25 years. Nebraska
beat the Jayhawks 49-7 last season.
“We can’t deal with the percep
tion that they are Nebraska and we’re
Kansas,” he said. “We need to exe
cute all aspects of our game, and
when we do hit adversity, we can’t
let it get to us. We have to keep
coming back at them.”
Personally, Powell was hit with
adversity when he broke his foot be
fore the season opener against Flori
da State. Powell missed four games
with the injury.
“Anytime a player is hurt and has
to sit out, it is difficult for them,”
Powell said. “It was hard getting back
into the swing of things, and I hated
dealing with it. But I feel pretty good
now. I just wish I would have had the
opportunity to play against Florida
State.”
The Kansas rushing game is aver
aging 218.6 yards per game, with
See JAYHAWK on 8
— until they spit up their gum and
the game — and rip out all of Ne
braska fans’ hearts.
They’ve seen it happen before.
They know it will happen again.
Or do they?
Not if you look west. For some
reason, it’s brighter that way.
If you look long enough and far
enough, you’re bound to find some
grain in the Sandhills who still says,
‘This is the year,’ and actually en
joys listening to Kent Pavelka and
hates Husker doubters.
Enter Andy “Com” Stock, student
body president at the University of
Nebraska-Keamey.
The last time Com Stock appeared
* *
Todd
Cooper
in this paper, he was crying about the
lack of respect UNK gets in the NU
system.
Now, he’s crabbing about the lack
of respect Nebraska football gets in
the AP Top 25.
So here goes: the inevitable Big
Red, red whine from the West. But
hear Com Stock’s cries out.
After all, he’s dignified when it
comes to begging for respect. Last
year, when tne Legislature was cut
ting NU’s budget, he told Nebraska’s
senators that if they “cut oflfUNK’s
legs, we won’t have any feet left to
stand on.”
This year, he closes every non
governmental meeting with the state
ment: “Nebraska 30, Notre Dame 21.
NU, national champs — Come on!”
So what does Com Stock know
about Nebraska football? About as
much as every other child of the com
in Kearney. He’s no expert. But he
does have the read on the wild, wild
West where fans revere Tommie
Frazier, care more about the football
in Abdul Muhammad’s hands than
the bullet in his butt and think Saint
Tom can do no wrong.
“Some say Nebraska’s overrated,”
he says, “some say we choke, some
say we can’t get it done in the fourth
quarter. Well, there’s a lot fewer
naysayers out here. Maybe that’s be
cause we’re 42 short miles away from
the Tom Osborne freeway.”
Their undeterred optimism “isn’t
just because we don’t have anything
else around to get excited about.
Com Stock assures. “I mean, we hunt
and ride bulls out here, too.”
And they know their Husker foot
ball.
See COOPER on 8