Nebraskan ^PDRT^N
Tuesday, November 9,1993 WJJL V/ M X. 1
[Round-up
| CONFERENCE . ,
1- m ummmm* Conference Games All Games
W L T Pet. W L T Pet.
Nebraska 5 0 0 1.000 9 0 0 1.000
Colorado 3 1 1 .700 5 3 1 .688
Oklahoma 3 2 0 .600 7 2 0 .778
Kansas St. 2 2 1 .500 6 2 1 .722
Kansas 2 3 0 .400 4 6 0 .400
Missouri 2 3 0 .400 3 5 1 .389
Iowa St. - 2 3 0 .400 3 6 0 .333
Oklahoma St. 0 5 0 .000 3 6 0 .333
Saturday's Results
Colorado 31, Oklahoma State 14
Oklahoma 42, Missouri 23
Iowa State 27, Kansas State 23
Nebraska 21, Kansas 20
Coaches object
to Husker’s slip
By Jeff Griesch
Senior Reporter_
Although Nebraska continues to
win football games, the Comhuskers
still aren’t getting the respect they
deserve in the national rankings, Big
Eight coaches said Monday.
Miami, 7-1, leaped ahead of the
9-0 Comhuskers to the No. 3 spot in
the bowl coalition poll this week.
Kansas coach Glen Mason, who
watched the Huskers’ hold onto a 21 -
20 win against his Jayhawks, said
Nebraska’s 9-0 record should speak
for itself.
“Nebraska is a very fine football
team, and if you’re unbeaten and un
tied, you deserve to be up there,’’
Mason said.
But the coalition poll — a com
posite of the Associated Press writ
ers’ and the USA Today/CNN coach
es’ poll — didn’t reflect Mason’s
opinion.
Last week, the Huskers were
ranked ahead of Miami in the coali
tion poll, which is designed to deter
mine bowl pairings and a national
title game between the No. 1 and No.
2 teams. But Nebraska’s narrow 21
20 win over unranked Kansas, cou
pled with Miami’s 35-7 win over
Pittsburgh, moved the Hurricanes 44
points ahead of Nebraska.
Miami has 2,747 points to the
Huskers 2,703. Florida State leads
the voting with 3,098 and Notre Dame
is No. 2 with 2,956.
The Omaha World-Herald report
ed Sunday that a group of AP writers
had called Fiesta Bowl officials and
said they wanted to move Miami
ahead of Nebraska in the polls to set
up a national championship game
between this weekend’s Florida State -
Notre Dame winner and Miami in
the Fiesta Bowl.
Nebraska coach Tom Osborne said
during the Big Eight coaches’ week
ly teleconference on Monday that the
- u
I am pulling for Ne
braska.
— McCartney
Colorado football coach
-t* —
rumors of a conspiracy among writ
ers concerned him.
“I’m not comfortable with us drop
ping, but there really isn’t anything I
can do about it,” Osborne said. “One
thing that does bother me some is the
lobbying and people saying who
should do what and play whom for
the national championship.”
Osborne questioned the objectivi
ty of the writers and said the AP
voters may not be as well qualified to
vote as the coaches.
“Our evaluation process is very
different than the writers,” Osborne
said. “They just can’t see as many
teams as we sec through our film
exchange.
“We see between 40 and 50 teams
a year through the film exchange,
and we run it back and forth. You
don’t just look at it, you study it and
sec what is really going on.”
Oklahoma coach Gary Gibbs
agreed.
“1 don’t know how many people
vote and pass judgment on teams
without getting a chance to really see
them,” Gibbs said. “They just vote
by looking at the scores instead of
watching the game and really seeing
what happens.”
Colorado is the only team that has
played both Miami and Nebraska.
The Buffaloes lost to Miami, 35-29,
and lost to the Huskers, 21-17.
“It is hard to say which team is
better or what is going to happen,"
Colorado coach Bill McCartney said,
“but I am pulling for Nebraska.”
Kiley Timperley/DN
Kansas wide receiver Ashaundai Smith is tossed to the around by Cornhusker left
cornerback Barron Miles in the third quarter of Nebraska's 21-20 win Saturday. The
Huskers held onto the win after a pass from Jayhawk quarterback Asheiki Preston to
Smith fell incomplete on Kansas’ two-point conversion attempt with a minute left in the
game.
Husker performance proves
two wrongs can make a right
By Mitch Sherman
Staff Reporter_
During perhaps the most im
portant seconds of the season thus
far, the Nebraska football team was
in a mess.
Comhusker assistant coach Dan
Young told the Extra Point Club
on Monday that Nebraska’s de
fense was in mayhem while lining
up before Kansas’ two-point con
version attempt with less than one
minute left in the game Saturday.
Kansas coach Glen Mason de
cided to go for two points and the
win after true freshman June
Henley, who ran for 148 yards on
37 carries, cut Nebraska’s lead to
21-20 with 52 seconds left.
Meanwhile, Nebraska coaches
opted to call a wide blitz in which
the outside linebackers rush the
quarterback.
“The old saying that two
wrongs make a right really came
out to be true,” Young said. “We
called a wide blitz, and instead of
both linebackers covering the
outsides, they both lined up on the
-«
The old saying that two wrongs make a right
really came out to be true.
— Young
Nebraska assistant coach
-t* —
same side. So we were short on
one side.”
And on the other side, Young
said, Nebraska’s right comerback
mistakenly lined upon the left side
with the strong safety and the left
cornerback.
The pass from quarterback
Askeiki Preston to Ashaundi Smith
fell incomplete in the end zone,
and Nebraska ran out the clock to
escape with a 21-20 victory.
Young said Saturday’s game
reminded the Huskers of the Iowa
State matchup last year in which
Nebraska was upset 19-10 by the
Cyclones in Ames, Iowa.
“We didn’t have a lot of chanc
es,” Young said. “(Kansas) did a
good job of holding the ball. That’s
similar to what Iowa State is going
to try to do. That’s what Iowa State
did to us last year in Ames.”
The Huskcrs will not have any
problems getting up for the Iowa
State game this year. Young said.
“I think there is a lot of motiva
tion to come back and play well
against Iowa State,” Young said.
“I certainly know our players will
be motivated to do well, especial
ly after what happened last year.
“I know they’ve looked forward
to settling the score for a long
time,” he said. “1 don’t think there
is going to be any problem getting
up to play Iowa State.”
ESPN’s James off target with comments about Huskers
Lee Corso for president?
As much as Nebraskans would like
to see it, the most likely public office
the ESPN college football analyst
would probably win in this stale would
be governor.
Time after time, Corso — much
to Nebraska fans’ pleasure — de
fends the Huskers on the ESPN
Gameday college football show, de
spite the constant ridicule Nebraska
receives from Craig “I’m still in love
with the Southwest Conference”
James.
After Nebraska squeaked by Kan
sas Saturday, James said he consid
ered the win the same as a tie and
said the Huskers should drop out of
at least the Top 5.
Corso shook his head in disagree
ment, interrupting Janies with a some
what obvious statement: “Florida
State No. 1, Notre Dame is two and
Nebraska is No. 3.”
Thank you, Lee.
At least somebody at the ESPN
studios realizes what it means to be
unbeaten, untied and have a legiti
mate chance at the national title.
James argued that the Husker
schedule proves Nebraska is not as
qualified for the national champion
ship as Tennessee or Miami.
True, the Nebraska schedule does
not size up with that of Florida State,
which has six teams on its schedule
that were ranked before Saturday’s
games.
Notre Dame, America’s and
NBC’s favorite bandwagon team, has
only two ranked teams on its season
schedule. But apparently, that’s OK
because they have the movie “Rudy,”
and I’m sure James has seen it more
than 20 times.
Miami did play Florida State and
proved the two teams weren’t wor
thy of being on the same field at the
same time. Other than the Seminoles,
Miami’s schedule is highlighted by
Derek
Samson
J
West Virginia and Boston College.
Nebraska has played some weak
opponents along the way but also has
four teams that are currently ranked
on its schedule. Count ‘em, Craig
James — that’s two more than the
Fighting Irish.
Even if the Comhuskers’ sched
ule is weaker than others, Nebraska
is still unbeaten and untied, which is
no small feat.
After Corso proclaimed Nebraska
as a clear-cut No. 3, James named
Florida State, Notre Dame, Miami,
Tennessee and Auburn as his Top 5.
I would think he would be aware
that Auburn is on probation, some
thing Janies should be able to relate
to since he attended SMU.
James also criticized Nebraska for
just squeezing by its opponents. If
that is a reason to drop in the polls,
then Alabama should have dropped
out of the Top 50 last season instead
of winning the national champion
ship.
James also warned that Texas
A&M would be in a good position
for one of the top spots after New
Year’s Day.
C’mon Craig, the Daily Nebras
kan could put together a team and
play within two touchdowns of the
Aggies. If James gives the Southwest
—excuse me, the Southworst—con
ference one more compliment on the
air, ESPN’s Gameday should be can
celed.
Corso said when the season began
that Nebraska would be in the na
tional championship game and when i
it’s a one-game situation, anything i
can happen.
So far Corso has been right on
target with his prediction.
James has picked a number of
teams to win the national champion
ship but as each drops out of the
“others receiving votes” section of
the polls, he picks a new favorite
team.
So far, James has proven that he
was not forced to attend classes when
he went to SMU.
If James continues to insult Ne
braska week after week, then he bet
ter not plan on his annual family
vacation to Wymore or wherever he
takes his family. A mob will proba
bly be waiting.
As for Corso, you’ll always have
friends in Nebraska. And whenever
you have time to run for a public
office in this state, come see us.
SIMM k a top bo store aews-edttartal
■ajor, a Daly Nebraikoa iporti reporter
iad colii Maht.