No. 1 Huskers face No. 12 Bruins
By Derek Samson
Senior Reporter
Nebraska fans should get their money’s worth
in the Comhuskers’ home opener Saturday
against UCLA.
The 12th-and 13th-ranked Bruins bring their
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them to Lincoln hoping to
upset the No. I and 2 Husk
ers.
The Bruins and Huskers
will meet in a nationally tele
vised game at Memorial Sta
dium.Gametime is2:34p.m.
Coach Tom Osborne,
whose team is a 14-point fa
vorne,saia me learns are very
Osborn* evenly matched.
“UCLA has fine athletes and probably physi
cally is a very comparable football team to
ourselves,” he said. “Of course, they’re much
more of a passing team, and we’re more of a
running team.
“But I think in terms of quality of athletes,
overall team speed and those kinds of things,
they’re a great football team.”
Osborne said despite the presence of big
play receivers J.J. Stokes and Kevin Jordan,
UCLA’s running game was a big concern.
“Sometimes they’re more dangerous run
ning the ball out of the shotgun than they are at
anything else,” he said. “They’ve got a lot of
clever schemes, and we’ve been very impressed
with their offensive concept. They have a lot of
ways to hurt you.”
But the biggest way is Stokes, a Heisman
Trophy candidate.
The 6-foot-5, 223-pound senior split end
caught 82 passes for 1181 yards and 24 touch
downs last season.
“He’s a great player,” Osborne said. “But we
don’t really focus on just one player. We won’t
be sending three people after Stokes because
they’ve got enough other great players, includ
ing their running game, that you can’t do that.”
Osborne said the UCLA offense also pre
vents opponents from concentrating on Stokes
alone.
“They do a lot of things very well,” he said.
“They run a lot of formations, a lot of sets.
They’re in the shotgun probably 50 percent of
the time. They do a lot of clever things off the
shotgun. They have a good running game off the
shotgun, which most people don’t.”
After a 25-23 win over Tennessee in the
season opener, UCLA struggled last week to a
17-10 victory over Southern Methodist at the
Rose Bowl. The Bruins were without Stokes,
who was out with an injury.
Osborne said a number of factors, including
looking ahead to Saturday’s game, could ac
count for the close game.
“I thought that they would win handily,”
Osborne said. “I’m sure not having Stokes play
was a factor. Probably not really being up for
‘They’ve got a lot of clever
schemes, and we’ve been very
impressed with their offensive
concept. They have a lot of
ways to hurt you. ”
■
TOM OSBORNE
Nebraska head football coach
the game was a factor, and I’m sure SMU played
really hard.
“But SMU played a good ballgame. They
hung on to the ball and hung in there. UCLA
moved the ball up and down the field, but one
way or another, didn’t get it into the end zone.”
Coach unsure about Bruins’ strength
By Matthew Woody
Senior Editor
UCLA head coach Terry
Donahue brings his 12th- and 13th
ranked Bruins into Memorial Sta
dium Saturday unsure how good
that team is.
After beating a strong Tennes
see team, which handily defeated
Georgia the next week, in week one
of the season, the Bruins responded
with a lackluster 17-10 victory over
Southern Methodist University.
“I don’t know ifwe deserve to be
No. 12 or No. 13 or even first,”
Donahue said in a telephone con
ference. .
He said that two weeks into the
season, he didn’t know if there was
enough information available to
rank teams in a poll.
But there was one thing he
seemed pretty sure about — the
strength of the Nebraska
Comhusker football team.
“It’s a very, very impressive
team,” Donahue said. “It appar
ently has no weakness. It’s a team
that appears very powerful in all
aspects of the game.”
UCLA won’t necessarily try to
I
stop Nebraska’s offense. One of
the keys for UCLA — or any team
— to be successful against Ne
braska, Donahue said, is to run the
ball effectively, thus keeping the
clock running down and keeping
Nebraska, and quarterback Tommie
Frazier, from running down the
field.
‘‘I think Frazier is one of the
premier players in the country,”
Donahue said. ‘‘I know he’s young,
and I know he’s got a great future
ahead of him.”
Stopping a Nebraska offense
that, through two games, has aver
aged 540 yards in offense—446 on
the ground — will be difficult for
the UCLA defense, which Donahue
said wasn’t as good as last year.
Through its first two games, the
Bruin defense has given up 763
yards.
That may be part of the reason
that Donahue said he would look to
his offense Saturday, especially if
All-American wide receiver J.J.
Stokes sees action.
Donahue said he didn’t know if
Stokes would play. Stokes has been
absent from the Bruin lineup since
the Tennessee game with what
Donahue called a “very deep thigh
contusion.” Such an injury usually
requires two weeks to heal, he said.
If Stokes does play, Donahue
said the Bruins would have a “big
strike offense.”
“When we have all our players
in the game... we have some explo
siveness and some firepower offen
sively,” Donahue said.
One of those players is Wayne
Cook, who is back in command of
the Bruin offense after starting 11
games last season and the first two
this year.
“1 like Wayne Cook. He’s a
tough, hard-nosed quarterback,”
Donahue said. And he’s just getting
better with age, he said.
“It’s the old adage about experi
ence. 1 just think Wayne’s a better
quarterback this year because he’s
experienced,” Donahue said.
But just because the Bruins have
a solid passing game, Donahue said
he didn’t expect the Nebraska sec
ondary to sit back and watch.
“If you look at Nebraska and
chart the team over the years, they’re
always going to have outstanding
athletes in the defensive backfield.”
_- nmm ■ A M Memorial Stadium
bame uay 94 sX°rlLNebraska
2:34 p.m’.
TV: ABC
Nebraska' UCLA
mat
QB 15 Tommie Frazier 6-2 205 QB 15 Wayne Cook 64 215
FB 40 Cory Schlesinger 6-0 230 LH 36 James Milliner 60 216
IB 1 Lawrence Phillips 6-0 200 RH 33 Shannon Shah 5-10 189
SE 7 Reggie Baul 5-8 170 SE 18 J.J. Stokes 6-5 223
WB 27 Abdul Muhammad 5-9 160 FL 4 Kevin Jordan 6-2 188
RT 72 Zach Wiegert 6-5 300 RT 69 Chad Overhauser 6-5 290
LT 56 RobZatechka 63 315 LT 79 JonathenOgden 63 315
RG 66 Brenden Stai 64 300 RG 73 Matt Soenksen 6-6 300
LG 76 Joel Wilks 6-3 280 LG 62 James Christensen 6-3 270
C 54 Aaron Graham 63 280 C 58 Mike Flanagan 6-5 281
TE 85 Matt Shaw 6-3 235 TE 99 Brian Richards 64 247
PK 12 Tom Sieler 6-5 205 PK 37 Bjorn Merten 60 194
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LOLB 86 Dwayne Harris 6-2 225 LT 55 Sale Isaia 315
DT 55 Christian Peter 6-2 285 NG 59 George Kase 245
NT 99 Terry Conneaty 63 275 RT 89 Gary Walton 257
ROLB 84 Donta Jones 6-2 220 OLB97 Phillip Ward 225
SAM 4 Troy Dumas 64 220 ILB 40 Rod Smalley 235
MIKE 48 Doug Coiman 63 240 ILB 90 Shane Jasper 258
WILL 32 Ed Stewart 6-1 215 OLB 23 Donnie Edwards 216
LCB 14 Barron Miles 53 165 LC 2 Teddy Lawrence 187
RCB 29 Tyrone Williams 60 165 RC 10 Andy Colbert 165
ROV 29 Kareem Moss 610190 R 12 Marcus Coleman 201
FS 9 Tony Veland 62 200 FS 12 Paul Guidry 175
P 6 DannErstad 62 195 P 28 Darren Schager 194
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UCLA linebacker hopes to make name
for himself on field against Nebraska
By Pfk Samson
Senior Reporter
UCLA linebacker Donnie Edwards isn’t
trying to produce a season similar to the
season former Bruin linebacker Jamir Miller
had last year.
Nor is he trying to make people forget
about the loss of Miller to the National
Football League’s Arizona Cardinals.
Edwards is just trying to be himself.
“Everybody’s talking about me Finally
being out of Jamir’s shadow, and that’s not
how it is,” the junior from San Diego said.
“I’m at a totally different position than Jamir
was. I know Jamir was tne
focus of our team last year.
I’m not trying to fill in for
Jamir.
“I’m just out here try
ing to have fun, do my job
and help UCLA win
games.”
At his outside line
KiIujij ■ oacker posmon, me am
“WBnw American Millercollected
69 tackles, including 12.5 sacks last year.
Edwards, who started every game as the
other outside linebacker, racked up 63 tack
les with two sacks.
After such a strong sophomore season,
Edwards’ name has been mentioned often as
a Butkus Award and All-American candi
date.
But Edwards isn’t thinking about awards.
“I just want to play to win,” he said. “I just
do what Donnie Edwards needs to do to help
this team win. I don’t play for the TV audi
ence or for the Butkus, I play for God.
“He’s given me the talent to play this
game, and I just want to be able to look at
myself in the mirror after every game and
know that I haven’t wasted that talent.’’
The only thing Edwards was wasting last
Saturday was the Southern Methodist quar
terback, as he tied a school record with 4.5
sacks in the game.
In UCLA’s first two games, Edwards has
totaled 18 tackles, 12 of which came against
SMU.
“Last week, I just rushed the passer a lot
more,” he said. “What I do at my position
varies from game to game, and it just hap
pened that I was going after the quarterback
a lot more last week. Most of the time, I’m in
coverage.
“That’s why I don’t feel like I have to fill
in for Jamir in any way. What he did last year
was rush the passer, while I was usually in
coverage. I’ll still be in coverage most of the
time this year.”
After losing to Nebraska 14-13 last year,
the Bruins dropped to 0-2, but won eight of
their final nine regular season games.
This season, the 12th- and 13th-ranked
Bruins head into Lincoln with a 2-0 record,
which includes a 25-23 victory over Tennes
see.
“At this time last year we were 0-2, and
now we’re 2-0,” Edwards said. “That does a
lot for our confidence. This is a more unified
team. We have a lot of young guys, but we’re
playing well together as a team. Everyone
knows there is a lot more unity this year.
When the Bruins come into Memorial
Stadium Saturday to face the No. I and No.
2 Comhuskers, Edwards said the Bruins
See EDWARDS on 14
Receiver won’t play second fiddle
By Mitch Iherman
Senior Reporter
In last year’s 14-13 loss to Nebraska,
UCLA flanker Kevin Jordan made the first
start of his career,
_, One year later, the 6
foot-2, 188-pound junior
from Beltsville, Md., is the
Bruins’ leading receiver
and one of the top receiv
ers in the Pacific-10 con
ference.
Despite playing second
fiddle to senior Heisman
Trophy candidate J.J.
Stokes. Jordan has caught
Joraan 13 passes for 235 yards in
UCLA’s two victories this season.
“I don’t have any control over what J.J
does,” Jordan said. “I do have control over
how I play. If the ball comes my way, I’ll get
it.”
UCLA quarterback Wayne Cook has re
peatedly delivered the ball Jordan's way in
the past year. Last season, Jordan, who was
called the most underrated receiver in the
nation by UCLA’s Sports Information De
partment, caught 45 passes for 612 yards.
That’s four more than Stokes caught as a
sophomore in 1992. However, Jordan, named
third-team sophomore All-American last year
by Football News, said he doesn’t care about
all the comparisons.
“I don’t care if J.J. gets all the publicity,”
he said. “I am still going to play Kevin
Jordan’s game.”
Nebraska coach Tom Osborne said he
was well aware of what Jordan could do if the
Comhuskers focused too much on Stokes.
“(Jordan) is a big strong receiver,”
Osborne said. “We don’t ever really focus on
one guy. About the time you focus on one
guy, another guy kills you.”
“We have a chance to show
the country that we re
good. ”
■
KEVIN JORDAN
UCLA receiver
The Bruins, Jordan said, have been look
ing forward to playing the No. I and No. 2
Huskers ever since last season’s one-point
loss to Nebraska at the Rose Bowl in Pasa
dena, Calif.
“It means a lot to us,” he said. “Not too
many people get a chance to play the No. I
team in the country. I felt we stuck with them
last year and had a chance to win at the end.”
But UCLA fell just short.
Saturday’s game at Memorial Stadium,
Jordan said, hopefully will end on a better
note for the Bruins, who are the defending
Pac-10 champions. If it does, it won’t be
because of Nebraska’s defense, which is
better than last year’s, he said.
But he said the Bruins would be ready,
despite a lackluster 17-10 win on the road
against Southern Methodist last week. Play
ing without Stokes, UCLA was forced to
stop SMU on a first-and-goal at the three
yard line with under 1:30 left in the game to
preserve its seven-point lead.
“That game is behind us,” Jordan said.
“We’re confident. We’re still 2-0. We’re not
playing the same type of team we played
Saturday. We are playing the No. 1 team in
the country. We want to come out there and
play hard. We have a lot at stake.
“We have a chance to show the country
that we’re good.”
