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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 27, 1994)
Sports Tuesday, September 27, 1994 Page 7 Frazier’s injury causes a quarterback shortage By Todd Walkanhorat » Staff Reporter With the possibility of not having starting quarterback Tommie Frazier for the remainder of the season, Ne uiasita tuacnes had junior Tony Veland, the start ing free safety, take snaps at quar terback Monday. Frazier was ad mitted Sunday evening to Bryan Memorial Hospi VWWNI taj fortTeatment 0f a blood clot in his right leg. Nebraska coach Tom Osborne said that there was about a 50 percent chance that the clot would completely reduce, and that it had already been reduced 25 percent in the last 24 hours. “Obviously, I am sure lie’s not going to play this week,” Osborne said. “It may be a couple of weeks, it may be the season; nobody knows.” Osborne said that Veland may have to be moved permanently to quarter back if another quarterback was in jured. The absence of Frazier would mean that junior Brook Berringer would take over the quarterback duties, and sophomore MattTurman would back up him. Berringer, a 6-foot-4, 210-pound junior from Goodland, Kan., com pleted 17 of 27 passes for 222 yards in 10 games last year. This year, Berringer is 9-of-18 for 132 yards passing. He has rushed for 69 yards in ten attempts in four games. Osborne said Berringer had a re curring ligament problem in his throw ing shoulder. “Some days he seems to throw normally, no pain,” he said, “then some days he throws a little while, then stops.” Osborne said they had to make sure that Berringer did not try to be a hero and do everything himself. “If he has to go two or three days in a row and not throw, then that’s what we have todo,” Osborne said. “There’s nothing we can do about it.” If Berringer could not play, the duties would fall to sophomore Matt Turman, who is listed third on the depth chart behind Frazier and Berringer. Veland, a 6-foot-2,200-pound jun ior from Omaha, played his first two seasons at quarterback before mov ing to free safety this year. V«tend was 6©f 9 for 176 yards in two games last year at quarterback. “Veland took eight or nine snaps today at quarterback,” Osborne said, “but we want to keep him at safety. “If one of the other quarterbacks goes down, Tony will have to go to quarterback full-time.” Osborne said shifting Veland from safety to quarterback was tricky be cause it involved the team’s two thin nest positions. “This is the most disturbing quar terback situation I’ve ever had,” Osborne said. Moving Veland from safety to quarterback would further diminish a position that has been struck by inju ries to sophomore Mike Minter and senior Barron Miles. Osborne said Miles did not prac tice Monday because of a sore knee and rib but thought he would be ready to play Saturday against Wyoming. Scott Bruhn/DN With Tommie Frazier’s blood dot, backup quarterback Brook Barringer must rise up for the Nebraska football team. Barringer played most of the Huskers’ 70-21 rout over Pacific. Husker soccer hopes rematch sustains four-game win streak By Todd Waikanhoret Staff Reportei The Nebraska soccerteam will attempt fo add to its four-game winning streak when it meets Creighton this afternoon in a 4:30 game at Tranquility Park in Omaha. The Huskers have gone 4-0 since losing to the Bluejays 3-1 in their first-ever soccer game on Sept. 13 in Lincoln. Creighton is coming off a 2-1 victory over Loyola (III.) and a 2-1 victory over Northern Illinois. The Bluejays currently have a 5-1 record and are ranked in the top 20 in national polls. Nebraska coach John Walker said that this rematch would pose a different situation for both the Huskers and Creighton. “It will be different for both teams,” Walker said. “We are not going to catch them by surprise like we did the last time." The rematch should also provide an edge for the Bluejays because they will be play ing at home, but Walker doesn’t think it’ll be that big of an advantage. “They know we are going to give them a competitive game," Walker said. And the Huskers have a better idea about where they stand now compared to their first game, Walker said. “We had no idea where we stood,” he said, “and we didn’t know if we could com pete.” Walker said that his team was looking forward to the match because of the experi ence they had gained since the previous meeting against Creighton. “We have played five games,” he said. “We are a different team than we were three weeks ago. We have grown a lot.” Today’s game will mark the first action for the Huskers since a 4-1 victory Sept. 18 against Park College (Mo.). The nine days off provided a needed break for the Huskers to heal bumps and bruises, Walker said. Walker said his team would have to play very well to beat a nationally ranked team like Creighton. "We are going to have to play really well,” he said, “because Creighton is an excellent team.” Nonstarters’ playing time vital, defensive coach says By Trevor Parks Staff Reporter Nebraska defensive coordinator Charlie McBride said Saturday’s game against Pacific was a perfect time to get the more inexperi enced defensive players some playing time. “That’s how you grow up,” McBride said. “I feel pretty good about the kids and their work.” McBride, speakingat Monday’s Extra Point Club Luncheon, said letting little-used players get a lot of playing time could bring the team closer together. “They realize how much they have got to learn,” McBride said. Two players McBride was happy to see get a lot of playing time were defensive backs Octavious McFarlin and Darren Schmadeke. McBride said at times McFarlin was lined up in the wrong spot, but he didn’t do too badly after only a week of practice. “He was doing pretty well before, but now we coached him, and he’s really screwed up,” McBride joked. Schmadeke played 42 snaps against Pacific and was voted the defensive back of the game after making eight tackles. “He gives us everything he’s got every sec ond,” McBride said. “If he hits you, you’ll get rung up.” The playing time the younger players re ceived could be important as the Huskers focus on the remainder of the season, McBride said. He said last week was the Huskers’ best week of practice since the first game. ‘‘We better stay that way and worry about Wyoming, or (the remainder of the season) won’t mean a whole lot.” This weekend, Wyoming will have the honor of facing the Husker defense. ‘‘They have a lot of people that would like to get after us and play well,” McBride said. ‘‘They’ll have a greater incentive and get a big boost from their coaching staff.” McBride said the 2-2 Cowboys had an of fensive attack that would test the Husker de fense. A main ingredient in that attack is running back Ryan Christopherson. Last season, Christopherson rushed for 1,014 vards, and he has already rushed for 608 yards in four games this year. McBride said it would be important to slow Christopherson down. “He’s a lot like Bam Morris, who we saw against Texas Tech last year,” McBride said. “He might be a step slower, but they are getting the productivity out of him that Bam Morris got.” No benefit from Nil's overwhelming win over Pacific “On any given day.” Yeah, right! There is that saying that any team can beat any other team on any given day, but on Saturday, Pacific proved that theory wrong. Pacific came into the game saying they weren’t coming in here expect ing to lose. Plus, they had nothing to lose by playing the game. Well, I’m sorry Pacific, but your logic was wrong. After Nebraska’s 70-21 slaughter of the Tigers, Pacific coach Chuck Shelton has to be wondering whether it was really worth it. Not in a million years could Pa cific have come in and beat Nebraska or even played the Cornhuskers re motely close. And they did not. Not even if Nebraska would have played with six players. Not even if Nebraska would have let Pacific’s quarterback — Craig Whelihan—call the signals fora half on the Husker side of the ball. And saying you have nothing to lose — strike two! As Pacific player after player hobbled to the sidelines, while the Nebraska third team took away every ounce of Tiger pride by driving down the field on UOP's first-team defense, I couldn’t help but wonder why Pa cific would play this game. In a game like Saturday’s, there are no winners. Definitely not Pacific, who suf fered injuries and also proved they weren’t worthy enough for Nebraska defenders to even waste a hit on. And even more so, Nebraska surely didn’t benefit from this game. Quarterback Tommie Frazier, who isstill well in thehunt forthe Heisman, played for nine plays. Derek Samson Even though Frazier and coach Tom Osborne don’t care about statis tics and awards, it would have been nice for our Heisman hopeful to rush for more than five yards on one at tempt or pass for more than 26 yards on a l-of-2 passing performance. What about the starting defense? Could they have liked playing only three series, with some of them leav ing the game without a tackle? “Personally, I’d always rather be playing someone in the top 10 every weekend,” said Nebraska linebacker and Butkus Award candidate Ed Stewart. “But we just have to go out and play the games that are scheduled for us." That’s the real crime. The crime is not that the starters didn’t get to stay in longer to run up some impressive stats because I don’t think any coach — even Florida’s Steve Spurrier—would risk getting a Tommie Frazier, Zach Wiegert or Ed Stewart injured against Pacific. Rather, the crime is that the Ne braska coaches, players and fans had to sit through a game like Saturday’s against the outmatched Tigers. Osborne, who admitted the first team players didn’t benefit from the rout, said it was impossible to sched ule a team the caliber of UCLA.every week. “1 don’t how much good it did our first units because they played so little,” Osbome said. “It probably wasn’t much of a workout for them. But the problem is, 'Who are you going to get?’ “It’s very difficult to replace a team with only one year’s notice. Out of 106 teams in the power ratings, there are probably 20 to 30 teams rated lower than Pacific. Tl»ey got $400,000, and Chuck (Shelton) told me that’s half of their budget, so it’s a big deal to them.” * That is, it’s a big deal to Pacific’s athletic department, not its football team. Pacific must admit that money is the only reason they sent their foot ball team to Lincoln, not the opportu nity to upset the No. 1 team in the country. The Pacific team that came into Memorial Stadium could never have beaten Nebraska, and if Nebraska would have left its first team offense See SAMSON on 8
