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
