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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 13, 1994)
Sports Thursday, October 13,1994 Page 9 Kansas State’s Lockett exoects bis olavs By Pwtk Samson_ _ Senior Reporter Kansas State receiver Kevin Lockett isn’t trying to deny how important Saturday's game with Nebraska is for the Wildcat football pro gram. getting now important it is *i to the fans when the sec ond-ranked Cornhuskers travel to Manhattan. Kan., for the ABC-tele vised game. That’s mostly because the fans won’t let him. “It’s just been crazy v ■ arouna ncrc. lockcu said. “The students are Lockvtt j-u|j j0y Everywhere you go, if they recognize you as a football player, they're wishing you good luck. It's a very big deal. “It’s a great chance for the program to get attention it is striving for, especially playing on national TV. Hopefully, everyone in the country will see a Kansas State victory." Lockett, a 6-foot, 175-pound sophomore, has been a big deal since arriving in Manhat tan. _________ Last year, Lockett had 50 receptions for 770 yards, earning him first-team Freshman All American and second-team All-Big Eight hon ors. The native of Tulsa, Okla., hasn’t dropped off this season. He has hauled in 17 catches in four games — third in the Big Eight. But Lockett doesn't worry about being a one-man show for the Wildcat offense with All Big Eight quarterback Chad May throwing to him. “Chad complements me very well,’’ he said. “We’ve been together two years — last year and with the scout team my redshirt year. We have a great feel for a lot of things together. I just keep running my routes, and we comple ment each other.” The only depressing thing about playing with May is that he is a senior, Lockett said. “It’s great to have someone like him at quar terback,” he said. “If you don’t have a quarter back like that, you wonder what would hap pen. I think that 1 could maybe be one of the best receivers in the nation, so I hope to do everything I can while he’s here.” When the 6-0 Huskers and 4-0 Wildcats take the Held Saturday, it will be the second-straight televised game for Kansas State. The Wildcats defeated Kansas 21-13 last Thursday in Lawrence. Kan., in a game tele vised by ESPN. “That (win) sent a big message from a pro gram that has really turned around,” Lockett said. “We played a complete ballgame. People see us ranked high in the polls and wonder that maybe we’re not that good of a team. Af ter Thursday, I think we showed we are very good.” Lockett said the continued success of the Kansas State football program brought added pressure. “People used to expect us just to try to play Nebraska close,” Lockett said. “Now they ex pect us to win, and we expect ourselves to win. But I still think we’ll have respect regardless of the outcome.” Considering Lockett's performance against Kansas and the fact that Nebraska gave up passing totals of 285 yards to UCLA, 29i) yards to Pacific and 344 io Wyoming, the Huskcr secondary may have its hands full with Lockett. “They do a lot of different things,” Lockett said of the Huskcr secondary. “They play a lot of man-to-nian, and they’re going to give up their share of big plays. But they arc also go ing to make a lot of big plays. Hopefully, our big plays outnumber their big plays.” Huskers still streaking after run through KSU From Staff Reports For the first time this season, the Nebraska volleyball lost a game to open a match. Playing their second of four con secutive conference matches away from home, the Huskcrs rebounded from an early scare to beat Kansas State 13-15, 15-2, 15-5. 15-6 Wednesday night at Ahearn Field House in Manhattan, Kan. The Huskcrs, now 49-0 against Kansas State, lost a game to the Wild cats for the first time since Nov. 3, 1987. Before Wednesday. Nebraska had never lost the first game of a match to Kansas State, which fell to 11-5 overall and 2-2 in the Big Eight. Second-ranked Nebraska, 16-0 overall and 3-0 in the conference, jumped out to a 9-3 lead in the first game before the Wildcats went on an 11-2 run. Nebraska closed the gap to 14-13, but Kansas State kept its com posure and won the game by two points. “I just think we were a little more alert after the first game,” Nebraska coach Terry Pettit said on the KLIN post-game radio show. Pettit said part of the reason Ne braska may have been ineffective at the beginning of the match was be cause of the bus trip to Manhattan Wednesday afternoon, i “That’s the chance you take,” Pettit said. “We thought we tightened up a little bit in that first game.” The Huskcrs, who hadn't lost the first game of a match this season, loosened up in a hurry at the start of “We made some mistakes in that first game. But after that, they were a little less competitive . matching up with us." u TERRY PETTIT Nebraska coach the second game. Led by junior middle blocker Allison Weston, who had a match high 15 kills, the Huskers exploded to open up the second game and never looked back. Setter Christy Johnson, who reg istered 39 kills against the Wildcats, served the game's first three points before a Kansas State sidcout. A kill by Peggy Meyer, who was playing in place of injured middle blocker Jen McFadden, returned the serve to Nebraska. Junior outside hitter Billie Winsctt served nine consecutive points as Nebraska increased its lead to 11-0 before surrendering a sidcout. Kan sas State still could not score and did not register a point until Nebraska led 14-0. “I wanted us to put away that first game,” Pettit said. ‘‘We made some mistakes in that first game. But after that, they were a little less compcti See HUSKERS on 11 Jon Wallar/[ Nebraska’s Kelly Aspegren spikes the ball against Duke’s Maureen Relndl during ths Cornhuskers’ win over the Blue Devils Saturday, Oct 1,1994 In Lincoln. Nebraska defeated Kansas State 11-15,15-2,15-5,154 Wednesday In Manhattan, Kan. History, like a KSU loss to NU, always repeats itself It’s time for a little history lesson. Let’s call it History of Nebraska Kansas State Football 101. Now these two teams aren't great rivals like Kansas-Kansas State or Nebraska-Oklahoma, but this season's game will be huge. This rivalry, if you want to call it that, began in 1911. For 83 years, one word describes the Huskers’ series with the Wildcats — domination. It hasn’t mattered whether the two teams have played in Manhattan or in Lincoln. The Huskers are 66-10-2 during the course of the series, and on Sat urday, they will be playing in a sta dium in which they have never lost. The Huskers are a perfect 11-0 at KSU Stadium. It hasn’t even mattered if the two teams have played halfway around the world. The Coca-Cola Bowl in Tokyo, Japan, in 1992 had to rank as one of the all-time highs in the scries. Oh boy, it must have been fun for the Huskers to travel thousands of miles just to pummel the pussycats. The players had to eat sushi for a week and adjust to the nine-hour time change before getting rid of the ‘Cats 38-24. Back home in Lincoln, the Husk ers haven’t been clawed by the kit ties since a Bob Devaney-coached team suffered a stunning 12-0 loss in 1968. And the Big Red hasn't lost in Manhattan since 1959. Nebraska fans probably were thinking how much they liked Presi dent “Ike” Eisenhower but hated Ne braska coach Bill Jennings after the mighty ‘Cats beat the Big Red 29 14. Interestingly, Tom Osborne gradu ated from Hastings College that same year and headed for a brief stint in Trevor Parks the National Football League. During Osborne's 21 years as coach of the Huskers, Nebraska has given the Wildcats repeated, sense less beatings. From 1973 to 1990, the Huskers outscored the Wildcats 788-180, an average score of 44-10. A dominance of truly historical proportions. But in 1991, something happened that almost changed the course of history. The Huskers almost lost. It took a goal-line stand in the fourth quarter to preserve Nebraska’s 38-31 win. Bill Snyder was in just his second season with the Wildcats that year. Under him, Kansas State has become a legitimate threat to the Huskcrs. During the past three seasons, Nebraska's average margin of victory has narrowed to 40-28. The ‘Cats arc one of the most im proved teams in college football since 1989, when they were 1-10. After winning nine games last year, maybe they finally arrived to the big time. The Wildcats haven’t lost a home game since a 10-0 defeat to Colorado in 1991. Then again, they haven’t played Nebraska at home since 1990. But never in a million years would I have thought Saturday's game would have national championship implications, let alone Big Eight championship implications. Saturday will be the first time in a long while that the winner of the game won’t be decided before kick off This history has seen a dominant Nebraska, but things haven’t been the same since 1991. I’m not real big on change, but Kansas State’s turnaround has been good to see. On the other hand, they're not ready for the big time yet. I'll be there watching this historic battle, and I’m sure it won't be any thing like my first trip to Manhattan in 1985, when the Huskers won 41 3. But don't expect a dramatic change in the history of the Nebraska Kansas State series this Saturday. History will repeat itself, and the Huskers will win their 26th straight against the 'Cats and remain unde feated at KSU Stadium. Class dismissed. Parks b ■ Junior news-editorial major and a Dally Nebraskan staff reporter.