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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 14, 1994)
Osborne: KSU’s improvement to help Big 8 By Pfk Samson Senior Reporter “ Kansas State coach Bill Snyder has taken the Wildcat football program to a new level. nnt how high of a level the No. 16 Wild lave reached will be known on Saturday, wuen the No. 2 Nebraska Cornhuskers travel to Manhattan, Kan., for an 11.08 a m. kickoff. ABC will televise the game. Husker coach Tom Osborne said Kansas State’s emergence into the Top 20 would ben efit rather than hinder other Big Eight teams. “I think it’s good for the Big Eight Confer ence that Kansas State has done what they’ve done,” Osborne said. “Kansas State being a real good program at this point is a plus for us. Kansas being a better program is a plus. Overall, the league is much stronger this year.’’ Osborne said Snyder resurrected the Kan sas State program, which was something Osborne didn’t have to do at Nebraska. “Bill Snyder has done an excellent job build ing a program,” Osborne said. “I took over a program that was already up and running. I didn’t have to go through a lot of the things he’s had to go through. “They’ve done a great job of building fa cilities. Last spring they were kind enough to let us look at tnpir facilities, and they’re truly outstanding.” But a huge reason for the Wildcats’ 4-0 start is quarterback Chad May — who has com pleted 83 of 128 passes for 953 yards, seven touchdowns and no interceptions this season. “I hope he (May) doesn’t get any better,” Osborne said. “Last year he was awfully good. I guess I haven’t seen him play a bad game. He’s thrown a lot of balls without an intercep tion, which is really unusual when you throw it 40 or 50 times a game. He really suits the Style of offense they have ” Osborne said the Wildcats’ offensive schemes made it even more difficult to get a pass rush on May. “He runs out of the shotgun a lot,” he said. “It’s harder to get to a guy because the ball gets back there faster, and he has an extra sec ond or two to look at things. The Nebraska defense will have to do any thing it can to get pressure on May, Osborne said. “I think our pass rush is decent.” he said. “Generally, we’ve had reasonable pressure on people. You can’t measure a pass rush as get ting seven or eight sacks a game. Sometimes it’s more if a guy has someone in his face when he throws the ball, the ball getting knocked down or someone grabbing his jersey when he releases it.” But Nebraska had little of that in last year’s 45-28 victory over the Wildcats in Lincoln. May threw for a Big Eight-record 48') yards, completing 30 of 51 passes and two touch downs. “They had some big plays that cost us,” Osborne said. “They had three or four passes for 40 or 50 yards or more. They had 128 yards on two passes, so the yardage mounts up pretty fast when you get about three or four of those. “That was not typical of our secondary last year. We played Colorado with a very good passer, and that didn’t happen to us. We played a pretty good passer in Charlie Ward and didn’t have that happen to us. I guess that’s what makes the game interesting—you never know what’s going to happen.” But that doesn’t mean Osborne is expect ing his secondary to have a repeat performance against May on Saturday. “I think we’ve got a good secondary,” he said. “It may be that he will take advantage of it, he may not, I’ve got confidence that we’ve got guys back there that can play.” Turman probable QB starter From Staff Report* Sophomore walk-on quarterback Matt Turman probably will make his first career start on Saturday against Kansas State, Nebraska football coach Tom Osborne said Thursday after practice. Osborne said junior Brook Berringer, the Cornhuskers’ starting quarterback since Tommie Frazier went down after the Pacific game on Sept. 24, might still play. “We’ll start probably with Turman,” Osborne said, “and we’ll see if Brook is available to play. That will be depending on the doctor’s approval.” Berringer still is recovering from a partially collapsed left lung, which he has injured in both of his starts. Osborne said he hoped Berringer would be ready to play if he was needed. “He has practiced all week,” Osborne said. “There will be no final word on it until Saturday morning. I’m so tired of talking about quarter backs. That's all I’ve talked about the last two weeks. We have got 21 other positions on the team. “They may say, ‘He’s 100 percent; don't worry about it. Go ahead and play him.’ Or they may say, ‘We’d rather he didn’t play.’” Berringer has been held out of contact in practice this week. Osborne said if Berringer was given approval to play and was 100 percent, he would start. But, he said, it looks like Turman will get the call. Wingback Clester Johnson, who has taken about 60 snaps this week, is the only other available quarter back on the 60-man travel roster. The Huskers will bus to Manhat tan, Kan., on Friday and will prac tice Friday afternoon at KSU Sta dium. Daily Nebraskan staffers (6-4 last week, 41-9 season) pick the winners of the ten major college football games this weekend, with winners in bold: Oklahoma at Colorado Missouri at Oklahoma State Kansas at Iowa State Penn State at Michigan Auburn at Florida Baylor at Texas A&M Alabama at Tennessee Arizona at Washington State BYU at Notre Dame Pick the score- Nebraska 32 _at Kansas State 26 J Kansas State ready to be tested By Tfvor Park*_ Staff Reporter No matter who wins the Nebraska Kansas State football game Saturday. Wildcat linebacker Fcrcell Gaskins said people would know Kansas State was for real. “We’re not a team that is good one year, then falls off the next,” he said. And since Gaskins joined the Wildcats in 1992. the Wildcats have improved. Also Gaskins' play at linebacker has improved. For his efforts last season, Gaskins was named Big Eight Defensive New comer of the Year. The 6-foot-1, 215-pound junior had 78 tackles last season. His lone sack last year came against the Comhuskers. The Butkus Award candidate said the Wildcats gained a lot from last year’s performance in the 45-28 loss. “It was a pretty good game,” Gaskins said. “We played a good ball game, but they wore us down in the end.” The Wildcats’ 21-13 victory over Kansas Oct. 6 on national television gave Kansas State the confidence it needs going into the Nebraska game, Gaskins said. “We know we sent a message to ourselves.” Gaskins said. “We arc for real, and hopefully we can do it again this weekend.” This season Gaskins is again wreaking havoc on opposing of fenses. He’s second on the team with 31 tackles behind Kirby Hocutt’s 38. Gaskins has doubled his sack total from last season with two and has two other tackles for loses. However, the Huskcr offense should offer Kansas Slate a tough test, Gaskins said. “They’ve been running forever. They are excellent with what they do.” Gaskins said. “They just play normal football.” Even though Nebraska is without Tommie Frazier and may be without Brook Bcrringcr, Gaskins said who ever is behind center will pose a threat. “For every plus there is a minus,” Gaskins said. “The speed that Tommie has is definitely a plus, but Berringer can throw the ball very well” Although the Wildcat fans are ex cited for the game, this week has been pretty normal as far as the football team goes, Gaskins said. “For us, we’re just trying to prac tice harder and concentrate on play ing harder,” Gaskins said. “However, I’d say the fans are waiting for this.” Gaskins said the fans had been calling the game one of the biggest in school history. However, being from Florida, he said he still wasn’t quite sure what all the fuss was about. “That’s what they are calling it,” he said. “I wasn’t here 10-15 years ago. so I really don’t know.” Pumped up Scott Bmhn/DN Nebraska llnabackar Clint Brown colobratos a tackle dur ing last Saturday’s Oklahoma Stato gams. Brown and dm Huskor dofonso will taka on Chad May and Kansas Stato on Saturday In Manhattan, Kan. Midnight scrimmage to unveil eager hoopsters magic By Jaff Qrlasch__ Staff Reporter The six newcomers to the Ne braska men’s basketball team will try to start making magic for themselves as the Comhuskers open the 1994 95 season at Bob Devaney Sports Center Saturday morning. The Comhuskers will begin pre season practices with a scrimmage at 12:01 Saturday morning to conclude two hours of “Midnight Magic” fes tivities. Forward Andy Markowski, a freshman from Ord, said the practice would provide him with his first chance to show the coaches and fans what he could do on the court. “Even though 1 got a scholarship to come here, I still feel like 1 have a lot to prove," Markowski said. “A lot of people are just expecting me to rcdshirt, but I want to show every one that I can play. “I’ve got to prove it to the coaches because they are the ones who will be making the decisions, but this first practice is great because it’s always good to have the fans on your side.” Chad Ideus, a freshman from Adams who committed to Nebraska during his junior season in high school, said he was anxious to finally start practicing as a college player. “It has been kind of hard waiting because I committed so long ago,” Ideus said. “The last two years have been a lot of fun watching Nebraska, but I hope it’s going to be a lot more fun playing.” Markowski also said he thought opening the season in front of a big crowd would be a fun way to start the year. “Last year I was watching all the midnight practices on ESPN, and now I am part of it at Nebraska,” Markowski said. “I know it is going to be a lot easier than a regular prac tice. and I hope a big crowd comes and has lots of fiin.” Even though the Huskers will only scrimmage for 30 minutes, both Idcus and Markowski expect a good work out. “We have been playing against each other at the (Campus) Rec Cen ter about three times a week, and ev erybody has been going pretty hard,” Ideus said. ‘‘I think everybody is go ing to turn it up a little more with the crowd there, and it’s going to be aw fully intense.” Scheduled events will begin at 10:30 p.m. Friday with the Husker Magic campus three-on-three semi finals and finals. Throughout the evening, fans will “Lastyear 1 was watching all the midnight practices o)i ESPN, and now lam part of it at Nebraska. ” ■ ANDY MARKOWSKI Nebraska freshman forward be able to play basketball-related games of their own on the Bob Devaney Sports Center concourse. UNL Chancellor Dr. Graham Spanicr will display his magic with a few tricks at 11:15 p.m., followed by Kansas City, Mo., magician Tom Burgoon. A highlight music video of last year's season will begin at 11:50 p.m., and the Big Eight Tournament championship banner will be raised along with player introductions at midnight before the Huskcrs’ 30 minute scrimmage. “It should be a fun evening for everybody,” Nebraska coach Danny Nee said. “This is the third time we’ve tried this, and the response has been great every time.”