Berringer’s performance deflates critics
By P»r>k tamton
Senior Reporter
After Nebraska starting quarterback
Tommie Frazier’s season was ended by a blood
clot, many Comhusker fans believed the na
tional championship hopes had gone down
with him.
Berrlnger
Now, after leading Ne
braska to a convincing 24
7 win over then-No. 2 Colo
rado Saturday, Brook
Berringer has silenced the
critics of both him and
Nebraska.
For his efforts, Berringer
was named the Big Eight
offensive player of the
week Monday.
Berringer said.the lack of respect of his
abilities and that of his teammates helped fuel
the Huskers against Colorado.
“I was confident, and I think the whole team
was,” Berringer said. “We had been labeled as
underdogs, and we don’t take that very lightly,
especially at home. We were ready to get out
there and prove what we can do.”
The 6-foot-4-inch, 210-pound junior from
Goodland, Kan., appeared in his biggest start
ing role ever and has been a major factor in
keeping the Huskers’ national championship
hopes alive.
Berringer completed 12 of 17 passes for 142
yards and one touchdown.
“The biggest thing is we were well-pre
pared,” Berringer said. “This is a week where
there is a lot of hype, and a lot of teams can get
caught up in that. I don’t think we did. We
waited until the right time to jump up and
down.”
Besides the fact he was playing against a
second- and third-ranked Colorado team,
Berringer had to play knowing that his lung
had partially collapsed in two of the previous
four games.
But Berringer said it wasn’t difficult to
forget about his lung.
“I just went into the game and totally blocked
it out,” he said.
And Berringer’s ability to do that in those
conditions impressed Nebraska coach Tom
Osborne.
“Brook was great,” Osborne said. “It was
just like he was going out there for a scrim
mage. He didn’t show any wear and tear.
“The Kansas State game was a big game,
but he didn’t start down there. In many ways,
this was the biggest game he’s been involved
in, and I thought he responded very well.”
Berringer said his approach to the game was
the main reason he appeared so calm.
“I was fine because I tried to treat it like any
other game,” he said. “There was a lot of hype
involved in this week, and we had to concen
trate on what we had to do.”
Berringer said the 24-7 win shouldn’t be a
shock to people but rather send them a mes
sage.
“We proved that we’re No. 1,” he said. “I
think we’re going to come out and continue to
prove it all season. I think we’re a team with a
lot of heart, and we’ve had a lot of adversity
this season.”
But will anyone listen to that message?
“Probably not,” he said. “Hopefully, but it
doesn’t seem like anything we’ve done so far
has. This is obviously a big game, and we came
out and played well. We came out, played well
and went through adversity when nobody re
ally gave us a chance.”
Defense
Continued from Page 7
Sept. 8, Tony Veland, still recovering from
knee surgery, was forced to take over as the
starter.
In order to provide depth, Eric Stokes
was moved from comerback to safety. For
a short period of time, Stokes played both
free safety and rover. No. 1 left comerback
Barron Miles also played some safety in
practice.
“They weren’t learning things,’’ McBride
said. “We just settled down one week and
said, 'They are going to play one position
and learn it right.’”
Now that Miles is back at comerback full
time, Stokes has adjusted to free safety and
Veland is almost 100 percent recovered
from his injury, the defense has been able to
gain momentum, McBride said.
Since Big Eight play began, Nebraska
has allowed 5.8 points and 67 rushing yards
per game.
“I think there were a lot of people who
didn’t believe in us,” he said. “Maybe they
still don’t, which is fine, but it’s been a
motivational factor. It has pulled our foot
ball team together a lot.”
--
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Forecast keeps
Kansas game
off TV airwaves
By Andrew Stmid
Staff Reporter
Nebraska’s game against
Kansas this Saturday will not
be televised by ESPN and will
start at 1 p.m.
ESPN originally planned to
televise the game at 6:30 p.m.
but will instead show the Ala
bama-Louisiana St. game.
Athletic Director Bill Byrne
decided to keep the game at 1
p.m instead of risking die chance
of playing in winter- like condi
tions.
•**
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