Sports
Friday, November 11,1994 Page 8
NU cautious
as it enters
Cyclone game
By Pfk Samson
Senior Reporter
Despite an 0-8-1 record, Nebraska coach
Tom Osborne thinks Iowa State is a much bet
ter team now than the Cyclone team that
opened its season with a 28-14 loss to North
ern Iowa.
And Osborne has the facts to back it up.
The Cyclones have been averaging 422.5
yards a game, including 453 yards last week
in a 38-20 loss at Kansas State. Nebraska
gained 262 against Kansas State on Oct. 15 in
Manhattan.
The No. 1 Comhuskers will try to stop the
Iowa State offense on Saturday in Ames, Iowa,
at 1 p.m.
Osborne said Iowa State’s offensive perfor
mance against the Wildcats shouldn’t be taken
lightly.
“Iowa State has a good football team, and
that may sound strange to say,” he said. “Of
fensively, right now, 1 think they are playing
very well. The thing that kind of grabbed my
attention is that they had 440 (453) yards
against Kansas State, and that’s almost double
of what we had.
“I would say there is a definite difference
in their offense over the last three or four games
as to what it was the first four or five games.
They’re executing better.”
Nebraska’s last trip to Ames two years ago
resulted in Iowa State’s 19-10 upset of the sev
enth-ranked Huskers — the only game Osborne
has lost to a team that finished with a losing
record.
Osborne said the Cyclones had a recent his
tory of playing Nebraska close, including last
year’s 49-17 Husker win in Lincoln, and he
hoped his players didn’t forget that.
“Even last year we got off to a 21-7 lead,
and we had a couple of turnovers, and it wasn’t
Jay Caldaron/D*
Nebraska l-back Lawranca Phillips divas Inta tha and zana far tha first af Ms two touchdowns against Kansas last
Saturday. PMIIIps will ba going for Ms 10th straight 100-yard gams Saturday against Iowa State.
decided until late in the game that we defi
nitely had the thing put away,” he said. “So 1
think they’ll (players) understand that we have
to play.
In 1992, Iowa State was more motivated to
win than the Huskers were, Osborne said.
“(In 1992) We had beaten Colorado 52-7,
then Kansas 49-7, and I don’t think our play
ers consciously let down; I just don't think they
were really ready to play,” he said. “I think
Iowa State was very ready to play, and they
played the game of the year.”
Osborne said he knew the Cyclone players
— 11 of which are Nebraska natives — would
be ready for the top-ranked Huskcrs.
“I’m sure that we’ll get their best effort,”
he said. “They’ve got nine, 10 or 11 Nebraska
players that are playing key roles for item.
They’re certainly going to give us everything
they’ve got; they always do.
“I think Iowa State will come to play. In
many respects, for a lot of those players, this
will be the most important game of the year.
I’m not taking anything for granted here at
all."
Despite waving a caution flag for his team,
Osborne said that if the 10-0 Huskers played
well, they should win.
“I’m not trying to paint a negative picture
here that we’re in big trouble and we can’t win
the game,” he said. “We just have to pay at
tention to business, and it may not be as quick
and simple as people think.”
Walden expounds on nightmare season
By Tfvor Piito
Staff Reporter
The Iowa State football season has been
filled with one nightmare after another for
Coach Jim Walden.
This Saturday, Walden’s nightmare season
will end when the Cyclones play host to No. 1
Nebraska in Ames, Iowa.
But the Cyclones have two games remain
ing. The Big Eight Conference on Thursday
suspended Walden from Iowa State’s final
Walden
game on inov. iv against
Colorado.
Walden announced his
resignation on Nov. 3, and
Saturday's game will be his
last on the Iowa State side
lines. Walden also was
fined $5,(XX) for his com
ments on the officiating af
ter Iowa State's 38-20 loss
to Kansas State last Satur
day.
Walden said Nebraska
would cause his team numerous problems, but
then the Cornhuskers caused problems for op
ponents all year.
“We’ll have the same problems the other
10 did,” Walden said. “We didn’t create their
record.”
However, being the opposite of Nebraska at
0-8-1, Walden said he wished things were bet
ter for his program.
“It’s been one of disappointment,” Walden
said. “The frustration comes from not getting
the team on an even keel. I feel so rotten for
the players.”
Injuries have hampered the Cyclones, and
Walden said that was one reason why his high
hopes for this season were crushed.
“We’re not strong enough to lose eight or
nine starters for an extended period of lime,”
Walden said. “We couldn’t overcome it, and
that’s a fact.”
Walden said his team had done its best to
make the most of the injuries.
Although their record doesn't show it, the
Cyclones nave improved as of late.
In its last five games, the Iowa State oflcnse
A#*w VAil Cyclone Stadium/Jack Trice Field
G21IY1C Day U4 Ames, Iowa
w Saturday, 1:00 p.m.
Iowa State
QB 18 Brook Berringer 6-4 210 QB 4 Todd Doxzon 6-0 170
FB 40 Cory Schlesinger 6-0 230 HB 25 Calvin Branch 5-11 189
IB 1 Lawrence Phillips 6-0 200 HB 28 Troy Davis 5-9 170
SE 7 Reggie Baul 5-8 170 FB 26 Jim Knott 6-0 210
WB 27 Abdul Muhammad 5-9 160 SE 88 Mike Horacek 6-1 196
RT 72 ZachWiegert 6-5 300 SE 86 Ivory Mhoon 5-7 172
LT 56 Rob Zatechka 6-5 315 RT 69 Brian Wilkinson 6-6 290
RG 55 BrendenStai 6-4 300 LT 77 Tim Kohn 6-5 282
LG 76 Joel Wilks 6-3 280 RG 73 Tony Booth 6-3 293
C 54 Aaron Graham 6-3 280 LG 74 Doug Ragaller 6-1 285
TE 85 Matt Shaw 6-3 235 C 58 Mike Sakalas 6-3 268
PK 6 Darin Erstad 6-2 195 PK 2 Ty Stewart 5-11 194
LOLB 86 Dwayne Harris 6-2 225 OLB 49 Marcus Allen 6-4 210
DT 55 Christian Peter 6-2 285 OLB 42 Marc Lillibridge 6-1 223
NT 99 Terry Connealy 6-5 275 OLB 38 Michael Cooper 6-0 200
ROLB 84 Donta Jones 6-2 220 LDT 98 Kevin Fleecs 6-3 244
SAM 4 Troy Dumas 6-4 220 RDT 92 Anthony Scott 6-4 253
MIKE 48 Phil Ellis 6-3 240 ILB 40 Tim Sanders 6-0 205
WILL 32 Ed Stewart 6-1 215 ILB 45 Matt Nitchie 6-2 220
LCB 14 Barron Miles 5-8 165 RCB 23 Jason Brown 5-10 181
RCB 8 Tyrone Williams 6-0 165 LCB 27 Daryl Hall 5-7 174
ROV 29 KareemMoss 5-10 190 SS 11 Matt Straight 5-11 192
FS 9 TonyVeland 6-2 200 FS 29 Cedric Linwood 5-11 194
P 6 Darin Erstad 6-2 195 P 16 Marc Harris 5-11 185
ON graphic
has averaged 422.5 yards per game, primarily
because of quarterback Todd Doxzon, Walden
said.
Walden said this game would be important
not only for Doxzon but also for 14 other Cy
clone players from Nebraska as well.
“There isn’t one of them who wouldn’t
rather be at Nebraska,” Walden said. “There
is nothing they’d rather do in life. However,
it’s like loving your brother. He might love you
to death, but when you play golf or tennis or
something, he wants to kick your ass."
Walden has taken advantage of the oppor
tunity he has to criticize the ofllcials, and he
paid for it on Thursday.
Walden said he liked the freedom, but it
rarely did any good.
“They'd like to strangle me if they could,"
Walden said. “I am just expressing my Ameri
can right, but no one will argue with me.”
Volleyball team
keeping an eye
on Big Eight
By Mitch thwmni
Senior Reporter
The Nebraska volleyball team heads into
its match against Missouri on Saturday not
just hoping to win.
The Comhuskers want to improve.
Coach Terry Pettit said he would like to
see the Huskers improve 3 to 5 percent each
time they set foot on the court, even against
the Big Eight’s lower echelon teams.
The Tigers, who visit the NU Coliseum
for a 3:30 p.m. match on Saturday, arc 9
17 overall and 0-9 in the Big Eight. Ne
braska swept Missouri earlier this season
in Columbia, Mo., 15-1, 15-4, 15-9.
The Huskers continue to keep one eye
on the present and one eye on Nov. 16, when
they travel to Boulder, Colo., to play No.
14 Colorado. It is at that time, Pettit said,
that Nebraska can take a major step toward
accomplishing its preseason goal of regain
ing the Big Eight championship.
Undefeated Nebraska, 24-0 and ranked
No. 1 in both polls, lost the Big Eight title
to the Buffs a year ago after winning the
crown for 17 consecutive seasons.
“I think that, more than anything else,
is our focus,” Pettit said. “We arc doing ev
erything we can to take that back.”
Pettit said the team hadn't changed its
attitude because of the No. 1 ranking, which
came as a result of previously undefeated
Stanford’s loss to UCLA last week. He
warned, however, that the Huskers, who
have lost only five games all year, had not
played a difficult schedule.
“I would caution people,” he said, “when
I look at who we’ve played. We’ve not
played any of the other teams ranked in the
top 10. We scheduled a lot of teams we
thought would be in the top 10, teams like
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