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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 8, 1995)
Page 9 I Huskers to be left guessing against MSUJ By Derek Samson Senior Reporter By routing Oklahoma State 64-21 last Thurs day, Nebraska gave Michigan State a preview of how dominating both its offense and defense can be. Although the preview might not be appeal ing to the Spartans, it is still a lot more than Nebraska has to go on when the teams meet at 11 a.m. Saturday. The game will be televised on ABC. “I really can’t say that much about them, because I don’tknow that much,” Coach Osborne said. “It’s hard to guess what they’ll be doing with a whole new coaching staff.” Nick Saban left his defensive coordinator post at the Cleveland Browns for the Michigan State head coaching position on Dec. 3, 1994. utner than what he saw trom me Browns, Osborne said the Comhusker coaching staff was in the dark. “I’ve watched some Browns films, and I thought they were one of, if not the best, defen sive teams in the National Football League,” Osborne said. “Apparently, he did a great job with them. I expect that will be no different. They probably know more about Nebraska than we do about them. “I’m not saying that as a complaint, but when they have a new head coach and coordi nators, it is very hard to know what to prepare for.” , Nebraska quarterback Tommie Frazier said Nebraska’s game last week was beneficial. “Since we’ve had a game and they haven’t, I think that it is going to help us out more,” Frazier said. “We know what our team has. We know what we can do in certain situations, and now it’s just time to go out there and play against them. Hopefully, we’ll do the same things that we did against Oklahoma State.” Not only are the Spartans somewhat of a mystery, but East Lansing is also a stranger to Osborne, his staff and the players. Nebraska has won both of its meetings with the Spartans, but the last game between the two teams was in 1920. The Huskers have never played in Spartan Stadium, and Osborne’s visits there have been limited. “I’m looking forward to the game because I’ve only been to Michigan State one time,” he said. “It was back in about 1971 when we were looking at installing artificial turf, and some body flew us up there to look at their field. That’s the only time I’ve ever been up there. “I’m sure they’ll have a very enthusiastic crowd. It will be a good college football envi ronment. I think it will be a good experience for our team to go up and play in.” Osborne said he didn’t expect the Huskers to let down at all after cruising to the easy win at Oklahoma State. “I don’t think overconfidence is a problem for us,” he said. “I don’t think there will be anybody looking past Michigan State. They feel like this will be a tough game. They understand that this is going to be a dogfight. Early in the year, (the chance for a letdown) is not that big of a problem.” “We’re not looking past Michigan State because we know they have great athletes and great coaches,” Frazier said. “They are going to be prepared for us. We have to be prepared for them.” JonWaller/DN Nebraska quarterback Tommie Frazier eludes Oklahoma State’s Trent Fisher, No. 15, and Billy Stone, No. 44, during a first-quarter run in the Husker win last Thursday. Spartan success rests „ with untested offense By Mike Kluck Staff Reporter An offensive line, with only one returning starter, that never has been tested in a game sounds like a familiar problem for Nebraska. But this problem confronts Michi gan State coach Nick Saban as he prepares for his team’s season opener against the Comhuskers Saturday at Spartan Stadium. The first-year Spartan coach, how ever, said his situation was not like Nebraska’s because last year’s Spar tan team won only five games, while the Huskers were national champi ons. Saban has had to replace four start ers from last season’s team, including Brian DeMarco and Shane Hannah, who were both selected in the second round of die National Football League draft. Despite the situation, Saban said the Spartans’ key to success on offense rests with his untested line. “The offensive lines success will be important for how we are going to be able to do the things we want to on offense,” Saban said. “They face a big challenge in Nebraska this week.” If the offensive line is successful, Saban said Spartan quarterback Tony Banks should have a good day. Banks, whom The Sporting News named pre season first-team All-Big Ten, threw for 2,040 yards last season and had 11 touchdowns. Saban said Michigan State’s of fense would have to overcome See SABAN on 11 Spartan Stadium holds memories for Devaney By Mike Kluck Staff Reporter Nebraska’s game against Michi gan State Saturday will mean a little bit more to Nebraska Athletic Direc tor Emeritus Bob Devaney. For Devaney, a native of Michi gan, it will be a chance to return to the site of his first college coaching posi tion. Devaney was an assistant for the Spartans from 1953 to 1956 before accepting a head coaching job at Wyoming and later at Nebraska. During Devaney’s tenure at Michi gan State, the Spartans finished in a tie with Illinois for the Big Ten cham pionship in 1953. He also coached in two Spartan Rose Bowl victories in 1954 and 1956. “When I coached at Michigan State for four years, we always had a pretty good football team,” Devaney said. Dan Devine, a former head coach at Notre Dame who coached with Devaney at MSU, said that when they started with the Spartans, they were both “low men on the totem pole.” Devine, the former athletic direc tor at Missouri and former assistant ’ coach at Michigan State, said Devaney was an aggressive young coach dur ing his days with the Spartans, and he was able to control his feelings. “Before a game Bob was very calm, but wasn’t uptight,” Devine said. “During a game he was always in complete control, as well as anybody I ever knew.” The Nebraska contest will be a big game for the Spartan faithful, Devaney said, but not as big as Michigan State’s traditional rivalry with Michigan. Devaney said he hadn’t given Husker coach Tom Osborne any ad vice on how to prepare or what to expect for the Spartan game. “He will probably have that cov ered,” Devaney said. Nebraska up for FirsTier Challenge this weekend By Mitcn snerman Senior Editor Allison Weston knows Purdue and Wiscon sin probably won’t present the same challenge as Stanford and Pacific. But the senior All-American middle blocker from Papillion said that didn’t make any differ ence as the Nebraska volleyball team prepared for its thircktoumament of the season. “We are going to go in and work on a lot of things we work on in practice. Maybe we’ll try some things out that are a little different than normal.” Friday at 7:30 p.m., the second-ranked Comhuskers play host to 1-2 Purdue at the NU Coliseum in tne FirsTier Challenge. The match will follow a 5 p.m., Kansas State-Wisconsin showdown. First-year Purdue coach Joey Vrazel said the tournament presented the Boilermakers with an opportunity to improve in many areas. “It’s always healthy to go out and play good competition,” Vrazel said. “We’re playing against a team talking about a national champi onship, and we just want to play very solid. Nebraska, 3-1, will play Wisconsin cm Sat urday at 7:30 p.m. Kansas State and Purdue play Saturday at 5 p.m. Nebraska and Kansas State will not meet this weekend. “I know very, very little about Purdue,” Nebraska coach Terry Pettit said. “We have seen them before, but they have new coaches, so I don’t know what kind of a system they are running.” Nebraska has defeated Purdue the past eight times the teams have met, including a 15-11, 15-5,15-4 win last season at the Coliseum. The Huskers haven’t played Wisconsin since 1991, but Nebraska has beaten the Badgers six con secutive times, dating back to 1979. “I don’t know much about them,” said Weston, one of two Huskers who has registered 10 or more kills in each of Nebraska’s four matches this season. “1 don’t think they are going to be real strong teams. We should be able to win pretty easily. We haven’t done much as far as preparing for them. We have worked mainly on our side.” Pettit said he was relatively familiar with Wisconsin, especially Coach John Cook. Cook coached under Pettit at Nebraska from 1988 1990. Pettit said he talked to Cook nearly every week. Wisconsin, 2-2, is seeking its third con secutive invitation the NCAA Tournament this fall. Badger setter Laura Abbinante, a junior, Pettit said, was probably the top setter in the Big Ten Conference. “1 think they are a team mat can compete for the Big Ten championship,” Pettit said. The Huskers’ early-season matches against ;] national powerhouses Stanford, a four-game" loss, and Pacific, a three-game victory, will" provide the team with needed experience, - Weston said. “We learned a lot from those matches,”* Weston said. “We’ll go back to that Stanford match throughout the season and take things from that.” See FIRSTIER on it