Sports
Wednesday, October 18, 1995 Page 7
Derek Samson
K-State Kittens
definitely not
the cat’s meow
Nebraska coach Tom Osborne
had a word of warning after the
Comhuskers cruised to a 57-0 rout
of Missouri Saturday.
“From here on, it’s different,”
he said. “We’re going to hit K
State, Colorado, Kansas and Okla
homa. They’re all going to be pretty
solid football teams. There’s noth
ing easy left that I can see.”
The Huskers definitely will run
into some stiffer competition than
they have seen in the first half of the
season, considering they will play
four of their final live gamesagainst
teams in the top 15.
So should the Huskers expect to
get its first nail-biting game of the
season when No. 8 Kansas State
comes to Lincoln this Saturday?
Nope.
Kansas State will be out to prove
it is worthy of its lofty ranking, but
the only tiling that will become evi
dent after Saturday is that the Kit
tens are the most overrated team in
the country — including Notre
Dame.
Just because Kansas State talks
a big game doesn’t mean it has
played one.
For proof, consider the Kittens’
non-conference schedule: Temple,
Cincinnati, Akron and Northern Il
linois—which went acombined 9
34-1 last season.
Bill Snyder has done a superb
job of turning the Kittens into a top
25 program. Unfortunately for
Snyder, Kansas State will be given
a demonstration Saturday that there
is a major difference between the
top 25 and the top 10.
Why the Kittens are ranked so
high is somewhat amazing.
Sure, they are 6-0 against teams
with a combined record of 15-49-3
last season. But it took a last-minute
touchdown pass for the Kittens to
tame Cincinnati (not the Bengals)
23-21, and they could manage to
beat Oklahoma State only 23-17
last Saturday at Stillwater, Okla.
Even bad Kansas State teams of
the past made it a habit to play the
Huskers close, but it’s time for that
to end.
At midweek, the Huskers arc a
25-point favorite, which might seem
amazing to a lot of people.
How can the No. 8 team in the
country be a 25-point underdog
against anyone?
Easy. Gamblers in Las Vegas
know it. Cincinnati knows it. Okla
homa State now knows it.
And Saturday, it will become
clear to the rest of the country —
the Kittens just aren’t that good.
To help pay off student loans,
keep in mind what the intelligent
people of Las Vegas are indicating
— a Nebraska rout.
Welcome to the top 10, Kittens.
Sorry you couldn’t stay any longer.
Nebraska 42, Kansas State 7.
Samson is a senior news-editorial
major and a Daily Nebraskan senior
sports reporter. ....
Snyder aims at victory
By Trevor Parks
Senior Reporter
MANHATTAN, Kan. — Kansas
State coach Bill Snyder is tired of
losing close football games to Ne
braska.
Scores such as 17-6,45-28,38-24
and 38-31 were posted on the
scoreboard the past four times the two
teams have clashed.
Those games used to be looked
upon as successes for the 6-0 Wild
cats, but on Saturday when Kansas
State travels to Lincoln to play the No.
2 Comhuskers, Snyder doesn’t want
the moral victory of finishing close.
“We have played well enough to
stay in the ball game against them for
four years,” Snyder said at his weekly
press conference Tuesday, “but not
—
good enough to win.”
In Snyder’s first two seasons, Ne
braska hammered Kansas State 58-7
in 1989 and 45-8 in 1990. Overall,
Snyder is 0-6 against the Huskers in
his career.
But from that point on, the teams
have played competitive football,
Snyder said.
It all started in 1991 with Nebraska
trailing Kansas State 31-24 in the
fourth quarter. The Wildcats had a
chance to extend that lead to 10 points,
but Tate Wright missed a 32-yard field
goal.
After the missed field goal, the
Huskers regained control.
Two Derek Brown touchdown runs
—his second coming with 2:47 left in
the game—helped Nebraska erase a
seven-point deficit. The Huskers even
tually held back Kansas State after the
Wildcats had a first-down-and-goal at
Nebraska’s 7-yard line in the final
minute.
In 1992, the Wildcats trailed 21-0
in the Japan Bowl at Tokyo before
outscoring the Huskers 24-17 the rest
of the game.
Snyder said his team had opportu
nities in those games, but they just
didn’t capitalize on them.
Former Kansas State quarterback
Chad May burst on the scene in 1993
throwing for 489 yards. The Wildcats
trailed 31-14 at half time, but with
7:44 left in the fourth quarter the score
was 31-28. Nebraska scored two late
touchdowns to hold olT Kansas State
45-38.
See SNYDER on 8
Soccer team
travels toward
tough match
From Staff Reports
The road does not get any easier
for the Nebraska soccer team.
After losing 3 -1 to No. 4 South
ern Methodist at home on Sunday,
the 8-5 Comhuskers now travel to
College Station, Texas to play No.
13 Texas A&M today at 4 p.m.
The Aggies are coming off a 1 -
0 victory over No. 9 Maryland in
their last contest. Nebraska coach
John Walker said he knew his team
was up for a challenge playing a
quality team on the road.
“With all the scouting reports,”
Walker said, “they might even be
stronger than SMU.”
Nebraska played SMU to a 1-1
draw in the first half on Sunday
before losing 3-1. The loss ended
the Huskers’ seven-game winning
streak.
Walker said his team could not
dwell on the past and had to worry
about the present.
“We’re right back at it,” Walker
said. “We don’t have time to feel
sorry for ourselves. It’s going to be
a tough game on Wednesday.”
Jon Waller/DN
Nebraska’s Tanya Wright and SMU’s Melissa Kittner head
the ball during the Huskers’ 3-1 loss Sunday. Nebraska will
take on Texas A&M tonight.
Ott impacts opposing defenders
By Derek Samson
Senior Reporter
Nebraska offensive guard Steve
Ott knows his job requirements —
helping running backs and quarter
backs gain fame while remaining
unknown.
The 6-foot-4, 275-pounder from
Henderson said that was the story for
every offensive line, and it didn’t
change just because he was a member
of the tradition-filled Nebraska offen
sive line.
“We’re just linemen,” he said.
“We’re not going for any of the glory.
We just go out there and do the job.
We don’t worry about what people
say about us or if they know us.”
But if the offensive line continues
its domination of opponents, Ott can’t
help but be recognized.
Nebraska is averaging 626 yards a
game, including 466 yards rushing a
contest. And it all has happened while
the Comhuskers have started four di f
ferent I-backs throughout their first
..six. games...- ----
“We’re going to make yards no
matter what,” Ott said. “It doesn’t
really matter who they put back there
at I-back. We’ve been blocking the
same since the first game.”
Ott said he credited the success to
the work put in during the off-season,
which was a standard set by last year’s
offensive linemen.
“It has reaped benefits so far,” he
said. “We were out there every night,
lifting weights and doing our running
drills. We had basically 100 percent
attendance every night.
“We saw the line last year do that,
and to win a national championship,
that’s just something you have to do.
You have to be dedicated the whole
year, not just the fall.”
After lettering as a sophomore in
1993, Ott played in the first seven
games behind left guard Joel Wilks
last season. But Ott broke his left foot
against Kansas State, ending his sea
son.
Ott underwent surgery for the bro
ken lower fibula on Oct. 16,1994, and
was still, slowpd by the injury in spring
practices.
Offensive line and kickers coach
Dan Young said the coaches were
very concerned with Ott’s recovery.
“He’s been a nice surprise,” Young
said. “We weren’t sure how he’d
bounce back after that, but he came
back very strong for us this fall.”
Ott said he didn’t question whether
he would be ready for his senior sea
son.
“During spring ball, I was having
trouble coming off the ball with my
ankle,” he said. “But I never really
doubted that I wouldn’t be 100 per
cent by the season. I had the whole
summer to get back to full speed.”
While Ott said he was grateful that
last year’s line, which returned center
Aaron Graham only, taught the
younger players valuable lessons; he
was still glad they were gone.
“They were great players, and we
really learned a lot playing behind
them,” he said. “But this is great now.
It’s a great feeling to go out there and
play 70 snaps a game. We want to play
as much as possible.”
Nebraska vs.
Kansas State
Kansas State football coach
Bill Snyder is 0*6 against
Nebraska.
1989 NU 58 KSU 7
Series pits
Cleveland
vs. Atlanta
SEATTLE (AP)—The Cleveland
Indians overcame it all — Randy
Johnson, the Kingdome and history.
_ The epitome of
A| championship £ad baseball for
fib series four decades, the
Indians reached the
World for
the first time since
1954, defeating the
Seattle Mariners 4
r .T 0 Wednesday night
CUttlC VS to win the Ameri
Cleveland flay;
-'offs 4-2 behind
seven shutout innings from Dennis
Martinez.
“I think that the people of Cleve
land have suffered long,” said Indians
manager Mike Hargrove, who played
on some of Cleveland’s terrible teams.
“This is somethingyou can never count
on.”
The Manners, for the fourth time
in 16 days, asked Johnson to save their
season. Relying on his slider more
than his overpowering fastball, he kept
his team close until Carlos Baerga’s
homer capped a three-run eighth, and
Johnson left to a standing ovation that
included the applause of Indians
pitcher Orel Hershiser.
“They come back so many times.
They got us scared,” Baerga said.
“They’ve got guys that can beat you
any time.”
Martinez matched Johnson pitch
for pitch, holding the Mariners to four
hits in seven innings. At 40, he finally
won for the first time in the postseason
and became the oldest pitcher to win a
league championship series game.
Now the Indians, who won 100
times in the regular season and swept
Boston in the first round of the play
offs, will take on the Atlanta Braves,
the team with the best record in the
National League. ;
The World Series starts Saturday
night in Atlanta. Greg Maddux, likely
to win his fourth straight NL Cy Young
Award, will start Game 1 for the
Braves. Orel Hershiser, 7-0 in the
postseason, likely will pitch for Cleve
land.
The Mariners, a team that had won
four games this year when a loss would
have meant the end of the season,
couldn’tcomeupwithany late-inning
heroics Tuesday night.
A two-base throwing error by sec
ond baseman Joey Cora in the fifth set
up an RBI single by Kenny Lofton for
a 1-0 lead. Cleveland broke open the
game at last in the eighth on a passed
ball by Dan Wilson that allowed two
runs to score, and the homer by Baerga
that finished Johnson.
