Sports Weekend
j Friday, October 20, 1995 Page 8
ToddWalkenhorst
Cats no m atch;
criteria says
NU can run up
Look out. Here they come again.
It’s the same story, different year.
The Wildcats arc back, and they
seem to think they are a top 10
football program again. And again
the Huskers arc going to have to
put them back in line.
ABC is going to be disap
pointed. The network thinks it’s
broadcasting a game between two
top 10 teams. 1 guess ABC will
find out soon enough.
K-Statc has played the weakest
non-conference schedule in the
nation. All four teams — Temple,
Cincinnati, Akron, and Northern
Illinois — were rated in the bottom
25 teams in Division I at the begin
rung ot me season.
The Cats have played two games
on the road — a 23-21 victory at
Cincinnati, and last week, they
rallied in the fourth quarter to de
feat Oklahoma State 23-17. Yes.
the same Cowboy team the Husk
ers defeated 64-21.
Another comparison. Kansas
State defeated Missouri 30-0. The
Buskers win 57-0 last week.
Bottom line. This game could
■ et ugly.
But the Huskcrs don't have to
orry mis week. They will not be
. reused of running up the score.
V. hy? Because there is a .1st of
rritena that can be used to deter
mine when it is aii right to run up
the score, and we just happen to
have a copy.
It is politically correct to run up
the score against an opponent ...
•if the opponent is undefeated
after six games,
• if the opponent is rated in the
top 10,
• if the opponent has a .500
winning percentage in the ’ 90s and
K-Statc is 41-21-1 (.661),
• if the opponent has shut out
three opponents,
• if the opponent has run up the
score against anyone else (67-0
over Akron, 44-0 over Northern
Illinois),
• if you beat the team by fewer
than 12 points the year before,
• if the game’s televised on
ABC,
• if the opposing team’s public
address announcer gets excited
about every first down,
• if it’s homecoming week,
• if the opponent has been to a
bowl game for two consecutive
years,
• if Chad May was your quar
terback last year and talked too
much about grabbing and poking,
• if at its stadium, the opponent
plays that damn cat roar,
• if you need a tune up for a real
team like Colorado next week,
• if you’re still trying to avenge
a 12-0 loss in 1968,
• or if the opponent is trying to
impersonate the No. 8 team in the
nation.
Yes, Kansas State. You too have
the permission to run up the score
on the Huskers on Saturday. Go for
it.
Walkenhorst is an advertising and
broadcasting major and a Daily Nebras
kan sports reporter.
JonWaller/DN
Nebraska linebacker Aaron Penland takes down Missouri wide receiver Frank Jones during the Huskers’ shutout last Saturday.
This week against Kansas State, the Nebraska defense is hoping for the same results.
NU, KSU aim for the takedown
F
Husker players
prepare to face
Wildcat defense
By Derek Samson
Senior Reporter
For playing a team that hasn’t
beaten Nebraska since 1968, the
Comhusker players and coaches are
showing a lot of respect for Kansas
State, which visits Lincoln for a 2:30
p.m. kickoff Saturday.
Maybe that s
because the Wild
cats arc ranked
No; 8 in the coun
try.
Or maybe it’s
because the Husk
ers have beaten
Kansas State by
I_I an average of only
Frazier 12 points in the
last four years.
But more likely, it is because the
Wildcats have an awfully good de
fense.
. “They’re one of the strongest de
fensive units we’ve played in the Big
Eight Conference in many years,”
Nebraska coach Tom Osborne said.
“I would probably have to go back to
some of the defenses Oklahoma had
back in the ’70s to find something
that is maybe comparable.”
Kansas State leads the nation in
sewing defense (allowing only 7.5
points a game) and total defense (giv
ing up 199.8 yards a game). The
Wildcats, who have posted three shut
outs already this season, rank second
nationally in pass efficiency defense
and eighth in rush defense.
“We’re going to have our hands
full offensively,’’ quarterback
Tommie Frazier said. “But we’re
going to prepare for them the best
that we can. They proved it last year,
and before that, that they are capable
of coming in here and playing a great
game defensively against us.
“You can’t put them down be
cause the teams they’ve played
haven’t been the best. They’re still
doing a job defensively.”
Frazier said he was impressed with
the quickness of the Wildcat defense.
“That whole defense is very
quick,” he said. “It’s probably the
quickest that we’ll face the whole
year. Every position is quick. Over
all, it’s probably one of the best de
fenses in the country.”
The No. 8 ranking is the highest
the 6-0 Wildcats ever have climbed
in the Associated Press poll, although
they did reach eighth in the USA
Today/CNN coaches poll last sea
son.
Osborne said that even though the
Huskers were believers, Kansas State
still had plenty of doubters.
“With Kansas State, I think it’s
been somewhat of an image prob
lem ” he said. “They had so many
seasons where they hadn’t won. Then
to develop to the point where they’re
going to be in the position to win
eight, nine, 10, 11 or 12 games this
year, and maybe every year, is really
a remarkable accomplishment.
“It took a great commitment on
the part of people at Kansas State,”
Osborne said.
Last year, Nebraska third-string
quarterback Matt Turman started for
the Huskers, and helped lead them to
a 17-6 win over then-undefeated
Kansas State.
See KSU on 10
Quarterback
develops into
offense leader
By Trevor Parks
Senior Reporter
MANHATTAN, Kan. — A win
against Nebraska could finally allow
Kansas State quarterback Matt Miller
to emerge from former Wildcat Chad
May’s shadow.
But Miller says he’s already out of
m May’s shadow af
| ter leading the
1 No. 8 Wildcats to
| a 6-0 record. The
I Wildcats come to
Lincoln to play
No. 2 Nebraska
Saturday at 2:34
p.m. at Memorial
Miller Miller said he
didn't care what
people said when comparing him to
May, who had a record of 18-5-1 as a
starter.
“I don’t worry about the critics,”
he said. “It doesn’t really bother me
what they say about me and what
they don’t say about me.”
Kansas State wide receiver Tyson
Schwieger said Miller had done all
he’d needed to as a quarterback.
“I’m not going to say Matt’s a
better quarterback than Chad because
he isn’t, but one thing Matt is, is he’s
6-0,andhe*sdeveloped intoa leader,”
Schwieger said. “Matt knew he didn’t
need Chad May numbers; he knew he
just had to lead our offense.”
Miller has been booed, questioned
£md second-guessed at times, but he
has led Kansas State to a 6-U record,
something May never did in his two
years as a Wildcat.
Miller ranks seventh in the nation
in passing efficiency with a rating of
162.4. He also leads the Big Eight in
total offense with 226.7 yards a game.
May didn’t have numbers like that
after six games last season.
And now, he has a chance to beat
Nebraska, something May couldn’t
do.
Miller said the key for the Wild
cats' success would be a quick start
against the Nebraska defense.
“It’s very important for us to come
out and put points on the board early,”
Miller said. “They’re a great team,
and if we don’t put points on the
board, we won’t win. The earlier you
put them on the board, the better
you’re going to be.”
Miller also will be trying to fight
off the fact that he used to be a huge
Nebraska fan when he was younger.
The 6-foot-1 senior transfer from
Texas A&M said he was a fan of
Turner Gill, who is Nebraska’s quar
terbacks coach, and he cried for three
days after Gill’s two-point conver
sion failed in Nebraska’s 31-30 loss
to Miami in the 1984 Orange Bowl.
His parents brought him to Lin
coln to see the wars in the Nebraska
Oklahoma series in the early to mid
1980s.
“When I was a kid, I was dreaming
that I would be Nebraska’s quarter
back at this.time,” Miller said. “They
were my favorite team when I was
little, but now I’m glad I’m the Kan
sas State quarterback because I love
it here in Manhattan.”