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Sports Opinion
Antone Oseka
NU walk-ons
experiencing
Husker dream
I had a dream as a kid.
I dreamed that one day I would
run onto the turf at Memorial Sta
dium wearing Comhusker red.
I wasn’t the only kid from a
small town in Nebraska with this
dream. Kids like Brendan Zahl and
Chad Eicher had the same dream.
Eicher and Zahl fulfill that
dream once in awhile. They are part
of Nebraska’s “two-minute club.”
If the Husker lead is large and
the time is short — usually two
minutes or less — these Huskers get
a chance to show their stuff.
Eicher, a fifth-string I-back from
Seward, usually will get a rushing
attempt or two before the final
whistle blows.
“It kind of makes it all worth
while to run out there on game day,”
he said.
If the Huskers are on defense,
Zahl, a rush end from Stratton, will
get a shot at the opposing QB.
“Going opt there is our reward
for all the hard work we do,” Zahl
said. “It’s a start for us, for what,
hopefully, will lead to more play
ing time.”
Zahl and Eicher are both on the
scout team; but that is not a small
accomplishment. Both players had
to go through a rigorous tryout pro
cess just to make this team.
The scout team runs the plays
of the opponent that the starting
Huskers will face during Saturday’s
game.
5>ome days you don t reel like
going out there and getting beat up
by the first- and second-team de
fense,” Eicher said.
But Eicher and Zahl said they
take pride in how the starters play,
because the scout team has a lot to
do with how the Huskers prepare
for each game.
However, both said they would
like a bigger role during the games.
However, it doesn’t matter to
many people what Eicher and
Zahl’s roles on the team are. But it
matters that they are on the team.
“Kids just look up to you, no
matter whether you’re playing 25
to 30 minutes a game or you get in
during the last twp minutes of the
game,” Zahl said. “They still look
up to you.”
Personally, I know that I looked
up to guys like Turner Gill, Mike
Rozier and Irving Fryar.
I still look up to guys like Zahl
and Eicher, who are part of what
Nebraska football really means.
I’m not talking about the off
field problems or the recent loss to
Arizona State; but hard work, dedi
cation and the hope that one day my
son may run out of the tunnel wear
ing Comhusker red.
It would almost be a dream
come true.
Oseka Is a senior news-edito
rial m^jor and a Daily Nebraskan
night news editor.
Jay Caederon/DN
MEGAN KORVER, a sophomore middle blocker, is enjoying her first season at Nebraska this fall
after transferring from George Washington.
Korver breaks barriers
Middle blocker becomes first-ever NU transfer
By Shannon Heffelfinger
Staff Reporter
One of the most difficult things
Megan Korver ever had to do was
tell her volleyball teammates at
George Washington that she was
transferring to Nebraska.
“It would have been easier for
me to stay at George Washington,”
Korver said, “and continue with the
program, and not have to tell my
teammates I was leaving them.
“But it.all came down to where
I would be happy playing.”
Right now, Korver, a 6-foot-1
sophomore middle blocker from
Adams, is more than happy to be
playing an important role in
Nebraska’s quest for a second
straight national title.
The door opened for Korver to
*44r
It would have been easier for me to
stay at George Washington”
Megan Kokver
NU middle blocker
make an immediate impact when
middle blocker Jen McFadden, who
was expected to be a dominant force
at the net this season, decided to
forgo her last year of eligibility be
cause of a back injury.
“It was a shoe to fill, and I took
the challenge,” said Korver, the first
transfer in the history of the NU
volleyball program. “Playing front
row and blocking are my strengths,
and that’s where I want to be.”
Korver has stepped into her role
nicely, averaging a team-best 1.68
blocks per game, and she is third
on the team in kills per game, aver
aging 2.62.
Although she was highly re
cruited during high school — she
was contacted by Texas A&M,
George Washington, Arizona,
Georgia Tech and Oregon — Ne
Please see KORVER on 8
Husker
linemen
regroup
Tenopir has faith that
this group will carry on
the NU tradition.
By Mike Kluck
Senior Reporter
Nebraska’s offensive line didn’t
allow a sack last year while opening
holes that allowed the Comhuskers to
rush for almost 400 yards per game.
In two games this season, oppos
ing defenses have throttled Nebraska’s
running attack, holding the Huskers to
just 157 yards per game and sacking
NU quarterback Scott Frost four times.
Nebraska ran for 199 yards more
in its season opener last season than it
has in two games this year, and the sack
total this season is one fewer than the
last two years combined.
In addition, NU surrendered three
safeties in its 19-0 loss Saturday to
Arizona State. Before Saturday, no
Husker opponent had recorded a safety
since Washington in 1992.
This statistical drop-off has dam
aged the pride of the Nebraska offen
sive line.
r “We take a lot of pride in being able
to run the bMiagaih&ouif§pix>nents^”
junior right tackle Eric Anderson said.
“Saturday night, we were extremely
disappointed. We just want to come out
and hopefully, nothing like that will
happen again.”
The linemen have not enjoyed the
days following the loss, Nebraska’s
first in 27 games.
“It was pretty disgusting watching
the film,” senior left guard Chris
Dishman said. “You just relived it.
There’s nothing you can really say. It
just makes you feel sick.”
But Offensive Line Coach Milt
Tenopir said the film has not looked
as ugly as the game seemed.
The biggest problem Saturday was
adjusting to the noise at Sun Devil Sta
dium, Tenopir said. Nine or 10 times,
Tenopir said, Husker linemen failed
Please see LINE on 8
Moreno directs CSU
Quarterback says Ram
offense can move the
ball on any team.
By Trevor Parks
Senior Reporter
Colorado State will rely heavily on
Moses when the Rams visit Memorial
Stadium Saturday.
No, not the biblical Moses. But
CSU needs quarterback Moses
Moreno to part Nebraska’s red sea if it
hopes to have any kind of success
against the Nebraska defense.
Moreno leads the Rams (2-2), who
have the sixth-ranked offense in the
nation—499.3 yards per game—and
10th- ranked scoring offense — 39.5
points a game. — against the
Comhuskers at 11:30 a.m.
So far this season, said Moreno, a
6-foot-2,190-pound junior from Chula
Vista, Calif., the only defense stopping
the Rams is their own offense.
“We think we can move the ball on
anybody,” he said.
Moreno has
been a major fac
tor in the Rams’
productive of
fense.
He threw for
312 yards in a 48
34 loss to Colo
rado. For the sea
son, he has com
pleted 63 of 112
passes, averaging Moreno
267 yards per
game. His nine touchdown passes are
two shy of his total last season. And
he has thrown for more than 250 yards
and had at least one touchdown pass
in every game this season.
Against UNLV last Saturday,
Moreno completed 19 of 27 passes
(70.4 percent) for. 277 yards and two
touchdowns.
Ram Coach Sonny Lubick said not
much rattles his signal caller, who be
came a full-time starter this season.
“He just needs to continue to play
like he has been playing,” Lubick said.
“Moses is a steady young guy with not
too many major ups and downs.”
But Moreno knows the CSU of
fense will need to keep possession of
the ball and hold onto it to beat the No.
8 Huskers.
This season, the Colorado State
offense has run 98 fewer plays than its
opponents.
“We need to start converting third
downs and have drives that take some
time off the clock,” Moreno said. “It
seems we are the type of offense that
gets a quick score or goes three-and
out We just need to learn how to con
trol the ball.”
Ball control will be important
against the Huskers.
After watching film of NU’s 19-0
loss to Arizona State, Moreno said he
was impressed with the Huskers de
fensive size and speed.
“This is a big game,*’ Moreno said.
“Nebraska, no doubt, is still one of the
great powers in college football. This
gives us a chance to test our skills and
see how we match up.”
It’s a chance to see how a very
young team matches up.
CSU has plenty of youth, starting
only three seniors on offense and two
on defense.
“Each game,” Moreno said, “we
grow up more and more and learn
something new. Every game has been
a slow, gradual process. But good
things are happening despite the
youth.”
One of those young players is true
freshman tackle Blane Saipaia, who
will just be making his second start on
Saturday.
“He’s young, so you have to expect
some mistakes,” Moreno said. “He’s
handling everything well, but he has
to step out of that young mentality and
start acting like a starter.”
