Texas A&M,
Colorado
expect war
By Vince ITAdamo
StaffReporter
Texas A&M and 12th-ranked Colo
rado, two of the Big 12’s biggest foot
ball disappointments, renew a rivalry
Saturday in College Station, Texas.
The Buffs return to the field after a
bye week following a Colorado loss
20-13 to Michigan.
Texas A&M won its first game last
Saturday, a 55-0 shellacking of North
Texas. A&M has had problems with
offensive and defensive execution and
turnovers. And last week, despite the
victory, the Aggies fumbled five times
losing just one.
A year ago, No. 7 Colorado
knocked off the third-ranked Aggies
29-21 in Boulder.
“It had more of an effect than just a
loss would have had,” A&M Coach
R.C. Slocum said.
Texas A&M’s secondary has shown
its vulnerability this season, yielding
536 yards passing and six touchdown
passes to Brigham Young in the Pig
skin flassir.
“(Colorado) puts more pressure on
you than BYU — if that’s possible,”
Slocum said.
CU Coach Rick Neuheisel expects
a battle.
“These are two great programs that
had a bump in the road,” Neuheisel
said. “It’s going to be a heavyweight
fight. They’re going to play with a fury
we haven’t seen.”
North Carolina at Florida St
Lubick says Rams
need to grow up
By Trevor Parks
Senior Reporter
Colorado State Football Coach
Sonny Lubick wants the Nebraska
fnAtKall t#»am tn rMli7(» that thp
Rams are not
responsible
for ending
t h e
Comhuskers’
26-game
winning
streak.
“I just
hone thev are
nui niau at ud, ----
because Lubick
we’re not the
ones who beat them,” Lubick said.
“We’re just a bunch of guys play
ing football. The next time they play
Arizona State, they should be an
gry at them.
“Everybody is wondering about
whether they will play us differently.
Win or lose the week before, they
are going to play hard like they al
ways do.”
Lubick, in his fourth year at CSU
after a four-year stint as the defen
sive coordinator at Miami, should
know.
In the fourth game of his first
season, CSU visited sixth-ranked
Nebraska, losing 48-13. While at
Miami, Lubick designed a defense
that allowed only a field goal to
Nebraska in two Orange Bowl
meetings.
One of those games, a 22-0 Hur
ricane victory in the 1992 Orange
Bowl, was the last time the Hunt
ers were shutout — until they lost
19-0 to Arizona State last Saturday.
Lubick said NU’s offensive
problems were more of a factor in
the shutout last week than the Sun
Devil defense.
“I think Arizona State caught
them on the right night,” Lubick
said, “Nebraska didn’t play well..
They made a lot of fumbles and had
some key dropped pitches. They
usually make those plays that they
had problems with.
“Everyone wants to try to slow
them down, but no one has had
much success.”
Despite Nebraska’s seven-spot
drop in The Associated Press Top
25 to a No. 8 ranking, Lubick said,
the Huskers will be in the national
title hunt at the end of the year.
NU’s motivation to return to a
championship level will be hard for
the young Rams to overcome, he
said. Colorado State starts five se
niors and just two on defense.
Except for junior cornerback
Eason Ramson, every member of
the CSU secondary is a freshman.
Left defensive tackle Kirk Bowman
and strongside linebacker Jim
Detterick are the only seniors —
reserve or starters — on the Ram
defense.
Overall, the Rams’ defense
ranks second to last among 111 Di
vision-I teams in total defense, al
lowing 505.3 yards per game.
“Our guys need to grow up a
bit,” Lubick said. “They are improv
ing more each week, and this week
end we need to improve big time.”
But the Nebraska offense hasn’t
been much better, ranking 97th in
total offense and last in the Big 12.
Even though NU is averaging only
27.5 points per game, it is a 37-point
favorite Saturday.
An experienced defense was the
key in CSU’s eight wins last year,
10 games the season before and
building the Ram program into a
Western Athletic Conference
power, Lubick said.
Since 1993, Lubick has turned
a program that was 24-45-1 in the
six years before his arrival into the
back-to-back champions of the
WAC.
Of any coach in Ram history he
reached the 25-win plateau the fast
est. The Rems weft ihaiuled 54-21
by Kansas State—Nebraska’s next
opponent — in the Holiday Bowl
last season.
“We’ve won more football
games and we’ve gotten stronger
each year that I’ve been here,”
Lubick said. “People will see Ne
braska is catching us in a year when
we are a dam young team that
makes a lot of young mistakes.
“Next year, our kids should be
bigger and more experienced. But
for now, these kids are playing with
a lot of heart and character.”
- . si Lii_»i_
Nebraska eyes mental
rebound against Rams
CSU from page 9
-ball team,” Osborne said. “We’ve got
our hands full. I just hope people don’t
come into the stadium on Saturday ex
pecting that we won’t have a battle on
our hands, because I think we do.
“They’ll play hard, and they’ll play
with confidence. It will be a tough
ballgame.”
Osborne said he is more concerned
about NU’s recovery than he is about
Colorado State’s game plan.
“My main concern is that we play
well and that we play with intensity,”
Osborne said. “If somebody is better
than we are, I can’t control that. That
was the discouraging thing. I know we
didn’t play as well as we could play
(against ASU), and that’s what hurts.”
This game could not have come
quickly enough for Husker Scott Frost.
Against the Sun Devils, the junior quar
terback completed 6 of 20 passes for
66 yards and rushed for minus-10
yards.
Although he was supported by
Osborne and the team, Frost has been
criticized by fans and the press this
week.
M
If somebody is
better than we are,
I can’t control that.”
Tom Osborne
NU football coach
“I had to deal with some things that
Nebraska quarterbacks don’t have to
deal with most of the time,” Frost said.
“I don’t expect that to happen again.”
Despite the loss, Frost said, the
Huskers are still in contention for an
unprecedented third straight national
title—unless they play again like they
did last week.
“If we don’t play better than that,
then we don’t have to worry about it,”
Frost said.
The last time Nebraska lost a regu
lar-season game — Nov. 14, 1992 —
it responded with a 37-game regular
season winning streak.
84 260 Sr. MLB 46 Willie Taylor
M 186 Sr. P 18 MattMcDougal 5-11193 Sr.
Nebraska Offense Colorado St. Offense
Nebraska Defense
Colorado St. Defense
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6-0 215 So.
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ROV 10 MikeMinter
19 JeweKoach
Starters
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IT’S ABOUT TIME
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