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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 7, 1996)
Sports Opinionl i 68 Trevor Parks Rout shows all that Nebraska defense is best MANHATTAN, Kan. — The defense did it. From the first play of the day— when Terrell Farley introduced him self to Kansas State quarterback Brian Kavanagh — to a meaning less play in the fourth—when NU’s Tony Ortiz laid a vicious pop on Kevin Lockett the Nebraska de fense welcomed the idea of show ing the Wddf^ts who was boss. Thie Cor^husker defense rassed, pestered, toyed with and just plain beat up anyone who dared' play offense Saturday for Kansas State. That was the game plan, accord ing to Defensive Coordinator Charlie McBride. 4 **What we did today was our de fense played their defense, and we aessaa'is players really took that to heart.” Zero yards in the first half, 86 total yards, 25 yards rushing. The statistics show that NU might have taken things personally in its 39-3 win. Kansas State had the fourth ranked scoring defense in the coun try, allowing only six points per , game.Jn/o^rgarae^it had giyen up 24 points and only two touch downs. Against three noncon ference foes, die Wildcats had given up only 10 points. They were supposedly the bet ter defense entering the game. Nebraska scored 39 points and scored two touchdowns in the same quarter, four in the game, against a so-called stone wall Wildcat de fense. “We wanted to show that we do have the No. 1 defense,” Farley said. Mission accomplished. Not only for beating up KSU physically and mentally, but for keeping an improving offense in the game. This defense is in a different situation than last year's. NU scored 35 dr more points in eveiy gsune, and there was no fear that if the de fense struggled, the offense would pick up the slack. That can’t happen this season. McBride said last season that his group might have been one of the best in his! 5 years as defensive co ordinator. But this defense still has seven regular-season games, a Big 12 championship game and a Sugar Bowl to top last season. Last year, NU gave up an aver age of 13.6 points per game, had two shutouts and didn’t give up more than 21 points until the Fiesta Bowl. “Maybe we are a little ahead of where we were a year ago,” McBride said. Scarytt’ought. Parks is a senior news-edito rial major and a Daily Nebraskan senior reporter. saash. FiveNU running backs are banged up after 39-3 win. By Sam McKewon Staff Reporter One day after Nebraska’s 39-3 vic tory over Kansas State, the Comhusker running backs felt more like outpatients than football players. Five Husker running backs are nursing injuries, with No. 1 I-back Ahman Green taking the biggest hit. Green, who is suffering from a se vere case of turf toe, is unlikely to play Saturday against Baylor, said Running Backs Coach Frank Solich, on Sunday. NU defense Tide attack record with her 26th point of the season. It t Bt Vince D’Adamo Staff Reporter - Sunday’s Nebraska soccer game, a 2-0 Comhusker win over Alabama, was just five minutes old when the scoreboard at the Abbott Soccer Com plex experienced a brief power outage. The sixth-ranked Huskers then made sure the lack of energy did not carry over to the field. The Nebraska defense sparked the team to a shutout —its second in three days—before a crowd of 977. f. On Friday, the Huskers (11-0) blanked Tulsa 4^0. Erica De Vitis scored Nebraska’s first goal. Lindsay Eddleman, Jill Nelsen, and Isabelle Momeau punctuated the Husker scor ing. Kari Uppinghouse added an assist, moving her point total to 26 this sea son and lying the Nebraska record set by Danielle Boswell two years ago. In Sunday’s 2-0 whitewash of the Crimson Tide (4-6-1), Jenny Benson sliced through the Alabama defense to score the first goal of the game six min utes, 28 seconds into the first half. In the second half, Becky Hogan finished the scoring with 33:05 remain ing in the contest. “I wasn’t thinking so much about the shot,” Hogan said. It is a rare occurrence that the Husk ers score just two goals in a game. Nebraska has outscored its opponents 47-6 this season. Hogan said the Tide proved to be a physical opponent in Sunday ’s game . “They did good at keeping in front of us,” Hogan said. “They kept after us and did a good job knocking off our rhythm.” Nebraska Coach John Walker was pleased to keep the NU winning streak intact after last weekend’s hard-fought 1-0 win over Big 12 Conference foe Texas A&M. “It’s tough,” Walker said. “We kept “Ahman has a pretty bad turf toe,” Solich said. “He’ll be listed as doubt ful for this weekend.” ureen nun me toe on the first play of the third quarter after an 8 vard gain. “l\irf toes can usually be hard to heal,” Solich said. “It might be two or three weeks before Ahmanisbackto l»ree« lull speed and making the cuts we want him to make.” Senior I-back Damon Benning should return to practice today after missing the Kansas State game with a groin injury. Benning was not on NU’s travel roster Saturday. “Damon said he felt better,” Solich said, “so the extra days during the weekend probably helped him out” Also suffering injuries were the Huskers’ top three fullbacks. Sopho more Joel Makovicka suffered a bruised shoulder on the first play of the game but continued, running for 17 yards on four rushing attempts. Starter Brian Schuster (pinched nerve) and Billy Legate (pulled hamstring) are also hurting. The banged up stable of running backs figures to open the door fbr DeAngelo Evans. The true freshman I-back rushed for 168 yards and two touchdowns on 22 attempts Saturday, including a 69-yard touchdown run that blew the game open in die third quar ter. “Evans played very well,” Solich Mjot IIiller/DN ALABAMA’S CHRISTINE MILLER fights with Nebraska midfielder Becky Hogan for the ball Sunday at the Abbott Sports Complex. Hogan scored the second goal in NlTs 2-0 win. talking about how we had to keep up the intensity. I thought they did a rea sonable job.” Although the Huskers sputtered on offense, the defense remained rock solid. Becky Hornbacher added six saves and the defense was business as usual. “You win tough games,” Walker said. “You play hard and create offen sive chances.” Nebraska did not break the game open as it has many times this season. Alabama’s character impressed Walker. “They battled hardWalker said. “They never folded when they cOuld have.” Alabama Coach Don Staley said Nebraska is as good as advertised. “John has done a great job,*4 Staley said. “It should get us ready for the SEC. It helps anytime you play a na tionally ranked team.” The Crimson Tide offense contin ues to struggle. Alabama has scored four goals in its last six games. Staley was happy with his team’s effort, but said his team still has work to do before reaching Nebraska’s level. “We have some catching up to do,” Staley said. “There’s so much parity in soccer. They are totally committed. We expected Nebraska to be at this level. We’ll be back.” Nebraska will conclude its 10-game homestand Friday and Saturday with a pair ofBig 12 games against Oklahoma State Friday and Colorado Sunday. see where it goes which allowed StaffReporter The Nebraska volleyball team used an unconventional lineup this weekend against Big 12 Conference foes Iowa State and Missouri, but obtained the expected results — a pair of three game sweeps. said. “It was just a matter of him get ting opportunities to play. He has been doing well in practice.” Solich likes Evans’ slashing style of running. “He doesn’t waste a lot of time out there,” Solich said. “He doesn’t run laterally much, he runs forward, which is what you want to do.” Still, Solich is hesitant to hand Evans the starting position Saturday against Baylor. “I’ll talk to all die running backs,” he said, “and we’" from there.” Another bight be the Baylor defen^, more than 400 yards rushing to Texas Tech on Saturday and 287 to tailback Byron Hanspard fri the 45-24 Tech vic tory. " • No. 6 NU experiments in two wins The No. 6 Comhuskers(12-2 and 4-0 in the Big 12) defeated Iowa State Friday night in Ames 15-6,16 14, 15-6 and dominated Mis souri Saturday night in Columbia, MO., 1 DO, 1>0, e J 15-5. Saunders Nebraska Coach Terry Pettit was forced to use some different combina tions on the court because of a back injury to defensive specialist Maria Hedbeck. “Sometimes situations will dictate a player change,” Pettit said. “| am hoping this will help us to develop more depth.” Pettit inserted Kim Crandall, a 5 foot-7 freshman, into the starting lineup Friday. Crandall, who had played in only five games before this weekend, responded with two service aces against the Cyclones (4-11). The Huskers were led by freshman middle blocker Tonia Ihuke, who hit .600 and pounded 10 kills. Lisa Reitsma had nine kills for NU. Rachelle Van Scoyoc recorded 11 kills for Iowa State, which hit only .014 on the night. Pettit continued to experiment with his lineup Saturday. Sophomore Renee Saunders, a 5-11 outside hitter, saw increased action in the front row and contributed a career-high seven kills whilehitting 308. Saunders was happy with the unusual opportunity to prove herself at the net. “It was something fun and differ ent to do,” Saunders said. “I didn’t think twice about it. I just went out and had fun.” Please see VOLLEY on 11
