______; Mike Muck Field battles take priority over recruiting Before Nebraska and Baylor take a snap Saturday at Memorial ' Stadium, some fans from both teams already believe that the Bears have beaten the Comhuskers. Last season Baylor beat Ne braska and a large group of other schools, signing the man referred to by many as the most versatile high school quarterback in the na tion: Odell James. James was a senior at MacArthur High School in Aldine, Texas, racking up impressive num bers, which included 5,870 total yards in his three-year career and a 25-7-2 record as a starter. Moments after Nebraska’s vic tory over Florida in the Fiesta Bowl, a Husker fan asked ESPN’s Chris Fowler if NU could three-peat. Only if NU could sign James, Fowler said. Early on, it looked like Ne braska had the inside track. All the way down to the numbering system, MacArthur’s offense was a Comhusker clone, so James would have fit in perfectly in Lincoln. James had attended Nebraska’s summer camp in 1995 and had a good feel for the campus. Through out his senior year, James told his MacArthur assistant Terry Forga— now the school’s head coach—that he was going to Nebraska. o until o litinrr tnn to Lincoln in December, about a week before the Huskers left for Tempe, Ariz., for the Fiesta Bowl. When James returned to Aldine, his views about NU had changed, and in less than three weeks, he signed with Baylor, a team that fin ished the 1995 season with a 7-4 mark. On Thursday, all James would say was that he had a bad experi ence in Lincoln. His mother, Claudia, said she doesn’t want to talk about Odell’s trip. “Children can be children,” Claudia James said, “especially when they’re not brought up prop erly. There were some on the trip who were very disrespectful to Odell.” According to Nebraska Coach Tom Osborne and Forga, James ar gued with an NU player during a game of dominoes while on his visit in Lincoln. But by the time James visited, Osborne said, the Huskers had backed off in their recruiting effort for many different reasons, includ ing James’ academic problems. When Baylor takes the field on Saturday, James will be sitting in his dorm room in Waco, Texas, re covering from arthroscopic knee surgery during his redshirt season. And both teams face the same question: Who really won the battle? Kluck is a graduate student in Journalism and a Daily Nebras kan senior reporter. ' Despite his injury, Benning earns the starting I-back spot. By Mike Kluck Senior Reporter Last Saturday against Kansas State the Nebraska defense turned in one of the most dominating performances Cornhusker Coach Tom Osborne has seen in his 23 years as a head coach. In a 39-3 vic tory Nebraska (3 1 and 1-0 in the Big 12) allowed the Wildcats only 86 yards of total offense, recorded three sacks, ' ' blocked one punt, stuffed another punt and intercepted three passes. Saturday, Baylor (3-1 and 0-1) gets to find out whether the Huskers will experience a let-down, or if last week’s game was just a building block for a defense that is continuing to improve. Nebraska will play host to Baylor at 1 p.m. Saturday at Memorial Sta dium. “I hope it (the defense) is hitting its stride quicker,” Osborne said. “We just have to hope that we can maintain that intensity week after week. Defense is played with intensity, and it has to do a lot with emotion.” I Scott Bruhn/DN JON HESSE sacks Colorado State’s Moses Moreno earlier this season. Hesse and his defensive teammates hope to produce a second straight dominating performance Saturday against Baylor. Surprising to Husker fans and dis heartening to Baylor supporters, Ne braska rush end Grant Wistrom said the Husker front four did not play great against Kansas State. Wistrom, fellow rush end Jared -1 Tomich and defensive tackles Jason Peter and Jeff Ogard combined for just five of Nebraska’s 34 tackles last week. “We played pretty dam good Sat urday,” Wistrom said. “But we felt that none of us played exceptionally well. m A . . A There were lots of things we could have done better in the game. “I feel we can improve on that per formance. We were pretty dam suc Please see BAYLOR on 11 Two-day layoff helps Huskers, Walker says By Vince IVAdamo Staff Reporter The sixth-ranked Nebraska soc cer team wraps up its 10-game homestand this weekend at the Abbott Sports Complex with a pair of contests against Big 12 Confer ence opponents. The Comhuskers (11-0 and 3-0 in the Big 12) take on Oklahoma State tonight at 7 and Colorado on Sunday at 1 p.m. Oklahoma State is in its first season playing soccer, but Coach Karen Hancock’s Cowgirls have not played like a first-year team. Their record is 6-4-1. However, they have struggled since starting 4-0. NU Coach John Walker said Oklahoma State is a determined and hard-working team. “They’ve played everyone very tough,” Walker said. “They’re tak ing the same mentality we did in our first year. They’re not using age as an excuse, and they don’t seem to be awed by the competition.” Colorado brings a 3-5-1 record to Lincoln. The Buffaloes have struggled offensively, scoring only 10 goals in nine games. Freshman forward Shawn Kenyon leads the Buffs with five goals, and CU goalkeeper Nina Bjomstad has played well, record ing 78 saves and allowing just 15 Oklahoma St, today, 7 p.m. _ I goals. “We want to come out flying,” Walker said. “Anytime you can come out and score one or two goals - early, it makes it a much bigger challenge.” For the Huskers, junior midfielder Kari Uppinghouse has a chance rewrite the record book for total points in a season. Uppinghouse needs only one assist to break Danielle Boswell’s mark of 26 points, set in 1994. “Kari’s had an excellent sea tnn ” WolVpr ctiiH “QVip»’c ovnlvpH into a complete player, especially defensively. She’s also done a fine job of creating things offensively.” Last week, Walker said, the Huskers were experiencing the “dog days of October” So the coach gave die team two days off at the beginning of the week. “It was their first break since training camp,” Walker said. “We have a lot of nagging injuries but nothing serious. I think the team feels rejuvenated.” itndicotrs last stand highlights exhibition By Trevor Parks Senior Reporter As Lori Endicott prepares to say goodbye to the U.S.) National Volley ball Team, she is also glad to have the opportunity to bid farewell to the people launched her decorated career. “I’m really cited about cc_ l ing back to Lin-; cold,” said Endicott, a former Nebraska All American who Endicott will play setter for the U.S. National Team tonight against the Huskers in an exhibition match. “I’m thinking about retiring at the end of the month, so it will be nice to nlav in front of a