Nebraska’s Oct. 26 game
against Kansas at Memorial Sta
dium will begin at 6 p.m. instead
of its 1 p.m. scheduled start. The
game will be televised by Fox
Sports Net and shown on the Prime
Sports Network, Channel 58 inEin
coln.
■
Baylor Coach Chuck Reedy
saidfhe was fiappyto get"out of Lin
j j coin after his team’s 49-0 loss at the
rj hands of Nebraska.
“Needless to say,” Reedy said,
“I am glad we are through with Ne
braska, and I wish (Texas Tech)
Coach (Spike) Dykes and his team
all the luck in the world.”
Reedy said his defense must re
group after giving up 669 total
yards to the Comhuskers.
“We need to continue to make
progress,” Reedy said. “We will
have the opportunity to win every
i game on the schedule, but on the
same token, we can lose every one.
We are a team oiHhe bubble.”
Kansas State Defensive Coordi
nator Bob Cope is making progress
after suffering from a reaction to ra
diation treatment on Oct. 1, three
^ CgyCbefdretfteWIWcSts’*39-3 loss
to Nebraska. Cope, who has can
cer, fell into a coma, but has since
recuperated.
KSU Coach Bill Snyder has vis
ited Cope frequently at his hospital
room in Manhattan, Kan.
■
Missouri Coach Larry Smith is
thankful his team has an off week
before playing Oklahoma State on
Oct. 26. Smith said his team has
several injuries, especially on de
fense, after its 35-10 loss to Kan
sas State Saturday. “We look more
like a mash unit than a football
team,” Smith said.
Many conference teams have
not been helped by an off week this
season, including Nebraska, which
lost to Arizona State on Sept. 21
after a week off. Having an off week
inihc.secpnd JW
Smith s|id/is better than siding out i
a week early in the yea£If * - "*\
“It can’t dp anything but help” j
Smith said.“A little time off doesn’t'
hurt anybne.’Vvvn * / 5 p r ^ ~ L* •
K" ”' ■
; Oklahoma halfback James Allen:
Huskere tip off practice
!!<•
I
By David Wilson
Staff Reporter
The defending National Invitation
Tournament champions are back with
a whole new attitude.
“We think that we have a good
nucleus coming back,” Nebraska
Men’ sJB asketball Coach Danny Nee
said Monday, “these guys know how
Zone blitzes
i
wreak havoc
for NU foes
By Gregg Madsen
Staff Reporter
When Jeff Ogard was recruited to
play football for Nebraska,- he didn’t
expect to play pass defense.
But since the Comhuskers installed
a zone-blitz package in their defensive
scheme last season, that is exactly what
the. d-foot-7, 290-pound defensive
tackle and the rest of the Nebraska
defensive linemen have had to learn
to do.
Zone blitzes allow a team to send a
linebacker bolting into the opposing
backfield without giving up zone cov
erage. The defensive lineman involved
in the play simply backs up into the
blitzing linebacker’s spot in the zone.
“At first it was kind of interesting,
and then it got pretty nerve-racking,”
said Ogard, a senior from St. Paul. “I
wasn’t sure how I was going to do,
because, you know, I don’t have the
greatest team speed.”
Nebraska Defensive Coordinator
Charlie McBride said the zohe-blitz
package doesn’t require grea^peed on
the part of the defensive lineman be
cause its primary function &to create
confusion for the opposing rfffense.
For two years, mat’s exactly what
the zone blitz has done.
“The thing is, it looks like man cov
erage,” McBride said. “It looks like it’s
going to be a man-to-man blitz and it
turns oift to be zohe^&H the reads that
" ball is saappedV SSb & confuses their
reads.”- ■£* £ ** T
In addition to Confusing the oppos
ing quarterback, the zone blitz also al
i„.__I _1.___.1_•
iv/ tt o yuojwi uuvi^ivikvia w uov uivu
speed'and wrc^k havoc behind the line
of scrimmage. % ^
So far this season, Sam linebacker
Jamel Williams has seven stops behind
the line, and in just tiuee games, Will
linebacker Terrell Farley has five.
The Blackshirts rank ninth in the
nation in pass defense, third in rush
ing defense, seventh in scoring defense
and seventh in total defense.
The zone blitz, McBride said, has
evolved into a dangerous weapon this
year — even though it isn’t intended
to be one.
NU installed the Zone blitz to pro
tect the young Hufck^r secondary,
McBride said, .^particularly at
comerback, a spojgfiy^gl^ebraska
has been thin this
McBride said frenli&eiEai^t run
the zone blitz in more than 10 percent
of all defensive plays, but whether
opponents see it or not, the zone blitz
m •
to win.”
The Comhuskers officially begin
practice today at the Bob Devaney
Sports Center. This year’s team is ea
ger to play, sophomore forward Andy
Markowski said.
“There’s just a difference in atti
tude,” Markowski said. “Last year, we
couldn’t get guys together to play. This
year, everybody’s No. 1 priority is bas
ketball.” 4
Nebraska finished the 1995-% sea
son 21-14 with five straight victories,
winning the NIT championship.
•* >: ? v Please see MEN on 8
4, & X ‘
-Jag.*,* -■_ . .••• _
Beck expects talented
freshman class to
challenge for time.
By Mike Kluck
Senior Reporter
Young but enthusiastic is what
Coach Angela Beck is expecting to
day as she begins her second decade
coaching the Nebraska women’s bas
ketball team.
NU begins practice today with
seven freshmen, six from Nebraska,
Scott Bkuhn/DN
JAMEL WILLIAMS (left) and Jared Tbmich stop Baylor tailback Dexter
Ford. Williams has been an important part of Nil’s zone-blitz package
this season.
Ogard Farley
is still effective.
“Some weeks we might not even
run one,”'McBride said. “But what it
does is it forces teams to work on it
And then- we may come out and not
run one, and they spent all their time
in practice working on something we
didn’t even show.”
It may cause headaches for oppo
nents, but for Ogard, die zone blitz is
a dream come true.
“It’s a lot of fun,” Ogard said. “You
don’t get to do that very much. Most
of the time you’re up there banging
heads with offensive linemen. On these
you get to drop back, and it’s your one
chance to be a superstar.”
liwJenfc
-
t
Name Tackles Yanblost
Mike Rncker 7 v 23
Jon Hesse 3 21
and all have been looking forward to
the start of the season, Beck said.
“Some of the freshmen I have been
talking to haven’t ,been sleeping at
night,” Beck said Monday. “Some
have said that they have been waiting
for this since they wore bom. It’s tough
not to be excited for them.
“But in our meeting today, I talked
to them about focus and that they can’t
be so hyped up that we waste a prac
tice session.”
Although Beck said the enthusiasm
is positive, she wants to make sure the
Please see WOMEN on 8
NU freshman
works to earn
her first start
By Shannon Heffelfinger
Staff Reporter
---—.—i
No one could blame Mandy
Monson for feeling nervous before the
Nebraska volleyball team’s match
against Oklahoma
on Sunday. The 6
crowd at
Coliseum.
Prior to the
match, Monson
had seen action in
only six of the Monson
Cornhuskers’ 15
matches.
The true freshman was not ex
pected to play a large role in her first
year in Lincoln. NU’s outside hitter
position is deep on the left side with a
pair of experienced players — senior
Kate Crnich and sophomore Jaime
Kiondak. |
Maser was slated to ^pve ou&ide, and
redshirt freshman iBenise Koziol was
expected to contribute as well.
But depth quickly became a prob
lem when Koziol suffered a season
ending knee injury during a preseason
scrimmage, and Coach Terry Pettit
opted to leave Maser in the middle
because of ho* own injuries.
Suddenly, Monson, a two-sport
standout at Class D-2 Wallace High
School a year ago, found herself with
a realistic chance to contribute to the
defending national champion Huskers.
Monson got her first chance Friday
in NU’s exhibition match against the
U.S. National Team. Monson started
in place ofKrondakiWbo was out with
the flu.
top volleyball players, Monson re
coded five kills and tied the team high
for digs with 11.
Monson said her confidence soared
after Friday’s match, as did her team
mates’ faith in her ability.
“We all had confidence in Mandy’s
playing Friday night,” sophomore
middle blocker Megan Korver said.
“She came in and did a great job. We
weren’t apprehensive at all to have her
in there.”
Oklahoma Coach Miles Pabst in
structed his team to serve to foe inex
perienced Monsov who did not re
spond well earlyin the match. Despite
Please seeMONSON on 8
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