Gre^; Madsen
Husker offense
needs to play
in first quarter
There were some livid Okla
homa fans at Memorial Stadium in
Norman, Okla., last weekend.
Their claims of Tom Osborne
running up the score were amusing,
but not as ridiculous as their
screams about how officiating lost
the game for Oklahoma.
In the second quarter, Nebraska
tight end Vershan Jackson fumbled
on the Sooner 1 -yard line and Okla
homa recovered the ball. But Jack
son was ruled down, the Huskers
retained possession, and De Angelo
Evans scored on the next play.
Oklahoma fans, players and
coaches seemed to think that call
could have changed the game’s out
come.
Get real.
After scoring 17 points in the
last eight minutes of the second
quarter, the Huskers exploded for
56 second-half points.
The problem throughout the
first half wasn’t the officiating, it
was the sluggish Husker offense.
So far this season, Nebraska is
averaging a paltry 5.1 points in the
first quarter. They have scored only
twice on the first drive of the game
— a 3-yard Scott Frost pass to Jack
son against Colorado State and a
45-yard Kris Brown field goal at
Kansas State.
Take away Terrell Farley’s
fumble recovery returned for a
touchdown at Texas Tech, and NU
has scored only three touchdowns
in the first quarter this season.
Last year, Nebraska put up an
average of 13.6 points in the first
quarter, and it was held to only one
touchdown in the opening period
four times.
The 1995 Huskers had first
quarter explosions of 35 points
against Arizona State, 21 against
Pacific and Colorado and 20 against
Iowa State.
So what gives? Why is the
Husker offensive steam-roller tak
ing so long to hit stride?
For one thing, defenses are com
ing at Nebraska from angles that
don’t exist on a protractor, and it’s
taking time for NU to adjust.
“Sometimes,” Osborne said,
“somebody else is playing pretty
well, and then there have been some
times that we’ve played pretty well.
At Oklahoma, we did not play well
in the first half.”
Hie only number scarier than
the Huskers’ first-quarter offensive
production is the number of points
Husker opponents are averaging in
the opening quarter: 0.5.
But as stellar as the Blackshirt
defense has been this season, the
offense must improve if NU is go
ing to win the first Big 12 title and
have a chance at a third-consecu
tive national title.
Madsen is a junior news-edi
torial major and a Daily Nebras
MARIA HEDBECK practices her serving Wednesday at the NU
Coliseum. Hedbeck, a senior defensive specialist, has been among
Nebraska’s most effective servers this season.
Improved serving
aids Husker rise
By Shannon Heffelfinger
Staff Reporter
Most volleyball players have
experienced the all-too-familiar
nervous feeling as they step up to
the serving
line, knowing
every pair of
eyes in the
crowd is fo
cused on them.
Maria
Hedbeck has
felt the pres
sure.
aerv
Nepo ing is a big part
of the 5—foot
10 senior's role for the
Comhuskers, who have improved
as an entire team at the serving line
this season, helping NU's rise to the
top of the Big 12 Conference.
“You stand back there at that
line mid all of the focus is on you.”
Hedbeck said. “Everyone on the
team and in the crowd is concen
trating on you, and it really gives
you time to think.”
Last Wednesday against confer
ence foe Colorado, the seventh
ranked Huskers (19-3 and 10-1)
posted (me of their best serving per
formances of the season.
NU recorded five service aces,
driving the ball hard across the net
s
_j;
to defeat the Buffaloes in three •
games. Husker setter Fiona Nepo
also brought the crowd to life as die
revealed a jump serve for die first
time this season.
The Huskers carried that mo
mentum into an important road
match two nights later at Okla
-S-!- '
Please see SERVING on 9
Foreman
emerges as
Mare star
Once too slow, NU
linebacker now fits well
as a Blackshirt.
By Mike Kluck
Senior Reporter
Nothing in Jay Foreman’s career at
Nebraska has followed a logical path,
but through it all, the sophomore line
backer has |
emerged as a fu
ture star in the
Comhusker foot
ball program.
Not too bad for
a player who
wasn’t even sup
posed to come to
Lincoln. The high
school All-Ameri- -
can from Eden Foreman
Prairie, Minn.,
which is just outside Minneapolis, was
supposed to follow his father to Mi
ami.
After all, Jay’s dad, Chuck Fore
man, enjoyed a stellar career for the
Hurricanes and then as a Minnesota
Viking in the National Football
League.
Jay was such a lock to head to Mi
ami that the University of Minnesota,
which plays its home games less than
20 miles from the Foreman home,
didn’t recruit him.
“They (Minnesota) didn’t think I
was good enough,” he said. “They
didn’t offer me a scholarship, and that
was telling me they didn’t think I was
good enough.”
Mike Grant, Eden Prairie’s head
football coach, said Minnesota didn’t
think Foreman — who played defen
sive back, wide receiver, running back
and quarterback — had enough speed
to play collegiately.
“Minnesota had a different agenda
than Nebraska,” Grant said. “Minne
sota wasn’t interested, because his 40
speed .wasn’t what they wanted. But
Nebraska saw him play and knew he
could play.”
Michigan, Wyoming and Miami all
thought Foreman was good enough to
help their programs, but Foreman
chose Nebraska, even after he embar
rassed himself in front of NU Coach
Tom Osborne.
“Coach Osborne came to my
house, and that was the biggest honor
because I didn’t know what to say to
him,” Foreman said. “I remember
when he came, people called him Dr.
Please see FOREMAN on 8
Nee expects Lue
to run NU show
By Patrick Wyman
Staff Reporter
Tyronn Lue does not fit into the
same category as Tim Hardaway and
Jacque Vaughn, but according to Ne
braska Basketball Coach Danny Nee,
he will.
“He’s good now, but he’ll be a great
player come next March,” Nee said of
his sophomore point guard.
But to reach the level of Vaughn or
Hardaway, Lue will have to first prove
he can direct an inexperienced NU
team that features seven freshmen and
sophomores among its nine scholar
ship players.
Tonight at 7:05, Lue gets his first
chance to lead the Huskers in their sea
son-opening exhibition game against
Pella Windows at the Bob Devaney
Sports Center. The Pella Windows ros
ter includes former NU players Beau
Reid and Keith Moody and three
former Iowa State players.
Lue, who averaged 8.5 points and
4.1 assists per game as a true fresh
man last season, insists he is up to the
challenge.
“I’m just going to go out and try to
play well every night,” Lue said. “If I
get 20 points and 10 assists every
game, then I do, and if I don’t, I’m just
going to try to win ballgames.
“If I just keep working hard on my
game, then I can become of the pre
mier point guards in the country. But
it will take a lot of hard work and dedi
1| •
cation.”
While Lue’s penetration, quickness
and ability to see the open man are up
to par, he said, he needs to cut down
on his turnovers this season and im
prove his outside shooting.
Last season, Lue started every
game but Senior Day, committing 96
turnovers and 144 assists-while shoot
Please see LUE on 8