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Ryan Soderun/DN
MATT TURMAN (right) and Damon Benning are among 23 Nebraska seniors who will play their last home game on Friday.
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17-point underdogs say
they can snap NTJ’s 35-game
home winning streak.
By Mike Kluck
Senior Reporter
Colorado Football Coach Rick Neuheisel
knows why his Buffaloes aren’t getting much
respect before their game against Nebraska. v.
But that knowledge isn’t much consolation
for the second-year coach or his team as the fifth
ranked Buffaloes prepare to face fourth-ranked
Nebraska Friday at 1:30 p.m. at Memorial Sta
dium. - -
“This tiling has been played out, and we have
already lost the game,” Neuheisel said. “Local
sports writers, even in Denver, have already writ
ten the score with us losing. We have been an
underachieving team, and we haven’t played as
well this season as we were expected to play.
‘1 just tell our team that we’re going to crash
this party.”
Neuheisel is upset that most members of the
press have already said the!N1 Camhuskerswill
be playing for the national championship. To
play for the national title, the Huskers must de
feat Colorado and win the B ig 1.2 champion
ship the following western St Louis.
However, if the 9-1 Buffaloes win on Fri
day, Colorado will play-in St Louis on Dec. 7
for the conference cro wnipd could be in New
Orleans on Jan. 2 playing for their second na
tional title in the ’90s.
Nebraska has won its last four games against
Colorado. But the Buffaloes were the last con
ference opponent to win at Memorial Stadium,
when a ninth-ranked CU team upset Nebraska
27-12 in 1990.
Neuheisel said the Buffe aren’t intimidated
playing on the road. Over the past two seasons,
Colorado is 9-0 away from Folsom Field. But
playing at Memorial Stadium in-front of the
Huskers’ 214th-consecutive sellout will present
a whole new set of conditionsfNeuheisel said.
“They have the toughest home-field advan
tage,” Neuheisel said. “But it’s a different deal
for us. We go on the road and use the energy of
Footbdl^itesJ^^
an opposing crowd and channel it through us.
This will be the ultimate challenge and Nebraska
has the No. 1 home-field advantage in football.”
Colorado junior tight aid Tennyson McCarty
said he doesn’t care about the past history of
this series or what others think about the Buffa
loes’ ability to defeat the two-time defending
national champions.
“People are writing us off and saying we
don’t have a chance for anything,” McCarty said.
“They’re acting as if Nebraska can’t be beat and
we won’t be able to beat them. If we do, and it
is a possibility, we’re right in the thick of things.”
Nebraska Coach Tom Osborne said he isn't
concerned with foe history of foe series. Osborne
is more worried about CU's momentum enter
ing the game. Since losing to Michigan 20-13
on Sept. 14 in Boulder, the Buffaloes have won
seven-straight games.
“They’re as talented,if not the most talented
team, we have played so far,” Osborne said.
“They’ve got momentum. Anytime you win
seven in a row, you tend to believe you are pretty
good, and it gets harder to beat a team. Hope
Please see BUFFS on 11
Kiptarus
places 2nd
in Tticson
Husker men take seventh,
women finish 20th at the
NCAA Championships.
By Gregg Madsen
Staff Reporter
Jonah Kiptarus and Cleophas Boor have had
one goal throughout Nebraska’s 1996 cross
country season—to be among the top five run
ners in the nation.
On Monday, Kiptarus and Boor achieved that
goal by finishing second and third at die NCAA
Cross Country Championships in Tucson, Ariz.
The two juniors from Kapsabet, Kenya,
earned All-America honors for their perfor
mance and became the highest individual fin
ishers in Nebraska history, eclipsing the fifth
place effort of Jean Verster in 1985.
Their finish paced the Nebraska men’s team
to a 209-point, seventh-place showing, the high
est team finish in school history. The Nebraska
women’s team was 20th with 449 points.
The 10,000-meter men’s race was won by
1995 national champion Godfrey Siamusiye of
Arkansas. The defending national champion Ra
zorbacks finished second in the men’s team
standings behind Stanford.
Kiptarus finished in 30 minutes, 20 seconds
“As a team, that’s about where I thought we’d
finish,” he said. “I thought we’d be somewhere
in the top 10.”
Senior Balazs Tolgyesi was the next highest
NU finisher in 45th place and junior Philip
Maiyo was 82nd.
On the women’s side, sophomore Melissa
Wilson finished the 5,100-meter course in 19
minutes, earning 86th-place.
Senior Christina Blackmer managed a 169th
place fini A despite having the flu:
Stanfdn^also wonthewomen’s team tide.
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