1 .. I | I in jb' ::: ji mijm' '' ' ' ' ' ' ''!"; ■
_ _J Jiff Cauderon/DN
NEBRASKAE-ERS (from left) Jamel Williams, Jay Foreman, Eric Stokes, Jason Peter and Grant Wistrom celebrate after Foreman
returned an interception 21 yards for NlPs first touchdown Friday. Hie Huskers beat Colorado 17-12 at Memorial Stadium to win the Big 12
North Division.
Louis
Comhuskers and
Longhorns are ready
to face off for Big 12
bragging rights.
By Mitch Shebman
Sports Editor
_ *
One more hurdle and die Ne
braska football team is headed to
Bourbon Street ...
The Comhuskers, ranked thud
in the nation after Friday’s 17>12
win oyer Colorado at Memorial
Stadium, earned the first-ever Big
12 Conference North Division
championship and the right to play
Texas Saturday in St. Louis.
“We feel like we are playing
good enough football to beat any
body in the country right now,”
quarterback Scott Frost said, “and
we are going to have a chance to
prove that”
Nebraska can prove on Saturday
that it is the best of the Big 12, and
with a win in the league’s champi
onship game, the 10-1 Huskers will
be invited to the Sugar Bowl, Jan.
2 in New Orleans, t.
Awaiting at the Superdome: No.
1-ranked Florida State.
By virtue of their 24-21 win
over Florida on Saturday in Talla
hassee, Fla., the 11-0 Seminoles
clinched a spot in the Bowl
Alliance's premier showdown.
If Nebraska gets past Texas, the
Sugar Bowl would pit die winners
» 11
of the last three national champi
onships and renew a rivalry be
tween two of college football’s
most successful coaches, Tom
Osborne and Bobby Bowden.
It would also be a rematch of
the 1994 Orange Bowl, in which
FSU beat Nebraska 18-16 to claim
the 1993 national tide, Bowden’s
first. Nebraska has lost only one
game since and Osborne has
doubled Bowden’s championship
total with wins in 1994 and’95 ova*
Miami and Florida, respectively.
But the Huskers say they aren’t
looking past the Longhorns, who
defeated Texas A&M 51-15 on Fri
day to claim the Big 12 South Di
vision championship.
Tickets are still available for
Saturday’s 12:04 p.m. game at the
^ i ^ MPM^
Trans World Dome in St. Louis.
Nebraska, which has sold nearly all
of its 7,500 tickets, received an ad
ditional 1,200tickets from the other
five North Division schools.
Athletic Department donors will
be given priority, but any fans can
purchase tickets (which cost $40
and $60) beginning today at 8 a.m.
on a first-come, first-served basis.
The ticket office phone number
is 1-800-8BIGRED or 472-3111.
Despite small community, Judaic studies thrive
Professors work to
expand teaching and
research to maintain
students’ enthusiam.
By Erin Schulte
Senior Reporter
1 " 1 . 11,1 l
in a state with a small Jewish popu
lation, the university’s Judaic studies
program thrives on the interest of stu
dents of all faiths.
What the University of Nebraska
" *
Lincoln began tbe Harris Center for
Judaic studies three years ago, educa
tors knew it would be an uphill battle
to find students who had a base knowl
edge of Judaism.
But many non-Jewish students are
enthusiastic about the program, said
Jean Caban, an assistant professor in
political science and philosophy who
was instrumental in developing the
program.
“Sometimes one finds a program
established where one thinks there
wouldn’t be a large (Jewish) commu
nity,” Cahan said. “We lack a pool of
students who are already knowledge
able about basic things in Judaism.”
In its newsletter, the Judaic studies
program is described as the “only Ju
daic studies program in the U.S. cre
ated to serve a primarily non-Jewish
constituency.” But the program is mak
ing great strides toward educating stu
dents about Jewish culture, customs,
religion, literature and history, she
said.
Non-Jewish students usually join
the program for one of two reasons,
Cahan said.
“Students are drawn to it because
they think Judaism is somewhat ex
otic and different, and they want to
learn about a culture that in many ways
is non-Westem,” Cahan said. “Another
type of student sees Judaism as a foun
<Mion or background to their own cul
ture or religious background — the
background of Christianity.”
Last year, the fourth year of the
program, UNL started offering all
those enthusiastic students a Judaic
studies minor. The university will cre
ate a major in the program as soon as
there are enough students able to ex
cel in higher-level classwork, and
enough professors and money for more
Please see JUDAIC on 7
f -v • . - •
Weather
contributed
to accidents
Icy roads combined
with gameday and
holiday traffic made for
a dangerous weekend.
By Chad Lorenz
Senior Reporter
. Slick road conditions in Lincoln
sent vehicles crashing and grinding
into each other during the five-day
vacation.
Lincoln police reported 106 vehicle
accidents Wednesday through Satur
day — 52 resulted in property dam
age, 28 involved injuries. The
Lancaster County Sheriff Office re
ported 12 accidents outside the city.
Across Nebraska, holiday travel
claimed two lives. A two-car accident
on U.S. Highway 275 near Pilger Fri
day night killed two people and hos
pitalized one.
cm rain ana corn mignt nave re
duced a different traffic calamity in ^ ^
Lincoln 4$ police saw less drunken
drivers on city streets.
Lincoln police Sgt. Jim Spanel said
17 arrests for drunken driving during
vacation seemed low for a weekend
with a home football game. On game
day, police arrested only five people
for drunken driving.
“I think the weather might have had
something to do with people staying
home,” Spanel said. “I think the cold
weather dampened their spirits.”
Officers patrolling downtown bars
Friday saw less traffic and less activ
ity than usual before and after the
game, he said.
Nine people were arrested Satur
day, which was closer to normal,
Spanel said. Conditions Saturday were
dry, but slightly colder.
Heavy rains and light snow created
miserable conditions for holiday trav
elers and Nebraska football fans dur
ing the Thanksgiving vacation.
Spanel said inclement weather and
high traffic volume probably brought
the number of accidents above normal.
Less than a half-inch of snow fell
Wednesday and turned to ice in the
evening, which contributed to a series
of collisions in west Lincoln, Spanel
said.
Nearly a half-inch of rain showered
Lincoln Friday, but temperatures
stayed above freezing most of the day.
City streets were wet but not extremely
slick, Spanel said.
The football game and Thanksgiv
ing travel brought more traffic to Lin
coln and caused more accidents than
usual, he said, and out-of-town driv
ers might have had a particularly tough
time navigating through Lincoln, caus
ing even more crashes.
Across the nation, more people die
in traffic accidents during Thanksgiv
ing weekend than any any other holi
day, according to a report from the
National Highway Traffic Safety Ad
ministration.
Last year in the United States, 527
people died in automobile accidents
during the Thanksgiving weekend.
From Thanksgiving to New Year’s,
4,382 people died in accidents.
