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CFU defense prepared
to stop Cornhuskers
By Jay Saunders
Assignment Reporter
Opportunity is knocking on the
door of the Central Florida defense.
That opportunity is disguised as
the Nebraska offense.
Golden Knights senior linebacker
Emory Green and the UCF defense
are hoping to answer the challenge of
the Cornhusker offense Saturday at
12:30 p.m. at Memorial Stadium.
“No matter if it is Nebraska,
Florida State or whoever, our main
job is to stop the offense,” Green said.
“We feel we haven’t accomplished
our mission if we haven’t won the
game.”
Against Nebraska, Green and the
Golden Knights defense won’t have
an easy task. The Huskers rolled up
644 total yards of offense in its sea
son opening 59-14 victory against
Akron, including 472 yards on the
ground.
However, the Central Florida
defense has been stingy against the
rush this season. In the first two
games the Golden Knights have only
given up 67 yards on the ground,
including just 31 yards to South
Carolina.
Central Florida has lost its first
two games of the season, including a
24-23 loss to Mississippi in overtime
in the season opener and a 33-31 set
back to South Carolina last Saturday.
Central Florida’s schedule, which
includes four of its first five games
on the road, has been difficult on
first-year defensive coordinator
Brian VanGorder.
Green said the defense needs to
rise to the occasion to meet its goals.
“Nebraska challenges any
defense both mentally and physical
ly,” Green said. “They run a bash’
em-up, beat’-em-down style of
offense. We have to try and run a lot
of assignment type football.”
The 5-foot-11, 205-pound Green
runs a 4.38 40-yard dash, which is the
fastest on the team. The senior from
Sanford, Fla., is tied for fifth on the
team with 14 tackles including eight
solo tackles.
Senior defensive end Jermaine
Benoit, 6-3, 235 pounds, leads the
Golden Knights with 27 tackles
including three tackles for a loss of 10
yards.
v
For the Golden Knights to win the
game, Green said they need to focus
on the task at hand, and not worry
about anything else but the multiple
attacking Husker offense.
Green said he is not intimidated
by the Huskers, but is impressed with
their different offensive formations.
Saturday’s game will be- the
biggest game in which Grfcen has ever
played, he said. He was injured two
years ago when the Golden Knights
played at Florida State.
But it won’t be the most people in
front of which Green has ever played.
Last Saturday in South Carolina, the
Golden Knights played in front of
81,908 fans.
Green said this Saturday is a great
opportunity not only for himself but
for the entire program at Central
Florida. This will be the first time the
Golden Knights will have a chance to
play a national power in their two
year stint as a Division 1-A program.
“It is a tremendous opportunity
for Central Florida to come into
Lincoln and play Nebraska,” Green
said. “In order to be the best, you
must play with the best. That is what
Central Florida is trying to do.”
Central Florida focuses
on establishing program
CFU from page 9
east of the Mississippi River,” he
said. ^Right now, there aren’t a lot of
slots in bowl games for non-confer
-ence teams. We
want to be in a
conference to
establish our
selves national
ly.”
Beyond there,
Sloan said he
would like to see
Central Florida
Sloan j°in Florida,
Florida State and
Miami as the fourth major college
football power in the Sunshine
State.
Once UCF is recognized, they
may able to compete in recruiting
with the other giants in Florida.
Sloan said UCF’s location in
Orlando will help to attract the best
players out of high school.
“This city is a great recruiting
tool,’’ he said. “-Plus,, there are so'
many good players in this state that
there’s enough to go around for all
of us to be good.”
Still, with all that in the future,
Central Florida’s focus this week is
directly on Nebraska. Sloan said
UCF jumped at the chance to get the
money and play in Lincoln after a
number of teams passed on the offer.
Sloan said his decision to play
Nebraska stems back to a game he
coached against the Huskers, when
NU beat Sloan’s Texas Tech team
27-24 in the 1976 Astro-Bluebonnet
Bowl. Sloan said it was that
encounter with Coach Tom Osborne
and the rest of the Nebraska pro
gram that left an impression on him.
“When I came to Central
Florida, one of the first teams I
wanted to play was Nebraska,” he
said. “There is so much class associ
ated with Coach Osborne and their
entire't44fn that it is a hard kind of
game to pass up.”
Sloan said Central Florida will
not embarrass themselves this
weekend in Lincoln, and are coming
up looking to play well.
“We’re better than a lot of people
realize,” he said. “We’re not
chopped liver. Our name makes us
sound like we’re not very good, but
we’ve got some pretty good athletes
at this school.”
While Sloan won’t make any
predictions for the game, a UCF win
would be a landmark achievement in
the school’s history.
“Words can’t describe how
important a win like that would be,”
he said. “It would definitely be the
biggest thing that ever happened to
this program.”
Texas A&M expects to improve
against rival Husker soccer team
SOCCER from page 9
The Aggies play the role of the
inexperienced team with nothing
to lose. A&M lost four starters
-.from last year’s
team, and at
times have start
ed as many as
five freshman
this season.
Guerreri said
playing the game
against Nebraska
_I this early in the
Cuorrari season gives the
aUBirai advantage to the
Huskers. Even though the Aggies
don’t have the Experience of this
year’s Nebraska squad, Guerreri
said, his team is not going to give
in to the Huskers.
“We are trying to figure our
selves out right now,” Guerreri
said. “It is a positive because you
need to be tested so you can
improve yourselves.
“Pure and simple, we will try
and score more goals than they
do.”
The Aggies do have two of their
top point-scorers returning. All
American Bryn Blalack scored 69
points last season. She has scored
two goals already this season.
Blalack’s participation in the
Nebraska game is questionable
after getting a head cut in a game
earlier this season that required 12
stitches. Blalack did not play
against Missouri last weekend.
A&M also has Diana Rowe,
who scored 29 points last season
from midfield. Rowe leads the
team so far this season with three
goals and an assist.
The Aggies also possess one of
the top goalkeepers in the country
in Melanie Wilson. Wilson record
ed a 0.95 goals against average last
season, and has only allowed two
goals per game so far this year,
giving her a 0.67 GAA.
“We still have marquee play
ers,” Guerreri said. “We get the
chance to see how we do on our
home turf. We don’t have much to
lose because we aren’t expected to
win. The shoe is on the other foot.”
ii
Any time you get two teams that know
each other like we do, there is a natural
competitive atmosphere”
G. Guerreri
Texas A&M coach