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The Big 12 players of the week
were a Cowboy sweep, as OSU
won all three awards after its 42-16
victory over Texas.
Freshman quarterback Tony
Lindsay was the offensive player of
the week. Lindsay had 129 yards
on 19 carries and was 4-5 in pass
ing for 85 yards. Lindsay helped
vault the Cowboys to 29-0 halftime
lead, while icing the victory over
the Longhorns.
Junior strong safety Trent
Alexander was the Big 12 defen
sive player of the week. Alexander
had eight tackles, including a sack,
and two fumble recoveries against
UT. He also had a pass deflection.
Junior defensive back R.W.
McQuarters was the Big 12 special
teams player of the week.
McQuarters had four punt returns
for 113 yards, including a 78-yard
return for a touchdown.
■
Kansas senior running back
Eric Vann became the fifth player
in NCAA history and the first in 20
years to have a 99-yard touchdown
run in a game. It came in the third
quarter of KU’s 20-17 win over
Oklahoma.
“We called that one from the
bench,” KU coach Terry Allen
said. “We blocked it really well. It
was pretty amazing.”
The permanent lights at
Memorial Stadium may be a good
thingforihe Huskers. WithNUyS
56-26 win over Kansas State, NU
ran its record to 32-13-3 in night
games. Nebraska will play again at
night this week with a 6 p.m. start
at Baylor. 5
m
Missouri coach Larry Smith
said quarterback Corby Jones had
one of his better days in the Tigers
45-21 win over Iowa State.
Jones was 12-14 passing for
213 yards and had 85-yards rush- "
ing. The junior from Columbia,
Mo., is on pace to have 1,000 yards
rushing and passing this season.
Smith said Jones is comparable
to another quarterback he coached
at USC, Heisman Trophy runner
up and NFL quarterback, Rodney
Peete.
“Corby probably has a little bit
of an edge running the football,”
Smith said, “and Rodney had a lit
tle bit more touch throwing the
ball, but in a lot of ways,4hey’re
similar players.”
How good is Nebraska?
Better than sixth-ranked
Michigan, Baylor coach Dave
Roberts said as he prepares to play
NU this week. The Bears played
the Wolverines three weeks ago.
“They look a great deal better
than Michigan on tape,” Roberts
* said. “We watched the film of
Nebraska and just shook our
heads. Every coach said, ‘Geez,
Michigan wouldn’t want to play
these guys.’”
This week’s
Big 12 schedule
Missouri at Kansas St.
Iowa St. at Texas A&M
Oklahoma vs. Texas
Colorado at Oklahoma St.
Nebraska at Baylor
- Kansas at Texas Tech
Big 12 Notebook was com
plied by staff reporter Sam
McKewon.
• I , '
4 ~ 1
*
I
Speed over
size brings
home win
By Sam McKewon
Staff Reporter
There is no substitute for speed.
It was never more clear than
Saturday night, when Nebraska’s
speedy Blackshirts won the battle in the
trenches against Kansas State’s offen
sive line, one of the biggest in the
nation.
The NU defense recorded two
sacks in the game, caused a safety and
helped force two interceptions in the
56-26 victory over the Wildcats (3-1
overall, 0-1 in the Big 12 conference).
“We knew we could keep them off
balance'if we titilizfcd our quickness,”
Nebraska linebackers coach Craig Bohl
said. “Our speed from the front line and
^linebackers can be a tough thing to han
dle.”
Kansas State’s offensive line aver
ages a little more than 317 pounds per
lineman, making it the biggest line in
college football, and third biggest in
college or pro football.
But die Wildcats offensive line was
unable to handle the front seven defense
of the Huskers, especially senior defen
sive tackle Jason Peter and senior rush
end Grant Wistrom, who combined for
eight tackles between them, including
314 tackles for a loss of 14 yards.
Wistrom took over the NU record
for tackles for loss. .Wistrom has 4514
tackles for 197 yards in losses for his
career.
Bohl said Nebraska has one of the
Please see SPEED on 8
NEBRASKA TRUE FRESHMAN CORNERBACK Erwin Swlney tackles Kansas State quarterback Michael Bishopln
Nebraska’S 56-26 victory over Kansas State on Saturday.
First-time starters score big
By Antone Oseka
Senior Reporter
Starting your first college foot
ball game is always a big deal.
But when that game comes
against then No. 1.7 Kansas State, in
front of 76,000 people at Memorial
Stadium, it can almost be frightening.
Just don’t tell Nebraska freshman
Erwin Swineyor juniorEric Johnson
that they were supposed to be scared.
Both made their first start as a
Cornhusker against Kansas State
Saturday, and both contributed in
Nebraska’s 56-26 win.
Johnson started at Will linebacker
for Octavious McFarlin, who was out
with an ankle sprain. Swiney started
at left comerback in place of sopho
more Jerome Peterson, who started
the first threejapies.
Swiney said h? expected to see a
lot of playinjf|||le, but wasn’t posi
tive he was going to start.
“I was running with the
Blackshirts a lot,” Swiney said. “So I
had a feeling I was going to play a
lot.” ^ ~ j
NU coaches kept Swiney’s start a
secret until right before the game.
Peterson was announced as the starter
and his biography ran on the
HuskerVision screen.
“We kept it very quiet,” Nebraska
receivers coach George Darlington
said. “When they announced the
starting lineup, of course they had
Jerome on there. I thought, hey, we
better tell Erwin he is still going to be
the starter.”
Swiney said he was a little disap
pointed his name wasn’t announced.
“I wanted to see my face and
name up on the screen,” Swiney said.
Please see STARTERS on 8
Strong pitching seen in final play
By Darren Ivy
StaffReporter
Nebraska found itself on the other
side of good pitching Sunday afternoon
in a 2-0 semi-final loss to Kansas at Big
12 Fall Softball Classic in
Independence, Mo.
Despite only getting two hits off of
Kansas pitcher Sarah Workman,
Comhusker assistant coach Lori Sippel
was pleased with the team’s effort in the
tournament.
Nebraska finished the tournament
with a 3-2 overall record. The Huskers
opened with a 4-2 victory over Central
Missouri but lost to Oklahoma State
13-4 in five innings on Friday. t>n
Saturday NU defeated Southwest
Missouri State 4-2 and Oklahoma 3-2.
“We adjusted very well to the com
petition and had a great team effort,” .
Sippel said.
NU pitcher Jenny Voss took die loss
against the Jayhawks despite holding
Kansas scoreless through five innings.
The Jayhawks scored two runs in
the bottom of the^ixth inning on a two
run single by Julie True.
The Huskers had a chance to come
back in the top of the seventh inning,
whendiey pufrurmers on first and third
but failed to score.
Against Central Missouri, Voss
pitched a two-hitter and then defeated
Southwest Missouri State on Saturday.
The sophomore from Ankeny, Iowa,
also recorded a save against Oklahoma.
“She was very consistent on the
mound,” Sippel said. “That was what
we really needed.”
Voss wasn’t die only bright spot for
NU at pitcher. Freshman Lori
T schannen Mtc^daight'ktrMg innings
in NU’s 3-£ victory against Oklahoma.
i “-—
We adjusted very well to the competition
mid had a great team effort ”
Lori Sippel
i ' ’ - assistant softball coach
Sippel said the team had improved
since its l-*3 showing at the NIC
Tournament Sep£19-21.
! “You can’t learn to swim until you
*are in the water,” Sippel said. “After the
young players Were in a tournament
they had something to compare their
performance against. It was no longer
an unknown what the young players
needed to do to play in Division I.”
Sippel said she hoped the team
would continue to keep the same atti
tude that has allowed them to improve
the past two weeks.
“If die young ohes can continue to
improve over the winter like they lave
the past two weeks, they will be like
juniors and seniors in the spring,”
Sippel said. '
All-American shortstop Ali Viola
also will use the winter to improve. She
returned to action Friday for the first
time since ACL reconstruction surgery
last March. Nebraska coach Rhonda
Revelle said Viola was pretty sore on
Saturday so they held her out the rest of
the tournament.
The Big 12 tournament concluded
die fall season for tire-team. They will
return to action on Feb. 1^-15 when
they compete in Honolulu, Hawaii.