Play pushes Cowboys to top
OSU stands undefeated for first time since 1987
By Sam McKewon
Staff Reporter
Mamas, you can now let babies
grow up to be Cowboys.
The Oklahoma State Cowboys
returned to the national football
scene with a 42-16 upset of Texas
Saturday in Stillwater, Okla.
The victory improved OSU’s
record to 5-0 for the first time since
1987, and has propelled the
Cowboys to the top of the Big 12
South Division with a 2-0 record.
Oklahoma State coach Bob
Simmons said he is happy with his
team’s start to the season.
“The Texas game was a big one
for us,” Simmons said. “We played
the way we needed to. Texas is a
good team.”
Oklahoma State jumped out to a
29-0 lead at halftime led by the play
of OSU freshman quarterback Tony
Lindsay and its defense. Lindsay ran
for 129 yards and passed for 85,
most of whiclfcame in the first half.
Texas coach John Mackovic said
OSU’s spread offense hurts its oppo
nent’s defense.
“They really spread out the field
against the defense,” he said. “They
get Lindsay on the corner where he
can really hurt you with his speed.”
Although the OSU offense
played well against the Longhorns
(2-2, 0-1), the Cowboys have been
paced all season by its attacking 4-6
defense. OSU held UT to 240 total
yards for the game, including 86
yards on the ground.
Going into the game, OSU was
ninth in the nation in total defense
and third in rushing defense.
Simmons said that the defense has
improved as the season has contin
ued.
“We’ve always been an attacking
defense, and we haven’t made a lot
of changes,” he said. “It was just a
matter of getting guys with a little
more experience than we’ve had in
the past.”
Texas Tech coach Spike Dykes
said the OSU defense is one of the
most dangerous in the conference.
“They are a team and a defense
to be reckoned with,” he said. “Their
defense gets better every week, and
they’ve improved their defense a lot
from last year.”
The special teams also have been
strong with the play of defensive
back R.W. McQuarters. McQuarters
has returned two punts for touch
downs, including a nation-long 82
yard run against NE Louisiana. His
78-yard return against Texas put
OSU up 21-0 in the first quarter.
McQuarters, who also is an all
Big 12 candidate and occasionally
plays receiver, is a candidate for the
best player in the conference,
Simmons said.
“He’s done a lot for us this year,”
he said. “He’s certainly a valuable
player for us.”
Possibly the most amazing part
of OSU’s success this season is that
they lost five starters, including star
tailback Andre Richardson, to acad
emic ineligibility before the f$rst
game against Iowa State. While that
might have hurt many teafiis,
Simmons said OSU has stepped up
well.
Cyclone coach Dan McCarney
said even without those five players,
he could tell OSU would be good.
“They had a tough adjustment to
make after just losing those guys,”
he said. “I could tell that they were a
real quality team at the beginning of
the season, much better than the
team we had seen last year.”
Oklahoma State plays Colorado
Saturday in Stillwater. The
Buffaloes are coming off a 16-10
loss to Texas A&M and have fallen
to 2-2 overall and 0-1 in the confer
ence.
Simmons, who was Colorado’s
defensive coordinator before taking
the OSU job, said he’s not breaking
out the party hats yet to celebrate a
great start to the season.
“We have a long ways to go,”
Simmons said. “We have a big
stretch of games where we play
Colorado, Oklahoma and Texas
A&M. We can’t let down now.”
Verbal yes allows for reverse
trom page ^
intent. So far this season, it is known
that the Huskers have received at least
five verbal commitments from high
school seniors. At this time last year,
NU had received nine - seven of which
were received over the summer.
Many players are invited to attend
the NU football camp, Logsdon said,
but the sessions don't serve as a tryout
for the team.
“It’s illegal to have a tryo^camp,”
Logsdon said. “But we definitely
encourage kids to come.”
But the camp, Kelsay said, was
what secured his scholarship.
“The camp basically is a recruiting
camp just to show the coaches what
you could do,” Kelsay said.
witn rive commitments this year,
Nebraska falls in the middle of a big
pack of schools. Michigan leads with
nine commitments, Penn State and
South Carolina have eight, and LSU
has seven.
All the powerhouse schools aren’t
necessarily following the trend, said
Bobby Burton of the National
Recruiting Advisor.
Regional appeal
“It tends to be the teams that have a
strong regional appeal,” Burton said.
“Those are teams that are not necessar
ily the only game in their state, but they
don’t have that much competition.”
Patemo agreed.
“At a Penn State or a Nebraska,
you’re going to have kids that grow up
wanting to play there,” Paterno said.
“And most kids are going to want to get
«
We don’t pressure kids and say; ‘Hey you
gotta*commit’Ilfs their decision.”
Jay Paterno
Penn State recruiting coodinator
it done with before their senior season ”
Such was the case with Kelsay and
many other Nebraska recruits, who
grew up liking the Huskers.
Football teams are allowed to
reward 25 scholarships each year, but
because of NCAA cutbacks in recent
years, Nebraska most likely will not
sign 25 players in February. Last year,
the Huskers signed 20 freshmen and
two juniors.
Logsdon said players sign early for
different reasons.
“ To some of them, it’s a relief and
they can concentrate on their senior
year in high school,” Logsdon said. “1
guess for a kid that feels like he needs
to make all five of his official visits, he
may wait until signing day. Top athletes
can probably get away with waiting.”
Take Randy Stella for example.
A senior linebacker and running
back at Omaha Benson High School,
Stella was offered a scholarship from
the Huskers shortly after attending the
Nebraska football camp in June. The 6
foot-1, 195-pounder was an all-state
football selection last season and also
starred as a long-jumper last spring.
Stella, who runs a 4.5-second elec
tronic 40-yard-dash, said he is almost
sure he will commit to Nebraska, but
wants to take his recruiting visits to
other schools first.
“I’m pretty much a verbal commit
ment,” Stella said last month. “I tell
(NU coach Tom Osborne) that I'll
come up there.”
Assuming Stella makes his deci
sion sometime before February,
Nebraska could have a scholarship
waiting for him. But other undecided
players may feel a little more pressure
on their shoulders.
raierno saia ne was an ior eany
commitments, but does not approve of
talk of making an early signing period
for football. Logsdon said she had not
heard about the possibilities for an
early signing period.
“It would put more pressure on the
kids,” Patemo said. “I think we ought to
keep it the way it is. The kids commit,
but then they can sit back and think
about it until February. We don’t pres
sure kids and say, ‘Hey you gotta com
mit.’ It’s their decision.”
Patemo said he expected the trend
to continue, but said it had reached its
peak.
“I think you're going to see more
and more of this,” Paterno said, “but
you’re not going to see your entire
recruiting class committed by
December. I think we’re to the point
where it’s going to steady out.”
Buffaloes stomp Huskers’ record
GAME from page 9
Colorado expanded its lead to
12-7 with three consecutive kills by
junior outside hitter Sarah Lodge.
NU’s Lisa Reitsma and Tonia Tauke
blocked an Alison Koepke attempt
to cut the lead to four. Two more kills
by Lodge gave CU a 14-8 lead, and
Colorado ignited its celebration
when Lodge and Koepke blocked
, Reitsma.
“We have a lot of respect for
n -
Nebraska’s program,” CU coach Pi’i
Aiu said. “I almost feel sorry for
them. So many things happened
tonight. Their 41-match home streak
was broken. I think we just caught
them when they weren’t at their best
and we were at ours. We got lucky.”
The Huskers recorded more digs
and blocks and posted a higher hit
ting percentage than Colorado. But
Lodge, who pounded a match-high
27 kills - including eight in the
rally-scoring fifth game - said a
-s>
solid team effort secured the win for
the Buffaloes.
“We’re not a team of one, or of
two,” Lodge said. “We’re a team of
six and we played that way. We
played as a team, not as individuals.”
The win was Colorado’s first
over a ranked team this season. CU
carries a five-match winning streak
inter its match with Texas A&M
Friday. Nebraska returns to action
Friday against Oklahoma in
Norman, Okla.
Sidelined players open
window for Colorado
By Andrew Strnad
Staff Reporter *
Nobody can put together a puzzle
without all of the pieces
Nebraska (13-3 overall, 4-1 in the
conference) played without some of its
biggest pieces last night and it showed,
as No. 22 Colorado (9-4, 5-0) put an
end to one of the longest winning
streaks in the country.
Without the service of juniors
Jaime Krondak and Renee Saunders
who sat out the match because of
injuries the fifth-ranked Huskers
dropped their first-ever home confer
ence match in the 23-year history of
the NU program to CU 11-15, 15-9.
15-7,6-15, 15-8.
Krondak sat out the match with
back spasms while Saunders, who
broke her foot last week, will be out of
action for the next six weeks. Both of
them are outside hitters and strong
passers for the Huskers.
Without the two, NU was left unor
ganized and disheveled.
“Jaime is consistent and she’s been
that way all year,” NU middle blocker
Tonia Tauke said. “She was full of
motivation on the bench tonight, but
we missed her.
“It really hurts because I don’t
want to be known as the team that lost
the streak.”
Because of the injuries, freshmen
Kim Crandall and Kim Behrends saw
extensive playing time as Nebraska
coach Terry Pettit played nine Huskers
in all five games.
The game, which was played in
front of 5,432 fans at the Bob Devaney
Sports Center for the first time since
Oct. 21, 1995, also put an end to the
Huskers 41-home match winning
streak.
Junior middle blocker Megan
Korver said having the streak broken
hurts, but it wasn’t going to ruin the
Huskers’ season.
“It’s tough to lose like this,” Korver
said, “but we have to go on and beat
Oklahoma on Friday.”
With the loss the Huskers fall to
No. 2 in the Conference behind the
Buffaloes, who are now 5-0 in the con
ference, and Texas, which is 4-0 in the
conference. The last time NU finished
second in the conference was when the
Huskers finished second to Colorado
in 1993 in the Big Eight Conference.
Nebraska plays at Norman, Okla.,
against the Sooners at 7 p.m. Friday.
Even the Odds
j
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