. ■ J
I fe
MikeKluck
Win or lose,
Dr Pepper
will be there
Texas and Oklahoma played a
football game Saturday.
It was nothing special. The two
teams have played 91 other games
against each other, and their contest
played every year at the Cotton Bowl
in Dallas has grown to be known as
the Red River Shootout.
But the last couple of years, a new
name has been added to the list - Dr
Pepper.
ui repper, u seems, nas laxen over
sponsorship of the game. So every
logo you see promoting the game at
the Cotton Bowl has the Dr Pepper
symbol on it.
After the game, which Texas won
27-24, the Longhorns probably
chugged Dr Pepper in celebration.
And Oklahoma, well, they probably
got to drink Dr Pepper, too.
Sponsorship is nothing new in
college football. If Nebraska plays for
the national championship this sea
son, it will play in die Fed Ex Orange
Bowl, but if it finishes second in the
Big 12 Conference, NU could play in
the Southwestern Bell Cotton Bowl
Classic.
A fourth-place finish in the con
ference would send Nebraska to the
Jeep Aloha Bowl, but the Huskers
have virtually no chance of playing in
the Poulan/Weed Eater Independence
Bowl.
Now that sponsorship has started
invading regular season games,
Nebraska games will soon probably
have a sponsor. We’re close enough to
that happening now.
You laugh?
How many times when you are
sitting at Memorial Stadium do you
see a good play on the field and quick
ly look up to the HuskerVision
screens to see the replay. But before
the replay is played, we must epdure a
" corporate sponsor. For instance: “This
replay is provided by Stale Farm
Insurance or Coca Cola or Norwest
Banks” or any one of the other com
panies that sponsor replays.
ao now mucn longer oeiore
Nebraska plays in the Skippy Peanut
Butter Nebraska-Colorado football
game? This sponsor would honor
Buffalo coach Rick “Skippy”
Neuheisel.
Or a Nebraska-Missouri game
would be the Charmin game, because
we all know NU would wipe up.
If Nebraska gets a sponsorship,
then how soon before all the other Big
12 schools will follow step? We could
be watching the Panda Garden
Chinese Buffet Iowa State-Baylor
game, where a new soup is unveiled:
Win Won Soon.
Sponsorship does not belong in
regular-season games. It’s bad enough
" in the bowls, where we have to be
inundated with countless ads for the
product
Let’s leave at least one thing for
the fans of college football.
Kluck is a journalism graduate
student and the Daily Nebraskan
sports editor.
OU sends Huskers reeling
-.—
By Andrew Strnad
Staff Reporter
NORMAN, Okla.- After losing its first
ever home match to a conference opponent on
Wednesday night against Colorado, Nebraska
followed with another first on Friday night
against Oklahoma.
The 1997 Cornhusker squad became the
first-ever NU team to lose a three-game match
to a conference opponent, falling to the
Sooners 17-15, 15-11, 15-10 in front of a rau
cous crowd of 423 at the OU Fieldhouse.
OU senior outside hitter Patrice Arrington
said she thought the Huskers would be vulnera
ble, especially early in the match.
“We thought they would start off slow, and
we could take advantage of that, and we did,”
Arrington said.
The Sooners (9-7 overall and 3-2 in the Big
12 Conference) wasted no time in the first
game, jumping to a 4-0 lead, but allowed the
fifth-ranked Huskers (13-4 and 4-2) to battle
back and take a 14-12 lead.
The Huskers failed to convert on three
game points and let the Sooners steal the first
game on the strength of three service aces.
Things didn’t go much better for Nebraska
in the second game. The Huskers hit .000 with
only nine kills.
NU coach Terry Pettit said the Huskers were
never able to get organized during the match,
which enabled the Sooners to take advantage.
“I thought it was overall self-destructive
play,” Pettit said. “We were, unable to make the
necessary adjustments. I.jtyaa^yer. tberejw^i
trying to keep us organized’”
After NU dropped game two, frustration
began to set in during the third game.
With OU leading 9-6, and after a series of
points in which both coaches questioned the
officiating, Pettit received a red card for walk
ing on the court between a sideout.
NCAA rules prohibit coaches from com
menting on the officiating of matches.
OU finished the match with nine ace serves..
That, coupled with five of NU’s 13 service
errors in the third game, led to the Huskers’
second loss in as many matches.
Nebraska hit .148 in the match, its second
lowest percentage of the season.
Senior Lisa Reitsma led the Huskers with 17
kills, and set an NU record for most attacks in a
three-game match with 59, breaking her own
mark of 58 set last year against New Mexico.
Reitsma never thought the Huskers would
lose Friday night, especially after the tough
home loss to Colorado.
“We thought we had refocused,” Reitsma
said. “We had a great practice and took a look at
our goals, and we were ready to move ahead,
but tonight was another step back.”
OU coach Miles Pabst, who is 6-43 all-time
against NU, said the Huskers don’t have the
same amount of confidence as previous Husker
teams.
^ “I see a sense of self-doubt in them on the
court, and I don’t ever remember seeing that
before.” Pabst said.
Junior outside hitter Jamie Krondak, one of
the Huskers’ vocal leaders, sensed a lack of
enthusiasm on the court, an unusual trait for
any Husker team.
The 6-foot Krondak, after missing the
Colorado match because of a ruptured disc in
her lower back, played the first two games
before taking herself out before the third game.
Pettit said the loss of Krondak and junior
outside hitter Renee Saunders (broken foot)
played a big part in the Huskers’ loss.
"Jamie is one of our best passers, and losing
her and Renee doesn’t help any at all,” Pettit
said.
The road doesn’t get any easier for the
Huskers, who travel to Texas on Friday and
Texas A&M Saturday. \
“You regroup,” Pettit said, “trust yourself,
go out with a good game plan and do everything
you can to win.”
___—__ „ "S' Ryan Soderlin/DN
NEBRASKA MIDDLE BLOCKER Megan Konrer attempts a kill over Oklahoma’s Patrice Arrington with NU
senior Lisa Reitsma watching. Korver finished the match with 11 kills, and led the Huskeis with a
.429 hitting percentage.
NU closes homestand in style 1
By Jay Saunders
Assignment Reporter
Not even Mother Nature could stop
die Nebraska soccer team from winning
its eighth straight game as the
Comhuskers defeated Kentucky 3-0 on
Sunday.
The lO^-ranked Huskers (11-2) not
only had to batde the Wildcats, but also
had to contend with a rainstorm and 25
mph winds. A crowd of 348 at the
Abbott Sports Complex braved the con
ditions to see NU do what it has done in
the last seven games - win by shutout
“The conditions were atrocious,”
Nebraska coach John Walker said. “On
a day like this what you want to do is get
the result you want Obviously we did
enough to win, and that’s good.”
Senior midfielder Kari
Uppinghouse continued her solid play
against Kentucky with two goals.
Uppinghouse also scored a pair of goals
in Friday night’s 5-0 win over San
Diego.
Uppinghouse’s first goal on Sunday
came in die 14th minute on a shot from
25 yards that just got over Kentucky
goalkeeper Carrie Kuhnell’s head,'Her
second goal came shortly after halftime.
Sophomore striker Lindsay
Eddleman added another goal to put the
game out of reach for the Wildcats.
Uppinghouse is scoring goals at the
rate she did last season, when she
earned first-team All-America honors.
Uppinghouse said her play has been at
the same level all year, but now she is
fortunate enough to be in the right place
at the right time and cash in on scoring
opportunities.
Nebraska’s defense made another
strong statement by holding its eighth
straight opponent without a goal.
Against San Diego, the Huskers broke
records for consecutive shutouts and
consecutive minutes without allowing a
goal. Senior goalkeeper Rebecca
Hombacher was busier than normal
against Kentucky, but still only faced
three shots on goal.
“There hasn’t been too many shots,
but I try to keep my focus,” Hombacher
said. “I think (eight straight shutouts)
speaks well for our team. It is a com
plete team accomplishment.”
The two wins this weekend closed
out a month-long homestand in which
the Huskers collected eight wins.
Sunday, NU will face No. 6 Duke in
Durham, N.C.
Walker said the win over Kentucky
helped prepare NU to face Duke’s chal
lenge.
“We always seem to have good
games against them,” Walker said.
“Next week is a large game.” p