David Wilson
Too good?
NU football
not exciting
It didn’t hit me until I was sitting
in Harry Caray’s Restaurant in
Chicago last weekend.
The walls were loaded with
baseball memorabilia, but it was
ignored by the primarily business
like crowd.
Where were all the baseball
fans?
Then I realized baseball season
was over.
i miss me pennant races, me
diving catches, the game-winning
homers, Baseball Tonight on ESPN,
and most of all, Peter Gammons.
“But Dave,” you say, “the best
college football team plays right
here in Lincoln, Nebraska.”
I can’t deny that college foot
ball, in general, usually quenches
my sports-crazy thirst. But now, in
the heart of the season, the body of
the story has pretty much been told.
All that’s left is the climax.
Here in Lincoln it’s the same
thing every week. It gets old listen
ing to Osborne say, “We can’t look
past (fill in the blank). They’re
going to be a challenge.”
Since the Kansas State game,
the only suspense has been how
many yards AJiman Green will rush
for and how few yards the
Blackshirts will allow.
After the game, Osborne won’t
be too excited about anything. NU
always allows a big play, or some
body misses a block. The effort is
always slightly less than perfect.
I hate to say this, but Nebraska
football is a little too dominant (and
when people take that for granted,
that’s a pretty big compliment). But
it gets to be a little redundant. Same
old, same old. Blah, blah. Blah,
blah.
I’m bored.
But wait, what’s that? Do I hear
basketballs dribbling over at the
Bob Devaney Sports Center?
Thank God for college basket
ball.
It seems to be arriving a little
early (starting practice in
October?), but yet it’s just in time.
The great thing about college
basketball is that a team can lose a
couple of times and still be in con
tention for a conference champi
onship - or a national champi
onship for that matter.
A team doesn’t have to domi
nate to be the best. Teams can work
out the bugs at the beginning of the
season, lose a few games, and still
make the NCAA Tournament.
And as nerve-wracking as it
may be for fans and gamblers alike,
there’s nothing better than a good
game in any sport.
It’s also comforting to know that
major league pitchers and catchers
report in just three short months.
Wilson is a junior news-edito
rial major and a Daily Nebraskan
senior reporter.
Cornhuskers back in contention
By Jay Saunders
Assignment Reporter
Conference losses to Texas and
Texas A&M in the middle of
September left doubts as to whether
the Nebraska soccer team was as
dominant as the Cornhusker team
that won the Big 12 Conference
Championship last season.
On Sept. 12 NU dropped a 1-0
game to Texas in Austin and then two
days later fell to Texas A&M 1-0 in
College Station.
mai trip to lexas, nowever,
the Huskers have left no doubt with
anyone that Nebraska (16-2 overall,
8-2 in the Big 12 Conference) was
back to defend its title. The Huskers
have won 12 straight games, outscor
ing their opponents 56-2.
During that stretch NU has
knocked off top 10 opponents Duke
and Minnesota.
Now, preparing for the Big 12
Tournament that the Huskers won
last season, NU may get a chance to
avenge its early season losses in San
Antonio, Texas.
Nebraska earned the No. 2 seed
in the tournament and a first-round
bye. NU will play the winner of the
game between Baylor, the No. 3 seed,
and Iowa State, the No. 6 seed, in the
semifinals at 5 p.m. today.
“We are excited because we
could get to play a couple of teams
we lost to before,” senior midfielder
Kari Uppinghouse said. “We are on a
streak right now and hopefully we
can just build and improve on that.”
If Nebraska wins the first game,
it will play in the championship on
Please see SOCCER on 10
Matt Miller/DN
HUSKER MIDFIELDER AMY WALSH tries to get the ball from a Texas Tech opponent. The Huskers look to defend
their Big 12 Championship when they open play in the Big 12 Tournament today in San Antonio, Texas.
MU hopes to hang m against Huskers
By Antone Oseka
Senior Reporter
By the end of Saturday’s game
with top-ranked Nebraska,
Missouri Coach Larry Smith
expects to learn a lot about the
resiliency of his football team.
“I think our defense has got to
be able to just run and hit,” Smith
said. “We’re going to get blocked,
knocked down, things like that.
But the thing we’ve got to do is
get back up and make plays.”
The Huskers (8-0 overall and
5-0 in the Big 12 Conference) and
Tigers (6-3, 4-2) face off Saturday
at 2:35 p.m. at Faurot Field in
Columbia, Mo. The game will be
televised regionally by ABC.
Smith said if the Tigers are to
66
... the thing we ve got to do is get back up
and make plays ”
Larry Smith
Missouri coach
become the tirst conterence team
in 36 regular-season games to
knock off the Huskers, MU must
avoid turnovers.
Missouri has turned the ball
over 13 times this season - eight
fumbles and five interceptions -
allowing opponents to score 20
points. But the Tigers have been
opportunistic with opponents’
turnovers, scoring 58 points on 15
turnovers.
Nebraska has 10 turnovers this
season - eight rumbles and two
interceptions - while taking the
ball away from its opponents 14
times.
Nebraska Coach Tom Osborne
is looking for a tough game from
the Tigers.
“Overall, I think it will be a
very tough contest for us,” he
said. “We need a tough game,
we’re going to get one.”
Smith said he was impressed
with the Nebraska defense, which
looks as solid as the Husker
national championship defenses
of the mid 1990s.
This season NU’s defense is
giving up an average of 217.8
yards a game and just 68.4 yards
rushing.
But Smith said the key to
preparing for the No. 1 team and
the Husker defense is not to make
any changes.
“The formula is real simple:
You be yourself,” Smith said.
“The most important thing you
have your players doing is run
ning, hitting, tackling and believ
ing that they can win and then
going out on the field and finding
a way to win.”
Missouri has found a way to
Please see MISSOURI on 10
NU coach hopes to set precedent in exhibition
By Shannon Heffelfinger
Assignment Reporter
An exhibition game means little to first-year
Nebraska women’s basketball Coach Paul
Sanderford, who begins to write the story of his
inaugural season with the Comhuskers.
But the preseason-game chapters could lead to
mean a great deal.
The Cornhuskers close the door on the 11 -year
era under former Coach Angela Beck and open
another tonight at 7:05 when Slavyanka (Russia)
visits the Bob Devaney Sports Center.
“I could care less about the exhibition games
except that we get to play in front of people and
they get to watch,” Sanderford said.
“It’s going to be another practice for us. We’ll
play 14 people and we’re going to try to run our
style. Nobody is going to remember these exhibi
tion games. We are going to try to win every game,
but the ones people will remember are the ones we
play in February and March.”
The greatest value in tonight’s game,
Sanderford said, lies in the opportunity it provides
to “get the jitters out.”
The Huskers return a strong nucleus from last
year’s team, including Big 12 All-Conference
selection Anna DeForge.
NU also returns several players who started at
one time last season, including forwards Jami
Kubik, Charlie Rogers and Emily Thompson and
guards Nicole Kubik and Brooke Schwartz.
The strength of returning experience lessens
when a new coach takes over, Sanderford said. But
the hard-working, fast-learning style of the
Fluskers has impressed Sanderford - who brings a
.753 winning percentage to the Huskers from
Western Kentucky, his former team of 15 years.
“All these kids have been real receptive to what
Please see WOMEN on 10