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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 14, 1997)
seniors me ISU challenge will be last Memorial Stadium bid for 23 By David Wilson Senior Reporter Barring an upset, 23 Nebraska seniors will play their final game in Memorial Stadium Saturday with out ever experiencing a home loss. The third-ranked Cornhuskers (9-0 overall and 6-0 in the Big 12 Conference) play host to Towa State (1-8 and 1-5) at 11:30 a.m. The game will be broadcast by the Big 12 Syndication which will be shown locally on CBS (channel 10 11 in Lincoln). With the help of the veteran Huskers, Nebraska has maintained a 41-home-game winning streak, and with a win Saturday, the Huskers would secure at least a tie for the Big 12 North Division championship. “It’s always a sad time to see those players go,” Nebraska Coach Tom Osborne said. “Most of them have been with us for five years, sometimes four, and you grow attached to them.” Rush end Grant Wistrom is one of 12 seniors who will likely start against the Cyclones. Though he is not usually too emotional, Wistrom said he will miss playing in Lincoln. “Memorial Stadium has been home to me for the past four years,” Wistrom said. “It’s not going to be a place that I’m looking forward to leaving. I have a lot of great memo ries here. It’s going to be really tough for me. Hopefully we can go out and make the last game for all the seniors a very memorable one.” Nebraska defensive tackle Jason Peter said he has as much respect for the seniors who don’t start as the ones who are applauded every home Saturday. * - “How many guys have sucked it up and stayed with the program?” ' Peter said. “So many of them do what they have to do and they keep going at ncurasna. 11 is just because the Nebraska tradition is so special that guys want to be part of it whether or not they are starters or second or third team. “Some of these guys really never get to play, but they still fight it out. Grant and I have been fortu nate because we have started here the last three years. The real admi ration goes to the guys who have been here four or five years and haven’t started a game but still go out and practice two hours every day and they don’t get the opportu nity to start on Saturday. Those are the guys that you look up to a lot of times.” i But the Blackshirts will have to play a better game than they did 1 against Missouri last weekend, 1 Wistrom said. Last week’s 45-38 ! overtime win over tlie Tigers will i be just one of many motivators for the Huskers on Saturday. ’ “Any time we play in Memorial i Stadium, we bring it up a notch 1 did with us whatever they wanted to do. We’re not happy with the way we performed.” But the near-loss was a much needed wake-up call for the Huskers, who fell from No. 1 to No. 3 in both The Associated Press poll and the USA Today/ESPN Coaches’ poll. “It’s nice to have a close one every now and then,” Wistrom said. “Those kind of games build char acter and they’re needed in the run for the national title. Our egos are officially deflated now. “We know that to get through these next three or four games, we have to play much better defense. And that’s something we’re setting our minds to right now.” inyway,” Wistrom said. Nebraska allowed 386 yards of otal offense to the Tigers, which vas the most it had allowed all sea ion. The Tigers ran for 153 yards tnd threw for 233. “Obviously we’re not happy vith Missouri scoring 38 points tgainst us,” Wistrom said. “We jasically couldn’t stop them. They v I oUtlM from page 9 track for the NCAA Tournament. “We won’t have any problem bouncing back,” Walker said. “We’d like to rectify some prob lems because it’s something that can’t happen again.” The two teams have met just once before in 1995, with Michigan beating the Huskers 2 0 in a game where current NU defender Stephanie Vacek tore her anterior cruciate ligament. This season, the Huskers and Wolverines have two common opponents. In the last game of the regular season, NU beat Minnesota 3-1. The Gophers beat UM 4-3 in a Big 12 conference game. Both Michigan and Nebraska beat Missouri. “We are finding out slowly ft—— We ’re a pretty dynamic team. We try to play an attacking style, but we also believe in a total team defense.” Debbie Belkin Michigan soccer coach that they are one of the higher scoring teams in the country,” Walker said. “In terms of a first round game, they look like a real good team. They win impressive ly.” However, the question that remains for both teams is the placement of teams in the NCAA Tournament.*In Nebraska and Michigan’s quarter of the brack et, the selection committee placed five of the NSCAA top 15 teams in the bracket. A win in the first round for either the Huskers or the Wolverines may mean a second round trip to play No. 2 Notre Dame. “I don’t know what (the selec tion committee) was thinking,” Belkin said. “There are some potential final four teams in there that aren’t going to go.” FeotfeaH Starters Nebraska Starters Pot. No. Name Ht WL Yr. Pot. No. Name HL WL Yr. 8E 89 Jeff Lake 84 210 Sr. LR 57 ChadKe&y 83 250 Jr. LT 64 305 Sr. DT 99 Jason Wittz 65 310 Jr. LG 67 Aaron Taylor 81 305 Sr. OT 55 Jason Peter 85 285 Srt' C 59 JoshHe&ew 83 280 Jr. RR 98 Grant Wistrom - 85 225 $r, RG 84 JonZatechka 82 290 Sr. SLB 46 Brian Shaw v*' 81 215 So. RT 70 Eric Anderson 64 305 Sr. MLB 44 JayForeman 81 235 Jr. TE 90 TimCaipenter 83 250 Sr. WLB 4 Octavious McFariin 811 200 Sr, QB 7 ScottFrost 6-3 220 Sr. LCB 11 ErwinSwiney 81 180 Fr. FB 45 JbetMakovicka 811 235 Jr FS 3 EricWarfteU 80 195 Sr.?. '. IB 30 Ahman Green 80 215 Jr. ROV 21 Mike Brown 811 205 So. WB 14 LanoeBrown ■ 811 180 So ' "V RGB 22 RMpfc Brown:: ■ >: .810 180 So. PK 35 Kris Brown 810 205 Jr. P 19 Jesse Kosch 6-0 190 Sr. Iowa Si Starters MftBM IlfliTt Poe. No. Name Ht Wt Yr. Poe. No. Name Ht Wt Yr. SE 81 EdWiiams 6-3 198 Sr. OLB 34 JimMorse 6-2 223 Fr. : . LT 51 Oliver Ross . 6-4 293 Sr. DT 52 James Reed 6-1 256 Fr. L3 75 MattRahfakJt 6-3 286 Sr. NG 90 GregSchoon 6-3 266 Sr. C 79 Charley Bogwill 6-2 295 Jr. END 98 Nigel Tharpe 6-5 258 Fr. RG 70 Ben Beuadet 64 298 Fr. OLB 26 ChinAchebe 6-1 251 Jr. RT 71 Kurt Levetzow 6-5 269 Sr. I LB 48 Dave Brcka 6-2 238 So. FL 21 Tyrone Wtfey ' 56 189 Sr. ILB 38 MkHisl Cooper . • 6-1 219 Sr. QB .16 Todd Band»tauerv226 Jr..LCB 20 Breon Ansley 56 165 Fr. TB 28 Oafteft&ttis 5-8 185 So. RCB 19 KempKnighten 6-0 200 Jr. FB.42; Joe Parmentier 5-11 256 Jr. SS 7 Dustin Avey 6-3 203 Fr. TE 89 DemferGibeon 64 260 Jr. FS 13 Kftfclfcdson 8-0 181 Sr. PK 45 Jamie Kohl 6-0 196 Jr. P 6 Carl Gomez 6-2 195 Fr. I in tough matchup I From Staff Reports Reality hits the Nebraska women’s basketball team tonight when the Huskers open up their season with Miami (Ohio) in the first round of the Women’s National Invitation Tournament. First-year NU Coach Paul Sanderford said despite having just 2 1/2 weeks to prepare for the game against the Red Hawks the Huskers will be prepared for the 8:35 p.m. game at the Bob Devaney Sports Center. *‘Our kids will be ready to play,” Sanderford said. “We will come out andbattle (Friday) night. My philosophy will be a little dif ferent. I won’t be quite as passive as I have been, I will be after it (Fridavi nieht and evervhodv else had better be . “It’s for real. We haven’t had enough time but it is .for real.” , One player who is looking for ward to Friday’s season opener is Husker senior Anna DeForge. After being limited in NU’s first exhibition game with an ankle injury, DeForge scored 26 points in the Huskers’ 82-67 loss to the Victoria All-Stars in an exhi bition contest/ “As a player you just want to start playing,” DeForge said. “You really don’t want to practice the whole month, you just want to play some games.” , But fellow NU senior Jami Kubik said opening the season still makes her nervous. “I think, we feel ready,” Kubik said. “We are kind of nervous a lit tle bit but we are playing for real. But because we are playing for real we are going to come out and you are going to see a lot better output then before.” A win against would most likely put Nebraska in a 6:05 p.m. game against No. 10 Alabama. The preseason WNIT consists of nine teams that were in the NCAA Tournament a year ago. Opening with a tough schedule might scare a first-year coach, but Sanderford said he wants to play good teams. Kubiksaid playing good teams early in the season will help the Huskers in the Big 12 Conference. Last year Nebraska had a perfect 10-0 mark in the nonconference portion of the season. 1 think it s going to be really greaf to see the level of competi tion,” Kubik said. “In the past our early games have been kind of eas ier games. It’s going to be great to see the level of competition that will impact us right away and later on in the season.” Last season, the Huskers, who lost four of their five final games, failed to qualify for the NCAA Tournament for the second con secutive season. DeForge said not getting an NCAA bid last year will give the Huskers some momentum in the WNIT. But also a strong showing could give NU national recognition. Nebraska is ranked No. 27 in The Associate Press preseason poll. “I think it is a pretty big signif icance for our program and our team,” DeForge said. “It is going to be a measuring stick to see how we can perform against teams that are in the tournament. Unfortunately, we didn’t make it last year but we could have done just as well as some teams in there.”