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Adam Klinker
' iackshirts
ready for
OSlPs test
Nebraska is back in the class
room Saturday with an interesting
lesson in Oklahoma State.
After opening the year with
some uncharacteristic “disappoint
ments,” the Comhuskers got back
on the bulldozing bandwagon with
a pummeling of Washington last
Saturday.
After all, what kind of team
goes gung ho over opponents like
the ones the Huskers faced in their
opening games?
It takes a bully like Washington
to come in and start pushing people
around before the school yard’s All
American nice guys get mad.
But the Huskers enroll in the
Big 12 this weekend with the equiv
alent of a psychology placement
test - an Oklahoma State team that
might get you nervous but has
never caused problems in the past.
After the lopsided fight in the
yard last week, the nice kids are all
studied up for this week’s exam.
Now it’s a question of sharpening
the No. 2 pencils and getting to
work.
That’s the way NU handles
opponents like Oklahoma State.
The focus is the same as it was
against Washington, it’s just chan
neled into a more low-key struggle
- the anxiety of a test.
Against Louisiana Tech,
Alabama-Birmingham and Calif
ornia, the Huskers passed, but not
to the ultimate satisfaction of their
teachers across the nation.
The Huskers may have been too
busy looking out the window where
teams like Washington, Texas,
Colorado and Kansas State were
waiting on the playground.
They hurried up and finished
the test and ran outside to play with
the bigger boys.
This week NU can put one of
those foes behind them and, as the
rest loom farther off, concentrate
on the exam at hand, fully gauging
its importance in their quest for
another national championship
degree.
With an ace against the
Cowboys, the Huskers can shoot to
the top of the class - showing they
can mix it up in a brawl and prove
their mettle in the classroom atmos
phere of the little games.
The atmosphere Saturday
should be conducive to a successful
performance in this examination.
In a different, more traditional
lecture hall Saturday, the natural
turf at Arrowhead Stadium, the
Huskers should have no problem
adjusting quickly to the surround
ings.
This is one test they’ve had
before.
School’s in session.
' . t
Adam Klinker is an English
and history major and a Daily
Nebraskan staff writer.
- ■ ——— asaMM—Eiigs._ ——l :»
MkeWarren/DN
RUSH END CHAD KELSAY fights through a Husky offensive lineman in Nebraska’s 55-7 win over Washington. Kelsay faces an offense of a different kind
Saturday in the option attack of Oklahoma State.
NU to battle Cowboys’
By David Wilson
Senior staff writer
■ Oklahoma State’s
Tony Lindsay leads a
rushing attack that ranks
20th in the nation at 236. 3
yards per contest.
An athletic quarterback, an expe
rienced offensive line and an offense
that likes to run.
Welcome to the Big 12
Conference season.
Second-ranked Nebraska (4-0)
opens up its league schedule Saturday
against Oklahoma State (2-1) in a
matchup that pits two running offens
es at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas
City, Mo., at 6:07 p.m.
Though they have yet to face a
ground-attack offense this season,
NU is no stranger to the option play
the Cowboys have incorporated more
of this season.
“The option is becoming very big
in everyone’s thinking,” Nebraska
Coach Frank Solich said.
“Certainly, we were not the only
option team out there. And when you
start putting together your package, if
you decide you want to really have a
fair number of options in your attack,
you’re going to look somewhat like
us.
“It’s not a matter of necessarily
stealing, but on the other side of it, if
I was going to be strictly a passing
team, I’d look at the great passing
teams around the country. I’d see
what they were doing and certainly
take things from those teams. That’s
just the way football is.** ^
Oklahoma State’s attack is led by
I--—
vs.
_ffMiSimiirt
sophomore quarterback Tony
Lindsay, the Big 12 Conference’s
freshman of the year last season.
The 6-foot-2, 190-pounder has
rushed for 171 yards in three games
and poses the first real scrambling
threat the Huskers have seen this year
in game situations.
“He can run, he can pass, he
can scramble, NU semor defen
sive tackle Jason Wiltz said. “We
have to keep him contained.”
Solich agreed.
“He is excellent,” Solich
said. “He will cause anybody’s
defense problems. When he
turns it up the field, he does it
with a burst. They have a bal
anced offense, and he’s the key
to it.”
Nebraska has allowed an
average of 60.5 yards on the
ground per game this season,
which ranks fourth nationally.
In the last four seasons, the
Huskers haven’t had a rushing
defense that ranked lower than
fifth nationally.
Going up against one of the
top option teams every day in
practice might have something
to do with that.
And it could also help NU
against the option Saturday.
“Ever since I came here,
you go against that kind of
quarterback,” NU senior rush
end Chad Kelsay said. “1 think
that helps us a little bit because
we go against that stuff in prac
tice everyday. But that kind of quar
terback is still dangerous.”
Lindsay will be joined by tail
backs Nathan Simmons and Jamaal
Fobbs, who, with Lindsay, have com
bined to run for more than 87 percent
of the Cowboys’ yards on the ground.
Their 236.3 yards rushing per
game ranks 15th nationally - behind
Nebraska’s 303.3 yards, which ranks
second.
“I see a team that is similar to us
in a lot of ways,” Solich said. “They
run a power offense. They run an
option offense. They run play-action
passes. They’re a team that when you
look at them personnel-wise, I think
is very good.
“They have a quarterback that is
probably as mobile as we’ve faced up
to this point, and maybe as mobile as
anybody we’ve faced all year.”
That doesn’t worry Kelsay.
“We played against guys like
this,” Kelsay said. “There’s a lot of
guys that can get out and run around.
It puts a lot more pressure on our
front four making sure we keep him
contained and don’t let him get out of
the pocket and run around.”
Football Starters
IMraska Starters
Hnn
Pot. No. Name HL Wt
QB 12 Bobby Neweombe 6*0 195
IB 4 DeAngelo Evans 5-9 210
m 45 mimm* 5*11240
WB 5 Shevin Wiggins 5*11 200
TE 88 SheSon Jackson 6-4
LT 1159 AaamJbteh gmr*** 315
LG 63 James Sherman 6-2 295
C 58 JoshHestew .53
RG 72 Ben Gessford' 6-2 290
AT 65 ;:.r' 5*1 ".5300
PK 35 Kris Brown 5-10 205
uuanuma at Manors
Pot. No. Name Ht Wt Pot. No. Name Ht Wt
m m :Wrn*m*m • 5-11 too - oe & *&***&> *z m
LT 75 David Camacho 6-7 300 DT 92 Cortney Maiiory 6-1 290
us i 78 AdemDavie ^ toowmmmmM m
C 70 Jeremy Offutt 6-5 295 DE 66 Taber LeBlanc 64 260
as i9. w&mmmmmm mmmm mm
FIT 73 JoshLind 66 279 MLB 7 Kenyatta Wright 6-1 235
at ed serrat stegge «mmmmmm. mmammmmmmm m, m m mm
WR.4 Sean Love 54 180 LCB 25 J.B. Flower* 64 186
OB UMany Umfeay 64 190 MMMI
FB 48 Jeremy Halferty 64 225 FS 9
m. m mmmmmm -1 mmmmm a mam
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