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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 5, 1998)
Rainy weather slows Aggies, Longhorns Weekend brings cold conditions, muddy fields By Jay Saunders Staff writer There is an old saying that if you don’t like the weather in Nebraska, wait 10 minutes and it will change. Unfortunately for the Texas A&M and Texas soccer teams, the change wasn’t for the better. After a week of sunny skies and warm temperatures, the skies opened up and the temperatures dropped. The rainy and cold condi tions made the Abbott Sports Complex field into a sloppy mess for this weekend’s games. “It always sucks to play on a sloppy field,” A&M forward Nicky Thrasher said. “It is no fun to have to deal with the cold and the rain.” The No. 12 Aggies (5-4 overall and 0-1 in the Big 12 Conference) might not want to come back to Nebraska after dropping Friday’s game 2-0 to the Huskers. Combined with the weather, A&M was only able to get two shots on goal against Nebraska goalie Karina LeBlanc. Thrasher had both shots on goal, and A&M had only six shots total. On the flip side, the Huskers’ offensive attack found success tt They were allowed to run all over us, and they did. Teams that work hard get lucky sometimes .” G. Guerreri Texas A&M coach against the A&M defense. NU rattled off 11 shots on Aggie goalie Melanie Wilson. “They were allowed to run all over us and they did,” Texas A&M coach G. Guerreri said. “Teams that work hard get lucky some times.” Texas (3-5 and 1-1) had to over come similar weather conditions Friday in a 4-0 win over Iowa State. The Longhorns’ game against Nebraska was also affected by Mother Nature. A fierce wind affected both teams on offense. With Nebraska leading 2-1 in the second half, UT had to go up against more than just Nebraska and the wind. The cloudy skies gave through to a rainstorm for the last 15 min utes of the game. “The weather probably hin dered both teams,” Texas Coach Dang Pibulvech said. “But we came out flat in the second half, and you can’t do that against a potent attacking team like Nebraska.” NU was also able to get 11 shots on goal against Texas. But the Longhorns didn’t buckle under the pressure. Texas forward Katie Karuth had a shot go just wide of the post with two minutes left in t! e game. “Everyone battled until the end,” Karuth said. “Nebraska just pushed ahead and got that extra goal.” The weather is supposed to change for the better again this week, but Guerreri said his team shouldn’t look toward the condi tions for an excuse. “(The weather) was not good,” Guerreri said, “but that is all sec ondary because (Nebraska) did a ‘Fire and emotion’ don’t stop NTJ HUSKERS from page 8 locker room tied with OSU at three. NU hadn’t been held to three or fewer points in the first half since being shut out by Arizona State in 1996. “They came out and played with a lot of fire and emotion,” Newcombe said. “They maintained that throughout the whole game. They kept on fighting and kept on fighting.” Nebraska’s offense came alive in the second half, scoring the game’s first two touchdowns in its first two possessions. Both drives were sparked by Sheldon Jackson receptions, one for 40 yards and one good for 30. But that would be all NU could muster until Walker’s punt return. The Huskers’ rushing attack was slowed by the Cowboy defense, but NU also hurt itself with two fumbles in the fourth quarter - both of which were recovered by Nebraska. Newcombe fumbled one pitch out of bounds on a third-and- three play and then fumbled again on a third-and-six to end the Huskers’ next possession. “When you run the option as much as we do, you’re going to have problems with the pitch,” Newcombe said. “It’s just something we’re going to have to correct before we go down to Texas A&M next week.” Despite the fumbles, Solich said he was more than satisfied with Newcombe’s performance. The sopho more finished with 22 yards on 13 car ries, while completing 9 of 15 passes for 112 yards. “I thought he played extremely well,” Solich said. “He made big plays when he had to.” Solich also said Newcombe had not regained all his speed after suffering a knee injury in NU’s season opener against Louisiana Tech. Also hampered by injury was Husker starting I-back DeAngelo Evans, who took the majority of Newcombe’s handoffs. Evans, who returned from a knee injury against Washington last week, was slowed by a sore foot following a 146-yard performance against the Huskies. The 5-foot-9, 210-pound sophomore also bruised his tailbone on the first play of Saturday’s game. Choatic last play costs Cowboys chance to tie OSU from page 9 Simmons, didn’t hear the play called. He ran onto the field late and lined up wrong. “We lost about three or four sec onds on that,” Lindsay said. “Plus, the play was just late getting called. We wanted to try and catch Nebraska off-balance, and we couldn’t do it.” The Cowboys used the unbal anced “craw” formation effectively throughout the game, rushing for 203 yards on 55 attempts. Nathan Simmons’ 114 yards marked the first time a player rushed for more than 100 yards against NU since Virginia Tech’s Ken Oxendine rushed for 150 yards in the 1996 Orange Bowl. But Bob Simmons couldn’t hide his disappointment over the final play. “When the game is on the line, you have to have a play called,” he said. “And when the ball is on the 1 inch line, you have to get it in the end zone. We failed to do that, so we came up short.” It was one of the few times OSU fell short. The Cowboys rendered Nebraska’s offense nonexistent in the first half. The Huskers rushed for four yards and never crossed OSU’s 25-yard line in the first half. Oklahoma State stuffed NU’s He finished with 15 carries for 41 yards - an average of 2.7 yards per carry - well below his career average of 5.5. “Offensively, we just didn’t get things done,” Evans said. “I take a big part of that. I didn’t do what I needed to do for this football team. “I wasn’t finding the creases like I usually would. I didn’t play well. It was just one of those days. I was a little banged up - you can blame it on that, but I just didn’t play well.” Turning Point g^ Eric Johnson’s roughing the passer penalty negated a Nebraska interception and a likely NU touchdown. Oklahoma State scored on the drive to make the score 17-10. The play helped turn what could have been an easy Comhusker victory into a nail-biting finish. fullback trap - Joel Makovicka rushed for 9 yards on six carries - and limited Husker I-back DeAngelo Evans to 2.7 yards per carry. The Cowboys, on the other hand, moved the ball well against the Blackshirts. Nathan Simmons had 59 yards alone in the first quar ter. “You have to give credit to the offensive line,” said OSU tailback Jamaal Fobbs, who rushed for 55 yards on 12 carries. “It’s great to see your guys out in front of you. We just came up short in the end.” But, Comacho said, the Cowboys have to forget about their so-called “moral victory” over Nebraska and concentrate on win ning the Big 12 South Division. OSU plays undefeated Texas Tech next week and third-ranked Kansas State the following Saturday. “It hurts,” Comacho said of the loss. “It hurts a lot. But we made a statement to the nation that we can play, and we’re going to show that again next week and the week after.” In all, the Huskers managed just 73 yards on the ground, their lowest output in the 1990s. “They shut us down inside almost completely,” Solich said. “We really didn’t get any big plays out of the run ning attack, which was somewhat both ersome.” Evans also was bothered by the Huskers’ performance Saturday. “You can’t make excuses,” Evans said. “We were just lucky to survive.” \ \ NU holds on to No. 2 in both national polls From Staff Reports — After surviving a scare from Oklahoma State Saturday, the Nebraska football team retained its No. 2 ranking in both Associated Press and USA Today/Coaches Polls Sunday. The Comhuskers (5-0 overall and 1-0 in the Big 12 Conference) received one first-place vote in the AP Poll, and received 1,640 points overall after a 24-17 victory over OSU. Ohio State, which defeated then-No. 7 Penn State 28-9 Saturday, remained No. 1 with 66 first-place votes and 1,746 points overall. UCLA was third in the polls, fol lowed by Tennessee and Kansas State to round out the top five. Florida moved up to sixth, while Georgia entered the top 10 on the strength of a 28-27 win over LSU, which dropped from sixth to 11th. Florida State, Virginia and Arizona round out the top 10. In the Coaches’ Poll, Nebraska has six first-place votes, while Ohio State has 45. UCLA is again third, but Kansas State is fourth, while Tennessee is fifth. The only change in No. 6-10 in the Coaches’ Poll is Wisconsin, which clocks in at 10th. Other Big 12 teams in the Top 25 are Colorado, 14th in both polls, Texas A&M, 18th in both polls, and Missouri, 21st in both polls. 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