Page 10 __Friday, December 11,1998
A Painful Season
Injuries force Huskers to scramble in trying 9-3 campaign
By Shannon Heffelfinger
Senior staff writer
For Eric Crouch, 1998 will never
stand for the first season since 1977 that
the Nebraska football team lost three
games.
The Comhuskers’ first-year quar
terback won't think of the death of NU’s
40-game, regular-season conference
winning streak. He won’t dwell on the
often lackluster offensive production.
He won’t allow himself to wonder what
might have been if nine starters hadn’t
missed a combined 45 games.
For Crouch. 1998 will stand only for
the season in which the football chal
lenges were outnumbered only by the
personal ones. And the only thing he
wants to remember are the lessons
ieamed by a young team that faced as
much adversity as any other Nebraska
team in recent memory.
“If I had to rate my experience as the
quarterback this season on a scale of one
to 10, I'd rate it a 10," Crouch said. “This
has been a big year for me and the team.
I've learned more than I ev er expected
to about football and about myself.
“The things we have had to go
through this year have been tough, and
it's been different because most
Nebraska teams haven't had to deal with
that. We played close games week in and
week out, and I know we re better play
ers for it. We’ve lost some big games
and things haven’t always turned out the
way we wanted them to, but tilings like
that build character.”
Several unusual events tested the 9
3 Huskers’ character during NU Coach
Frank Solich's first season. Texas A&M
ended NU’s 40-game regular-season
conference winning streak Oct. 10 in
College Station, Texas. Three weeks
later, Nebraska dropped its first game at
home in 48 contests and eight years.
NU nearly rebounded against then
LINEBACKER JULIUS JACKSON lies on the ground after he was injured during the Texas A&M game. Injuries to nine starters for a combined 45 games hurt
the Huskers in 1998.
No. 1 Nansas State on Nov. 14, but lost
its third game of the season 40-30 in
Manhattan. Kan.
Three losses didn't provide the only
character-building tests for the Huskers.
Missouri, Oklahoma State and
Colorado played NU down to the wire.
Nebraska defeated Colorado 16-14
without an offensive touchdown, pre
venting the end of a 30-year, nine-win
streak.
Crouch said the Huskers’ lack of
offensive production hurt them in close
games, and Solich agreed.
“We did not execute well on
offense,” Solich said. “We had too many
m ✓
breakdowns. On big-play opportunities,
we just did not convert.”
Injures to key players slowed the
offense, which averaged only 253.8
yards per contest - Nebraska’s lowest
total since 1976.
A new offensive line, knee and tail
bone injuries to preseason No. 1 I-back
DeAngelo Evans and a knee injury that
caused preseason No. 1 quarterback
Bobby Newcombe to play less than full
speed or not at all after the season open
er hindered Nebraska’s rushing attack.
NU ranks seventh nationally in
rushing and finished without a 1,000
yard rusher for only the third time since
1969.
Injuries to I-back Dan Alexander
and receivers Kenny Cheatham, Lance
Brown and Frankie London also slowed
Nebraska’s offense.
But despite the Huskers’ struggles,
senior tight end Sheldon Jackson said
the 1998 season has not been disap
pointing for him.
“I’ve had a blast,” Jackson said.
“This is the first time we’ve been able to
play because its fun, not because we’re
chasing the national title or the confer
ence championship. There’s been less
pressure. We haven’t had all of that other
stuff in the back of our minds.”
For just the second time in slx years,
the Huskers will play in a bowl game
that doesn’t hold national championship
implications when they travel to San
Diego for the Culhgan Holiday Bowl on
Dec 30. But after a trying season,
Jackson and Crouch both said the
Huskers will not lack motivation.
“We have to finish it up,” Crouch
said. “We can’t look past this. That’s
always sitting in the back of your mind,
telling you it was a down year. Yeah, we
were 9-3, but it could have turned out a
lot differently. We will work hard in the
bowl game and in the spring to make
sure it doesn’t happen again.”
Drown promises no playing around next year
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By David Wilson
Senior staff writer
Ralph Brown’s eyes light up when he talks
about his senior season. Of course, that won’t
come until next year.
Don’t get the Nebraska comerback wrong -
the first thing on his mmd is sending this year’s 21
seniors out with a 10-win season.
But he can't help but smile when thinking
about the Comhusker defense, which will return
eight starters next season.
“I’m going to be yelling at people,” Brown
said. “When I’m a senior, I don’t want to go out a
loser. It’s going to be a different Ralph Brown
next year. I’m not going to let things slide. It’s
going to be all seriousness out there in practice.
No playing around. We’re here to win.”
The Huskers, who will enter the Holiday
Bowl on Dec. 30 with a 9-3 record, should return
a total of 13 starters next season - not to mention
many non-starters that have seen significant play
ing time.
Nebraska’s first three-loss season since 1992,
Brown said, will serve as motivation in the fall.
“My freshman year, when we lost to Arizona
State and then to Texas in the Big 12
Championship, it gave us the motivation to come
back that next year and win it all,” Brown said of
the 1996 season. “Me being a senior, I think we’re
going to get on everybody going into next year to
make sure everyone practices hard and make sure
our focus is better, so we won’t make the same
mistakes that we did this year.”
Redshirt freshman Eric Crouch, who saw
action at quarterback in eight games this season,
also expects bigger and better things from
Nebraska next season.
Matt Miller/DN
NU HEAD FOOTBALL COACH FRANK SOUCH leads the Huskers on the field before the Texas A&M
game in College Station, Texas, earlier this season. NU looks for more success next season.
The Husker offense will return five starters,
losing two starting offensive lineman, two start
ing receivers, a tight end and a fullback.
“The guys that are going to be coming back
are definitely going to be great players,” Crouch
said. “They’re going to work hard knowing that
we can be a great team. We are a great team now,
but we can be the best.”
The offensive line, Crouch said, which
entered this season without much experience,
will also likely be much improved.
The Huskers averaged 4.8 yards per carry this
season, down from 6.2 in 1997.
“They were definitely a young group of guys
that didn’t have much experience coming into this
year,” Crouch said. “But when I talk about them
today, they have a lot of experience under their
belts. Overall, they’ve really come along.”
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teams, where NU loses senior kicker Kris Brown
and senior punter Bill Lafleur. Both set NU kick
ing records.
Looking to fill their shoes are Josh Brown,
who will be a redshirt freshman next season, and
Dan Hadenfeldt, who currently backs up both
Kris Brown and Lafleur.
Nebraska Kickers Coach Dan Young said
Josh Brown will have a shot at challenging for a
starting spot at both kicking positions.
“He’s got a very strong leg,” Young said. “He’s
a very talented athlete. As a kicker, coming in, he
probably tested as well as any kicker as we’ve
had. We’re going to give him an opportunity to
show what he can do.”
Josh Brown, a Foyil, Okla., native, redshirted
this season and learned under Kris Brown, Young
said.
“I think it’s good for him to get his feet on the
ground and go through a year and go through
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challenge is ahead of him.”
The defense, Ralph Brown said, also knows
what challenges lie ahead.
Though it will be tough losing senior rush
ends Chad Kelsay and Mike Rucker, along with
linebacker Jay Foreman, Brown said, he is confi
dent with the younger players who play behind
them.
“I don’t think it’s going to hurt us at all,”
Brown said. “The seniors that we lose, their back
ups have been playing for a couple of years
already - so they already have the experience to
go out there and do the job.
“When we came to play, we showed everyone
that we could be the best defense in the country.”
And that’s exactly what Brown is expecting
next year.
