• - ?■ g ' ■ • | m
Brower no stranger to a tough schedule
By Darren Ivy
Senior staff writer ^
Whether it was as a quarterback, a student
or a coach, Southern Mississippi Coach Jeff
Bower has always wanted to get to the next
level.
From the time Bower became a head coach
in 1990, he had his team playing tough sched
ules with the hopes that they would raise the
level of the Southern Miss football program.
Saturday’s game with No. 4 Nebraska is just
the first of two tough opponents in the next two
weeks. After playing the Cornhuskers, the
Golden Eagles must travel to College Station,
Texas, to take on No. 7 Texas A&M.
“I have said this many times, but if we are
ever going to be where we want to be, we have
to play a difficult schedule,” said Bower, who
has amassed a 52-40-1 in his nine seasons as
head coach. “I think our conference has made a
lot of improvements.
“Then you go out of conference and play the
teams that we are playing, it gives you an oppor
tunity to play against teams with a national rep
utation.”
NU and A&M are just two of many top pro
grams that Southern Miss has faced in the past
nine se^s.ons.\[he impressive list of foes
includes Auburn, Alabama, Penn State,
Pittsburgh, Virginia Tech, Georgia and Florida.
So Bower isn’t too worried about how his
players will react to playing in front of a sellout
crowd at Memdrial Stadium.
“I thihk it helps having played games in
similar/environments against very good foot
ball t^ams,” said Bower, who started at quarter
back for the Golden Eagles from 1972 to ’75. “I
am confident. That always helps when you go
into a game feeling good about what you have
done and where you are.
“I know we’ve got to do better and our play
ers do, too. We made too many mistakes the
other night; we were very inconsistent.”
Inconsistency won’t get it done against the
Huskers’ defense, Bower said.
“They’ve only given up one touchdown in
two games,” Bower said. “They’ve been stingy
on defense.”
But Southern Miss has an offensive play
book that would make Bobby Bowden smile.
Often, players won’t even line up in the forma
tion until right before the ball is snapped.
And these offensive players aren’t slouches,
either.
Wide receiver Sherrod Gideon was a pre
season All-American. Gideon gained more than
1,000 yards receiving each of the past two sea
sons and is the Southern Miss career reception
leader. He was suspended from last week’s
game for breaking a team rule, but he will play
against NU.
In the same group of receivers is Todd
Pinkston, who is second in career receptions.
Last week against Northwestern State, Pinkston
caught five passes for 126 yards and earned
team-player-of-the-week honors.
“Guys who make big plays for you like
Gideon and Pinkston need to make big plays
every game,” Bower said. “Nebraska is no dif
ferent.”
Picks fremJ
the hicks
The Daily Nebraskan sports staff members
pick the winners (in bold) of 10 college
football games this weekend.
Penn State at Miami
Kansas at Colorado
Oklahoma State at Mississippi
Tennessee at Florida
Auburn at Louisiana State
North Carolina State at Florida State
Michigan State at Notre Dame
Rice at Texas
Michigan at Syracuse
Kentucky at Indiana
S. Mississippi 10 at
NU looks to set tone at tourney
Sean Callahan
Staff writer
With the returning nucleus of
eight starters, Nebraska Head
Softball Coach Ronda Revelle has a
I solid building
block for the
Cornhuskers to
start their quest
for a trip to the
College World
Series this spring.
The Huskers
will begin their
fall season at the
Dpvpllo ^icigmon ran
Keveiie s o f t b a l l
Tournament in Omaha on Saturday
and Sunday. The tournament features
many top local teams including
Creighton, Nebraska-Omaha,
Nebraska-Kearney, and Augustana,
S.D.
Revelle said if the Huskers play to
their potential, they will have a suc
cessful weekend.
“We expect to go out and really
assert ourselves this weekend,”
Revelle said.
This weekend Revelle will look to
three seniors - second basemen
Jennifer Vizama, pitcher Jenny Voss
and center fielder Jennifer Williams -
to lead NU.
During the fall season, Nebraska
will play in two tournaments. The
other will be in Seattle from Oct. 1 to
3. All together the Huskers will play
12 scheduled games in the fall, but
with the inner-squad scrimmages,
Revelle said NU will play around 20
games.
Revelle said the fall season is a
good way to see what the team needs
to work on. It also helps that the new
players know what to expect for the
spring season.
“We always use the fall to really
get our system firmly planted and
catapult us into our winter condition
ing and individual work,” Revelle
said.
The Huskers will play their first
game at 11 a.m. at the Dill Field
Softball Complex against Hastings.
They will play two more games on
Saturday at 3 p.m. against Nebraska
Kearney and 5 p.m. against St. Cloud
State.
On Sunday, NU plays at 1 p.m.
against Augustana and 3 p.m. against
Iowa Western. The winners of each
pool will play at 7 p.m. for the cham
pionship.
Cross country teams play host to invite
From staff reports
The Nebraska men’s and women’s
cross country teams will play host to
the Woody Greeno/Nebraska
Invitational Saturday — their only
home meet of the season - at Pioneers
Park.
Eight NU runners will see action
for the first time this season in a meet
that will give Coach Jay Dirksen a
chance to see what his squad is capa
ble of.
“I really don’t know what to expect
out of our team,” Dirksen said. “It’s
really hard to tell. There’s nothing to
compare it to.” :
In the invite’s 10th year, the ;
Cornhusker women’s team will
attempt to record their 10th consecu- :
tive title. The women will begin at 10 '
a.m., while the men will run at 10:45.
The meet will mark the first of the ;
season for many NU runners includ
ing, Michelle Brooks, Mirjana i
Glisovich, Amie Finkner, Melinda ]
Oliver and Jamie Pauli.
The Husker men will be looking to <
capture their sixth invite title, but will
have to outrun Texas, who won the i
meet last year. i
Huskers to begin season at No. 19
From staff reports
Along with nearly 100 percent o
its scoring, rebounding, and defens<
from a year ago, the Nebraski
women’s basketball team will retun
its stature as a top-25 team.
The Cornhuskers were ranked ii
the top-25 for a stretch in the middlt
of last season, but fell out of the rank
ings after a 21-12 season in whicl
they captured their second straigh
NCAA Tournament berth. NU eamec
a No. 19 national ranking in th<
Women’s Basketball News Servic<
1999-2000 Preseason Top 25.
Guard Nicole Kubik was name<
to the 10-player first-team All
America squad released by the maga
zineonSept. 15.
The senior from Cambridge, Neb.
|—-;
was the magazine’s National
Defensive Player of the Year in 1998
P 99 after breaking her own school
record with 310 career steals and
leading the nation with 136 steals.
1 Kubik is also the top returning Big 12
Conference scorer after averaging
19.8 points per game las season.
Nebraska will also return senior
guard Brook Schwartz, NU’s top
rebounder last season (5.9 per game)
| who earned third-team All-Big 12
. honors. Also returning to the starting
lineup are Charlie Rogers and
' Naciska Gilmore.
Two other Big 12 teams earned
spots in the poll - No. 7 Iowa State
and No. 13 Texas Tech. Connecticut
topped the list, followed by No. 2
UCLA, No. 3 and defending national
champion Tennessee, No. 4 Louisiana
’ Tech and No. 5 Rutgers.
---1
Highway Work Zone Safety '
-
-■ -------- - —
_____ No Margin for Error[ |
Marcus Witter, Aaron Carrizales
ind Jed Barta will all see their first
iction of the season this weekend.
“We’re anxious to get out there and
;ee where we’re at,” Dirksen said.
‘This should be a real fine meet. It’s
ust what we need for this time of the
/ear.”
Following Saturday’s competition,
he Huskers will travel to
Minneapolis, Minn., for the Roy Griak
nvitational at the Les Bolstad Golf
bourse.
The meet will play host to 210
earns and over 2,000 runners in six
■aces.
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Nebraska optimistic after
disappointing campaign
-——.
By Jason Merrihew
Staff writer
Coming off a disappointing
spring season, the Nebraska
women’s tennis team is ready to
redeem itself.
Last year, the Cornhuskers fin
ished ninth in the Big 12 and 75th in
the country.
But Head Coach Scott Jacobson
expects a better showing this year.
“Our goal is to finish in the upper
half of the conference and the top 50
in the nation,” Jacobson said.
The Husker goal is “challenging,
but attainable,” he said.
Nebraska will be very experi
enced, returning everyone from last
year. NU will be led by senior Sandra
Noetzel, who finished the spring sea
son with the highest ranking in
school history; 75th.
Katarina Balan will compete as
Nebraska’s No. 2 player.
“She had a very successful sea
son last year,” Jacobson said.
“Katarina has beaten girls (ranked)
as high as 66th in the nation.”
The two Huskers will compete in
a national clay court tournament in
Baltimore next week.
While Balan is in the pre-qualifi
cation group, Noetzel is in the main
draw. The main draw consists of the
top 24 players returning from last
year.
Jacobson said he will use this fall
to prepare his team for the spring
season. Three freshmen will battle
for positions during the fall season.
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