Sports
Friday, October 1,1999_ Page 9
Matt Miller/DN
LED, IN PART, BY ITS STRONG SECONDARY, the Nebraska Blackshirts may end up in a defensive battle with Oklahoma State on Saturday, NU Coach Frank Solich said.
NU looks for defensive battle
By Samuel McKewon
Senior staff writer
Although the Nebraska offense
finally seems to be running smoother,
the path to the end zone just keeps get
ting rougher.
The Cornhuskers, fresh off their
finest offensive game of the year in a
40-10 win at Missouri, get another
fierce defensive test in their 11:30 a.m.
game Saturday against Oklahoma State
in Memorial Stadium.
After facing Southern Mississippi
and California, two other stodgy defen
sive teams, and succeeding with vary
ing results, NU (4-0 overall and 1-0 in
the Big 12 Conference) hopes that the
offense is prepared for what could be a
defensive struggle against the
Cowboys.
Nebraska Head Coach Frank
Solich, for one, is preparing for a game
like last season’s nail-biter, when the
Huskers escaped with a 24-17 victory,
and OSU ended the game failing to
score from the NU 1-yard line.
“Last year’s game came down to the
last play,” Solich said. “So we are build
ing with that in mind - that it will be that
type of game again. Breaks here or there
will play a major part in what happens.”
So will the two defenses. Among the
best in the country, both units will fig
ure heavily in the outcome as the offens
es are struggling to Fmd a rhythm.
However, Nebraska’s win over
Missouri seemed to signal the Huskers
might be finding a way out of their dol
drums. With 476 total yards, 40 points
and 333 rushing yards, Nebraska used a
more balanced attack against the Tigers
- and it paid dividends.
NU quarterback Eric Crouch, who
rushed for one touchdown and threw for
two more, saw the results immediately:
The Huskers passed more and ran more
options, as opposed to establishing an
inside running game that seemed to be
going nowhere fast.
“With this offense, there’s a lot of
things that we can throw at defense to
try to throw them off,” Crouch said.
“The last week we had, we tried to do
those things and they worked. We
showed we can execute the offense.
There’s not a lot of things I think the
defense can throw at us to stop us. The
only thing that can stop us is ourselves.”
That’s not to say the offense isn’t
Please see DEFENSE on 11
Football Gome Review «££* 8
Mntti Missouri
Rushing Rushing
No. Name Yds Avg TD No. Name Yds Avg TD
7 Eric Crouch 92 6.1 1 2 Z. Gilmore 21 2.6 0
Receiving Receiving
No. Name No Yds TD No. Name No Yds TD
12 B. Newcombe 2 55 1 6 K. Wise 2 16 0
Pissing Pissing
No. Name Att Cmp Int Yds TD No. Name Att Cmp Int Yds TD
Game Stats nmm m aamn m
Rushing attempts 58 32 Interceptions 1 1
Passing attempts 17 27 Punt returns / yards 6/41 2/19
ammmmtmmsmmmmmmminmiimmmmmmmmmmm
Passing yards 143 149 Time of possession 32:49 27:11
Total yards 476 174 Fourth-down conversion 0 of 1 Oof 2
Matt Haney/DN
Evans granted release,
sends one copy to UNI
By Joshua Camenzind
Staff writer
Former Nebraska I-back
DeAngelo Evans has evidently begun
his quest to find a new place to run the
football.
Both University of Northern Iowa
and University of Nebraska officials
confirmed Evans received an uncondi
tional release from NU. Evans quit the
Cornhusker squad following the
California game Sept. 11.
A1 Papik, senior associate athletic
director emeritus at NU, said the uni
versity gave Evans several copies of a
blanket scholarship release. The
release allows Evans to send the copies
to any school he wants to attend.
u—
I don’t know why
you keep calling
our house”
Earnestine Evans
former NU I-back’s mother
Papik said without the release,
NCAA rules prohibited any school
from contacting Evans about transfer
ring.
Sandra Williamson, Northern
Iowa’s associate athletic director in
Please see EVANS on 11
NU, A&M share respect
No ‘bad blood’ in title game rematch
By Brock Wendlandt
Staff writer
The battle between perennial Big
12 soccer powers Nebraska and
Texas A&M has been the confer
ence's fiercest in its 3-year history.
On the field, the teams have
shared animosity. Physical play has
resulted in several altercations, and
yellow cards have become common
place.
Although the series' eight-game
history has carried tremendous
weight in determining Big 12 regular
season and tournament superiority,
both head coaches said the programs
share a mutual respect.
•x
They see today’s 7 p.m. contest in
College Station, Texas, between
No.4 NU and No. 8 A&M as a quali
ty matchup
where the past
will be put
behind.
“Against
some of the
teams we’ve
played, there
may have been
some bad
Walker
blood,” said
Aggies Head
Coach G. Guerreri, “but that isn’t the
case with Nebraska.
“I know our players respect
Nebraska and look forward to play
ing them because they are a good
team.”
NU Head Coach John Walker
agreed the Comhuskers (8-1-1 over
all and 2-0 in the Big 12) are looking
forward to the contest, but added that
the game isn’t the only one that NU —
and A&M mark on the schedule.
“Both teams are at the stage
where they play several highly
ranked teams in die nation,” Walker
said. “We don’t need to look at this
game as a rivalry in that sense.”
Rivalries aside, Walker said
A&M has many characteristics that
have made it an excellent program
and will come into play tonight.
Please see POWERS on 11
