Sports
Tuesday, October 5,1999 _ Page 9
McCamey
hopes ISU
stays with
Nebraska
By Joshua Camenzind
Staff writer
Iowa State Coach Dan McCamey
said he knows how tough it is to win at
Nebraska.
His Cyclones have lost to the
Huskers by a combined score of 150-28
in the teams’ past two meetings in
Lincoln. Both games have been over by
the second quarter, and McCamey said
that is embarrassing to his program and
players.
“It hasten a complete mismatch
and domination by Nebraska over us,”
McCamey said. “Our last two trips over
there have been complete misery for
this football team.”
The previous four meetings of the
two teams has NU holding a 241-49
scoring edge.
But this year could be different.
Iowa State is 3-1, with its only loss
coming to ninth-ranked Kansas State.
The Cyclones led the Wildcats 28-7 at
halftime but ended up losing 35-28.
: ISU has not opened the season 3-1
since 1986. The start has people in
Ames, Iowa, excited about their
chances^inLincoto mi^tur^'ni^t^
teams in the country that would like to
have that record,” McCamey said. “We
have done a lot of good things in the
first month of the season, and we are
definitely improved over the last four
years.”
But McCamey said that he guards
against such excitement, mostly
because of NU’s defense.
“Nebraska is deep, talented and
physical - all the great things you look
for in a great defense,” McCamey said
He is worried about how his offense
will be able to move the ball.
“We have to be able to try and run
the football,” McCamey said “I don’t
know if we can have any success, but
we have to try. Because our forte is not
lighting up the scoreboard throwing the
football.”
Running the football against the
Huskers will be difficult, McCamey
said NU has held opponents to just 67
yards per game on the ground
But McCamey said his team has a
chance to match up better in the trench
es than they have in thepsSst.
ISU brings the No. 1 running attack
in the nation to Lincoln at 328 yards per
game. Running back Darren Davis is
the nation’s top rusher, averaging 176.5
yards per game.
Davis and ISU have faced a physi
cal defense like NU’s before in Kansas
State. The Cyclones dominated the
Wildcats in the first half, outgaining
them 332-102 in total yardage. ISU
managed only 74 total yards in the sec
ond half.
“Kansas State and Nebraska are
two of the best defenses in all of college
football,” McCamey said. “And we are
going to face them back-to-back.”
McCamey said he knows it is going
to take a total effort to stay close to the
Huskers.
“Last time I checked, there were no
two-quarter football games,”
McCamey said. “They are all played
four quarters, and until we start learning
how to do that, we are going to have
trouble having success.”
As concerned as McCarney is
Please see MAC on 11
Wistrom scores big for NU
■ The sophomore tight
end leads the Huskers in
receiving touchdowns
through five games.
By Samuel McKewon
Senior staff writer
Tracey Wistrom had a hunch that
last Saturday might be a good day to
be a Nebraska tight end.
The sophomore remembered last
season’s game against Oklahoma
State, when the Cornhuskers were
able to take advantage of the
Cowboys’ speed-oriented defense
with long option passes to tight end
Sheldon Jackson. And the sopho
more knew NU was still in the
process of diversifying the offense.
Wistrom’s hunch proved to be
accurate Saturday, as he had a career
high four catches and 116 yards to go
along with a touchdown in
Nebraska’s 38-14 victory over OSU.
“I was talking to the coaches, and
I told Jhem that it seems like when it
rains, it pours,” a laughing Wistrom
said afterward. “I either do nothing
or have really big game.”
It certainly wasn’t nothing.
Wistrom was involved from the
Huskers’ first play of the game, when
he made a catch near the sidelines for
a 17-yard gain. Later in the first
quarter, Wistrom was the beneficiary
of an attacking Cowboy defense as
he broke open down field.
^ Ffom the OStJ 49-yard line,
quarterback Eric Crouch used a play
fake to freeze the Oklahoma State
secondary, then found Wistrom for a
47-yard completion in the middle of
the field. Wistrom was finally hauled
down at the 2, and I-back Correll
Buckhalter scored on the next play to
give NU a 14-0 lead.
The long pass, Wistrom said, was
Lane Hickenbottom/DN
NEBRASKA TIGHT END Tracey Wistrom brings in a second-quarter touchdown for the Huskers on Saturday
against Oklahoma State. Wistrom recorded four catches for 116 yards in NU’s win over the Cowboys.
similar to the play that the Huskers
used against the Cowboys last year.
Jaekson had grabs of 30 and 40 yards
in that game, both catches setting up
Nebraska touchdowns.
While Oklahoma State didn’t
employ the exact same defensive
strategy this year, the play still
worked for Wistrom.
“It was exact play that worked for
Sheldon last year,” Wistrom said. “I
think Coach (Frank) Solich thought
that was going to be a play that
worked for us, so that’s why we ran
it.”
Solich said OSIXV style of
defense made it vulnerable to the
play action game and reverses, which
the Huskers also ran plenty of on
Saturday.
“We thought that maybe we have
a chance to go deep on some things,
so we were hoping we would be able
to catch them on some play action
passes,” Solich said. “That did occur
for us, and it worked out.”
Wistrom said he was slightly dis
appointed with the fact that he didn’t
score on the 47-yard pass, but he got
redemption a few drives later when
Crouch found him on another play
action pass for a 16-yard touchdown
in the comer of the south end zone. It
was Wistrom’s second touchdown of
Please see TRACEY on 11
Defense helps NU to 4-0 league start
By Brandon Schulte
Staff writer
Imagine for a second the dilemma
facing goalkeeper Karina LeBlanc of
the Nebraska soccer team.
Through 12 games she has
allowed only seven goals, has seven
shut-outs, and she hasn’t been scored^
upon in the last 437 minutes of action.
Yet this Canadian National team
goalie most likely won’t gamer All
American honors or even All
Conference honors.
That’s because LeBlanc is the last
line of defense on a superb defense,
which includes senior All-Americans
Sharolta- Nonen and Isabelle
Momeau, along with junior Christine
Gluck. The four have clicked this sea
son, their second-straight together, to
form an oppressive wall that few
opponents have been able to pene
trate.
“We dominate defensively pretty
much every game we play,” LeBlanc
said.
Big 12 Conference teams might
agree as the Huskers haven’t allowed
a goal in four conference games en
route to a 4-0 conference record,
which is good enough for sole posses
sion of first place.
Momeau said all of the defenders
believe in one another.
“I’m totally confident and trust
the other two defenders and Karina,”
said Momeau, who is one of 14 final
ists for the Missouri Athletic Club’s
44
Ninety minutes of
1-on-l comes
down to
communicating for
90 minutes”
Isab Morneau
efender
national player-of-the-year honors. “I
know they’ll support me and vice
versa.”
The Husker defenders’jobs are
more complicated than many of then
counterparts across the country,
because unlike most defenses that
feature four defenders and a goal
keeper, NU has to get the job done
with one less player.
The extra attacker gained creates
more scoring opportunities. This is
evident in the 40 Husker goals this
season - but the strategy can also
backfire as errors by defenders can
lead to goals.
“Mistakes are much more costly,”
Morneau said. “Ninety minutes of 1
on-1 comes down to communicating
for 90 minutes. We don’t have much
Please see DEFENSE on 11
MattMiller/DN
AS THE LAST LINE of defense for one of the top units in the country, NU goal
keeper Karina LeBlanc has allowed just seven goals in 12 games.
