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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 27, 1999)
Page 10 B Daily Nebraskan B Wednesday, October 27,1999 Walker thrives in big plays By Darren Ivy Senior staff writer When return man Joe Walker caught the ball 4 yards deep in the end zone against Texas last Saturday, he had no thoughts of downing it for a touchback. The 6-foot, 200-pound rover is fearless. He’s one of the few return men in college football who won’t catch a punt or down a kickoff. That’s because Walker has one goal in mind on each return - the end zone. Against the Longhorns, Walker was brought down inside the 20-yard line both times he brought the ball out of the end zone. Looking back, he said, he would do it again. “Yeah, that was a decision I made, and I am going to stick with it,” Walker said. “I feel like every time I get the ball in my hands I can score. In critiquing the game, Coach Frank Solich wished Walker would have downed the ball, giving NU the ball at the 20-yard line. But that was Solich’s opinion in retrospect and not at the time of the returns. “You have to understand, Joe is a play maker,” Solich said. “Being the play maker that he is, we aren’t going to jump up and down on the sidelines about him bringing it out. “If we had blocked better, we cer tainly would have had a chance at a bigger return and decent field posi tion. But on the other side of it, you want to start out on the 20. If you had to do it over, Joe would stay in.” Consider it a light slap on the wrist. Don’t expect to see Walker downing too many kickoffs in future games. This would be a non-issue if the Huskers had won. Plus the Huskers can’t afford to saddle Walker. Whenever the Nebraska defense and special teams have been in need of a big play, No. 25 has been the guy to rise to the occasion. The past two seasons, Walker racked up the fourth and sixth most kickoff return yards in a season all time for the Huskers. “He has a knack for making big plays and a nose for the football,” junior safety Clint Finley said. “He gets out there and gets big plays when we need them.” His breakout game came against Oklahoma State, when he won the game by returning a fourth-quarter punt 73 yards for a touchdown. In the game, Walker had a career best seven tackles, a career-best five punt returns for 92 yards (18.4 yards per punt return), four kickoff returns for 68 yards and was named the Big 12 Specialty Player of the Week. It showed Walker’s versatility. There even was some talk that he might see some action at running back before he was done at Nebraska. But Dec. 12, “Big Play Joe” tore the left anterior cruciate ligament in his knee during a punt drill, which forced him to miss the Holiday Bowl. He had additional surgery May 25, causing him to miss the first four games this season and basically end ing his offensive ambitions. He now is 100 percent and focused on defense and special teams. He showed a glimpse of the old Joe Walker on Saturday in the second quarter when he broke a 21 yard return that gave NU the ball at the Texas 17-yard line. “He looks good to me,” Finley said. “From the plays he is making, he seems to be doing just fine.” LeBlanc grows as NU keeps winning LEBLANC from page 9 see her realize her ability as a goalkeep er.” As the regular season draws to a close, LeBlanc has exuded that same poise this season. Through 18 games she has record ed 10 shutouts, including a 600-minute scoring drought, more than 6'A games. She has posted 40 saves while allowing only 10 goals in over 1,600 minutes of action. She leads the Big 12 Conference in every positional catego ry but saves and is in the top 10 in the country in goals-against average, giv ing up a meager .56 goals per game. What makes her statistics even more impressive, Everding said, is the multitude of things the team asks LeBlanc to do. “Most people don’t realize that our game has changed quite a bit,” Everding said. “We don’t just expect our goalies to stop shots. We do a lot more prevention through communica tion with defenders. We also ask our goalkeepers to come out of the 18-yard box to handle the ball with their feet.” Unlike most players at her position, the work LeBlanc does with her feet is just as crucial as her ability to make lightning-quick saves. Because she comes out of her box as much as 50 yards at times, she acts as a fourth defender, sweeping balls out of danger that go over the defenders’ heads. It allows NU to play one less defensive player than most teams, giv ing it an extra attacker to create goals. So LeBlanc goes through an extra practice on some days to work on her skills with the ball, something few goalkeepers practice. “In the extra practice a lot of times we work with my feet,” LeBlanc said. “One day it will be feet and the next day will be shot stopping. Sometimes I ask Marty (Everding) why we do things like work on headers and then, in the next game, I will see the same situation we worked on. I don’t think any other keep er in the country works on heading.” For her sake it’s a good thing that she has to come out of the box fre quently. If she didn’t, it might be tough for her to stay awake in sleep-inducing matches, such as this past Sunday at Oklahoma State. The Cowgirls attempted only two shots in her direc tion all game long. At the beginning of LeBlanc’s career, Walker said the lack of shots was tough on her. “Early in her career it was a prob lem,” said Walker of her occasional mental lapses from not being tested. “But now she understands that she can be very active without many shots. She may not have to stop many shots, but she has a lot of touches on the ball.” LeBlanc may not have had many opportunities to show off her talents this season, and because of that she may not receive the accolades that usually come with such impressive numbers. But if she is to write a happy ending about this season, it will have to include a national championship, and she knows if that happens, her playing the rest of the season will be a big part of it. “(The rest of the year) I want to be consistent and not let in any stupid goals,” LeBlanc said. “If we don’t win, it will not only bring me down but the team down as well. Right now I have confidence in myself that I won’t let them down.” Information Table: Wednesday, October 27th, 9 am - 3 pm, Nebraska Union Film Show: Wednesday , October 27th, 12 pm, Nebraska Union (Rm. TEA) Student ticket sales soaring for NU By Matthew Hansen StaffWriter Basketball and ticket officials have reason for measured optimism regard ing ticket sales for the upcoming _ Comhusker basketball season. Their optimism is in large part because of a huge jump in student ticket sales. Students have already purchased approximately 1,200 season tickets, up from only 454 last season. Coach Danny Nee said that an increase in student attendance would help his program. “By getting more students here, we can create a better atmosphere,” Nee said. “The players certainly appreciate the students coming out and getting rowdy for them. Especially during the Big 12 season, we hope to have a great home-court advantage.” University officials, concerned about the decline in the number of stu dents at games, made several changes in the ticket process that are favorable to students. The season tickets, which can be picked up starting Monday at die ticket office, had their price cut in half to $25 this year. The discounted price was offered only earlier in the fall. Student tickets are still available but now cost $50. In addition to the price reduction, students were allowed to charge the cost to their university account. John Anderson, director of ticket operations, is happy with the nearly three-fold increase. He said his depart ment’s aim was to increase student attendance. “We just want students in the seats this year,” Anderson said. “We hope they all come out, enjoy themselves and support the team. If the (reduced) price helps that, great.” While the information about stu dent ticket sales is good, the news on overall season ticket sales is not. As of Tuesday, ticket sales num bered only 6,300, down from almost 7,000 last season. Unless orders surge in the weeks preceding the season, the number of season ticket holders will drop for the fifth consecutive year in the nearly 13,000-seat Devaney Sports Center. Sales reached a high of 12,500 in 1994. “I really can’t control things like that,” Nee said. “The best thing we can do is win games and create an exciting atmosphere. If we do these things, I am positive people will come and watch.” TAKE NOTES. GET PAID. hav> to go to class anyway, •o why not gat paid to do It? -Apply now • allstudants.com or call 1-888-640 8810. Free online lecture notes, access to campus small, your virtual day planner. NU No. 7 in BCS poll ByRobPetzold Staff writer Finally, the Bowl Championship Series standings have been released to the college football world. At halftime of ABC’s “Monday Night Football” game the top 10 teams were announced. The Nebraska Cornhuskers are rated No. 7 in a poll that will compute the nation’s best team at the end of the season. With a victory over Texas last Saturday in Austin, the Huskers could have possibly been rated No. 1. However, after being picked apart by Texas quarterback Major Applewhite in the second half of Saturday’s showdown, the Huskers’ quest for a national championship looks dim. The Huskers must run the table, which includes home games against a resilient K-State team and Texas A&M, finishing up their regular sea son at Colorado. The BCS has ranked Florida State at No. 1, followed by Penn State and Virginia Tech. All three teams are undefeated. Tennessee and Kansas State rank Nos. 4 and 5. K-State is also undefeated. The Florida Gators came in at No. 6. NU Coach Frank Solich has no problem with the way the BCS poll panned out “I think they’re probably accurate in terms of looking at it,” Solich said. “There are certainly a lot of good teams, undefeated teams that are ranked high in the BCS poll, and I guess that’s how it should be.”