1-•-:. . m
By Samuel McKewon
Senior editor
Last Friday was one of those good
days for the Nebraska football team.
Practice was short. Recruits were
in town. Post-practice media coverage
was light.
And NU Coach Frank Solich was
upbeat about the eventual recovery of
his 11-1 team after it got banged up in
the Big 12 Championship game
against Texas. Solich said the forecast
for most of his injured players looks
good for the Fiesta Bowl, to be played
Jan. 2 at Sun Devil Stadium against
Tennessee.
“The guys that were banged up,
they’re on the process of recovery,”
Solich said. “I think we’ll have about
everybody for the game.”
That possibly includes tight end
Tracey Wistrom, who partially tore his
posterior cruciate ligament the week
of the UT game. Solich said Wistrom
would have “a chance” to play against
the 9-2 Volunteers, who won the
national championship last season.
“We thought, right around the
Texas game, that Tracey might be able
to come back for this one,” Solich
said, referring to the Fiesta Bowl.
Also returning for the game will
be starting middle linebacker Carlos
Polk and starting I-back Dan
Alexander, who suffered a mysterious,
deep laceration on his hand during the
22-6 win over the Longhorns. Solich
said he expects Alexander to get about
7 to 10 days of practice in before the
game.
As for the opponent, many
Huskers consider it to be the toughest
of the season, though NU has been
beaten once already by Texas and
played a one-loss Kansas State. With
coaches out of town on recruiting,
Solich said, not everyone on the staff
has seen a good deal of film.
u
Some of it will come
down for getting
prepared for what
they're doing on both
sides of the ball.''
Frank Solich
NU coach
But the book on the Vols isn’t too
hard to figure out. Their defense is
predicated on speed, Solich said, with
strong cornerbacks. Offensively,
Tennessee can run and pass with
effectiveness. Its two losses were both
on the road, and both times the Vols
had a chance to win the game on a
final drive.
“We’ve had our chance to see a lit
tle film, but the guys on the road will
have to do a little bit of catch-up,”
Solich said. “But we have a good feel
for what they were doing.
“Some of it will come down for
getting prepared for what they’re
doing on both sides of the ball. Some
of it will come down to conditioning.”
Defensive Coordinator Charile
McBride not only said the Vols were
the best team overall but the best
offensive team all year.
At times, they have been.
Tennessee returned a good deal of its
offensive firepower from last season,
including quarterback Tee Martin and
running back Travis Henry.
It also has running back Jamal
Lewis in the fold again after he tore
his anterior cruciate ligament in an
early 1998 game. Lewis, at the time of
his injury, was considered one of the
two or three best running backs in the
country by several preseason publica
Mnne ^yARRBCff^iT
l-BACK CORRELL BUCKHALTER cuts through the Texas defense in the Big 12 championship game, gaining 55 yards
on the play. Buckhalter broke the record for the longest run in a Big 12 championship game.
RIGHTS HU QUARTERBACK Eric Crouch outruns the diving Raymond Cato from Oklahoma State. Crouch and the
Huskers are going to the Fiesta Bowl to take on Tennessee on Jan. 2, in Tempe, Arizona.
tions.
Because of stiff competition from
Henry, Lewis never got as many car
ries. Still, the two combined for more
than 1,800 yards before the season
was over, and Martin threw for more
than 2,300 yards.
“Tennessee has as good of backs
as anyone in the country,” McBride
said. “They’re all big backs, big strong
backs. The quarterback is probably the
most athletic quarterback we’ve
faced- Martin can really run and
throw. He’s a guy that will run quarter
back draws and sprint out.”
Statistically,Tennessee’s offense
outgained last year’s 13-0 squad in one
less contest. What separated the two
teams more than anything else was
luck. , 4
In 1998, Tennessee was outgained
in its first two games yet squeaked by
Syracuse 34-33 and Florida 20-17.
Then, the Vols were handed victory
against Arkansas when UA’s quarter
back fumbled while tryinglg^lpsep his
balance.
Florida and Arkansas got their
revenge this season with late-game
W&$
*>^?They only lost a couple of games
by a’combined five points,” McBride
,«ai(£.
Had Tennessee not lost to
Arkansas 28-24, it might have had a
chance to find itself in the national
championship game against Florida
State. Instead, UT heads to the Fiesta
Bowl for the second-straight season.
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