Huskers
look to
Final Four
SOCCER from page 16
Anderson said.
“But I think Jenny (Benson) has
kind of taken over as a leader on the
team.”
The fact that the worst situation
facing the Huskers is finding some
one to scream out on the field is.sure
ly a positive sign.
Rheem said the team has some
weaknesses that have to be ironed
out, but the future looks bright for
this team.
“I definitely thought we got done
what we wanted to this spring,”
Rheem said.
“I thought the workouts went
well, and especially the way we
played in the games.”
It’s time for the Huskers to step
up the ladder one more notch to the
unchartered land of the Filial Four.
“There is such an expectation
with us,” Anderson said.
“We aren’t going to settle for
Sweet 16 or Elite Eight. We expect to
be up there.”
Rebuilding starts for Hawkeyes
Iowa hopes to beef up its defense after a 1-10 season
By John Gaskins
Staff writer
One-win seasons and last-place
conference finishes don’t usually
warrant a football team’s kicking
back and keeping things on auto
pilot.
By the looks of Iowa’s defensive
roster this spring, it appears the
Hawkeye coaches didn’t twiddle
their thumbs much after a 1 -10 cam
paign in Coach Kirk Ferentz’s first
season, and for good reason.
Final team defensive statistics
went as follows: last in the Big 10 in
total defense (463 yards per game),
last in rushing defense (245 yards
per game) and second-to-last in
scoring defense (31.5 points per
game).
It all added up to a last place fin
ish in the league standings at 0-8.
Plenty of growing pains came
with life without Coach Hayden Fry
- who in 20 years won 143 games
and became a state icon before retir
ing after the 1998 season. But sec
ond-year Defensive Coordinator
Norm Parker said he thought the
Iowa defense was moving in the
right direction this spring.
It’s doing so by moving some
defenders to different positions and
moving a wide receiver to its sec
ondary.
Why? Because the defense
moved too slow to stop nearly every
olfense it faced last year.
“We just were not fast enough,”
Parker said. “This spring, we’ve
tried to increase team speed, and I
think we have. God, I hope so. ”
For starters, middle linebacker
Aaron Kampman and outside line
backer Howard Hughes will become
rush ends, while inside linebacker
Jory Helms will become a defensive
tackle.
Safety Jeff Buch and wide
receiver Tony Burner will move to
provide depth at linebacker. Another
wide receiver, Tim Dodge, will
move to comerback.
The secondary will need him,
considering three seniors graduated,
including leading tackier Matt
Bowen.
But don’t expect the defenders
to become too confused or over
whelmed when they face Nebraska
on Sept. 23 at Memorial Stadium,
like they were last season. They
were dazed enough in the new sys
tem before NU romped them 42-7 in
the season opener, and the hits just
kept coming.
Parker - who turned Vanderbilt’s
defense into the Southeastern
Conference’s best in 1998 - said
despite all the shifts, the players
were picking up confidence and for
titude after last year’s tribulations.
“I never believed a changeover
could be such a big thing,” Parker
said.
“Hell, by the time we started to
get a little better, the whole season
was over. Anytime you replace a leg
end, and that’s what Hayden Fry
was, you just don’t walk in the door
and overwhelm the kids.
“These aren’t dumb kids. Any of
them can look at film and see they
are better than they were before. I
don’t think it takes any kind of
magic to get better.”
The defense’s goal this year,
Parker said, will be simple and real
istic - to be the most improved team
in the Big 10 in all categories.
Part of the defense’s problems
came from the inability of the
offense to give them much rest. The
Hawkeyes were last in rushing
offense, failing to gain even 100
yards per game, and second to last in
both scoring (14.7 points) and total
offense (300.3 yards).
Kyle McCann and Scott Mullen,
the two primary quarterbacks, had
rough times creating plays with one
” This spring,
we ve tried to
increase team
speed, and I think
we have. God, I
hope so."
Norm Parker
Hawkeye defensive coordinator
of the weaker lines in the conference
protecting them. Mullen, the quar
terback to beat for 2000, is protect
ing a sore throwing shoulder and sit
ting out spring ball.
But leading rusher Ladell Betts
will return and probably get 20 to 30
carries a game, Ferentz said. The
offense will get its biggest adrena
line shot from the return of 1998’s
leading receiver Kahlil Hill, who
was suspended for all of 1999 for
unspecified reasons.
“Kahlil did a great job for us this
fall on the scout team,” Ferentz said.
“He has paid a penalty and is
focused on the year 2000. We’re put
ting in a three-wide set, and I think
with him we have enough flexibility
to move the ball down the field.”
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Hansen: Buck Beltzer Field
doesn’t get enough respect
BELTZER from page 16
stadium next year. Turns out he can
take the job after all.
“Good thing,” he thinks. “I really
like that luxury box.”
***
Surrounded by an embarrass
ment of riches, Buck Beltzer Field is
the mutt of the family. And what a
colorful mutt it is. If only Nebraska’s
athletic venues could brag ...
“I’m the third-largest city in
Nebraska on fall Saturdays,”
Memorial Stadium says.
“So what?” the Bob Devaney
Sports Center counters. “I house
basketball, wrestling, gymnastics,
track and swimming, and all of my
facilities are top notch.”
Ed Weir Track happens in on the
discussion.
“Track experts say I have one of
the best surfaces in the world!” he
boasts.
Lil’ Buck wanders by. Devaney
points, Weir smiles.
Memorial asks snidely, “So,
what nave you got, Buck?”
duck stammers, visioiy snaKen.
“Well, I have an artificial turf
infield,” he finally says.
All the other venues burst into
laughter.
“Yeah,” Weir shouts, “and a
grass outfield.”
The laughter gets louder.
“And artificial turf they ripped
off me a decade ago,” Memorial
screams.
The three bullies continue to
chronicle Buck’s shortfalls, like the
movable fence, the tiny press box
which shakes like a leaf every time
the crowd cheers, an outfield uneven
and chewed up because football
practices are held on it, aluminum
seats so cold and unattractive that
many fans prefer to stand below
them, the street that runs two feet
from the left field fence, the trains
that rumble by...
Buck slinks away, red-faced.
“Pretty soon they won’t have
Buck Beltzer to kick around any
more,” he mumbles menacingly.
*«*
A teen-age boy and girl are in a
cemetery lit only by a full moon.
They need the cover of darkness to
do what they are about to do.
B. J. “Chip” Beltzer and his sister
A.J. “Fanny” Beltzer place a Husker
baseball and bat at the foot of a
grave. The inscription on the stone
reads, O.A. “Buck” Beltzer.
Fanny wipes away a tear. Chip
speaks to his great uncle’s grave.
“Sorry about your stadium,
Uncle Buck,” he stammers, visibly
shaken. “You know how it is - those
corporate types never have any
sense of history, of tradition, the
non-permanent fence in right field.
All they care about are dollar bills,
Uncle Buck.”
Chip pats Buck’s grave reassur
ingly. Both Beltzers turn to leave.
“Wait a second,” says an eerie
voice. Chip and Fanny wheel
around. The ghost of O.A. Beltzer
floats before them. His Husker foot
ball jersey has “Buck” stitched
across the back.
Are you two out oi your
minds?” he says. “Them tearing that
God aw ful stadium down is the best
thing that ever happened to me! Do
you know what it’s like to have your
name linked with something miser
able? Do you know how much crap
I’ve taken from Phillip Wrigley and
Charles Fenway? Do you know how
long I have been waiting for this
day?”
With that, O.A. grabs the bat and
ball and vanishes. Chip and Fanny
stare, jaws dropped. Gradually, as
they get over their shock, they begin
to nod their heads.
“Yeah,” Chips says as they walk
to the car. “Uncle Buck is right. It is
embarrassing having the family
flame linked to that field.”
Fanny bursts out laughing.
“You know, I’ve thought the
Same thing for years. Embarrassing.
Exactly.?
With that; die two Beltzers drive
off into the night The last two Buck
Beltzcr Field supporters are gone.
The stadium soon will be relegated
to a full-time football practice field.
There is no hope in Buckville, and
there’s only one thing left to say.
Good riddance.
Matthew Hansen is a sopho
more news-editorial major and a
Daily Nebraskan staff writer.
