Daily Nebraskan Friday, September 8,2000 Page 10
Eric Crouch and
theNo.1
Huskershead
into South Bend,
Ind., Saturday
fora nationally
televised show
down with No.
23 Notre Dame.
Scott McQurg/DN
Historic meeting looms for Huskers, ND
■ For the first time in 27 years
the Irish and Nebraska will
collide in a battle of powers.
BY JOHN GASKINS
Somewhere at 1:30 p.m.
Saturday, the football gods will
be smiling.
Somewhere, Bob Devaney
and Knute Rockne will be
pulling up their recliners and
drinking Guinness, eagerly
awaiting their storied programs
to meet on the gridiron for the
first time in a long time.
And they'll probably invite
Comhuskers and Irishmen alike
to celebrate with the rest of the
world's football fans and make it
one big tailgate party - the No. 2
and 3 most-successftil programs
finally clashing.
The team of the 90s meets
the team of the century.
Touchdown Jesus meets LiT Red
(or Herbie Husker for you old
timers). The red-clad meet the
red-faced.
So much history will con
vene on Notre Dame Stadium -
which will be filled with 80,000
fans, some wearing red - it's dif
ficult to not think of the game in
historical terms, especially for
the Comhusker faithful.
“There’s a big aura of tradi:
tion there; there's a big aura of
tradition here,” NU wingback
Bobby Newcombe said.
“It’s the tradition,” he said.
“They’ve won a lot of national
championships; they’ve won a
lot of games. It seems like every
Saturday when you turn on the
TV, they’re playing.
“I remember my dad and I
sitting down and watching
Notre Dame play. Knowing this
week that I’m going to get to go
there find play them is real excit
ing.”
Newcombe has never seen
the two programs meet before,
as have none of the men who
will take the field Saturday. It has
been 27 years since a Notre
Dame/Nebraska matchup has
happened.
But if the game goes the
same way as past Husker-Irish
wars have, it is sure to be memo
rable.
After all, it was NU’s win over
i
‘There’s a big aura of
tradition there, there’s
a big aura of
tradition here.”
Bobby Newcombe
NU wingback
ND in 1915 that put the state on
the football map, along with
three wins in four games
between 1922-25 - three of only
four losses Rockne’s teams suf
fered in that span.
The Huskers sent a retiring
Bob Devaney out a huge winner
Please see GAME on 9
GAMEDAY
Nebraska vs
Notre Dame
1
1:30 p.m.
Notre Dame
Stadium, South
Bend, !nd.
NBC (channel 6,
WOWT)
Pinnacle Sports
Network ''KLIN
1410AM)
David Oaussen/DN
Junior forward Kelly Rheem and NU face their toughest weekend of the season, with two
quality opponents in Florida and Purdue. The Huskers have been dominant in the early
goin^taddng up 31 goals in four games and shutting the opposition out in all four of those
Cook, NU Soccer face
tough weekend slate
BY DAVE BRANDON
School is back in session this
weekend at Abbott Sports
Complex, and the instructors
will be strutting shin guards.
The University of Florida (2
2) and No. 24 Purdue (4-0) will be
appearing in Lincoln with hopes
of thwarting the Husker success.
Nebraska (4-0, No. 3 in the
NSCAA polls) will be seeking an
extension of four consecutive
shutouts, a period that has seen
the Huskers outscore opponents
31-0.
*
To do so, however, the
Huskers will need to bring their
"A” game as they meet two
nationally respected programs.
“We need to compete and
get home results against two
great teams,” said Coach John
Walker. “Purdue is highly aggres
sive, and Florida has Final Four
potential.”
Today’s game with Florida
will introduce the Huskers to a
team who is no stranger to
national success. The Gators
V
Please see CHALLENGE on 9
ft wee*-long senes
devoted to taking
adoserlook
at Notre Dame
ND experiences fall from grace
■ Fighting Irish are no longer
the solid-gold standard of
college football powerhouses.
BY JOHN GASKINS
From the bowels of Notre
Dame Stadium, to the top of the
Golden Dome, to the hallowed
halls of the Touchdown Jesus
library, the ghosts of Irish football
past can be felt.
It’s those chills and goose
bumps a person gets when visit
ing such a haven - for religion, for
football, for the culmination of the
two. History's wrath embraces
you.
As powerful as this wrath can
be for the clergy, the students, the
band, any first-time visitor, imag
ine what it must be like for a foot
ball player or coach in the fall of
2000.
Imagine. More than 110 years
of tradition seep from every tree,
every building, every tuft of turf,
tradition you must live up to:
Knute Rockne, the Four
Horsemen, the Gipper, Era
Farsegman, Kuay, Lou Holtz, len
national titles. The shrine of col
lege football. The “play like a
champion today” sign.
But for fourth-year Notre
Dame Coach Bob Davie, the histo
ry entraps him as much as much
as it embraces him.
The lore he has to live up to is
almost as great as the burden
hoisted upon him from day one in
1997- from the thin talent handed
down from the Holtz era, to the
devout yet anxious national fol
lowing of fans and alumni, to the
unforgiving press.
In addition, thanks to four
straight defeats to cap off an ugly
5-7 campaign a year ago - the first
losing season at ND in 13 years -
Davie has to deal with seven over
bearing words nearly every day: Is
Notre Dame football falling from
grace?
"I try to control the things I c *1
control,” Davie told Lindy’s maga
zine before the season started.
"There’s no question there’s a
bit of a bunker mentality. You can’t
read the newspaper; you can’t
subject yourself to what’s being
said on the outside.”
What has been said on the
outside is plenty. Records and
results don’t lie. The program can't
hide from its current mediocrity,
whicfi, in South Bend, means
embarrassment.
Notre Dame has not won a
national championship since
1988, Holtz’s third season, and
hasn’t seriously contended for one
since '93.
After Holtz led the Irish to six
consecutive nine-plus-win cam
paigns from 1988-93, a stretch
that included two 12-win and one
11-win seasons, the school has
lost at least three games in all six
seasons since.
"People see Notre Dame now
as not the big bear it once was in
terms of status in college football,”
said Bill Bilinski, the sports editor
of the South Bend Thbune.
l ney still nave a good reputa
tion, but obviously you have a new
generation of people, and they
haven’t won a national title since
1988. That is a long time to go
without a championship. If it's lost
a little bit of luster, it is in the prod
uct that they put on the field.”
Notre Dame has not fielded an
All-American in seven seasons.
Accustomed to churning out
more than five NFL draft picks
every year in Holtz’s heyday, the
Irish are now lucky to see two
players a year move on. Last year
was a low point - only one player,
quarterback Jarious Jackson, was
picked.
The speculated reasons for the
fall of the Irish are many and var
ied.
Recruiting is on a slide, thanks
in part to the parity of today’s col
lege football that limits each
school to field only 85 scholarship
“People see Notre
Dame now as not the
big bear it once was
in terms of status in
college football
Bill Bilinski
South Bend Tribune sports editor
players.
Notre Dame also has what
most football powerhouses of its
caliber and reputation don’t very
high admissions standards. This
has led some to believe the Irish
have passed up a lot of talent.
“We’re in constant competi
tion with other Catholic schools
and top academic institutions in
the nation,” said George Kelly, an
assistant to new ND Athletic
Director Kevin White, and a long
time assistant coach at Notre
Dame. Kelly also was an assistant
coach under Bob Devaney at
Nebraska
vve usien 10 people wno
apply all over the nation.
Hopefully every university is not
making concessions with people
who cannot compete academi
cally.”
Nebraska and Notre Dame are
ranked 1-2 in the nation in all
time Academic All-Americans.
But while NU, which has far more
forgiving admissions standards,
has stayed on top of the football
world, the Irish haven’t
Consequently, some blame
has been passed on to ND admis
sions officer Dan Caracino. Sports
Illustrated published an in-depth
feature, written by Tim Layden,
probing the decline of Irish foot
ball last spring.
The magazine presented sev
eral cases of top high school talent
that would’ve signed Notre Dame
Please see IRISH on 9
Collier
shelves
Walker
■ Last year's starting point
guard is kicked off the basketball
team for violating team rules.
BY JOSHUA CAMENZIND
The Barry Collier takeover of
the Nebraska basketball pro
gram has suffered yet another
casualty.
In violation of team rules,
last season’s starting point
guard Danny Walker has been
dismissed from the team and
released from his scholarship.
Walker started 26 out of 29
games last year and averaged
9.6 points and 3.4 assists per
game.
Collier said in
a release from
the university "jygyg
and their
eligibility
has been
restored."
Barry Collier
NU basketball
coach
that the dis- .
missal would pleased
better the team that this
in the long run. . _
“Establishing ISSlie IS
discipline in our resolved
program is a
short-term cost
for long-term
gain,” he said.
“Discipline in
our program is
simple - it’s just
not easy.”
Former NU
Coach Danny
Nee recruited
Walker from
Compton Community College.
Walker is the third player to
leave the program since Nee’s
firing after last season. Kenny
Booker and Louis Thiscott have
said adios to the Huskers as
well.
Truscott, who would have
been a junior, was to be counted
on in an expanded role at both
forward petitions and Booker,
who was a freshman last sea
son, was used sparingly in a
reserve role under Nee.
Suspensions also have been
aplenty under the new coach.
Collier announced his third of
the off-season on Wednesday
when he suspended guard
Rodney Fields for the first three
games of the season for violat
ing team rules.
Fields, who started 19
games last season, will miss the
two exhibition games and the
opener at Oral Roberts on Nov.
18.
Starting center Kimani
Ffriend and New Mexico trans
fer John Robinson received
three-game suspensions this
summer for violating team
rules, as well.
Robinson is ineligible .for
the first semester under NCAA
transfer rules. Ffriend, NU’s
starting center last season,
made second-team All-Big 12
after averaging 12.2 points and
8.9 rebounds per game.
Forward Ross Buckendahl
also will miss time on the hard
wood at the beginning of the
season because of arthroscopic
knee surgery he will undergo
today. The senior from Battle
Creek could miss up to six
weeks or the whole season,
depending upon the severity of
the injury, according to basket
ball trainer Mike Gooding.
The word around the pro
gram is that junior college
transfer Danai Young, who was
supposed to take over at small
forward for departed senior
Larry Florence, will redshirt.
Young averaged just over 14
points per game last season for
Crowley County Community
College. The 6-foot-4, 190
pounder had an appendectomy
and has an injured wrist.
While negative news sur
rounded the team on
Wednesday, a glimmer of good
news was reported.
Fields and junior Cary
Cochran were reinstated to the
team after being ruled ineligible
because of an NCAA violation
incurred under Nee.
The two worked a camp for
the ex-coach before they
enrolled in school. Fields and
Cochran were forced to repay
the money they made to a char
ity to become eligible.
“We’re pleased that this
issue is resolved, and their eligi
bility has been restored," Collier
said.