Volleyball also travels to ND
■The Huskers will not only
face a strong Notre Dame team
but also Michigan and UCLA.
BY BRIAN CHRISTOPHERSON
Although Nebraska’s football
meeting with Notre Dame is hog
ging the spotlight, the NU volley
ball team faces an important
early season trip to South Bend
themselves this weekend.
After taking four matches of
four played last weekend in
Lincoln, the No. 4 Cornhuskers
will set foot on foreign soil for the
first time this season in the four
team Notre Dame tournament.
"This is an opportunity for
Nebraska volleyball to take
another step forward,” Nebraska
Coach John Cook said.
“We’re playing three quality
teams. Obviously, it'd be great to
go 3-0, but we also know that we
are going to have to play great
three days in a row in order to do
that”
Cook wasn’t overstating. The
Huskers open with No. 23 Notre
Dame on Friday, move up the
charts to 16th-ranked Michigan
State on Saturday and end with
the current No. 3 team and pre
season No. 1 UCLA.
UCLA and Nebraska both had
a common opponent in
Colorado State, with Nebraska
beating the Rams in four games
and the Bruins falling to CSU in
five-game match.
Despite that tidbit of infor
mation, Cooks sees several areas
his team needs to iron out before
this weekend.
“We let someone get 30 kills
against us. We can’t let that hap
pen against anyone,” he said,
speaking of the 30 Colorado
State's Courtney Cox had last
Saturday.
“We need to continue to
improve the rhythm of our attack
with Greichaly and the hitters,
and defensively the play of our
middle back has to be much bet
ter.”
NU’s first opponent, Notre
Dame, should be ready to try to
expose any Husker weaknesses.
They are coming into the match
‘This is an opportunity
for Nebraska
volleyball to take
another step forward
John Cook
_ NU volleyball coach
with a 3-0 mark, including an
upset win over Brigham Young.
UND is led by senior setter
Denise Boylan, who earned Big
East Player of the Week honors
this week after a 50-assist, 10-dig
game against BYU. She is also last
year’s Big East Player of the Year.
Notre Dame schedulers also
may have been a little tricky with
the pen, scheduling the match for
4 p.m. on Friday, before many
Nebraska fans will arrive. «
“They could break atten
dance records up there with all
the Nebraska fans that are com
ing up there, but I am sure they
are scheduling the way they are
so that we don’t gain an advan
tage with our fans,” Cook said.
Tennis team opens season
■Coach Scott Jacobson thinks
last year's record success can be
broken by a slew of new recruits.
BY THOMPSON HERMAN
Nebraska women’s tennis
coach Scott Jacobson believes he
has his program headed in the
right direction.
He must, for despite losing
the most decorated player in
school history to graduation,
Jacobson is expecting his team to
continue its climb up the nation
al ladder and into the nation’s
group of elite teams.
To do that, the Huskers, who
open their fall season today at
the Wichita State Invitational,
will have to improve on the best
season is school history.
Last year, three time All-Big
12 selection Sandra Noetzel led
the Huskers to a 19-6 record and
the No. 58 spot in the national
rankings, both school bests.
Noetzel is gone, but Jacobson
says his team has the firepower
to make even more noise this
season.
“We have four freshman who
constitute the best recruiting
class we’ve ever had,” Jacobson
said. “Leslie and Rebecca Harvey
were ranked fourth and sixth in
Southern California. Elissa
Kinard is a big hitter. And Rose
Ketmayura is a sleeper.
“All four are gifted. We think
they can all compete at a high
level for us this season.”
If Jacobson sounds opti
mistic about the infusion of
young talent, he is equally excit
ed about the returning cast.
“Katarina Balan, Ndali
Ijomah and Amy Frisch are moti
vated, disciplined and
improved,” he said.
Ijomah has the distinction of
being the team’s only senior, but
Jacobson dismissed the notion
that his team would suffer from
any lack of leadership.
“Regardless of class, every
individual is expected to lead by
example,” he said.
So, just how much better
does Jacobson think his Huskers
can be?
“Our goal is to finish in the
top 4 of the Big 12 and the top 50
nationally,” he said. Nebraska
finished sixth in the Big 12 last
season.
Such achievements will not
come easily, however. Jacobson
rated the Big 12 behind only the
Pac-10 in quality, saying that
eight or nine conference teams
are consistently among the top
75 teams in the country. There
are 309 Division I women’s tennis
teams.
The Wichita State
Invitational is the first step of
many the Huskers must take to
become a first-tier conference
team.
The invite will give Jacobson
his first chance to identify which
players will play No. 1 singles, No.
2 singles, and so on. The Huskers
have held only two formal prac
tices.
“We want to stay injury-free
and just get the season under
way,” Jacobson said.
If it’s the kind of season
Jacobson has in mind, his eager
ness is understood.
Simms, Applewhite battle for Texas QB spot
BY SAMUEL MCKEWON
Imagine the shock waves
coursing through Texas Coach
Mack Brown’s brain when he was
asked about quarterbacks Major
Applewhite and Chris Simms at
the Big 12 Media Days.
Brown was caught so offguard
that he had prepared a 15-minute
fable of sorts involving trout, the
North Carolina Smokey
Mountains, his second wife and
two fishing rods that were sup
posed to symbolize Applewhite
and Simms. Something about
holding onto one rod while he
reeled the other one in.
"When you catch two big fish
at the same time,” Brown said,
“you just have to manage.”
OK, so he’d thought the issue
over a little.
Never mind that UT lost its
last three games last year. Never
mind that it must replace its two
defensive ends. Never mind that
the offensive line was as unpre
dictable as a steer in heat
The Longhorns are ranked in
the preseason top 10 for both
polls. Two Associated Press voters
thought enough of Texas to select
it preseason No. 1.
Based on what, exactly?
Now there’s a question.
But the only one truly being
pressed in Austin for the time
being is this: Who will be the QB?
Until fall camp began, Brown
preached the company line of
“let’s wait and see,” all the while
figuring that Applewhite, who suf
fered a severe knee injury in the
bowl loss to Arkansas last season,
wouldn’t be ready. This made
Simms the obvious choice, which
might just have sealed the debate
for good.
Brown figured wrong. Citing
Applewhite as “one of the tough
est youngsters
I’ve ever been
around,”
Brown now has
the services of a
player who
shared Big 12
Offensive
-1 riayer ui uie
Mack Bro«vn Year honors
t h
Nebraska’s Eric
Crouch last season. The gutsy jun
ior arrived in fall camp and
matched Simms pass for pass.
Brown has yet to name a
starter, and said on Monday’s Big
12 Teleconference that the deci
sion might be delayed until game
time. Even then, there’ll be ample
playing time for both quarter
backs, fairly similar on the outside
using opposite arms to throw the
ball (Simms is a lefty, while
Applewhite is rig^bt-handed).
In other words, this isn’t a
pick-your-poison kind of deal.
More like a pick-your-pleasure.
"We have the best problem in
college football,” Brown drawled.
"Most of the time you’d like one
excellent quarterback. We've got
two.”
To questions regarding a con
troversy, Brown preaches the
other company line of Applewhite
and Simms being close friends.
Both players said the same,
though not exactly in such glow
ing terms, in a long piece that
highlighted the Dallas Morning
News’ football preseason issue. In
the article, both offered cautious
optimism on the battle.
“I’ll just try to work hard and
do what I can every day in prac
tice,” Simms said, "and hopefully
things will turn out OK.”
Said Applewhite: “If the deci
sion was based on anything other
than production, I would feel
shaky. But Coach Brown has been
consistent about playing time
being based on you producing for
the team. Because of that, I have
all the confidence in the world."
Quarterback is one of the few
proven quantities on a team
expected to be the heavy favorite
in the Big 12 South. Outside of the
interior defensive line, where
Shaun Rogers and Casey
Hampton make the best duo in
the nation, UT must fill its two
deep roster with several freshmen
and sophomores who were part of
Brown’s highly-touted recruiting
classes.
One of those players was tight
end Bo Scaife, who was expected
to contend for first-team all con
ference honors before going
down with a serious knee injury a
few weeks ago. Otherwise, Brown
said, fall camp was relatively
injury-free. But still, replacements
for the defensive ends, receivers
and secondary loom large, Brown
said, and the answers remain
unknown.
"We do not know a lot about
our team right now,” Brown said
at his weekly press conference.
"The team is spending the week
before we start the season by
watching everybody else play. It is
an exciting and anxious time for
everyone.
There are only a few teams
that have not played, and we are
in that group.”
UT benefits by losing
Nebraska and Kansas State from
Big XII Preview
%
*
t
m
m
Texas Longhorns
Preseason Rank: 1st
in Big 12 South
1999:9-5 (6-2 Big 12,
1st in South)
Offensive Starters
Returning: 7
Defensive Starters
Returning: 9
Prognosis: The Long
horns have two excell
ent quarterbacks, a
proven runner and a
defensive line that is
second to none. They
will have no trouble
in the Big 12 South.
the schedule and picking up lesser
foes, which will help to stave off
challengers Oklahoma and Texas
Tech. A possible breakout star
could be defensive end Cory
Redding, Brown said. Though a
sore shoulder may limit his action
in the opener against Louisiana
Lafayette.
Another goal for the 11:30 a.m.
game on Saturday will be finding
depth at running back. Brown
said that all-conference back
Hodges Mitchell received too
many carries last season, and, as a
result, wore down, along with the
team as it lost to Texas A&M,
Nebraska and the Razorbacks to a
9-5 campaign.
“Right now, we feel that we
can play just about two deep at
every position,” Brown said.
“There are also a lot of guys who
we feel are interchangeable.”
Especially the quarterbacks.
Fighting Irish trying to return to past glory
IRISH from page 10
had Caracino’s office not rejected
them.
Although the article may have
presented the perception that the
admissions office has upped its
loftiness in response to the over
popularity of football, Kelly said
nothing could be further from the
truth.
“We're all in this together,”
Kelly said. “(Caracino) doesn’t tell
us how to run the football team,
and we don’t tell him how to run
the admissions office. I don’t think
he’s been unfair. He's done a good
job. His job is on the line, too.”
Hie article, and a whole lot of
grumbling from the media about
last season’s debacle, has put an
unflattering spotlight on the pro
gram recently.
The whipping boy in all of this,
inevitably, is Davie, despite the
fact he has two years remaining on
his original contract and three left
on the extension the university
awarded him last fall.
Michael Wadsworth, the ath
letic director who hired then
assistant coach Davie after Holtz
resigned near the end of the '96
campaign and gave Davie the
extension, was forced out by the
university last winter.
Wadsworth’s replacement,
White, has maintained neutrality
when asked about Davie’s status
in the past but offered support
when asked about the program’s
future. He also made clear that
Davie is under a contract, and the
university always honors its con
tracts.
“I have no doubt we are head
ed in the right direction,” White
said. “Bob has done a fine job of
building this team to what it is
today and we expect good things.
He’s more than capable of leading
this team.”
White and Kelly both pointed
toward tough injuries and bad
breaks as reasons for recent losses.
A similar first-time head
coach at a perennial power
pumped with expectations - the
man who will face Davie from the
other side of the sidelines
Saturday - can relate.
v “Any coach that heads into a
nationally recognized program is
going to feel pressure,” said NU
Coach Frank Solich, who received
similar but not as severe criticism
after a 9-4 debut season.
“Coach Davie has done an
outstanding job of holding things
together at very tough times. The
injuries had to be tough on him. I
imagine he’ll last.”
A brutal schedule and the
weight of the world on his shoul
ders may prove otherwise but for
now Davie has a little breathing
room.
The Irish’s season-opening
win last Saturday over then 25th
ranked Texas A&M helped douse
some flames for a week, and a
good showing against NU in front
of a national audience will help, as
well.
And if anyone is serious about
Notre Dame’s falling off the planet
and taking Davie with it, John
Doyle, the sports editor of the
South Bend, Ind., Tribune from
1950-81, recommends looking at
the history books.
“Football goes in cycles,”
Doyle said. “You had Knute
Rockne and the national champi
onships and they went into a
slump. Frank Leahy resurrected it,
and another slump followed.
Parseghian came along and they
went into another slump after
that.
“ (Davie) knows that when you
get four or five years, and you don't
develop a great thing, people talk.
(Notre Dame) hangs on to people.
He’s not in danger of anybody
yanking off his shoes during the
middle of the game. They just
don’t do it that way.
“They give the guy a chance.”
So history, and, for now, the
program, embraces him. But they
also entrap him.
St. Louis Rams are offensive standard of league
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ST. LOUIS - Kurt Warner
likes it when teams blitz the St.
Louis Rams because he can feel
the big play coming from his fast
offense.
The Rams were the No. 1
offense in the NFL last year, and
they ran up huge numbers in
their opening 41-36 victory over
the Denver Broncos on Monday
night. They accumulated 513
total yards and had three 100
yard receivers for the first time
since 1951.
A lot of the yardage came in
big chunks. Marshall Faulk
turned a simple swing pass into
a 72-yard touchdown. Az-Zahir
Hakim did the same on an 80
yard play that was almost all
run.
“There’s no limits,” said
Seattle Seahawks Coach Mike
Holmgren, whose team will try
to control the Rams on Sunday.
“They have a great combination
of offensive players.”
Coach Mike Martz, the
offensive coordinator last year
on a team that averaged 33
points and scored the third
highest point total in NFL histo
ry, doesn’t like taking the credit.
"The question is, who can
cover Az? Who can cover Torry?
Who’s going to tackle Marshall?
Who’s going to defeat that offen
sive line?" Martz said. “I don’t
think it makes a heck of a lot of
difference what you’re doing. I
think we’ve got real good play
ers, and they’re playing real
well.”
Warner was an instant natu
ral in Martz’ system, throwing
for 41 touchdown passes in his
first season as a starter.
“He’s a gunslinger, I guess,”
Martz said. “He just likes the fact
he can get that ball out quick to
his guys and see if you can cover
them.”
Faulk set an NFL record with
2,429 yards from scrimmage last
season. Bruce is coming off his
second Pro Bowl season and
third 1,000-yard receiving year,
scoring 12 touchdowns last sea
son.
The 5-10,178-pound Hakim,
though, might be the most dan
gerous of all of the offensive
weapons. Last season, he aver
aged 18.8 yards on 36 receptions
with eight touchdowns as the
third wideout, and scored on an
84-yard punt return.
NU, Irish set to do
battle in South Bend
GAME from page 10
in a 40-6 thrashing over the Irish
in the 1973 Orange Bowl.
But so much more is at stake
than history. The top-ranked
Huskers come in swaggering -
their blood pumped full of a
probable national-title run. The
offense will look to keep rolling,
while the Blackshirts will try to
improve their tackling and
prove they are better than they
showed in Saturday's win over
San Jose State.
"We didn't play Blackshirt
defense like we’re used to play
ing,” co-captain and linebackej
Carlos Polk said. "We know we’re
not going to play like that again.
We love playing teams that want
to come at us.
“It’s going to be a long day
for us. It’s going to be a heavy
weight fight, and it’s going to go
12 rounds.”
The No. 23 Irish will be
equally energized, looking to
prove that the Golden Dome
still pierces the football sky -
even after a disastrous 1999,
when they lost their last four
games and at 5-7 suffered their
first losing season in 14 years.
And Notre Dame players,
whether they admit it or not,
“It's going to be a long
day for us. It’s going
to be a heavyweight
fight, and it’s going to
go 12 rounds”
Carlos Polk
NU linebacker
will be playing for Coach Bob
Davie, who has posted a lacklus
ter 22-16 record in his fourth
season while his seat gets hotter.
• Davie knows what a win
would do for his program and
himself. From the sidelines,
though, he could care less about
the history and drama sur
rounding the game.
“He's the embattled coach,
and if he can win this game ...
that’s just all talk,” Davie said. “It
comes down to all of a sudden
they run the belly option, and
there's a guard chopping the
end on the ground.
"That has nothing to do with
the embattled coach. It's great
conversation, but it comes
down to the preparation to go
out and play this game.”
Toughest weekend yet
for Cook, Husker soccer
CHALLENGE from page 10
were national champions two
seasons ago and began this year
in the Top 10 before two early
losses. Junior Kelly Rheem said
that Florida would be ready to
play.
“Florida’s a great team,” she
said. “I’ve played them twice in
spring, they’re very physical.
Coming off two early losses
means they’ll be hungry for a
win.”
Sunday’s game will see
Purdue and Nebraska squaring
off in a battle of the unbeaten.
The Boilermakers have opened
some eyes this year, earning
their first-ever national ranking
and knocking off No. 12 Missouri
on the road in Columbia.
It adds up to the toughest
weekend for the Huskers so far.
"We’ve only really been test
“We need to compete
and get home results
against two great
teams. Purdue is
highly aggressive,
and Florida has Final
Four potential
Coach John Walker
NU Soccer coach
ed once thus far, and with play
ing two games in three days we’ll
get our tests,” said Walker.
Rheem said the early Husker
brilliance won't swell any heads.
“We know we’ve played well
so far, but we also know that we
have lots to improve on,” said
Rheem.
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