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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 18, 2000)
Injury-plagued Baylor prepares for Husker attack BY JAMIE SUHR The Baylor offense won’t run on the field Saturday against Nebraska as it normally might. It’s more likely to limp. The Bears will be without three key cogs to its offensive lineup. Making his second career start at quarterback is true freshman Kerry Dixon, who BU Coach Kevin Steele said did “some good things” in a 24-0 loss to Texas A&M on Saturday as he completed 11 of 27 passes for 107 yards and threw four interceptions. TWo were tipped at the line. Junior college transfer Greg Cicero began the season as the No. 1 quarterback after spring prac tice, but suffered a broken collarbone during the team’s 34-9 loss to Minnesota. Guy Tomcheck then stepped in for Cicero, but he is now injured as well. “Guy was a little more injured than he let on. He's going to play this year, but I don’t want a two headed monster.” Dixon said the A&M game was something he could build off. "It gave me a lot of experience going up against A&M’s defense,” Dixon said. “There were a lot of blitzes and that gave me a lot of experience picking them up and making the right reads.” The offensive line held up reasonably well against a stout Aggie defense, allowing A&M to sack Dixon just three times, but the freshman quarterback was hit countless other times. While the offensive line will be missing its only senior, right guard Tyshaun Whitson, it will receive “It might not sound like it’s good, but in 10 straight quarters the most touchdowns we’ve given up is one.” Kevin Steele Baylor football coach a boost if center Joe Jackson can start after missing last week’s game with a high ankle sprain. With the NU defensive line coming off of its most impressive performance of the year in its 56 3 win over Texas Tech, Dixon said he was prepared for the beating he could sustain. “I get hit over and over every game, no matter when I release the ball,” Dixon said. “But (the offensive line) is coming along.” It was the second-straight game in which the Bears have failed to score. BU was shut out 28-0 by Texas Tech on Oct. 7. On the bright side of things, Steele has been pleased with the way his defense has played. “It might not sound like it’s good, but in 10 straight quarters the most touchdowns we’ve given up is one,” Steele said. Like every other NU opponent, the Bears know exactly what they must do to stop the Comhuskers. "They’re going to run,” cornerback Gary Baxter Please see BAYLOR on 11 Nebraska quar terback Erk Crouch rushes for a first-quar ter touchdown Saturday against Texas Tech in Lubbock, Texas. The Huskers rushed for 442 yards, defeating the Red Raiders 56 3. WllUVIf VII Huskers dominate Red Raiders BY JOHN GASKINS LUBBOCK, Texas - There seemed to be a much bigger swagger in Nebraska’s step in the waning moments of its game at Texas Tech on Saturday night. It was a swagger that hadn’t been seen all year. A swagger that was old habit for past Nebraska football teams. Less than half of the crowd of48,691 fans at Jones SBC Stadium remained. Most of the Red Raider fans had left by the beginning of the final quarter; most of those left were Big Red faithful. The scoreboard read Nebraska 56, Texas Tech 3, which would be the final. In a three minute span, two NU assistant coaches who had been in the press box - running backs Coach Dave Gillespie and rush ends Coach Nelson Barnes - strode onto the field to join the team on the sideline with confident, job-well done grins on their faces. On their way they encountered some intox icated Tech hecklers who, despite their team’s walloping, were still convinced No. 1 Nebraska wasn't and won’t be a No. 1 team much longer. The coaches fired back with looks and responses that showed the same kind of self assertiveness their players had displayed throughout the game, dominating opponents on both sides of the ball for 60 minutes. It was the first time in this mysterious 2000 season - a season full of championship expec tations and several players and units not living up to them - that maybe, just maybe the old Please see HUSKERSon11 Kickers lounge while position players sweat ™ w BY DAVID DIEHL “Id say in a given week I prob ably only do 15 minutes of real, actual work ...” Peter Gibbons explaining his job in the movie "Office Space” While Nebraska kickers don't have it that easy, Josh Brown, Dan Hadenfeldt and Chase Long don’t have the most rigorous practice schedules. Each day of practice, the group finds itself saddled with as much as an hour of down time while the team works in stations or does drills. Finding recreation each day during this period of inactivity turns a kick er's job into more of an hourlong recess for 22 year-olds. While the kickers said they worked dili gently when practicing their place kicking, punting or kickoffs, they admitted to their fair share of goofing off while standing on the sidelines. “On Monday we played base ball,” said Brown, NU’s place kicker. “We do all kinds of things to pass the time.” The baseball game Brown referred to included him and Long throwing a ball of tape off the pitcher's mound adjacent to the Comhuskers’ practice fields behind Cook Pavilion. "He’d throw one out,” said Long, a senior from Wahoo who handles kickoff duties for NU. “Then it’d be my turn to pitch and I’d throw the next out.” But the games aren’t limited to baseball. Other activities include playing catch, throwing footballs into garbage cans and the occasional fight with rolls of athletic tape. "We're either hanging out or being stupid,” Long said. "Yeah, being stupid is a good way to put it.” But the kickers day isn’t all Long Brown * I’m out there sweating and running and I look over and I see those guys laying down on the bags I was jumping over.” Dan Alexander NU 1-back fun and games. There is work to be done before the goofing off can begin. Kickers show up about a half hour before other players, warm up and get evaluated by their coach, Dan Young. After being charted, the special teams work on the punt cover and return game. From that point, the team breaks up into position groups and the kickers head to the weight room “so we’re not wast ing all the time we have,” said Long. When the kickers return from lifting, they are then faced with 40 minutes to an hour of down time, which gives them their bad reputations among the other players. “They don't do anything,” cornerback Keyou Craver said. While Craver is running plays and working on defensive schemes, the kickers are taking time off and relaxing. “They're pansies,” Craver joked. Running back Dan Alexander laughed heartily when asked how kickers practiced, as if the phrase was an oxymoron. He said he was jealous of the kickers. "I’m out there sweating and running,” the captain from Wentzville, Mo., said, “and I look over, and I see those guys laying down on the bags I was jumping over.” While the kickers do get ribbed by the players and coach es for their lack of practice time, they all know it is in good spirits and nothing is taken seriously. “We hear it from everyone,” Long said. “From academic counselors, coaches, players, Please see KICKERS on 11 Husker volleyball team faces tough rival Kansas State Steven Bender/DN Nebraska rightside hitter Angie Oxley digs a ball during Saturday's win against Texas Tech in Lubbock,Texas.The top-ranked Huskers return home to face Kansas State tonight Last season, the Wildcats entered Nebraska Coliseum and defeated NU. ■The Wildcats upset Nebraska lastyearand, with five starters returning,hope fora repeat. BY BRIAN CHRISTOPHERSON Nebraska volleyball Coach John Cook wouldn’t say it, but set ter Greichaly Cepero would. "They're our rivals,” Cepero said of Kansas State. “They have a lot of Nebraska girls not recruited by Nebraska, and they want to come here and show they can do a better job.” The Wildcats announced their presence as a power in the Big 12 conference last year, when they pulled a five-game upset of NU at the NU Coliseum. Cepero shook her head at the thought of that “sour memory.” “I remember them celebrating like they won the national cham pionship,” Cepero said. “We’ve talked about it, and we said that’s not going to happen this year.” Tonight, Nebraska will look to pad its Big 12 Conference stand ings lead when it plays host to the Wildcats at 7 at the NU Coliseum. The 13-4 Cats stand tied for second with Missouri with a 7-2 conference record, two games back of Nebraska who is 17-0 over all, 9-0 in conference. "On paper right now, K-State provides the biggest challenge for Nebraska volleyball,” Cook said. “They’re going to come in here believing they can win.” Kansas State returns five starters from the same team that upended the Big Red last season. K-State is also on a roll coming into Lincoln, winners of four straight matches, including victo ries over conference notables “On paper right now, K-State provides the biggest challenge for Nebraska volleyball. They’re going to come in here believing they can win.” John Cook NU volleyball coach Colorado and Texas A&M. KSU has been led by junior outside hitter Liz Wegner of Grand Island, one of five Nebraska natives on the KSU roster. The former Islander pounded home 29 kills with 12 digs in her last match against Texas A&M for her fifth career double double. Cook is well aware of the prob lems Wegner can pose. Wegner hammered home 21 kills in last season’s victory over Nebraska. “She’s on a roll right now, but the good news is you know where the ball is going because she is get ting half the sets,” Cook said. “We know where the point of attack is going to be." Meanwhile, Nebraska finally looked mortal, losing a game to Texas Tech in a four-game Husker victory Saturday. “The first thing everybody says is ‘Gosh, you lost a game. What happened?’ I feel bad for football. If they don’t beat some body by 40 points, it’s like they had a bad game,” Cook said. “It’s not much fun to play the game that way, but we’re using it as opportunity to improve on some areas we were sloppy in against Texas Tech.”