I . • < :
SportsTuesday
BCS math
won't
save NU
They’re
already ask
ing The
Question:
Can the
Huskers get
DdCK U1 U i ...jjli'W*
I faked . _ .
my way Matuiew
through Hansen
high school
calculus, so far be it for me to ana
lyze the formulaic mind teaser
that is the Bowl Championship
Series.
But in a place that hasn't seen
the light of day, Mr. Pocket
Protector has it figured out. He’s
gonna tell Lee Corso, who’ll tell
the world.
The Huskers still have a good
shot provided they win out
Oops.
The Big Red has big problems,
which Oklahoma showed the
country Saturday. Unless
Nebraska Coach Frank Solich and
his staff fix them, and fast, The
Question will be: Are the Holiday
Bowl tickets worth it?
That’s exactly where NU will
be if it doesn’t solve the I-back
problem. As in, Nebraska doesn’t
have one right now.
Dan Alexander and Correll
Buckhalter have done little to dis
tinguish themselves this season
despite run
■hhhh ning Denina
Those 13 one. °,f 'he
, nations best
combined Offensive lines.
carries... They
Speak tO through gap
Solich’s ing holes
Inrls nf against Texas
iacK of Tech and
confidence Baylor. When
in the I- the holes got
smaller, and
backs. they had to
That's not gain yards on
■ their own
QOOd, against a
consider- swarming OU
inn thp defense, the
my uie results were
whole Ugly - 40 com
option Sf°n
offense I don’t
thina knowifsopho
mores
- Dahrran
Diedrick or
ueAntae unxby are any better. I
do know they can do exactly what
Alexander and Buckhalter are
doing now. It’s time to give the
youngsters the chance. Alexander
and Buckhalter have certainly
had theirs.
Those 13 combined carries
against the Sooners speak to
Solich’s lack of confidence in the I
backs. That's not good, consider
ing the whole option offense
thing.
The lack of carries also is evi
dence of a lack of conviction, of
continuity, of confidence on the
part of Solich and the Nebraska
offense.
The Nebraska offense is a unit
filled with talent, but something
has been a little off with the group
all season long, yard and point
totals be damned.
You just haven’t heard it, that
click so apparent in the Fiesta
Bowl against Tennessee last sea
son. No, Baylor wasn’t a click,
unless the offense was somehow
thrown out of joint in the week
separating BU and OU.
It could be the offense’s over
reliance on Eric Crouch, who tried
to take the offense on his back
against the Sooners and promptly
fell over.
It could be Solich’s insistence
on trying to make Bobby
Newcombe a playmaker, when, in
fact, Bobby Newcombe is not a
playmaker. It could be the oft
blamed play-calling, which was
undeniably poor last Saturday.
Could be all three. Point is, the
Nebraska offense, shouldered
with the task of carrying the
young Blackshirts, seems to be
running in different directions.
Point is, the Huskers don't
have the look, feel or smell of a
championship squad, and they
haven’t all season. Who does?
Oklahoma, and, unfortunately,
Florida State or Miami.
No, Nebraska isn’t mathemat
ically eliminated. The Huskers
have a chance.
But figure out a way to factor
in that secret mix of chemistry,
talent, luck and confidence that
brings titles, though, and the
supercomputer will tell you - the
Huskers’ chances are near zero.
Nebraska full
back Willie
Miller rumbles
past OU defend
ers in the first
quarter of NU's
31-14iosstothe
Sooners on
Saturday.The
Huskershopeto
regroup and
makearunat
the Big 12 and
national titles.
DN File Photo
Huskers'goals intact after loss
■ A possible rematch with Oklahoma
in the Big 12 championship game keeps
Nebraska motivated.
BY JOSHUA CAMENZND
While Nebraska fans moan and groan
about the end of the world that was
Saturday's loss to Oklahoma, Husker
players went back to work on Monday to
salvage their championship hopes.
All accounts within the NU program
state that the team’s goals remain intact
and are within reach if Nebraska takes
care of business and wins out.
"The big picture is still there," quar
terback Eric Crouch said. "We are not
going to let it die on us."
NU Coach Frank Solich said his team
has not lost motivation by losing to now
No. 1 Oklahoma. Part of the Huskers’
motivation is still the possibility of Big 12
and national titles.
But Solich said business must be
taken care of one game at a time.
“I think the most dangerous thing for
us would be to start putting pieces of the
puzzle together as to what might happen,
what could happen and what would be
best for us,” Solich said.
"We are in a position that we are still
considered a good football team and can
get a lot of things accomplished this sea
son.”
In fact, most of those close to the
game of college football still consider
Nebraska one of the best in the country.
NU is No. 6 in the Coaches Poll and No. 5
in The Associated Press Poll.
When the latest rankings of the Bowl
Championship Series came out on
Monday, NU was No. 4, with OU taking
the top spot.
“That is a pretty positive outcome,”
split end Matt Davison said. “You try not
to dwell on all that, but you can’t help to
want to look, knowing that there is hope
of playing the No. 1 team again.”
The rankings, Running Backs Coach
Dave Gillespie said, were a compliment
to NU’s play before the OU loss and a trib
ute to the strength of the program.
“We’ve played well all year and held
the top spot for a long time, and that is
not an easy thing to do,” Gillespie said.
Much like in 1999, NU lost to a Big 12
South opponent in a game filled with
hype and emotion. Texas was able to beat
Nebraska in Austin, Texas, last year, and
the two then met in the Big 12 champi
onship game with NU’s prevailing.
Nebraska gained a bid to the Fiesta Bowl,
barely missing a bid to play for the
national crown.
With Oklahoma’s only true obstacle’s
being a resurgent Texas A&M team, NU
and OU could meet again in Kansas City, j
Mo., if the Huskers win out.
Davison said last season and this sea- 1
son are alike in some ways, but the simi- .
larities stop at the way Nebraska lost its
two games.
“It was two different types of football i
games,” Davison said. “We played a
decent game against Texas last year, and
just a couple of turnovers is what beat us.
“This game we pretty much just got
outplayed. They made plays, and we did
n’t. Not all of us showed up.”
If NU is able to run the gauntlet and
dispose of the Sooners, other help may be
needed for Husker fans to be tanning on
the beaches of Miami for New Year’s.
And it all starts next Saturday.
BCS No. 2 Virginia Tech plays No. 5
Please see CHANCES on 9
Big 12 South
gains respect
■ Two weekend wins over the
Big 12 North's elite showed the
southern division's strength.
BY SAMUEL MCKEWON
It’s like neighborhoods in the
big city - the north side of the Big
12 Conference, the tough and
physical gang headed by
Nebraska and Kansas State, and
the south side, the slighter, revolv
ing door of ballclubs that continu
ally beat each other up before
they travel north.
Despite two South wins in the
Big 12 Championship (Each one
could be argued as a fluke.),
there’s a feeling that the North has
the irrefutable respect, while the
South scraps for it
Dui iwo Key reguiar-season
wins on Saturday - Oklahoma’s
31-14 win over Nebraska and
Texas A&M’s 26-10 victory over
Kansas State - have the loyalties
shifting just a bit, though confer
ence coaches have held all along
the Big 12 is competitive from top
to bottom, regardless of division.
“Since the start of the confer
ence,” A&M Coach R.C. Slocum
said, "people have been trying to
draw conclusions on which side is
stronger, which is better. It just
depends on what week it is.”
And last week was a good one
for the South. OU surprised the
gamut of critics by stymieing NU’s
offense for 3Vz quarters. Later that
day, the Aggies forced KSU into
three turnovers while jumping
out to a 19-0 halftime lead.
“It was not a marquee day for
us,” Wilucats’ Coach Bill Snyder
said Monday during the weekly
Big 12 teleconference. Outside of
the 41-15 loss KSU suffered to
Nebraska last season, it may have
been the worst performance by a
Snyder team in three seasons.
It represented the third loss in
three years for Kansas State
against South teams. Several
South teams also have been suc
cessful against Nebraska since the
Big 12’s inception. Of the six NU
conference losses since 1996, five
have been to South teams: three
to Texas, one to A&M and one to
OU.
NU’s 13-5 record against the
South pales in comparison to a
near-perfect 21-1 record against
the North.
NU Coach Frank Solich
explained those numbers, citing
unfamiliarity with several of the
South teams, which migrated
from the folded Southwest
Conference. Before the merger,
NU had played only two of the
four SWC holdovers - Baylor and
Texas Tech - in the 1990s.
“There’s a small degree on not
being familiar with those teams,”
Solich said. “There’s a small mar
gin of error to get it done right
now.”
The parity theme was echoed
by Texas Coach Mack Brown,
whose team has experienced
varying degrees of success in the
North, beating Nebraska twice
but losing to Kansas State twice,
as well. Brown’s preference would
be to eliminate divisions all
together, thereby eliminating the
championship game.
Colorado’s Gary Barnett isn’t
of the same school of thought. At
Northwestern, he watched Big
Ten coaches clamor for a 12th
team, so divisions could be estab
lished and a championship game
be played. While the division
setup doesn’t do much for dissolv
ing inevitable comparisons that
coaches would rather duck, it
does offer one positive, Barnett
said.
"We know who the champion
is,” he said.
Humble Rheem has'touch'
■The Nebraska soccer player
thrives as a playmaker, leading
the Big 12 in assists.
BY JAMIE SUHR
Nebraska soccer player
Kelly Rheem has been dribbling
a soccer ball since she was 5
years-old.
She dribbled by all the other
grade-schoolers on the play- I
\ ground to score goals. She car
ried the same skills to her recre
ational soccer leagues, to com
petitive leagues and to the U.S. I
Under-17 National Team where
she played with Husker team- fi
mate Meghan Anderson.
“I’ve been dribbling since I g
was little,” Rheem said. “It sort
of stuck.”
Rheem has taken her skill
and developed into one of the
most lethal play makers in col
legiate soccer, leading the Big 12
with 15 assists. k
“She’s one of the best drib- E
biers in the country,” NU Coach
John Walker said. “When she
gets in the final third of the field, |
she can beat players in tight
spaces.”
vvnue sne s Deen aDie to k
breeze by defenders, Rheem
hasn’t been one to take many
shots. She has left the scoring to
fellow forward Christine
Latham - the leading goal scor
er in the Big 12 Conference.
Because of her 20 goals,
Latham garners much of the
attention around the country,
but she is quick to give a lot of I
the credit to Rheem.
“She has great touch on the
ball,” Latham said. “She just
puts it right in front of the net.”
Walker said Rheem’s
unselfish play and dribbling
ability with Latham’s finishing
ability and strength make the
- Jennifer Lund/DN
Please see RHEEM on 9 Husker forward Kelly Rheem leads the Big 12 in assists.
