Huskers'
emotion
not to snuff
Sometimes the answers are in
tiie answers.
bitting
through the
post-game com
ments following
Nebraska's 31-14
giant hiccup
against
Oklahoma, you
start to get this
idea of the
Cornhusker
Samuel
McKewon
mood afterward,
this malaise of sorts that’s hung
like fog for most of the season.
Punching up the response
calendars of NU Coach Frank
Solich and Defensive Coordinator
Craig Bohl reveals Oct. 28 as
Husker “execution” day, as if the
word served for every major ill
that befell Nebraska Saturday
afternoon, as it has all season. As if
an offensive nuclear meltdown
like the final three quarters of the
OU game can be so easily
explained.
Tbo often in the infancy stages
of his career, Solich has tried to
boil NU’s performance, win or
lose, into platitudes of Xs and Os.
Almost scientifically so, as if
Nebraska’s success hinged solely
the execution of five blocks here,
the handoff there and the turn and
pivot coming around the comer.
It’s as if the third-year coach
didn't have an entry for "intangi
bles” in the manual. Intangibles
are what Nebraska was missing
Saturday. NU seems to be losing
its grasp on them as the Solich era
reigns on, as Charlie McBride has
retired from the system.
The Huskers flinched
Saturday, and nary of diem were
worried about it Weeee muuuust
loookJc fbrwarrrd, is the immedi
ate response, resisting any sort of
criticism outside of poor execu
tion. Their tunnel vision is now
focused toward the “excellent”
Kansas Jayhawks.
ui course, my naivete aoesn t
run so rampant to believe that’s
entirely die case in Husker camp.
But the answers to questions
requiring thought outside the
football mindset have become
obtuse and blatant enough to the
point this question exists: Are we
dealing with the Tin Red here?
Not in the literal sense, of
course. Nebraska can batter near
ly every fortress on offense
(indeed, only Oklahoma has
stuffed the NU charge). The
Huskers are physical enough. And
several players, including line
backers Randy Stella and Mark
Vedral, insisted a fevered pitch
was not a problem against OU.
I’m not so sure. It seems near
ly the entire team, save a few
holdovers from McBride’s salt
dog era on defense (which may
include Stella and Vedral), don’t
act as though hot Mood is pump
ing through them.
“It felt like we got a littie com
placent,” I-back Dan Alexander
said. He went on to conclude
emotion precludes execution;
they go “hand in hand.”
Emotion wanes in college
football; it has as large a hand in
the bemoaned parity as scholar
ship limits.
Replacing the war hawks of
old - the Bears, the Bobs, the Bos,
the Woodys - are a new breed,
which Solich resides on the back
end of, who played for the war
hawks and came out seasoned to
a leathery cool that leaves theln a
touch jumpy.
Making nice has replaced
making football players. Is there a
better way to describe the odd
personnel decisions Solich some
times engages in?
Does Alexander, whose yard
per carry average has slipped
from 7.7 yards in the first three
game to 4.8 over the last five, start
because he’s a nice guy? Does
Bobby Newcombe, who watched
screen pass after screen pass fall
at his feet Saturday, get that look
on fourth down because of a
Husker guilt complex?
You laugh, but what coach
responds to a question about
Husker intimidation as Solich did
on Monday’s Big 12
Teleconference: “We don’t set out
to try intimidate anybody. We just
go about trying to execute our
offense and our defense.”
It’s football masquerading as a
study in angelic assembly line
behavior, with a side of new age
mumbo-jumbo at press confer
ences, I guess.
But what happens when the
executioner's song, as it were, gets
a stale note?
Oklahoma, apparently. And
who knows what else.
KU faces Huskers on the rebound
■ For the third straight season,
the Jayhawks will play NU right
after it lost its first game.
BY DAVID DIEHL
The hackneyed clichd in
sports says that a team bites back
hardest when it is freshly wound
ed.
Then it must be getting pret
ty old for Kansas Coach Terry
Allen to be squaring off against
wounded Comhuskers. For the
third straight season, the
Jayhawks enter their game with
Nebraska after the Huskers have
lost the week prior.
"It’s makes it that much more
of a challenge,” said Allen, who is
0-3 vs. the Huskers.
Allen’s Jayhawks enter as 31
and-a-half-point underdogs to a
Nebraska team coming off its
first loss of the year, 31-14 at the
hands of No. 1 Oklahoma.
Last year, Nebraska suffered
a 24-20 defeat at Texas before
facing an inspired KU team and
downing them 24-17. In 1998,
the Huskers fell to Texas A&M 28
21 the week before they disman
tled Kansas 41-0.
Receiver Harrison Hill said
KU won’t be expecting anything
different out of NU, even after it
was coming off a loss.
“To us, they're still
Nebraska,” the Jayhawks’ leading
receiver said. “We don’t care if
they won or lost, they’re still a
great team, and we still have to
play the best we can if we want a
chance to win.”
That was just the case last
year when the Jayhawks were
shutting out hJU at halftime,
holding a 9-0 lead. But KU's
upset bid wouldn’t stand as
Bobby Newcombe, behind an
86-yard punt return for a score
and 49-yard touchdown, led NU
past Kansas’ scrappy effort.
Running back David
Winbush said his team could
take a little bit of confidence
away from that game, but KU
couldn't hang all its hopes on
that contest.
“We played our hardest,”
Winbush said. “But it wasn't hard
enough.”
That was also the case last
weekend against Texas Tech. The
Jayhawks fell just short of the Red
Raiders, 45-39, despite trailing
by 21 points in the third quarter.
A pass from quarterback
'To us, they're still Nebraska. We don’t care if
they won or lost.”
Harrison Hill
KU receiver
Dylen Smith intended for Hill in
the end zone was batted down,
thwarting KU's upset hopes.
Hill said the team was suffer
ing an emotional hangover from
the loss.
"I don’t think our confidence
is very high at all right now,” he
said. “We are a little disappoint
ed because we expected to win
that game. We're just trying to
bounce back this week and put
Texas Tech out of our mind.”
The only comforting factor
Hill could find was the offense
was beginning to click. The
Jayhawks have put up three
straight 400-yard offensive per
formances and were six points
away from going 3-0 in that
stretch.
Despite the loss, Allen said he
believed his team could rebound
from adversity, just as it did fol
lowing losses to Oklahoma and
Kansas State.
“We are still reeling from
Saturday’s loss,” Allen said. “We
just need to go to Lincoln and
play hard this week.”
NU plans to take tournament slow, steady
DN Rle Photo
After winning the Big 12 regular season crown, junior forward Becky Preston and the Comhuskers will have to win three games in
five days to capture the conference's tournament title. Kansas b first up for Nebraska at 11 a.m. today.
■The top-seeded Huskers
face Kansas in the opening
round ofthe Big 12 Conference.
BY JAMIE SUHR
If the Nebraska soccer team
doesn't want to go Greyhound to
the Final Four in the NCAA
Tournament, then it will have to
take care of business at the Big 12
Conference Tournament
The top-seeded Comhuskers
(18-1 overall, 9-1 conference)
will match up with Kansas in the
first round Wednesday at 11 a.m.
in San Antonio.
If the game holds true to
form, NU won’t have much trou
ble against the Jayhawks. In six
games against KU, Nebraska is 6
0, including a 3-0 win in
Lawrence earlier this season.
But NU Coach John Walker is
quick to point out KU “played us
tough,” and the game was just 1
0 midway through the second
half.
Although the Jayhawks will
be making their first-ever
appearance in postseason play
and come in as die lowest seed in
the tournament, Walker said his
team knew it would have its
hands full with them. He com
pared KU favorably to Oklahoma
- the only team to knock off the '
No. 3 ranked Huskers.
“They can beat us,” Walker
said. “If we don't get the job done,
anyone can beat us.”
The Jayhawks will have to
play much better than they did
down the stretch if they want to
beat NU. KU went 0-4-2 in it’s
past six games.
The Jayhawks’ late struggles
don’t factor into NU’s prepara
tion, sophomore forward
Christine Latham said.
“Kansas is a very solid team,”
said Latham, the Big 12’s leading
goal scorer with 20. “I wouldn’t
say outstanding, but they’ve
shown a few teams up in confer
ence. We’re going to go into every
game like it’s North Carolina or
Santa Clara.”
"We would love to see
Oklahoma again. We
have some unfinished
business with them.n
Shannon Tanaka
NU midfielder
While the Huskers are the
overwhelming favorite entering
the tournament, Walker refuses
to look even a round ahead.
"The most important game is
the one you’re playing,” Walker
said. “We understand we’re going
to get everyone's best shot”
But that’s something NU has
grown accustomed to after win
ning tournament titles in 1996,
1998 and 1999.,
To win the conference cham
pionship, NU must win three
games in five days. But that may
play right into the Huskers’
hands.
The Huskers routinely trot in
and out 18 different players each
game, making it, by far, the deep
est team in the Big 12.
“It’s an advantage, but only if
you make it,” Walker said. “You
have to get the job done. The key
is the result.”
It’s hard to argue with NU’s
results thus far. The Huskers
have had only one hiccup in their
season - the previously ment
ioned 2-1 home loss to the
Sooners.
“We would love to see
Oklahoma again,” midfielder
Shannon Tanaka said. “We have
some unfinished business with
them.”
If the Huskers are going to get
the much-anticipated rematch
with OU, both teams will have to
reach the finals. The Sooners
have a tough road ahead. If they
get past No. 3 seed Texas, No. 2
seed Texas A&M likely awaits in
the second round.
NU will draw the winner of
the Baylor and Missouri game on
Thursday night providing it
defeats KU.
Soccer on Final Four fast track
In only a matter of weeks,
Husker fans will sit comfortably
at the Abbott
Sports
Complex and
get a first
hand view of
the Nebraska
soccer team
speeding
toward the
Final Four in
San Jose,
ralif
I
I
Jamie
Suhr
Unlike years past, the
Huskers won’t need a road map
to get there.
The Big Red is ranked No. 3 in
the latest NSCAA Poll, and the
top four teams in the country
(not according to any poll, but an
NCAA panel) generally play host
to games until the Final Four or
until they’re beaten.
Last year, the Huskers were
afforded the home-field luxury,
but not even 3,702 screaming Big
Red fans could keep them from
falling to fifth-seeded Notre
Dame in a shoot-out in the Elite
Eight.
But this year will be different.
The Huskers’ road won’t have to
travel through the Fighting Irish
- at least until San Jose.
The No-. 1-ranked Irish,
undefeated and once tied, will
coast through its conference
tournament.
The Huskers haven’t been
able to counter the luck of the
Irish. Notre Dame has ended the
Big Red’s journey to the title each
of the past three seasons.
If the NSCAA Poll holds true,
NU will find itself seeded third
and won’t go toe-to-toe with the
almighty Irish until the champi
onship.
And there’s no reason the Big
Red shouldn’t be at least No. 3.
The Huskers have beaten
four teams in the top 25: No. 9
Texas A&M, No. 12 Florida, No. 19
Dartmouth and No. 24
Connecticut.
The combined score from
those games: 14-3. Two of the
goals the Huskers relinquished
came in garbage time during
their 7-2 bulldozing of the
Gators.
All four of those teams will
likely find themselves in the
NCAA Tournament come
Selection on Sunday.
But all of this will be a moot
point if the Huskers “don’t take
care of business” as NU Coach
John Walker would say.
That shouldn’t be a problem
for the Big Red - the second high
est scoring team in the country.
The Huskers have breezed
through the conference season,
going a blistering 9-1.
In fact, NU hasn’t really been
tested for much etthe year. Even
in its close matches of the year,
Walker’s squad has been domi
nant.
In their lone loss, the Huskers
still out-shot Oklahoma 37-5. In
a 2-1 come-from-behind victory
over Texas A&M, the shots were
24-10, and NU had 10 more cor
ner kicks than the Aggies.
So when the Big Red blows by
Kansas, then Baylor or Missouri,
it’ll probably face off against a
familiar counterpart, Texas A&M.
But the Aggies are too beat up to
hang with the deep, talented
Huskers.
So NU will end the season 21
1, earning a No. 3 seeding in the
NCAA Tournament.
As the Huskers sit in the dri
ver’s seat for a high seeding, only
Clemson, UCLA and North
Carolina can be seen in the
rearview mirror, but their reflec
tions are getting smaller and
smaller as the Huskers turn into
the passing lane to catch No. 2
Washington.
The No. 4 Tigers must face
the Tarheels in the ACC tourna
ment while the Huskies will bat
tle the Bruins. Two of those
teams will fall, leaving the Big
Red - and it’s dominance - sitting
pretty and putting the bus to San
lose on cruise control.
Mental preparation
focus of Huskers
■Thefinal month isan
important one for Nebraska
volleyball,Coach John Cooksaid.
BY SEAN CALLAHAN
If the top-ranked Nebraska
volleyball team had its way, it’d
probably skip its seven remain
ing November matches and
move right on to the post season.
As the important month of
November comes into full effect,
NU Coach John Cook has a dif
ferent look.
Tonight when the
Cornhuskers (21-0,13-0) travel
to Oklahoma (6-14, 1-11), Cook
said the emphasis in practice,
and in games, had been on the
little things it was going to take to
win the national championship.
“The repetitions in practice
in September are different then
the repetitions in November,"
Cook said. "During the repeti
tions in September, we were try
ing to get ready to play, were
working on getting conditioned
wise mentally and physically.
“When you get to November,
you have to start refining, get an
"When you get to
November, you have
to start refining, get
an edge and try to
work towards being a
precise team. It’s
really not the number
of repetitions, it’s
mentally what they’re
working on in
practice.”
John Cook
NU volleyball coach
edge and try to work towards
being a precise team. It’s really
not the number of repetitions,
it’s mentally what they're work
ing on in practice.”
Even though the Huskers
continue their winning ways,
Cook said he has found things
that need improvement
One concern has been the
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