WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2002
SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 5B
K-State method favors Nebraska's
The Associated Press
LINCOLN, Neb. — When Nebraska coach Frank Solich looks at the Kansas State football team these days, he sees something familiar.
The No. 11 Wildcats have retooled their attack in recent seasons to more closely resemble the Cornhuskers — trying to wear down opponents with the running game.
"There are a lot of similarities," Solich said yesterday. "Both teams utilize a running quarterback, both teams have a power running game, but also run a number of options, both teams rely on play-action passes." Such was not always the case.
For years, Kansas State (8-2, 4-2 Big 12) was abysmal in all aspects of the game. When coach Bill Snyder took over in 1989, the Wildcats were one of the worst teams in college football. They were winless in 1987 and 1988 and went 1-10 in 1989.
Snyder turned things around first by filling barren cupboards with junior college transfers and installing a passing attack that came into its own during the reign of quarterback Chad May, who graduated in 1994.
But now, the Wildcats like to pound the ball on the ground.
They accomplish that with sophomore running back Darren Sproles, a 5-7 speedster who has amassed 1,072 yards this season. He needs just 191
yards to break the KSU single-season rushing record set by Josh Scobey last year.
Quarterback Ell Roberson has added 670 yards of his own on the ground and has thrown for another 1,029.
"They really try to build around their running game and come off of that with a number of things," Solich said. "And that's really our philosophy. That's really what we have been about for a number of years."
Perhaps Snyder noticed that many scoffed at Nebraska's run-first offense when most teams were adopting pass-happy offenses the past 10 years or so — a period that saw the Cornhuskers win three national championships.
"It's obvious that he felt that the best approach for them would be to really work very hard on establishing a running game," Solich said.
Nebraska quarterback Jammal Lord, meanwhile, has been on a tear after replacing Eric Crouch, who won the Heisman Trophy last year.
With 133 total yards in just over two quarters last week against Kansas, Lord become the third Nebraska quarterback in six years to rush and pass for at least 1,000 yards in a season. Scott Frost did it in 1997 and Eric Crouch matched the feat last season when he won the Heisman.
Lord now has 1,229 yards rushing and 1,016 passing on the season.
Aggies prevail against Sooners
By Jeff Johncox
Oklahoma Daily via U-Wire
University of Oklahoma
NORMAN, Okla. — The Oklahoma offense had one of its better games in Saturday's loss to Texas A&M. The Sooners went into the game averaging 210 yards passing per game and 175.8 yards rushing. Against the Aggies, Oklahoma put up 249 yards through the air and 156 on the ground.
Although it looked like an average performance for Oklahoma's offense,it was much more.
"That was one of our better offensive efforts," Oklahoma offensive coordinator Chuck Long said. "I think we can come
out of this game with a lot of things to be excited about going into the rest of the season."
Nate Hybl, a senior quarterback, had his best passing day since throwing for 303 yards against Missouri Oct. 5.
With Heisman contender Quentin Griffin running for 141 yards on 23 carries and Hybil throwing for two touchdowns, one would think Oklahoma would have put the ball in the end zone more often.
"I thought we moved the ball really well," head coach Bob Stoops said. "A few times we came up short in some critical situations, settling too many field goals when we had some opportunities to get more points."
The biggest play of the game for
the Sooners came after a quick first-position score by the Aggies, which gave Texas a 20-13 lead in the second half. On the next possession, Hybl found wide receiver Curtis Fagan for a 68-yard touchdown. Fagan said the play was designed at halftime to exploit the way the Aggies' defense was covering Oklahoma's wide receivers.
Key mistakes like the fumble by tight end Trent Smith, the late game-deciding interception by Hyb1 and field position played a critical role in the game's outcome.
"Their punter did an excellent job," Stoops said. "He put us down inside the 10 several times. It's hard to drive that far every time."
But the Sooners did drive down the field several times
against the Aggies. The only problem for Oklahoma was not getting it past the goal line.
"We had some opportunities in the red zone that we needed to punch in." Long said. "Give A&M credit. They stopped us when they needed to and we couldn't punch it in."
The Sooners are still in contention for the national championship. New Bowl Championship Series rankings put the Sooners at No. 4 behind Ohio State, Miami and Washington State.
Even with the loss, Oklahoma players know they can still accomplish their goals.
"We take it week by week and we always will," Hybl said. "Our goal every year is to win the Big 12, and we're still there."
Texas ready to stop pass-happy Texas Tech
By Mercedes Parker Daily Texan via U-Wire University of Texas-Austin
AUSTIN, Texas - Nathan Vasher and the defensive backs haven't been this excited in a long time.
After facing three mobile quarterbacks in the last four weeks, the Texas defense will go head-tohead with pass-happy Kliff Kingsbury and the Texas Tech offense Saturday.
"I speak probably for the rest of the DBs: We will be very excited this weekend," Vasher said. "We'll have a chance to make some plays."
"Playing against a guy who throws the ball so much - it'll be fun to get out there and fly around."
Texas Tech throws the ball an average of 56 times per game, and it has 4.248 passing yards already this season.The Red Raiders lead the Big 12 Conference in passing and total offense.
At home this season, Texas Tech's high-powered offense has averaged 47.8 points per game, and they have lost only one game at Jones SBC Stadium, which was a 51-48 overtime loss to North Carolina State.
Linebacker Reed Boyd will take the Texas defensive backs against Kingsbury any day.
"There's no one side you really want to throw to," Boyd said. "You have to pick your poison. I wouldn't want to throw against them, if I were a quarterback."
Vasher said that's what the sec
ondary had been trying to do all season -- have a number of players capable of making plays. That was on display Saturday against Baylor, Vashers said, when Kendal Briles played for the first time in his collegiate career as a free safety and came up with two interceptions.
"It's something we've strived for all season, to not have anybody in the secondary have a drop off." Vasher said. "[Kingsbury] will just have to take his choice."
Kingsbury doesn't have a go-to guy on the field, although freshman Taurean Henderson leads Texas Tech in receiving and rushing yards with 660 on the ground and 489 through the air.
"With the type of offense they
run, they can score points on you really quick," Boyd said. "They're going to fight the entire game."
Boyd knows Kingsbury quite well. They both lived in New Braunfels but attended different high schools with Boyd attending Canyon High School and Kingsbury at New Braunfels High.
"I watched him in high school, and he has a great arm," Boyd said. "If you put the ball in his hands, he'll make some plays."
Defensive end Cory Redding said Texas considered Kingsbury a tough opponent because of his pocket presence.
Especially after last year's 42-7 win over Texas Tech where Kingsbury constantly took his but just popped back up ready to play.
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