6B
Wednesday, October 23, 1996
UN I V E R S I T Y D A I L Y K A N S A N
Dallas Cowboys prepare to beat former coach, rival
IRVING, Texas — The Dallas Cowboys were more worried about hailstones than about Jimmy Johnson.
The Associated Press
A storm peppered their Valley Ranch practice facility with marble-sized hail and had players rushing to the parking lot to check on their cars. The players' fleet of luxury cars escaped serious damage.
the hailstorm seemed to generate more excitement than anything else as Beat Jimmy Johnson Week got off to a low-key start.
The Cowboys meet their former coach in Miami on Sunday, but quarterback Troy Aikman claims there's no special incentive to play harder.
"There is a sideshow between (Cowboys owner Jerry) Jones and Jimmy, but the players aren't going to be caught up in it," Alkman said Monday. "The media will have a ball with it, and that's fine. The two main characters are Jerry and Jimmy."
"Everybody has been talking about this matchup since the schedule came out," Alkman said. "This is a big game only because both teams are 4-3 going into it. It doesn't matter who is coaching the teams. We have to win. I'm sure that's the way
they are looking at it. too."
his former coach this season.
"It isn't a relationship where we talk on a regular basis," Alkman said. "Jimmy is still a friend, but his approach is the same as mine. We don't talk football."
"There's hype around here when Nate Newton walks across the room," he said.
Aikman added: "I respected him for his dedication and commitment to the game. It parallels mine."
Asked if the Johnson hype would distract the team this week, Alkman laughed.
Newton, the Cowboys' huge offensive lineman, got the Johnson week one-liners started.
"I don't miss Jimmy. He's not my wife," Newton said. "He was my coach. I don't get into that male bonding."
Johnson and Jones had a much-publicized parting three years ago, and Barry Switzer was hired. The Cowboys got as far
as the NFC championship game two years ago and won the Super Bowl in January under Switzer.
"I liked Jimmy, and I liked his style and what he did for the program." Newton said. "But I'd be less of a man if I didn't want to go out and whip him. I'm still hurting from some of those training camps he put us through. Some days I wake up when I'm sore and say, 'Damn, Jimmy. Thanks.'"
Newton said he was mad when Johnson left the team.
"I thought it was all wrong to get rid of Jimmy," Newton said. "But now I can see it was not a bad move. The two men couldn't get along, and it would have trickled down to the players."
Switzer said that, so far, "Jerry hasn't said one word to me about the game with Jimmy. The game was going to look like the loser's bowl until we pulled that one out against Atlanta (32-28)."
The Cowboys have two players who are doubtful for the game. Offensive tackle Mark Tuinei was listed as doubtful because of a knee injury, and linebacker Bill Bates has a broken thumb.
"We'll just have to wait and see on those two guys," Switzer said.
GREEN BAY, Wis. — Coach Mike Holmgren says a San Francisco play list that was slipped to the Green Bay Packers just before a Monday night showdown with the 49ers was in the trash can by game time.
The Associated Press
"It's much ado about nothing is what it is, because we did not have the sheets," Holmgren said Monday in his first comment on the case of the purlined play sheet. "The sheets were thrown away before we even played the game."
Packers coach trashes San Francisco play list
Packer fan Kerri Mallien, of Green Bay, said she and co-worker Al Paul delivered the play list and a sheet full of play diagrams to Packers headquarters after she unwittingly obtained them from 49ers consultant and former coach Bill Walsh.
She said she was attending a conference at a Green Bay hotel the night before the Oct. 14 game when she spotted Walsh and asked for an autograph.
Walsh took the napkin she offered, then reached in his pocket for something else to write on against a brick wall, signed the autograph and handed it back to her, she said.
When Mallien walked away, she
noticed two folded pieces of paper were with the napkin, and one had some writing on it referring to the Packers.
When she showed it to Paul, he recognized it as a list of plays the 48ers planned to run in the Monday night game.
Paul took copies to Packers offices and said someone should show them to Holmgren and defensive coordinator Fritz Shurmur.
In the game, Green Bay held the 48ers scoreless in the opening quarter. By halftime, the 48ers led 17-6, but the Packers went on to win 23-20 in overtime.
"If they knew what we were doing, they didn't respond to it," San Francisco coach George Seifert said when the playlist caner was disclosed Friday.
Holmgren said his administrative assistant Susan Kluck was instructed to toss the papers in the trash.
Big 12 coaches scout foes
The Associated Press
DALLAS — Selected comments from Big 12 North coaches during their weekly conference call Monday:
COLORADO (5-1:3-0)
Next game: vs. Texas. Saturday
Colorado coach Rick Neuheisel has read all the stories about linebacker Matt Russell being a wild man, and he's not impressed. "They're all true, but (to me) he's not as wild as advertised." Neuheisel said. "He certainly likes
to look the part — 47 different hair styles and so forth — but Brian Bosworth he's not."
That doesn't mean Neuheisel thinks any less of him on the football field.
Neuheisel further demolished Russell's growing legend by saying "he'd just as soon go home with a bowl of ice cream, sit on the couch and watch TV with his parents."
"Matt is certainly a great player for us," Neuheisel said. "Not only because he's the anchor of our 4-3 defense. He's just a guy who plays so hard. That can't help but carry over to the entire defensive unit and the whole team."
KANSAS STATE (6-1;3-1)
Next game: vs. Oklahoma, Saturday
Kansas State coach Bill Snyder can't say enough nice things about wide receiver Kevin Lockett. "He's a wonderful young man. He has tremendous character, and he's a very fine student," Snyder said. "He does what he's supposed
to do, and he does things the right way. People enjoy being around him."
"He's a big-play receiver," Snyder said. "He has good hands. He makes difficult catches — that's certainly been his trademark over the years."
Quarterbacks obviously like him, too. He's third in the league with 34 catches for 442 yards. He's on pace to match or beat last year's 56 catches for 797 yards.
NEBRASKA (5-1:3-0)
Next game: vs. Kansas. Saturday
Nebraska coach Tom Osborne said that he expected running back Ahman Green to return to practice early this week and that Green likely would play Saturday. However, several linemen and full-back Brian Schuster are banged up. Schuster has a bad shoulder bruise and may be out this weekend.
Everyone will be needed in top form if the Cornhuskers are to return to the level of offense Osborne would like to see.
"The offense has been good and bad," Osborne said. "I don't think we had a very good day against Arizona State or against Texas Tech. We had problems both games
with turnovers."
Osborne gave quarterback Scott Frost a passing grade against Texas Tech.
I think he played well," Osborne said. "It was not one of his best games, but he wasn't bad either. The turn-overs around him were not necessarily his fault. He had played well the previous two or three games."
KANSAS (3-3;1-2)
Next game: at Nebraska. Saturday
A few weeks ago, Baylor coach Chuck Reedy gave a soliloquy on the virtues of Nebraska football after the Cornhuskers smashed the Bears.
On Monday, a few days before facing the Huskers, Kansas coach Glen Mason joined the choir
singing praises to the two-time defending national champions.
"I really think that the University of Nebraska has the finest commitment to the sport of football of any place," Mason said. "The people up there become participants instead of spectators. They become very involved."
IOWA STATE (2-4;1-2)
Next game: at Baylor, Saturday
McCarney reminds them they are moving in the right direction after going 3-8 last year.
ose are things we point out to
the kids," McCarney said. "We can't change the past, but we can learn from it. There's no quick fix ... It's going to take some time. We're taking a lot of small steps in the right direction."
McCarney said his team didn't have the here-we-go- again feeling late in games, expecting to lose.
"We're playing to win, believing we can win," he said. "We're just not making the plays to win in the last minute."
MISSOURI (2-4:0-3)
Next game: vs. Oklahoma State, Saturday
"We had some guys who wouldn't have played if we had a game, and some who could've played but wouldn't have been 100 percent," Smith said.
Missouri coach Larry Smith said his team benefited from having last weekend off.
held out of practice all week. The other players worked on fundamentals during the week, then were given the weekend off.
"I gave them Saturday and Sunday off to get fresh for this five-game stretch," Smith said. "We have a chance to win any and all of our games."
Those six or seven players were
Race heats up for Big 12 South
The Associated Press
DALLAS — Selected comments from Big 12 South coaches during their weekly conference call Monday: TEXAS A&M (9.4,1.2)
Next game: vs.Texas Tech.Saturday
Aggies coach R.C. Slocum met with quarterback Brandon Stewart on Monday to discuss the controversial play at the end of the first half of Saturday's loss, when Stewart disobeyed the coach's call and unsuccessfully tried to score on a keep from the 1-foot line. The faulty decision was only
The faulty decision was only part of their discussion. More
importantly, Slocum wanted to talk about why Stewart admitted the mistake publicly and set himself up as the fall guy.
"I would not have volunteered that information following the game," Slocum said of Stewart's admission. "You win as team and lose as a team."
Stewart blamed himself for making the bad call — a sweep play had been sent in — and said it cost the Aggies the game.
"I don't want to put it all off on him," Slocum said.
"That was one play that could've made the difference, but there were several others that could've also."
Slocum pointed out that part of the reason the play didn't work was because the blocking scheme was for the other play, meaning that Stewart wasn't given the proper protection to try the sneak.
TEXAS (3-3;2-1)
Next game: at Colorado, Saturday
One of the games-within-the-game Saturday will be Texas' solid secondary vs. Colorado's speedy wide
receivers.
The Longhorns rank third in the Big 12 in pass defense, allowing 872 yards and four touchdowns in six
games. The Buffaloes have the top-ranked passing offense with 1.821 vards.
"I think it will be an interesting matchup and people will watch for it," Texas coach John Mackovic said. "I hope we match up with their speed. They're faster and probably have more talent than anyone we've faced the last several years."
Mackovic said speed was something that you could detect on film but couldn't really appreciate until you saw it. He expects the first quarter to be a feeling-out period for his defensive backs.
Next game: at Texas A&M;
Saturday
TEXASTECH(4-3:3-2)
Most pundits say the Red Raiders have as good a chance as anyone — and better than most
of representing the Big 12's
South division in the league's first title game Dec. 7 in St Louis.
What does coach Spike Dykes think?
- 'A&M is a big, big hurdle for us,' he said. "It gives us a chance to control our own destiny.
"If we win, it puts us a step closer to where we want to be."
OKLAHOMA STATE (4-3; 1-3)
Nextgame: at Missouri, Saturday
Oklahoma State followed a 71-14 blow-out by Texas
with a 35-13 loss to Colorado. A 28-27 victory against Iowa State was a step in the right direction, leaving Cowboys coach Bob Simmons pleased with his season so far.
'I've liked some of the things
we've been able to accomplish here," the second-year coach said. "As a head coach you really stress the positive side of football."
Simmons pointed out that OSU has won six of its last 10 games. Plus, he has used 10 freshmen this year.
"If we can stay on top of it, our future is really bright here," he said.
Newt game: at Kansas State. Saturday
It's amazing what a two-game winning streak can do for a school that has won several national titles.
He said his team's recent success had proven to his players that they were much better than their 0-4 start.
"The kids feel really good about it, and right now we're building off of it," Blake said. "but we've got a lot of work to do." The Sooners — who had los eight straight before beat
got all of work to do.
The Sooners — who had lost eight straight before beating Texas and Baylor the last two
Saturdays — could win the Big 12 South by winning their conference games.
"Right now we're making too many mistakes to have a shot at the Big 12 (title)." Blake said.
BAYLOR (3-3;0-3)
Next game: vs. Iowa State, Saturday
Early last week, Bears coach Chuck Reedy said the winner of the Big 12 South would have at least two losses.
He has widened his prediction a bit to say the champ
could even have three loses.
That means the Bears still are alive — if they win the rest of their conference games.
"We've got five more tough games, and they're all games that are winnable," Reedy said. He'd especially like to see improvement by his young defense, he said.
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