SPORTS
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, OGTOBER 19, 1994
COLUMNIST
SECTION B
GERRY FEY
Chiefs fanatics: Stay calm
The Chiefs a Super Bowl team? After Monday night's 31-28 come-from-behind performance - hardy.
While Kansas City's victory against the Denver Broncos at Mile High Stadium was an unbelievable game, fans must keep their feet firmly on the ground and not in seventh heaven. Chiefs' quarterback Joe Montana proved once again, as if there was any doubt, why he is a lock for the NFL Hall of Fame. But he did it against a team that had given up 146 points in five games and had a 1-4 record.
And the Broncos' prevent defense they changed to in the final seconds? You could have dropped an atomic bomb in the secondary and still not hit a Denver defensive back. Kansas City receivers had their way in the middle of the field and down the sidelines.
The Chiefs will not be the savior team the AFC is looking for to finally win a Super Bowl. In fact, the last time the Chiefs were that savior, my dad was just a young sprite. Back then, Kansas City and Green Bay dominated professional football.
Keep that in mind, Tomahawk Chompers
Of course, those two teams were practically the only ones that knew the rules of the game. My memory is hazy, but when Kansas City defeated Minnesota in 1970 in Super Bowl IV, was the forward pass legal?
This is a good time in the season to evaluate the Chiefs and what it takes to be a Super Bowl contender.
A strong running game — A common thread that binds all championship-bound teams is either a strong rushing attack or at least one strong running back. Miami had running back Larry Csonka in 1972 during its run to the NFL's only undefeated season ever. Pittsburgh had Franco Harris when it ran off two straight championship seasons in 1975 and 1976.
And the Chiefs have ... Marcus Allen and rookie Greg Hill?
While Allen's name alone can sit properly next to those of previous Hall of Famers, Csonka and Harris were in their primes when they received their championship rings. Allen can still get to the end zone, but it's getting to the point where he needs bifocals and a cane to find it.
And Hill is too young and inexperienced in the San Francisco-based offense to put the rushing burden on him. As Monday's game showed, Hill is still having problems catching passes out of the backfield.
A tough defense — In the '70s, the Pittsburgh Steelers dominated teams with their "Iron Curtain" defense. Opponents, including potent offenses from Dallas and Minnesota, were helpless against the Steelers' devastating pass rush and run defense. Chicago took the 1986 Super Bowl with a defense led by do-it-all linebacker Mike Singleton and defenders who could change the outcome of a game in one play.
The Chiefs do have two strong pass rushers in Derrick Thomas and Neil Smith, but that's about it. Monday night, Kansas City allowed the Broncos to score 28 points. The Chiefs consistently put pressure on Denver quarterback John Elway, but the Broncos outrushed the Chiefs 97 yards to 90.
I would love to see a Super Bowl frenzy hit the Kansas City and Lawrence areas. I'm not a Chiefs fan, but any sports excitement is good excitement to me.
But keep your heads, Chiefs fans, or your seventh-heaven championship plans may go up in smoke.
While the Miracle at Mile Highwalls an amazing spectacle in itself and entertaining to watch, don't go crazy for a 4-2 team that is still two games behind division-leader San Diego.
Jayhawks to face No.2 'Huskers
Kansas volleyball faces a challenge in match tonight
Paul Kotz / KANSAN
Kansas freshman outside hitter Jenny Wiedeke spikes the ball while freshman settler Trisha Lindgren looks on during practice at Robinson Center. The team was preparing Monday for its match with No. 2 Nebraska. it will be the first time Kansas coach Karen Schonehine, as a head coach, will go against her former coach.
By Chesley Dohl
Kansan sportswriter
The Kansas volleyball team will try to defend its home court tonight when the Nebraska Cornhuskers come to Allen Field House.
The Jayhawks, 4-14, will have a tough game against the Cornhuskers, 17-0. Nebraska also owns a 4-0 Big Eight Conference record.
Kansas coach Karen Schonewise, who played for Nebraska coach Terry Pettit from 1983 to 1987, will have to coach against the person who taught her the game.
Schonewise and Pettit will battle for a win at 8 p.m., but Schonewise said she and Pettit maintained a friendly relationship off the court.
Pettit said he called Schonewise, his former All-American, throughout the season for a different perspective on his coaching. And Schonewise said she still adopted coaching style and advice from Pettit.
Pettit, who has coached for 16 years at Nebraska and built a nationally known volleyball program as well as compiled a 491-117 record, said he had confidence in Schonewise and her ability to create a strong Kansas volleyball tradition.
"It won't be a long time before she'll be able to develop a program based on her own philosophy and values," Pettit said. "A couple years down the road the Kansas volleyball program will be a reflection of her abilities."
Nebraska has defeated nationally
ranked teams this season, including New Mexico, Duke, and Louisiana State.
"With a 6-foot-1 average height on the team, our first strength is the block," said Cathy Noth, Nebraska assistant coach. "We hold our opponents to a .175 hitting percentage."
"Offensively, we have three or four players that can put the ball away," she said. "Volleyball's a game of serving, and we have good enough servers to pull other teams out of their defense."
But being one of the best can sometimes be a disadvantage.
But Nebraska excels at every phase of the game, and that is the one reason they are ranked second in the nation behind Stanford.
"Any time we let us guard, we can get beat," Noth said.
be a less intense atmosphere than playing at home for Nebraska, Noth said.
For Nebraska, the field house will
"In the Coliseum, we have around 3,300 fans a game," Noth said. "It's definitely intimidating for opponents that come in .
"Fans love the game of volleyball here, and the players enjoy the support. It's definitely harder to win on the road than at home."
Kansas played its last match at home on Oct. 3 and was able to upset Oklahoma. That night's attendance was 800, which was higher than usual.
Kansas volleyball players said the crowd played a key role in the victory.
"The crowd helped a lot tonight," said Katie Walsh, sophomore outside hitter. "It was good to play at home again. Crowd support is so essential."
AP voters change minds, alter polls weekly
Brian Vandervlet / KANSAN
Kansas senior defensive end Harold Harris prepares to tackle junior defensive and Derek Fairchild. The team practiced yesterday for the Oklahoma game on Saturday.
Osborne doesn't see anti-Nebraska bias
By Matt Irwin Kansan sportswriter
Nebraska football coach Tom Osborne said that he did not think there was a bias against his football team among Associated Press voters.
But when the Cornhuskers fell from second to third in the Associated Press poll after their 17-6 defeat of No.19 Kansas State Saturday, some might think his answer would be different.
In spite of the victory, Penn State and Colorado vaulted to No.1 and No.2 in the poll respectively. Nebraska's record is 7-0, Colorado's record is 6-0 and Penn State's record is 6-0.
"I don't think there is any anti-Nebraska bias," Nebraska coach Tom Osborne said Monday in the Big Eight coaches' briefing. "Early in the season, I think there was a Nebraska bias that was too pro-Nebraska."
Osborne said that Nebraska benefited from its 31-0 defeat of West Virginia in its first game of the season. Osborne said the voters thought at the time that the Mountaineers would remain a top team.
Like Nebraska, West Virginia finished the 1993 regular season with an 11-0 record and lost in a bowl. Although the Mountaineers
lost a number of players from the prior season, they still were ranked No. 24 before their game with the Cornhuskers.
Despite what he saw as an early season bias in favor of the Cornhuskers, Osborne seemed frustrated with how he perceived the AP voters determined the rankings.
"Based on the schedule Colorado has played, I'd be hard pressed to think there is a better team in the country." Snyder said.
Osborne said that he believed the AP voters made their decisions with the help of highlight shows. He said that when comments are repeated several times on these shows, the opinions of these commentators can influence the voters.
One coach who has played Nebraska and has studied Colorado game film is K-State coach Bill Snyder.
The nation will find out who is better on Oct. 29 when Colorado plays Nebraska in Lincoln. If Penn State goes undefeated, they
Colorado coach Bill McCartney also seemed frustrated.
"I don't know how that works," McCarrney said. "Frazier being hurt could have changed some of their minds. I don't worry about what I can't change."
McCartney said that the AP voters changed their minds every weekend and that they would probably change their minds later this season. He said that he thought the absence of Nebraska quarterback Tommie Frazier could be a reason for the Cornhuskers drop in the polls.
The Associated Press updated poll. The poll was shaken up after a weekend of upsets. Florida, the previous No. 1, lost to Auburn, which caused the initial shakeup;
AP poll's top five
| | Record | Pts | Pvs |
| :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- |
| 1. Penn State (19) | 6-0-0 | 1,487 | 3 |
| 2. Colorado (15) | 6-0-0 | 1,474 | 4 |
| 3. Nebraska (26) | 7-0-0 | 1,463 | 2 |
| 4. Auburn (3) | 7-0-0 | 1,402 | 6 |
| 5. Florida | 5-1-0 | 1,196 | 1 |
Big Eight Conference teams in bold.
English Correction术语在书底。
Source: The Associated Press KANSAN
will win the Big Ten Conference championship and play in the Rose Bowl against the Pacific Ten Conference champion.
If that happens and Penn State remains No. 1, an undefeated Nebraska or Colorado team would not get to play Penn State to decide the national championship.
"I don't worry about it much," Osborne said. "I don't worry about things I can't control."
Missouri coach Larry Smith, whose team is 2-4 and plays Indiana at 1 p.m. Saturday in Columbia, said he thought it seemed like teams had to beat a traditionally good team or defeat the team they play by a lopsided score to maintain their status in the poll.
"Pollsters are very frivolous." Smith said. "They're very score conscious."
Montana helps Chiefs break Mile High losing streak
The Associated Press
DENVER — The Mile High Mystique is dead.
Joe Montana killed it.
The Denver Broncos, although still the owners of the NFL's best home record since 1976, have lost four straight home games at Denver's Mile High Stadium and six of their last nine. Their powerful air of invincibility has been shattered.
Montana's third touchdown pass of the game, a 5-yarder to Willie Davis with eight seconds left, gave the Kansas City Chiefs a 31-28 victory over the Broncos on Monday night.
The victory enabled the Chiefs to exorcise a den of demons — their 11-game losing streak at Mile High, as well as Montana's (0-3) and coach Marty Schottenheimer's (0-7) personal records in Denver.
Montana drove the Chiefs 75 yards in nine plays after Denver's John Elway had run 4 yards to put Denver ahead 28-24 with 1:29 left. Such late-game heroics by Elway never get upstaged in Denver — by Montana or anyone else.
For a while, it looked as if the mysterious forces were still working in Denver's favor. The Chiefs (4-2) blew two scoring opportunities — allowing time to expire before they could kick a field goal just before the end of the first half and missing a 27-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter.
back did that against our team." Elway said.
"Usually, we have the ball last."
"I can't remember when an opposing quarter-
Then, just one play after Denver's Shannon Sharpe had fumbled the ball away to kill a potential go-ahead scoring drive, Kansas City's Marcus Allen fumbled it right back at the Kansas City 39-yard line with 2:41 left. Elway scored barely a minute later.
The Broncos left Montana too much time, however. After the kickoff, the Chiefs had 1:22 and two timeouts remaining.
The Kansas City quarterback, who missed significant practice time last week because of sore ribs and a bruised hip, completed 7 of 8 passes and managed the clock perfectly on the winning drive. On three of the completions, Chiefs receivers got out of bounds to top the clock.
"We just needed one more play, and we couldn't seem to make it at the end," Denver coach Wade Phillips said.
"We knew they'd concede a certain part of the field to us, so we could throw underneath. We did that and kept moving." Montana said.
"Joe shows time and time again that he can get it done," Kansas City defensive end Neil Smith said. "The media always says he's washed up and he's too old (at 38), but he showed everyone he can still do it."
The last four plays on the drive were all completions — 11 yards to Kimble Anders, 12 yards to Derrick Walker, 19 yards to Tracy Greene and, finally, the 5-yarder to Davis.
For the Broncos (1-5), it marked the first time in franchise history they have opened a season with three straight home losses.
"We expect to beat the Chiefs at home," Denver linebacker Karl Mecklenburg said. "We had the game in hand, and we let it get away. In the past, we've come up with the big plays when we needed to. This time we didn't."
AFC West Standings
the current NFL standings in the American Football Conference's West division; Kansas City's 31-29 victory at Denver on Monday put the Chiefs only two games left undefeated San Diego for the division lead.
| | W | L | pta for | pta against |
| :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- |
| San Diego | 6 | 0 | 170 | 106 |
| Kansas City | 4 | 2 | 121 | 108 |
| Seattle | 3 | 3 | 130 | 86 |
| Raiders | 2 | 4 | 133 | 161 |
| Denver | 1 | 5 | 136 | 177 |
Other AFC West results:
Miami 20, L. A. Raiders 17 OT
San Diego 36, New Orleans 22
OPEN DATE — Seattle
Source:The Associated Press
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