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SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DARY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18, 2007
BIG 12 FOOTBALL
New Iowa State coach debuts at spring game
BY BRETT MCINTYRE
IOWA STATE DAILY
AMES, Iowa — Fans got their first look at ISU football coach Gene Chizik's Cyclones inside Jack Trice Stadium on Saturday at the annual spring game.
The game had new faces on the sidelines and a new "offense vs. defense" format and scoring system with starters and backups rotating every series. There were a couple moments when fans needed programs to identify players, but it was some old names that lifted the
offense to a 31
22 victory.
Quarterback Bret Meyer was 11-for-16 passing for 196 yards and a touchdown, while Jason Harris broke off an 81-yard touchdown run in his return to running back from safety.
Seven different receivers caught passes, and Alvin Bowen and Jon Banks led the team with seven tackles in what Chizik called a successful spring practice.
"I think wed played pretty well," Chizik said. "We made some mistakes, but it was good to get out there and do this in front of some fans. I'm very appreciative of everyone who came out to watch us today."
"We made some mistakes, but it was good to get out there and do this in front of some fans."
Meyer said it was not only great to play in front of fans, but great to play in temperatures in the 50s.
"Last Saturday it was like eight or 10 degrees wind-chill out there," Meyer said. "It was a lot more fun going out there today especially with fans in the stands."
Culbertson. The offense managed to get on a roll, highlighted by Jason Harris' 81-yard TD romp before the intermission, taking control of the game, but the defense made a bit of a "comeback" before everything was said and done, showing effort that Chizik said he loved.
The offense got off to a slow start, going three-and-out on the first two series of the game before the offense managed a drive to set up a 37-yard field goal from Bret
"As I told the players before we went out there, the two things I don't want anybody to be able to watch us and say is we don't give great effort or we don't play physical." Chizik said. "Everybody has a question
GENE CHIZIK Iowa State coach
of how good we'll be on offense, how good we'll be on defense
- those questions are still up in the air.
I don't know the answer to those. But I know that I don't ever want to walk
of the field and say somebody, saw us play where we didn't give effort or play physical."
While Chizik was pleased with the overall effort, Meyer said there were plays left on the field that he would have liked to make.
Meyer was sacked twice, and was heavily pressured several times. Add in a few pass drops on passes from both Meyer and back-up Austen Arnaud and there was plenty of room to preach consistency.
"I felt OK today," Meyer said. "There's always plays you want to have back. Obviously we had two three-and-outs right away and you want to have a better start than that. We definitely need more consistency"
Chizik was also not pleased with the sacks given up by the Cyclones. Iowa state ranked near the bottom of the league last season, giving up 38 sacks through
the course of the year, making it an area of concern.
"We're still holding on to the ball too long and we're still giving up too many sacks," Chizik said. "Sacks are unacceptable. You either block the guys up front or get rid of the football. We're trying to stay out of negative plays and if we don't, that's very disappointing."
The offense also had some turnover problems, fumbling at midfield, and another fumble by receiver Matt Scribbins after catching a 63-yard pass off of a deflection inside the 5-ward line.
"We turned the ball over today," Chizik said. "That is unacceptable. You cannot win football games by putting the ball on the ground or throwing interceptions. It's that simple.
"And defensively we gave up way too many explosive plays. Those are backbreakers."
R. J. Sumrall had a big game for the receivers, catching six passes for 134 vards and a touchdown.
"I think I'm in a position where I can step up and contribute to the team," Sumrall said.
"Everybody wants to be great. We want to be great. We didn't do that great last year and we want to change that."
According to Chizik, fans did not get to see senior receiver Todd Blythe in action because of a few minor injuries.
"This has been a very physical spring practice," Chizik said. "Todd is such a competitor — he wanted to play — but he got banged up a little bit in our last practice and we didn't want to risk four months of training if he were to get hurt. He could have gone today if we were getting ready to play someone, but we didn't want to risk it."
Fans won't have another chance to see the team for four months until Iowa State opens the season against Kent State on August 30.
Nati Harnik/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Nebraska quarterback Sam Keller receives a snap during the football team's annual Red-White spring game in Lincoln, Neb., Saturday. Keller transferred from Arizona State in April.
'Husker QB spot up for grabs
>> BIG 12 FOOTBALL COMMENTARY
Spring practices fail to establish frontrunner for starting job
BY JONATHAN CROWL
DAILY NEBRASKAN
LINCOLN, Neb. — The spring season failed to fill the most obvious blank spot on the Nebraska football depth chart. Even though the starting quarterback job was never going to be awarded, the spring game failed to present a clear favorite, even in the minds of the fans.
Senior Sam Keller has the arm. Junior Joe Ganz has foot speed. Both put up impressive numbers.
Both went against the second-team defense.
The difficulty in establishing one as the clear-cut favorite lies in what makes them good. Ganz and Keller are different quarterbacks. You don't need jersey numbers to tell them apart.
But start distinguishing individuals' combination of strengths — tempered with weaknesses — and it becomes a gray area. If nothing else, fans who shot down the notion of a quarterback battle at the start of spring might rescind their confidence.
Nebraska coach Bill Callahan said the team would refrain from naming a starting quarterback until the end of training camp in August.
"We felt very good about how Sam Keller and Joe Ganz performed," Callahan said. "When you look at some of the numbers they posted (Saturday), it's pretty impressive, and
I was really pleased with everything they did."
"I'm going to continue to evaluate our quarterback situation."
Often times the most valuable aspect of spring practice is integrating new players into starting positions. This lessens the transition and adjustment period when freshmen arrive in the fall.
The opportunity to integrate players was valuable for the defensive line, which will feature four new starters in 2007. In other areas, individuals such as sophomore safety Rickey Thenarse get the chance to compete for the first time with returning starters.
ers, getting used to one another and playing more like a team"
Potter said the most important thing between now and the season opener Sept. 1 against Nevada will be building on the strides made in spring. Rather than taking steps backward, Potter said there are things to work on individually and as a team.
"When you look at some of the numbers they posted (Saturday),it's pretty impressive."
No matter what else is said,
For some positions, experience and talent are in good supply. The wide receivers and linebacking corps are possibly the strongest, most talented groups on the field. Even so, those positions still have to deal with new personnel throughout the lineup.
BILL CALLAHAN
Nebraska coach
"The improvement we made through the spring was awesome," junior defensive end Zach Potter said. "We got, I think, around 1,500 reps this spring. That helped us out a lot working with the other play-
though, the eyes of Husker Nation will be focused on that open starting slot at quarterback. What was once viewed as a reserved seat has quickly evolved into a neck-and-neck battle that few saw coming.
It seems clear after Saturday's scrimmage that all reservations have been cancelled.
"It was just an awesome feeling going out with the first team and not going out with the backup role or anything," Ganz said. "The only thing I couldn't show was my ability to scramble too much because I wasn't live. I couldn't make anybody miss. But other than that, I think I took advantage of everything that we needed to take advantage of."
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