FOOTBALL
NEBRASKA CORNHUSKERS
Nebraska quarterback Taylor Martinez throws during the game against Western Kentucky on Saturday, Sept. 4, in Lincoln, Neb.
Poor defensive effort from Cornhuskers
By Dan Hoppen The Daily Nebraskan
Amid the swirl of excitement surrounding Taylor Martinez's magical debut, it was easy to overlook something that most Husker fans now take for granted.
Nebraska's defense didn't play to the same level as last year.
Not even close.
Not that it should have right away, anyway. It was the first game of the year, and the Huskers were replacing five graduated starters, not including the losses of Will Compton and Sean Fisher to injuries.
Still, when coach Bo Pelini claims that this year's defense will upstage last year's, the expectations are going to be high.
Speaking of Pelini, he was less than enthused with his unit's effort.
"I thought overall defensively it was an absolute embarrassment," Pelini said. "I thought it was coached poorly, and that starts with me. I didn't like anything we did defensively.
"I mean, there were a couple things that we did OK, but we didn't play up to our standard."
The Huskers gave up 179 rushing yards, more than they gave up in any one game last season. Western Kentucky's Bobby Rainey had 155 yards, the most any running back has rushed for since Pelini becameNU's coach.
Some of the responsibility falls on the starting linebackers, Lavonte David and Alonzo Whaley. David led NU with 13 tackles, but Pelini he's still has work to do.
"I think Lavonte David made a lot of mistakes," he said, "as did most of our other
guys."
David said he agreed with Pelini's assessment.
"Yeah, most of it was our fault," David said. "Everybody knew what we had to be, but we had to step up. A lot of people weren't hearing us."
The highlight for the Blackshirts was a fumble forced by DeJon Gomes just before Rainey crossed the goal line in the third quarter. Rainey sprinted 46 yards up the middle before Gomes caught him from behind. The ball popped out in the end zone, where it was recovered by Eric Hagg.
"It's just a part of our culture, which is effort," Gomes said. "You see a guy running, and I'm pretty sure I and a lot of my teammates chase him down just so we can get that next-play opportunity and maybe get a three-and-out or a field goal on the board, just trying to make another play.
"I had the opportunity, and I was just going for the tackle, but the ball came out, too."
Without that fumble, the Hilltoppers would have had another seven points, which would have given them more than any NU non-conference opponent last year.
But it's just one game. The Huskers had five players making their first career start, including both starting linebackers, depended upon to make calls and direct the rest of the defense.
And the team that had the most rushing yards against NU last year? That would be Arkansas State, another overmatched early-season opponent.
"It's the first game," Pelini said. "I've seen a lot of good things defensively through camp. I think we're going to be a good defense."
TEXAS LONGHORNS
Texas faces strengths and weaknesses
By Laken Litman The Daily Texan
Cody Johnson sprained his ankle on the second play of Saturday's game but didn't tell the coaches until after the final whistle because he wanted to play.
"I asked him why he didn't tell us, and he said, I've worked too hard to be the starter and I don't want to lose it," head coach Mack Brown said of Johnson.
Johnson didn't want to appear weak. But as his ankle swelled throughout the game, it was harder for him to plant, cut and take advantage of goal line situations — like the one on the Longhorns' opening drive where Johnson was dropped back for a loss of four yards on fourth and inches from inside the one.
Because of Johnson's injury and sophomore Tre' Newton scoring three touchdowns Saturday, Newton has earned the No. 1 spot on the depth chart this week. If Johnson hadn't been hurt, Brown isn't sure if Newton would be starting against Wyoming this week or not.
"It's hard to say because [Johnson] only played two healthy plays," Brown said. "I appreciate the fact that he tried to be so tough. Most players will tell you pretty fast [that they're injured]."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Brown liked the way his trio of running backs played and noted that Saturday was the first game since 2005 — the year Texas won the National Championship — that he had three backs run for more than 50 yards each (Johnson had 63, Newton had 61 and Fozzy Whittaker had 51).
To run or to pass?
That is the question
The Longhorns want to be better at the end of the year than at the beginning, so a playbook dump of chiseled passing plays in the season opener might have ruined their chances. Brown wants to build upon his team's weaknesses before showing off all of its strengths.
"The message seems to be we're going to line up in a wishbone and run it every play," Brown said. "We're not. We want to run it better. We will be balanced. We'll try to be 50-50, run and pass. We were not Saturday, but that's what we're working on."
The reason Texas ran for the majority of their offensive plays on Saturday was to experiment with the ground game because Rice was a team they could take risks against. The Longhorns' running game is not as advanced as their passing game, which is why they're working on it more.
Texas running back Ire' Newton jumps between Rice defenders during the first half of a game Saturday, Sept. 4, in Houston. Texas won 34-17.
Thickening the defensive line
Defensive Coordinator Will Muschamp has talked about strengthening the inside of his defensive line in the tackle position next to veteran Kheeston Randall since last spring, but he still doesn't have his go-to guy.
Junior Tyrell Higgins, sophomore Alex Okafor and redshirt freshman Calvin Howell will rotate in next to Randall by committee because they have not yet separated themselves from one another.
"I don't think there's anybody distancing themselves through the production of the first game," Muschamp said. "I'd prefer to have a guy step up, but we don't have that right now. I do think we're getting positive production, so I'm not disappointed. There's just not enough of a difference in those three guys right now."
To add some leadership and experience to the mix, Muschamp will add defensive end Sam Acho to the inside for a number of snaps.
THE WAVE SEPTEMBER 10,2010
3A ce n w
e shift
digital
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saturday.
AGE IN
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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
eries galleries for times.
2.1.1.1.1.1
Artists showcase work at Indian Art Market
The annual event was a success during the weekend.
CLUBS|2A
Cultural Indian Club to host events for Ganesha
Club will celebrate Indian festival for Hindi god this week in Lawrence.
Classifieds. .7B
Crossword. .4A
Cryptoquips. .4A
Opinion. .5A
Sports. .1B
Sudoku. .4A
Artist-in-Residence, Dan Periposchi, works on his exhibit in the Spencer Museum of Arts Central Court Friday afternoon. Romanian-born Periposchi will be at KU until Sept. 16th. While here, he will share his art and reflections with students and the community through his exhibit and artist talks.
INDEX
WEATHER
TUESDAY
75 62
Thunderstorms
TUESDAY
Sarah Hockel/KANSAN
WEDNESDAY
86 67
Partly cloudy
All contents, unless stated otherwise, © 2010 The University Daily Kansan
Simple drawings, complex ideas
Exhibit at Spencer illuminates artist's social philosophies
BY NICOLAS ROESLER
nroesler@kansan.com
A man with a thick black and gray beard stands 20-feet high on a cherry picker in the Spencer Museum of Art, drawing on the walls. He wears a green fly-fishing jacket, which holds everything he needs — a few markers and a notebook.
His arms move quickly and deliberately, like a teacher at a chalkboard. He draws simple figurines, as if the walls were just a giant comic strip. Somehow, a clear message comes through.
Periovschi is the artist-in-residence at the Spencer Museum of Art. He has been drawing in the central court of the museum for almost two weeks now, creating walls of statements and observations through cartoon-looking, graffiti-style art. His exhibit, Dan Periovschi Central Court, will officially open Thursday and run until Feb. 6, 2011. His artwork will stay on the walls until the end of the exhibit.
"I have my own language," Dan Perjovschi said. "These are my words, and I recombine them into new phrases."
Periovschi mixes political messages with simple observations of life. One of his favorite and recurring drawings depicts a man in a business suit pointing and yelling at a young skateboarder. The speech bubble coming from the man in the business suit reads "I was at Woodstock".
"It's not conventional art," Rachel
Schmidt, a freshman from Paola, said as she looked up at the walls of the Spencer. "It's just true, he puts things in a way that can relate to."
It is that connection that Dan looks for. He said that everything he writes or draws, we have all thought about at some point. He said he has just trained himself to capture those thoughts in his notebook.
再
Walls have always been a part of Perijovschi's life. He was born in 1961 in the city of Sibiu, Romania, the same year the Berlin Wall was erected.
Perjovski said living in communist Romania was a life of restrictions. The government controlled all sources of information, blocking what Perjovski starved for. He said he survived some of the worst dictatorial regimes of communist Romania where there
"It was a culture of missing."
Perjovski said.
was no freedom to travel or read certain books.
"It is new all the time," Lia said. "We had a common idea to do what we want, a kind of ambition to contribute to our context."
While there, he started a sort of underground art project with his wife, Lia, whom he met at a special art school when they were 10 years old.
There would be periods where his family had no milk or bread. His working-class parents somehow managed to send all three of their children to universities, where Periwjschi studied painting.
Because of censorship in Romania, each of Dan's art shows went through three different censorship committees before the public could see it. So, he began private
CENTRAL COURT
Dan Perjovschi's "Central Court" exhibit will officially open Thursday night. Perjovschi will speak at 5 p.m. at the SMA Auditorium inside the museum.
The exhibit will run from Thursday to Feb.6,2011.
showings in his loft in Bucharest.
showings in his lot in Bucharest.
Then, in 1990, Perjovschi helped begin and run the first independent magazine in Romania called "Revista 22," named after a key date in the Romanian revolution: Dec. 22, 1989.
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SEE ARTS ON PAGE 3A