SPORTS UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
4
Thursday, November 3,1993
9
Option concerns Kansas defense
Play helped 'Huskers beat Jayhawks in 1991
By Matt Doyle
Kansas sportswriter
Nebraska sophomore quarterback Tomnie Frazier is expected to start against Kansas Saturday, and his presence brings an added dimension to the Cornhusker offense.
Nebraska coach Tom Osborne said Frazier, who injured his right shoulder against Colorado last week, ran the option play better than sophomore Brook Berringer and freshman Ben Rutz, the team's reserve quarterbacks.
Kansas coach Glen Mason said that he remembered the success Nebraska had with the option in 1901 and that he was concerned about it this year.
"We had a lot of trouble with the option two years ago," Mason said. "If you're not on top with your option responsibilities then that translates into big plays."
Junior Don Davis and sophomore Ronnie Ward, Kansas outside linebackers, will play important roles in attempting to defend any option plays that Nebraska will run.
To defend the option play, the two outside linebackers have to play a more containing type of defense rather than rushing the quarterback.
"We have to be able to contain the quarterback and his speed to stop the option," Ward said. "If we can't, it will be tough to make plays."
However, containing the option play does not mean placing full concentration on the quarterback. Davis said defenders must knock off as many offensive players — offensive linemen, the tight end and backfellow — to get in position to make a play on the quarterback.
Davis said that if there were any breakdowns in defending those aspects, big running plays could occur. Nebraska junior I-back Calvin Jones broke touchdown runs of 47 and 68 yards off the option play against Kansas two years ago.
But even that may not be enough, Davis said.
"It takes a team effort to contain the play," he said. "You need somebody on the pitchman, somebody on the quarterback and somebody on the fullback."
"Of the teams that run the option, Nebraska runs it the best," Ward said. "They have the best personnel. It's personnel that beats you, not schemes."
Richard Devinki / KANSAN
Both players said that Frazier's speed coupled with the presence of Jones would make it difficult for the Jayhawks to defend the option.
Davis said the change in defensive formations from the 4-3 to the 3-4 for Kansas could make it easier to defend the option.
"It's easier for them to run it on a four-man line," Davis said. "But now we have extra men up front which helps to defend it."
Kansas junior linebacker Don Davis, left, and sophomore linebacker Ronnie Ward run drills during football practice. The two are expected to play an important role against Nebraska's option offense when the teams play Saturday.
Cornhuskers ignore speculation about bowls
The Associated Press
LINCOLN, Neb. — Don't ask Nebraska coach Tom Osborne about bowl games, possible matchups, the rankings, win streaks or nine-win seasons.
games. He's never failed to win at least nine.
"I see the annual speculation has started on bowls and all this kind of thing," he said Tuesday. "I guess it's interesting to you guys, and maybe it's necessary. To me it's a pain in the neck, just totally meaningless at this point."
Osborne is one win away from his 21st consecutive season of winning at least nine
But he hasn't been happy with national rankings for many years. Nebraska was No. 5 a few weeks ago, but Miami jumped ahead of the now-04.6 Huskers again after the Hurricanes' impressive win at Syracuse.
The No. 5 ranking was Nebraska's highest since holding No. 3 before a 27-12 loss to No. 9 Colorado on Nov. 3, 1990.
Despite his continuing string of winning seasons and appearances in New Year's Day bowl games, Osborne doesn't believe his teams receive the respect he thinks
they deserve nationally.
A string of bowl losses to the likes of Nos. 1, 2 or 3 Florida State, Miami or Georgia Tech in the last half-dozen years doesn't help. But Osborne has said there aren't many other Top 10 teams that would do well against those clubs, either.
And there are few teams with records that would put them in the running for a national championship as regularly as Nebraska has been.
ority. The rest, he said, will take care of itself.
Osborne has tried to downplay the polls and said that winning a Big Eight Conference championship is his teams' No.1 pri-
With three games remaining in the season, Nebraska holds the inside track to the Big Eight championship and a third straight Orange Bowl appearance. The Cornhuskers already beaten Colorado and Kansas State.
Nebraska meets Kansas this week, then comes back home to play an Iowa State team that upset the Huskers in Ames, Iowa, a year ago. Then comes the traditional dayafter-Thanksgiving battle against Oklahoma, in Lincoln this year.
Crew to compete in 3 $ \frac{1}{2} $ -mile Atlanta regatta
Team will face different different club opponents
By Anne Felstet
Kansan sportswriter
Rowing 3½ miles down the Chattahoochee River will be the longest race this season for the Kansas varsity crew team.
The team travels to Atlanta today for the Head of the Chattahoochee Regatta on Saturday.
Teri Staudacher, Topea senior, has been on the crew club for two years but has never competed in the Atlanta regatta. She
Georgia Tech, which won the lightweight eight men's national championship last year, will be competing as well as the Florida Institute of Technology, another highly rated team, said Michael Amick, Lawrence senior and crew president.
said the magnitude of the regatta was spectacular because of the high level of competition.
Staudacker said the team would have to work harder in this regatta because it was unfamiliar with the competition.
"We get used to rowing against Wichita and Texas," she said. "We get comfortable with how we row, but now we have to row our hardest."
Coxswain Mary Beth Kurzak, Omaha, Neb., sophomore, said that a meeting with the coaches and coxswains usually was held before the launching of the first race so that maps of the river could be dispersed. The coxswains also learn of any hazards such as submerged trees or unusually narrow spots in the river.
because the boats do not compete side by side, but single file down the river. This places a greater challenge on the coxswain, who must devise strategy for passing boats and navigating down the winding river.
River regattas are called "head races"
Kurzak said she would scope out the river itself to see the curves as they actually are and not how they are depicted on the
map.
Another challenging part of her job as guide of the boat is passing. The passing boat has the right of way on the river, and the slower boat must yield, giving the faster boat the easiest route. If a coxswain does not command the boat to yield, the team can be penalized by having its final time lengthened.
Amick said that the longer length of the race would be physically challenging for the team but that it would not change the team's strategy. So far this season, the team's races have been 2 1/2 miles in length. good physical condi-
"We are in pretty good physical condition, so we will focus on our technique in the races," he said.
Women golfers to head to Texas for season finale
By Kent Hohlfeld Kansan sportswriter
The Kansas women's golf team will conclude its fall season this weekend at the Texas A&M Book- store/Welsh Memorial Golf Tournament in College Station, Texas.
"There are a number of good programs competing this weekend." Kansas coach jerry Waugh said.
The team will compete with 16 others, including Florida, which was ranked Nowe 12 in *Golfweaver*/Taylor Made magazine. The tournament also will feature Kansas' Big Eight rivals Kansas State and Missouri.
"The weather hampered our play in that tournament." Waugh said of the home meet.
He said he had been disappointed with the team's last performance in the Marilyn Smith/Jayhawk Invitational, Oct. 18 and 19. He said his players were capable of more than their fourth-place showing behind conference rivals Oklahoma State, Nebraska and Missouri.
"It's really hard to keep that high level of play every week." Waugh said.
It had been played on a rain-soaked course at the Alvamar Golf and Country Club. He said a recurring problem for the Jayhawks, consistency, also tortured the players during the competition.
Senior golfer Holly Reynolds said the high level of concentration necessary during competition made it hard to have consistent performances in each tournament.
An earlier tournament, the Hawkeye Invitational, held Sept. 24-26 in Iowa City, Iowa, was shortened from three to two rounds because of rain.
Reynolds said the team had improved since its first tournament in Las Cruces, N.M., where it finished 11th out of 16 teams in the Roadrunner Invitational.
"Our first tournament was really quite shaky," Reynolds said.
She said the team had stepped up its level of play during its last three tournaments. The improvements have boosted the team's confidence, she said.
"My mind set is the best it has been all year, Reynolds said.
Freshman Missy Russell also was optimistic and said her success had proved to her that a freshman could compete in collegiate golf.
"Coming in, I didn't know what I could do as a freshman," Russell said. "I saw that on a lot of teams, the gap between the freshmen and the seniors wasn't as huge as I thought."
Russell said she thought a good performance at the Texas A&M tournament could give the players a boost as they start their spring schedule.
Waugh said his team had the ability to shoot between 315 and 325 in any round of a tournament. He said he hoped to see that kind of performance at the tournament this weekend.
"I want to see the players gain some confidence', Waugh said. "I think they'll play really well."
SPORTS BRIEF Kansas forward in hospital
Kansan staffreport
Kansas freshman forward Nick Proud spent Sunday night in Lawrence Memorial Hospital because of an infamed spleen.
Proud, a 6-foot-10, Sydney, Australia native, had been recovering from mononucleosis, which inflames the spleen, when he was elbowed in the spleen during practice on Saturday.
Although Proud's spleen had returned to its normal size as of Saturday, the impact aggravated it.
Nick Proud
Proud will be re-evaluated by
team doctors today to see when he will be able to return to practice. Kansas coach Roy Williams said before the freshman caught the stray elbow that Proud probably wouldn't be able to play until mid-December.
ARTS AND CRAFTS BAZAAR
Froud hasn't played in a game since the third game of his senior year at Alta High School in Sandy, Utah. In that game, he was undercut and injured his knee. He underwent arthroscopic surgery and sat out the rest of the season.
Applications now Available For Students and Non-Students To Sell Handmade Arts and Crafts Apply at SUA Office. Level 4. Kansas Union Applications Due Friday. Nov. 12 by 5 PM For More Info. Call SUA at 864-3477
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