Huskers Braced For WSU After Four Lopsided Victories, Nebraska Expects Tough Time
Nebraska players and coaches are hinting - some even secretly hoping, perhaps - that this will be the week they are finally challenged on the football field.
Granted, the unbeaten and second-ranked Cornhuskers have faced their share of adversity off the field. But whenever Saturday afternoon has rolled around this fall, there hasn’t been much to hold their attention.
Through four games, Nebraska has outscored its opponents by an average of 60-16. The Huskers have dominated every aspect of the game in lopsided wins over Oklahoma State (64-21), Michigan State (50-10), Arizona State (77-28) and Pacific (49-7) and coach Tom Osborne has seldom played his starters past the third quarter.
“I’m not sure how many snaps I’ve had in the fourth quarter this whole season, but it’s not a lot,” senior center Aaron Graham admitted.
There is concern in some circles around Lincoln, Neb., that the string of early season blowouts might work against UN on Saturday when Washington State (2-1) steps out of the Pacific-10 Conference and ventures into 72,700-seat Memorial Stadium for an inter-sectional showdown.
But Graham insists the short shifts he and his teammates have pulled the past four weeks won’t present any problems as far as stamina is concerned.
“We take pride in our conditioning,” said the 6-foot-4, 285-pound senior from Denton, Texas. “And we take pride in knowing that when we have to go four quarters, we’ll be in good enough shape to handle it.”
“We’re due for a challenge and Washington State has a great football team,” added senior quarterback Tommie Frazier. “I think they’ll give us that challenge.”
Osborne admitted Monday morning he hadn’t had much time to study WSU on tape, but he said he expects a back-alley brawl this weekend.
“They play very hard, they’re very aggressive and even though they lost a lot of great defensive players from a year ago, they seem to have picked up right where they left off,” he said of the Cougars, whose only loss came at Pittsburgh, 17-13, in their season opener. “I’ve been very impressed with them.”
Nebraska is a huge favorite, just like it was the last time the teams played in 1977. But WSU went into Memorial Stadium that year and knocked off the Huskers 19-10.
Cougars coach Mike Price was a WSU assistant on Warren Powers’ staff and hopes he can draw on the experience and help his team cope with the pressures it will face Saturday.
“As far as I’m concerned, that was one of the highlights of my coaching career - taking a Washington State team down there and beating Nebraska at Nebraska to open the season,” Price said. “Maybe there’s some things I can share with our team about that experience.”
Working in the Cougars’ favor is the fact the Cornhuskers might be forced to start a fourth-string I-back against them.
Senior Lawrence Phillips, a preseason Heisman Trophy favorite, is serving an indefinite suspension following an alleged altercation with his girlfriend and will not play Saturday.
In addition, backups Damon Benning and Clinton Childs are injured.
Osborne said Childs will not play against WSU because of a strained knee and he listed Benning as questionable because of an ankle sprain.
If Benning does not play, either sophomore James Sims or freshman Ahman Green will start at I-back against the Cougars.
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