Wary Nebraska Prepares For A Noisy Day In Seattle
When No. 7 Nebraska enters Husky Stadium to face second-ranked Washington on Saturday, the crowd will likely be as deafening as 72,500 Boeing jetliners.
Nebraska is planning for it. The Huskies are counting on it.
“We have to score on our first drive,” Washington quarterback Brock Huard said. “We’ve got to put points on the board and get our crowd in the game.”
For their part, the Cornhuskers this week practiced with taped crowd noise to prepare for the din in the 72,500-seat waterfront stadium. “It really does work,” Nebraska offensive guard Aaron Taylor said. “It makes you concentrate during practice.” For the first time since 1994, Nebraska is considered the underdog going into a game. But the Cornhuskers don’t appear concerned.
“We always feel in our minds that we’re the better team,” Taylor said. “Nationally, if we win this game it’s going to be great for us.”
Stanford regroups
Now that the undefeated-season and national-championship musings have been erased, the question at Stanford is, how will the team react to the setback?
“We were talking national championship with our schedule; I think everyone was,” said defensive end Bryan Werner. “We slipped a little, and it may take you back, but you’ve got to climb back.” With its 28-17 loss to North Carolina, the No. 21 Cardinal (1-1) no longer can use the script followed last season by Arizona State, which won every close game.
ASU rode the high all the way to the Rose Bowl. But Stanford now has to respond to several losses:
First is the loss to North Carolina that ended thoughts of grandeur and snapped a six-game winning streak dating to last year. Second is the loss of free safety Tim Smith, a big-play defender who is out for the season after tearing his anterior cruciate ligament.
Third is the possible loss of inside linebacker Chris Draft, a second-team all-conference player whose status is uncertain with a pulled hamstring.
Fourth is the 1996 loss to Oregon State, an embarrassing 28-12 defeat at Corvallis that must be revisited as the Cardinal prepare to play the Beavers this Saturday, again in Corvallis.
Arizona loses backup
QB Arizona backup quarterback Brady Batten is out six weeks with a broken collarbone.
Batten suffered the injury when he replaced starter Keith Smith in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s victory over Alabama-Birmingham.
Batten might be back in time for the Oct. 25 game at Washington State.
No dropoff at ASU
In his first 3-1/2 seasons at Arizona State, coach Bruce Snyder had a 17-22 record. Since then he is 17-2, losing only to Arizona and Ohio State. Both games were decided in the final 30 seconds.
Despite the loss of 14 starters, including all five of its first-team all-Pac-10 selections, ASU is 2-0 and ranked 14th.
xxxx On TV The UW vs. University of Nebraska game will be broadcast on ABC on Saturday at 12:30 p.m.