Nebraska Cornhusker Football vs. Iowa

[KEVIN KUGLER] Hi everybody. I'm Kevin Kugler. And welcome to another season of Big Red Wrap-Up. We'll be here throughout the 1999 Husker Football season to put the wraps on each and every game. And we kick off the 99 season with a look back at Saturday's Nebraska win over Iowa. Now it was the first time since 1982 that the Huskers and Iowa played and oh how things have changed. In 82, the two teams started the season right here in Lincoln and Nebraska won 42 to 7. Well, 17 years later, they resumed the series in Iowa and well, the Huskers won 42 to 7, so maybe there isn't much difference after all. But Saturday's win over Iowa did raise some interesting questions for the Huskers and we'll try to come up with some answers in the next hour as we look back at the Iowa game. And we'll also peak ahead to next week's home opener against the Cal Golden Bears and examine the rest of college football following the first full weekend of action. Joining me tonight, two veterans of Big Red Wrap-Up... and I'll need em too. First, from the Lincoln Journal-Star is Ken Hamilton, Mr. Sports-Know-It-All. Ken, great to have you here tonight.

[KEN HAMBLETON] Good evening. You're a lot better lookin' than Bill.

[KUGLER] Well, you know, Bill's watching probably tonight so I won't pass that along. Also with us the radio color voice of Nebraska football, our good friend here, Adrian Fiala. Adrian.

[ADRIAN FIALA] Well Kevin, good to be with you and uh, you dress pretty good too.

[KUGLER] Well thank you very much. You know, I try. I try to get out of the house looking all right once in a while. As always, we want your input in the show as well so give us a call. Here in Lincoln at area code 402-472-1212. Or if you happen to be somewhere in North America, we're toll free throughout North America at 800-676-5446. You can also E-mail us at sports@unl.edu. And however you get to us, give us your name, where you're calling from, and of course your question or comment. And of course, I'm here. This is the first time that I've been on Big Red Wrap-Up. And our good friend, Bill Doleman, has moved on to Houston, Texas. He is the new play-by-play voice on television for the Houston Cougars on radio and TV and we wish Bill the best. I mentioned he's here. I think he's here moving his house down to Houston. Not the house itself, but the contents thereof. And if you're watching, Bill, we certainly wish you the best of luck in your new endeavor down in Houston. And now, let's get to the discussion at hand.

[FIALA] Kevin, before we go on I just want to do something here. As your first night on the studio here and in honor of the black shirts of Nebraska football here's a gift. (Presents Kevin with a blackshirts cap)

[KUGLER] Excellent. Very nice.

[FIALA] You don't have to wear it tonight.

[KUGLER] I don't know that I will but I will wear it. Very nice. Thank you very much.

[FIALA] Ken you'll get one next time.

[KUGLER] Ken, any gifts? Oh okay, well never mind.

[HAMBLETON] I brought you a dollar.

[KUGLER] Excellent excellent. I love it. Well let's talk about Iowa, Ken. Nebraska and Iowa open up of course with a 42-7 win. What did we learn about Nebraska in game one?

[HAMBLETON] Learned a pretty hungry defense that was promised to be a very aggressive uh is probably not gonna allow a whole lot of points this year from anybody. Uh you know, the one touchdown that Iowa scored was a blocked punt against the number two punt team. You learn that the offense does have some variety, is coming along, that they look a lot better when they're healthy. And I think you learn that this is a fairly cohesive team and that uh the team didn't seem as worried about the whole Eric Crouch thing as uh all of us in the media. KEVIN It was certainly a lot of fun for the media to talk about. KEN Oh we had a ball.

[KUGLER] Your impressions of the game on Saturday?

[HAMBLETON] Oh I think I learned that if Eric Crouch is coming around to the left hand of your quarterback, you'd better strap it up real tight. Get yourself out of the way or get down there where you can uh you know, at least try to knock him down. That was great. Well you were talking with him today about you got your shoulder just lower and boom and he and the kid was on the ground for.

[FIALA] They teach that sort of thing, that lift, you know, if you can get under those pads and lift and that was perfect just like you draw it up on the screen, but I tell you what, Kevin, I learned that the offensive line, all the work they did the past eight months really paid off because they really establish themselves up front. I think uh the defensive line, the I'm not sure when I've seen em play better quite frankly. I know Iowa wasn't as strong up front of that offensive line as you would like to see, but you still have to do it. And our offensive line did do it on the on Saturday and I think you control things up front there and you get a pretty good start on the season.

[HAMBLETON] Don't you think it's a dress rehearsal too, no matter how good or bad Iowa is, Nebraska did execute when it was supposed to do. And that makes it look good and look cohesive and look somewhat unified in everything they did.

[FIALA] See Kenny, a lot of people sometimes will say well, the team wasn't so good that we played, but the fact of the matter remains, you still have to do it. You still have to execute, and you have to put it together. You could play lousy against a lousy team, no question about it. A lot of times that happens. You play down to the competition, but our guys Saturday didn't do it.

[KUGLER] Well and frankly, the offensive line was gonna be under a spotlight and regardless of who Nebraska played. I was especially impressed with Dominic Raiola. I thought he looked exceptional at center for the Huskers on Saturday.

[FIALA] Raiola for sure Kevin.

[HAMBLETON] I think James Sherman despite a little bit of an injury played pretty well and ADRIAN Hookstein? Hochstein. Okay, one of those three guys. You say potato, I say

[FIALA] But he if you notice when they pull on the options, everybody's pulling at the right step and there weren't people banging into each other and if you noticed, you know, uh even Fonoti or Fonoti.

[KUGLER] Another tomato, tomato.

[HAMBLETON] One of those two guys.

[FIALA] Toniu.

[HAMBLETON] The little bit he played. He seemed to be, you know, right in pattern with everybody and when they run that option and string it out, uh no matter who was quarterbacking, it was looking really sharp and the whole key to Nebraska's offense is of course power and between tackle stuff, but when that does work, you get option, you get play action passing and uh they had it all on Saturday except for a few mistakes.

[FIALA] They had it all. The kicking game was strong. I tell you what, it's too bad that Dan Hadenfeldt will have only one year to kick for us because this guy has got, you know, he's got an atom bomb in his leg and he can put it up and get it down the field. And not only that, he kicked two balls down inside the five yard line, one at the three and one at the four yard line. Put Iowa, you know, deep in the dishes, I say. And what a great effort that he did and then uh Josh Brown came in and kicked the extra points. Did fine there. We still have yet to see what he can do field goal wise, but you know, he's got a great leg.

[HAMBLETON] Well you wonder if he turned down some field goal chances because of that.

[FIALA] I think so. All of the elements are there.

[KUGLER] It's the second year too that Nebraska's been able to find a punter, just seeming out of nowhere. Bill LaFleur last year, Dan Hadenfeldt this year.

[HAMBLETON] Senior walk-ons.

[KUGLER] Absolutely.

[FIALA] Figure that out. It's pretty incredible.

[HAMBLETON] And guys can what Missouri went through how many scholarship guys last year to find that somebody could kick an extra point.

[FIALA] He couldn't do it, he couldn't kick the door open.

[HAMBLETON] And so you know, Nebraska is lucky whatever, but you know, they do count on the walk-ons and if you got a punter that can come in and like Adrian said, just boom it. And he was he hit one 54 yarder that gets down inside the five uh you can't buy that. You can't buy that. You can't scholarship a kid like that, based on high school.

[FIALA] I watched Dan come out in the warm-ups. He came out and stretched a little bit and took the ball, his first kick in practice was 65 yards. Just sitting it up there and booming it at 65 yards. I mean this guy, like I say, he has got Adam legs.

[KUGLER] And frankly, Josh Brown in his first appearance as a Husker looked awfully good. The pressure didn't seem to get him. Here's a true freshman coming in and kicking.

[HAMBLETON] Yeah and I'll tell you after watching all last spring, if there was a concern of those of us watching, it was that they can't punt and they can't kick cause they took too long and they were getting a blocked and they run sideways and stuff and these kids obviously did a lot of work over the summer on their own and then did a lot of work this fall and Josh Brown, of course, missed a number of practices and scrimmages because he had a, I think it was a groin pull, and to come into a game without a whole lot of live action, uh background, he did quite well too.

[KUGLER] Well I know we're gonna get several questions about this so maybe we can head em off at the pass and maybe a few people out there wanted to talk about the quarterbacks, perhaps. I don't know. Bobby. Bobby Newcombe. There might have been there might have been some talk about those two guys this week, Newcombe and Crouch. Newcombe starts. Crouch comes in. Both play. Both seem to be successful. Who was better? Who was the better quarterback on Saturday?

[FIALA] Well I don't think there is a better quarterback quite frankly.

[KUGLER] That's a sidestep.

[FIALA] Frankly, I don't even look at it as a controversy. I mean we overuse that word so much, but I look at this as basically a quarterback luxury combination. I really do. I know a lot of coaches at collegiate football today that would love to have either one or both of those guys and love to have their problem that Frank has here because these guys both have special talents, highly competitive, very tough, uh you know, it takes a mentally tough person to do the kind of things that we've seen happen here the last couple of days. It's like what Scott Frost went through here a few years ago, that first year here. I mean not only did he physically have to do the job on the field, but mentally he had to cope with all the other stuff going on and that's what uh both of these uh you know, Bobby and Eric have both had to do and I think that tells you something about both of those kids.

[KUGLER] Is this something that can work for the Huskers the rest of the season? Arizona right now doesn't look very good with their two quarterback, their two quarterback deal.

[HAMBLETON] Yeah but Michigan did look over their two quarterbacks for the University of Florida's gonna be using two. Uh although you know, Spurior is a genius so that you have to leave it at that. But, I think the benefit for Nebraska is that one of these guys isn't on another team in the Big 12. Uh wouldn't you hate to face one of those guys if you're a defensive person? and somebody pointed out in our office these guys look a lot alike. Uh they both very quick. Both run about the one Bobby ran a four six forty and I think Eric ran a four six seven. So a hundredth of a second on speed. One has great moves. One has great suddenness. Uh they both throw well. It's nice to have two.

[FIALA] Kenny, one thing that Eric has also is he's got a great burst of speed. I mean he can go down that line and the minute he sees that, I've seen him play a lot the last five years in high school and here, but when he sees that crack in the line, he's got probably the best speedburst of anybody that I've seen. It seemed like it, you know, his rear end goes down and he digs the cleats and bang, it goes up in that hole.

[HAMBLETON] It wasn't a true swap, but I mean you've been around since the... Yeah it was a little before you. But all the quarterback controversy races and the thing is where this one there was always like one guy was a passer, one guy was a runner and one guy was a little bit this. These two are fairly identical in what they do.

[FIALA] You betcha what they do to defense is when Eric came in at split end, on those two plays, I happened to look in the secondary and the guys in secondary looking at each other like what do we do now. I mean there's Eric Crouch, a split end, what's gonna happen here? And you know, the more dangerous probably of that whole alignment of that set up is to have Bobby out of the split end at a time or two because we know what he can do at wingback and that will really upset the cart on defense as far as we can see so.

[HAMBLETON] If you've been starting.

[FIALA] The only thing I get concerned about there is just so you know, heaven forbid, like Eric was out there blocking on that first play. You don't want to see him get hurt. That's the risk that you really run and of course, I don't think Frank's gonna take a lot of that risk, but it just presents a special situation for the defense that they real even if Eric Crouch is not involved in the play at all, he's attracted attention from the usually the quarterback and probably the safety on that side. So it creates a problem.

[HAMBLETON] Of course how good is his downfield blocking, you know, is he a good downfield blocker?

[KUGLER] The one problem he has, there you go. Well with a new face in this chair, we're still gonna keep the Big Red trivia questions in so here is tonight's first Big Red trivia question. You be the first caller with the correct answer to our question and you'll receive one of our Nebraska ETV mugs and please, only one winner per household this season. So Ken, you can only get one. Iowa is as you know a member of the Big 10 conference. This is for everybody. The Hawkeyes were the first Big 10 opponent for the Huskers since 1996. Our first Big Red trivia question tonight is what was the last Big 10 team to beat Nebraska? We want the team, the date, and the score. You be the first correct caller and you'll win the Nebraska ETV mug.

[HAMBLETON] That's easy cause I even know that one.

[KUGLER] Well you know, I'm starting off the season with some easy ones. We'll get into tougher ones later. You know, we don't want to get things too difficult the very first part of the season.

[HAMBLETON] I'll give you a hint. There were only 10 teams in the Big 10 then. That's true.

[KUGLER] That's a terrific hint folks. We got a few questions here. Adam in Omaha wants to know of for both of you what is the status of Joe Walker?

[HAMBLETON] He's back in practice in full uniform today and yesterday and um when he can play maybe two three weeks from what I hear. Have you heard differently?

[FIALA] That's kind of what the talk has been, Kenny, but you know that's such a he had such a bad knee that you know, I think maybe another two or three weeks might be pushing it just a little bit. I would say maybe another week or two but believe me, they want to get him out on the field as quickly as I can because this uh Joe Walker was very significant to the Husker fortunes last year, especially return-wise, kick return-wise, but he also played a great brand of defense for us too so they want to get him out on the field as soon as they can, but man, you gotta make sure that knees ready to go.

[HAMBLETON] He was that starting vehicle for them all season too.

[KUGLER] What about Erwin Swiney then? He's the guy that had groin surgery in the off-season. He is close to coming back.

KEN Well he practiced a couple of times last week, practice this week, and I think they're gonna slow down that progress a little bit. His straightaway running was fine. His straightaway back-pedaling was fine. Uh he told me that the cuts is where he's getting his pain. He has that abdominal groin tear that so many Huskers have had in the recent years and they're gonna take their sweet time with that. He may even redshirt which would be a luxury for Nebraska, but they have a lot of death right now at defensive back They probably could get away with it.

[KUGLER] We do have a winner by the way in our Big Red trivia question. We'll get to that in just a moment.

[FIALA] And the other thing Swiney needs to do is not only get well, but you know, he had a problem with his confidence last year after he got beat a few times and that really hurts and you know it's tough to get well and restore the confidence all in the same boat so you know, it needs to get well first, totally well, and then work on the ability and the confidence factor. Once he gets that done and red-shirting Kenny, I think might be a good idea. It just might be a real good idea.

[HAMBLETON] Well we've talked a lot about that game. We'll show some folks some highlights of the Iowa game as the Huskers travel to Kinnick Stadium in Iowa for their first game of the 1999 season. The second game in the Frank Solich era. It was a gorgeous day in Iowa. It rained most of the day in Nebraska.

[FIALA] If you wanted the experience, if you weren't there and you want to experience what it felt like, turn up the heat in your oven and then put your head in and watch this.

[KUGLER] The heat was on the Husker offense early. The Iowa defense very solid and Bobby Newcombe gets stuffed early in the first quarter on a third and three for a one-yard loss and the Iowa crowd and Kirk Forentz first year head coach. Pretty excited about that. But the Husker defense saw it all day. Loran Kaiser gets in on Kyle McCann, a five yard loss. Kaiser also had three hurries on the day to go along with that Sack and the Huskers still scoreless as we move to the second quarter and Eric Crouch on his first possession. Look at the fake great fake on the pitch and Eric Crouch, 28 yards for his first of three touchdowns on the day.

[FIALA] That was that burst I talked about. Just bing right through the line.

[KUGLER] Half-time score, Nebraska 7 and Iowa nothing as the Husker offense had a lot of yards in the first half, but was not able to put a lot of points on the board until the third quarter. Bobby Newcombe to a wide open Shawn Applegate, the Lincoln High graduate only his second career reception and it goes 47 yards for a touchdown. Give the Huskers a 14 to nothing lead early in the third quarter. Huskers with Bobby Newcombe at the quarterback that time. Now Nebraska's defense again. Julius Jackson drills Ladelle Betts, the recovery by Kyle Vanden Bosch. Two fumbles, force and a pick also by the Husker defense on Saturday. Now the fake. There was Crouch lined up at the wingback spot. That drew the defenders, DeAngelo and the 22 yard run gets em down to the six yard line. A couple of plays later on second and goal. Bobby Newcombe right into the end zone on a one yard touchdown sneak. His second touchdown running of the day. That was two touchdown runs. That's his first of two I should say. And that gives the Huskers a 21 nothing lead and then Newcombe shortly thereafter on an 18 yard pass to T.J. Debates. Tight ends had a big day. Five of the ten Husker completions were to tight ends and then Dan Alexander who tripped up a couple of times on Saturday. He found his footing slipping out from under him and he had 95 yards and then Bobby Newcombe, there's his second touchdown. Seventy-three yard, 13 play drive gives Nebraska the 28 nothing lead over Iowa and then Eric Crouch comes back in and look at this play. Terrific catch by Matt Davison as he gets up basically just ripping it away from the Iowa defender and a tie goes to the offensive player so Matt Davison gets the 38 yard reception and then Eric Crouch in traffic just dives into the end zone. Makes it 35 nothing in the 4th quarter and then the play of the day. The play maybe of the season already. Eric Crouch, a 21 yard touchdown. Watch this. Hello. Lowers the shoulder and we gotta watch that one again. A terrific hit by Eric Crouch hitting like a linebacker on that play and watch it here. Just lowers the shoulder, never knew what hit him.(Slo-mo view of the play)

[HAMBLETON] Mike Torgan would have liked that play.

[KUGLER] And 42 nothing. You look at Eric Crouch, a punt block gives Iowa their only touchdown of the day and the final score, Nebraska 42 and Iowa 7. Frank Solich wins his second year's start. Second year as head coach. Huskers win it 42 to 7 over the Iowa Hawkeyes.

[FIALA] And you're absolutely right. If Iron Mike were here today, he'd been jumping up and down till the cows came home for that. Coach Corrigan was a running back coach who had a tough one back then, but what a great hit that was.

[KUGLER] Take a look at the final stats and something about that rushing yard number looks very familiar. It looks like Nebraska teams of a couple years ago. That rushing number last year guys was always so low. Three hundred forty-seven yards rushing for Nebraska on 62 carries. Hundred ninty-six passing yards for five hundred and forty-three total yards. Iowa held to just one hundred sixty-nine yards on the afternoon. Eight first downs. Time of possession well in favor of the Huskers. Iowa though not penalized at all during the day so I guess that Kurt Forentz's one lone...

[HAMBLETON] They played very well at home.

[KUGLER] They did. Forty-two to seven.

[HAMBLETON] Big Ten refs.

[KUGLER] And well, you know, the Huskers still win by 35 so alls well that ends well I guess. As Nebraska gets the 35 point win. You look at those final stats. What do you see if you're Frank Solich to pull out of there that you need to improve on.

[FIALA] Miscues and penalties fumbles lost: two of three, and penalties: six or seven, and two or three of those penalties, Kevin, came at the very inopportune times when the offense was moving in that first quarter and they had penalties that slow things down or really put em back in the hole and reduce the chances of you know for a first down so those are the two things that I see out of that. I'm sure Frank really focused in on those two.

[HAMBLETON] What's interesting for and this maybe one of those stats things that only newspaper guys look at, but there are five hundred and forty-three yards to offense was only three short of their best effort last year. All of last year. And that was against KU. Their defense giving up 169 was only two short of their best effort all last year. And they did it all in one game. So it shows a little bit of balance in offense and defense that maybe they got both parts of the picture, uh both parts of the puzzle fit together. Uh you know, in one game, but it does look good.

[KUGLER] Steve in Garland, Nebraska, called. And he wonders if Eric Crouch will have a chance to be the number one quarterback and also wants to know how Van Bronson and Tagge'd do it during their season together. Adrian? Ken? Either one of you?

[FIALA] Well I went to the first part.

[HAMBLETON] Okay the first part is yeah he has a chance to be number one, but as it was in August, the first press conference we had with Frank Solich and he said, it's Bobby's to lose. Eric's to win. Bobby has not lost it yet. He would have to really stumble badly in order to lose it. He's not lost it yet. And so it's gonna stay the same this week and I would assume it'll stay the same for quite a while.

[KUGLER] Frank in Lincoln wants to know, oh let's get the Van Browns..

[FIALA] Very quickly on Jerry and Van. They were good buddies. They knew the circumstances. Actually Van was a starter initially and then it revolved to Jerry and Jerry handled it you know junior senior year, but they liked each other. They got along well and that put it all together and I think Bobby and Eric can do the same thing here, Kevin.

[KUGLER] Well who had a better game? Newcombe or Crouch and of course this was coming back. This is from Dan in Omaha coming back after a tumultuous week for Eric Crouch and rumors of him quitting the program, rumors of him leaving and he comes back and has three touchdowns and Franks and Solich and Eric Crouch both Crouch addressed that today at the Tuesday media day about whether or not he was actually going to lead this Nebraska team.

[CROUCH] People were saying, well you went back to your home town and you went back to your old high school, well you know I do that pretty much every weekend and I think people need to realize that I have a really close relationship with my high school coach and I definitely have a close relationship with my family and you know, just because I went back to Omaha, I think doesn't mean that you know I was deciding to transfer or deciding to you know quit the team cause you know first of all that's where I'm from and that's where I live and my family's there and I have a lot of close friends and relatives in that place that I need to talk to sometimes just to uh you know, just to feel good about myself and you know, to kind of relax too and and you know, people are saying well you know, did you talk to Coach Solich here and there and you know, I talked to Coach Solich uh pretty much everyday and I know he talks to a lot of players everyday and I think wherever I talk to him and whenever I talk to him, you know, I don't need to really need to tell people where and at what time.

[KUGLER] Was there really any concern that he was ever gonna leave the team? Was that a rumor that had any basis in fact?

[FIALA] It sure caught fire awful quick from you know, at about noon when Frank Solich didn't show up for his the extra point lunch which is you know, an annual event that the head coach shows up for the very first one. And he didn't show up for that and he wasn't on the big twelve call. So we all thought for a minute that Frank's missing. We didn't know that anybody else quit. (Laughter) You know, he'd been kidnapped or something and then the rumors started flying around that Eric had quit and a whole bunch of people had quit and everybody was gonna go to UNO and as it turned out, Jay Runty did leave and go to UNO, uh there was no truth to Eric leaving. I talked to his mom that night uh and she just said well you know, he was down cause of the decision and uh had some cheering up from Coach Solich and you know, not a promise but a pledge that hey if you're around, we're gonna use you. And uh sure enough it turns out he played the game.

[KUGLER] Well we do have a winner in our first Big Red Trivia Question of the night. It's Gregg Lincoln from Lincoln, Nebraska. And congratulations Gregg. Gregg knew that the last big ten team to beat Nebraska and I think Ken knew it too was Michigan in the Fiesta Bowl, January 1st 1986, Michigan beat the Huskers, 27 to 23.

[HAMBLETON] They helped to get Jim Harbo, first round draft pick.

[KUGLER] There you have Jim Harbo. Jim Harbo and of course former Chicago Bear and Colts and everything else. Rich in Lincoln is our winner and Rich in Lincoln is on the line. And Rich, how are you doing tonight?

[RICH] I'm pretty good.

[KUGLER] Welcome to the Wrap-Up. What's your question?

[RICH] My question is just wondering how DeAngelo Evans is doing. We knew or they had said that he had a stinger or what have you. KEN I've never had a stinger. Do you want to explain that?

[FIALA] I've had a stinger two or three times and believe me, they're no fun. What happens Rich, is that the shoulder pad gets jammed into your neck right about in this area right here and uh it cuts off, there's a nerve in there that it cuts off and your arm just goes limp and the first time it happens to you, I mean it scares the living daylights out of you. You think you know, all of a sudden you're paralyzed and that's it. But uh that does come back. There's a little bit of soreness that obtains after that happens, but I think he's okay from what I understand, he's rated number one at the in the I-back spot or listed number one in the depth chart the last one I saw anyway and uh but I think he's okay, ready to play and still trying to get those legs moving. He's complaining about the legs being a little bit sluggish and uh I think the way he ran Saturday uh it appeared a little bit that that was indeed the case, but I think it's you know, you gotta remember DeAngelo really hasn't played much football in the last two years, you know, a game and a half basically is what it amounts to. And his skills are low quite frankly, I mean think of all the athletes that have been out of the game that they're that they perform in for a long time. Skills do erode so it's gonna take DeAngelo time to get back into the flow, but I hope that he does because we need him. He's a great back.

[KUGLER] Well we certainly hope you're enjoying Big Red Wrap-Up tonight. And if you have folks that aren't in Nebraska and you don't get a chance to watch, we want to let you know Big Red Wrap-Up is available over the internet. So if you have friends, family, or know of any Husker fans throughout the world, have em log onto net.unl.edu. They'll be able to follow along during our live show or enjoy Big Red Wrap-Up at a later time. That web site again is net.unl.edu. And yeah, they do archive each one of these shows so if you want to go back and see exactly what the three of us had to say, you won't want to miss it. You can go back and watch it every day of the week. Every day of the week you can have Ken Hamilton in your own home on your computer. KEN Or you can get terminex and get rid of him.

[FIALA] Kenny, it's tough when you get archived.

[HAMBLETON] I, you know, I am old I guess.

[KUGLER] Speaking of I-backs, which we weren't, but we will. Ben in Ceresco, what will Dan Alexander have to do to win the first string spot?

[HAMBLETON] Keep it up. Just keep what he's doing and once again, DeAngelo would have to play really poorly to lose the job. It's almost the same as a quarterback. The I-backs a little bit different though. They're both gonna get 15, 12 carries a game, whatever it is and so, you know, and so you need two fresh guys. Two fresh sets of legs. And you give two different pictures with these two guys. You got Evans a little more what they call the shake. And you got Alexander with the truck. Yeah the truck running through the construction pile lines. I mean he's just get out of my way kind of thing. Once he learns how to pick up his feet he'll be even more dangerous.

[KUGLER] Well speaking of picking up his feet. Did Alexander have shoe problems? He seemed to trip a lot.

[FIALA] We talked about that. Dave Gillespie was our post-game show uh and he said that the field was a little bit soft and uh the guys were complaining about it a little bit so that maybe accounted for some of the problems that he had. It just was a real firm footing out there and of course, you know, Dan's six foot tall, two hundred and fifty pounds and you know, runs about a four four, four five and you get all that momentum to that much weight moving uh and sometimes it's tough to keep your weight or keep your feet, Kevin, but soft field I think was part of the problem.

[KUGLER] Well it was the first major week of college football as most teams were in action and thus brand new top 25 polls and let's take a look at em first. The USA Today, ESPN, this is the coaches' poll. Florida State's still number one. Penn State and Tennessee to follow. Florida, Michigan, there's Nebraska. Michigan jumping over Nebraska with their win over Notre Dame. Texas A & M, Wisconsin, Miami, and Georgia Tech round out the top 10. The next ten, Virginia Tech, Georgia, UCLA. There's Arizona at 15. They almost were 0 and 2. They really snuck out with a win this past week and Kansas State ended 18. You see Virginia and USC rounding out the top 20 and then in the top 25, Notre Dame, Alabama, Texas, NC State, and Arizona State which took care of Texas Tech last night. And the AP Poll, a lot of similar things there. Florida State, Penn State, and Tennessee, the top three. Florida, getting one of similar things there. Florida State, Penn State, and Tennessee, the top three. Florida, getting one first place vote at number four. Nebraska at five. Michigan at six. A little reversal there. A&M at seven. Miami, Wisconsin, and Georgia Tech rounding out the top ten. In the next ten, Virginia Tech with a first place vote. Georgia, Ohio State, UCLA, Arkansas, Notre Dame, Kansas State, USC, Arizona, and Purdue. Lee Barfnecht is the voter for Nebraska. I don't know if he's voting Virginia Tech number one or not. Alabama, Virginia, NC State, Colorado State, and Arizona State round out the top 25 and you guys have taken a look at these polls. Your comments on the top 25 one week into the season. I know it's easy to see the national champion...

[HAMBLETON] Pre-season polls were heavy on Arizon. Had em four and so they were fairly heavy on Colorado with obviously doesn't belong in the top 80. There were some little quirks and wiggles in there. I think it's all gonna play out. I mean you got a great big game coming up with Penn State and Miami. You're gonna - right there one of those are gonna be dismissed from the national title hunt. Florida, Florida State play each other. Florida you know has Tennessee in two weeks. We're gonna get a lot of washouts real quick.

[FIALA] I think so. Like Penn State's got - you talked about their game coming up.

[HAMBLETON] Miami.

[FIALA] Miami is coming up. But they've got Purdue and they've got Michigan to play. They got Wisconsin. Not they don't play Wisconsin this year, that's right, but they've got four or five tough games and you know, a lot of - they're gonna be talking about shakin and bakin before the season's out, Kevin. I guess Michigan should thank the official for their - for their sponsors this week because I tell you what, the guy - the guy was not in the end zone. I don't remember who the running back was, but his elbow was not in the end zone. The ball was behing the line, the goal line, it was not a touchdown.

[HAMBLETON] Well the two fifteen yarders they - that Michigan got are the you know, just handed to em - yeah. It was a gift.

[KUGLER] It was a freeby. Let's go to another call. We have Jeff in Lincoln standing by. Hey Jeff, how are you doing tonight?

[JEFF] Pretty good.

[KUGLER] What's your question?

[JEFF] Oh, with the possibility of rain in the forecast on Saturday, I was just wondering with the talk of the field turf, how's that supposed to hold up in the rain or later on down the road with the snow?

[HAMBLETON] Well they watered it today. They had the irrigation pipe out there today so it will hold up fine in the rain if you - if you've seen a kind of cross-cut of this thing, there's these fibers about this long. It looks like Easter grass you put in your kid basket for Easter. And then there's about half as much or 3/4 as much tire - ground up tires and silicone. Here you go. Up to about there and then you got the leaf on top. And if they used all-weather tires, obviously it isn't gonna affect... But to get the snow off, they just use a brush. If it ices up, it's gonna be like icing up a regular turf field. It's gonna be really bad. But it's not gonna be any worse than anything else. It does have give - kids are not getting shin splints. They're not feeling the strain in their knees. They're not feeling the strain in the back of their calves that they were by running on the old stuff which is basically a carpet on concrete. It's gonna be more consistent than grass because at the end of the year, grass, as you know around here for those of you who have lawns, I have mostly crab grass, it dies and you get this nice hard dirt.

[KUGLER] Or if you're our yard, it dies you know a little before the fall and winter comes - just in preparation.

[FIALA] Plus all the rug burns it used to obtain the. Oh yeah everything everywhere, but I think every player that I've talked to really likes this stuff a whole lot and I think Kenny within a year or two or three, depending on budget and finances, other schools around the country, I think you can see everybody going to this stuff.

[HAMBLETON] You know, Tom Osborne had stopped jogging because of his knee. And he now jogs on this stuff. I just saw him today and it Tom, of course he endorses this stuff too but it's out at Seacrest Field, uh the high school kids love it. I think yeah, it's gonna catch on.

[KUGLER] Well we talked to Bobby Newcombe today at the press conference about what he thought of the field turf. Let's hear what the quarterback has to say.

[NEWCOMBE] Well one thing I like about it is it uh it's a lot less stress on your body, you know, especially when you get knocked down on it. A lot less stress on your knees, a lot less impact and uh uh compared to the turf a little bit that we had last year, it felt like uh you could practice with a lot less soreness as well. You know, especially playing against our defense.

[KUGLER] So the field turf obviously is something that they're looking forward to playing on. A chance to sample something brand new to the to the college football world. Really to the entire football world. Pro-football teams are gonna be looking at this. College teams will be looking at this and Adrian, I think you're right, I think in a few years it's gonna become more the standard than anything else.

[FIALA] Well you know, the good weather teams uh a lot of them have gone back to the natural grass and that PAT that prescription athetic turf and they may stay with that because that's pretty good stuff too, but for bad weather schools and you know, up here in the north and where you have to cope with bad weather later on in the fall I think this field turf is probably the answer.

[HAMBLETON] One major drawback and this is all seriousness. Polk was talking about - you tackle a guy on the stuff and you tend to get some in your mouth from the little tire pieces in your mouth. And then you get it inside your mouthpiece. And he said it feels like there's a brick in between your teeth and that is a not very comfortable thing.

[FIALA] I think maybe that'll settle down as whether settles that stuff down in there that maybe that probably that won't persist, you know, as when we belong, but yeah, you can see that stuff fly a little bit. Well, a lot in some cases.

[KUGLER] More questions. Running back questions. Stacy in Omaha wants to know, do you think they will try to use Correl Buckhalter more?

[FIALA] I don't know. That's a loaded question. That implies that Evans gets hurt and that Alexander gets hurt. Probably no, they won't try to use him more. They'll try to use Alexander and Evans more and then if they can, use Correll.

[HAMBLETON] Well Correll has, you know, he had a shot at running back kicks and yet he had a good game uh for when he got in. He ran the ball tough and ran well Saturday and I think he had three carries, 22 yards and uh it looked good. Looked good for the short amount of time he was in there.

[KUGLER] Well of course we had our first Big Red trivia question tonight which leads you to believe there might be a second one. And here it is. Tonight's second Big Red trivia question. Be the first caller with the correct answer to our question and you'll receive the all new year 2,000 Big Red 16 month calendar.

[HAMBLETON] There's 16 months in the year 2,000.

[KUGLER] Sixteen months in the year 2,000. That's why there's such a problem with the Y-2K bug. Remember only one winner per household this season for this very special 16-month calendar. Saturday's game played at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City named after a 1939 Heisman Trophy winner, Nile Kinnick. Kinnick, as you might know, was raised in Omaha. Our second Big Red trivia question tonight is what Omaha high school did Nile Kinnick graduate from? Be the first caller with the correct answer and you'll win the all new two thousand Big Red calendar. Ken Hamilton's nodding his head. I'm gonna have to make these questions tougher the next time he's on the show I think.

[FIALA] He's my neighbor so I know

[KUGLER] Oh okay. Well very well. Adrian knows it too. Great. Well let's go back to the questions then.

[HAMBLETON] We're supposed to know something.

[KUGLER] Oh here we go. Rich in Omaha says, they just announced Correll Buckhalter quit the team. What does that do to the running back position?

[FIALA] I don't know that that's official yet. That's you know, there's some talk about it. He wasn't in practice Monday or Tuesday, but I don't think that's official.

[KUGLER] There was a running back according to Dennis in Hastings named Brian Knuckles in 1994. Whatever happened to Brian?

[HAMBLETON] He played for the Madison Mad Dogs in the indoor football league two years ago and this year was not on Madison's team he had gone down to the whatever that league is in Louisiana and Texas, eleven-man outdoor football and that's where he is. That's way more than you needed to know.

[KUGLER] Boy I'll tell you. Did you expect to get that answer? Maybe not, but.

[FIALA] I'm glad you were here tonight.

KEN Yeah well, he's kinda disappeared.

[KUGLER] Steve via the E-mail writes in. Is Colorado that bad? Is Colorado State that good or is Gary Barnett just a bad coach?

[FIALA] Well I tell you what everybody was all hoop-te-do about Colorado before the season got underway and Frank wasn't too enamored with em at all. Uh you got a new coach uh bringing in a new system. I think Gary Barnett's a pretty good coach quite frankly, but Colorado's a different bird and they fly a little differently than most teams and I just didn't think if they're gonna do well, they're gonna do well two or three years down the road, but this year and next year, I think Kevin is a building process for him and.

[HAMBLETON] Wasn't this kind of a surprise though that he at least he talked about their lack of emotion against Colorado State and there wasn't much was Machete said, well our rival's Nebraska right before the Colorado State game. Well, now if you're a Colorado State guy, whoot, there goes your incentive.

[FIALA] Well that's what I'm saying, for years, Colorado was I don't know what it is Ken, there's just something about that ball club out there. When we played em my years and have watched em all the way through since then, there's just something about this Colorado ball club that's sorta weird. And I'm just not sure exactly what it is. If it's the Rocky Mountain high stuff or whatever, but it's just they're just pretty goofy sometimes and Barnett's got to overcome that. I mean football out there, McCartney took it to a new level, but there's still not a total emphasis on football.

[HAMBLETON] It's slipped back in a big hurry too. And once the other little run in 90, 91, it kinda came back to pretty normal and K-State kinda took over their position and I don't know that K-State's in that kinda slip the clutch mood. K-State is probably gonna be pretty good for many many years to come.

[KUGLER] Mick in St. Paul's on the line. Good evening, Mick. How are you doing?

[MICK] Real good.

[KUGLER] Good. What's your question for us tonight?

[MICK] Well kind of an observation as well as a question. It seems like we put on a lot of extra weight on the offensive and defensive lines and the guys should be able to hold their own hopefully a little bit better. How are we gonna stack up against teams like California and some of the other heavyweights we are gonna have to face through the year?

[HAMBLETON] Well you should know he's from St. Paul, right? Loran Kaiser, the largest point guard in the United States.

[FIALA] In history. In history yeah.

[KUGLER] And he keeps getting larger too.

[HAMBLETON] Oh he's like two eighty-five now and he's a point guard.

[KUGLER] Well Mick, the Cal offensive line average is three oh eight per man and uh man alive, I tell you, Kenny, you know, back a few years ago, it was two forty, two fifty, two sixty and now we're at three oh eight this ball club here. I think I think we're gonna be just fine. Our guy's up front and both sides of the football are very strong. Boyd Epley and his crew have really done a great job in terms of weight training and the strength conditioning that they do. I think we're gonna be fine just against everybody.

[HAMBLETON] Well they have I think a lean muscle mass they talk about. Texas Tech the other night...

[FIALA] Ken and I are good examples.

[HAMBLETON] Well yeah, my muscle mass leans the... but Texas Tech got handled the other night and they averaged three eighteen so you could get so large that you have a bunch of taxicabs out there that people just shove out of the way. I don't get overwhelmed with size anymore as you do with the speed and the muscle and what's here and here that it's gonna move people.

[KUGLER] Well Frank Solich talked about his offensive line and their performance and how he feels this team is developing in the offensive line today at media day.

[SOLICH] I thought it was very good. I was even more impressed after watching the tape than from watching it on the sidelines. It appeared to me like they were doing a very good job, but they really came off the ball well. They made - had few mental breakdowns which uh which is indicative of being able to put the ball in the end zone, but I was pleased with uh what they got accomplished and um I think they're where we want them to be at this time in the season.

[KUGLER] So the offensive line is kind of on track I guess this year. Last year it drew so much attention for the problems it was having based on I would assume a lack of experience for the most part. There were a lot of young kids in there that.

[HAMBLETON] Four new starters last year.

[KUGLER] Yeah that weren't doing that didn't have a lot of experience. This year though that's a different story.

[FIALA] And injuries. We had two guys playing at about 70 per cent last year and it's tough to compete at 70 per cent and they...

[HAMBLETON] Well they couldn't lift most of the year. There was there were problems.

[KUGLER] Well let's talk a little bit then about Dave Volk taking over for Jason Schwab briefly. Schwab was a starter. He had started every game last year. The only one in the alignment, came back this year starting of the game. How did - what was your impression of the side of line, Dave Volk's position there?

[HAMBLETON] Well you know you can't be as vocal or as much a leader as Schwab was immediately. I mean Jason was one of those self-made players. He really wasn't all that great out of high school and he built himself into this fairly massive offensive tackle. And was very vocal and everything. Volk has a lot of flexibility and there's a lot of potential there. And he may end up being as good or if not better. It's hard to say, but I don't think they step down in terms of talent a whole lot by using Dave Volk. He's just Schwab gave him a lot of other things that you can't teach a kid.

[FIALA] He plays over there on the right side with Russ Hochstein and the 29 yard option touchdown run right over his area. I think he closed down and Volk went around trapped the the linebacker on the outside and Volk closed it down to the inside so yeah, yeah I think can get it done pretty well so he's got a great future here.

[KUGLER] Big 12 question from Carl in Farnam. What's the status of Oklahoma State quarterback Tony Lindsey who had a knee injury that was being looked at and he's what's the status on that?

[HAMBLETON] At least four weeks which means he would be if you started now at four weeks, he would not play against Nebraska which is you know, too bad. They have some backups, but he's pretty neat.

[FIALA] I'll tell you what's significant for them because I really think Oklahoma State's kind of a sleeper in the Big 12 conference quite frankly a lot of guys back from last year. A lot of enthusiasm. Tony Lindsey was a key to their success this year and we play them right after Missouri and Missouri's gonna be just as physical and a mental gangfight quite frankly down there in Columbia. Then we gotta come back up here and play Oklahoma State after that with Lindsey out I think it changes the whole picture for OSU this year until he gets back.

[KUGLER] Well speaking of the Big 12, we want to take a look at scores for around the league in the first full weekend of playing college football and Boston College, what a heartbreaker for Kevin Steele in his first time as head coach, first time out as head coach of the Baylor Bears. A missed extra point in overtime. Otherwise they may be still playing that one.

[HAMBLETON] And they actually discussed about going for two at that case and didn't have enough time and didn't have another time out, but that's too bad.

[KUGLER] You see Colorado State's demolishing of Colorado following which by the Colorado State fans demolishing Mile High Stadium in Denver and you've probably seen pictures or heard of the malay after that. Iowa State over Indiana State interesting game this week. Iowa State and Iowa. Iowa State beat Iowa last year and the Iowa players after their loss to Nebraska were talking revenge.

[HAMBLETON] This game was in Ames too.

[FIALA] Yet Iowa State's favored again. And I'll tell you what, if Iowa comes back and plays like they did that first quarter against Iowa State, Iowa State will have their hands full.

[KUGLER] You see UAB just barely losing to Missouri. Missouri only winning by three over UAB. Cause for concern in Tiger country?

[FIALA] I would think so. That three point win over UAB.

[HAMBLETON] Have you replaced Devon West. Have you replaced Corby Jones. Have you replaced three of those offensive linemen. Maybe not.

[KUGLER] Oklahoma State, 24 seven winners over southwest Louisiana and Texas, I'd say bounced back solidly after their loss to NC State. Sixty-nine to 17 over Stanford.

[HAMBLETON] That's the way to avoid punting is..

[KUGLER] Every single time.

[FIALA] The major came back and had a great pass again. Three hundred and sixty some yards passing. I was really concerned. Major Applewhite had a great year last year and a lot of that attributable to the fact that Ricky Williams was in the backfield. I mean that can change your defensive outlook a lot when you got a guy like Williams back there, but Major, not so good the first game came back in this game and really lit it up so that's good to see.

[KUGLER] Texas winning.

[FIALA] Kevin on Missouri. Just to point out Missouri. They were supposed to have a really good defense and you know, the UAB got 28 points against a really good defense. That would concern me a lot if I was Larry Smith down there.

[KUGLER] Well let's take a look at the rest of the scores then in the Big 12 Conference. This one, Texas A & M over Louisiana Tech, 37 to 17. Troy Edwards gone. Tim Ratay still there so the offensive... three sixty yards so and still 17 points on the board a loss by 20 and Arizona State took care of Texas Tech last night. 31 to 13. That one a very interesting game because Texas Tech had the 7 nothing lead. They were driving early second quarter, but Arizona State did a number on Ricky Williams last night. And all the talk at the very beginning of the season about Ricky Williams perhaps as the new Heisman trophy winner, the new Ricky Williams Heisman trophy winner, 33 yards on 13 carries.

[HAMBLETON] Well your offense line has to block and you have to not be injured. And he got hurt and their offensive lineman, I don't think they threw it after the first quarter. I don't know that they threw a block. Their pro quarterback was on his - well he was like the Iowa quarterback. He was doing a lot of looking up all day long.

[FIALA] Feeling that grass

[KUGLER] Talking about the Big 12 and looking at those scores. The Big 12 conference right now is maybe in a little bit of trouble, wouldn't you say. They have not really had the opportunity to get a bunch of wins, a bunch of good quality wins that are gonna boost the conference.

[HAMBLETON] And there's not gonna be a chance because if you look ahead in the non-conference schedule, I think only Oklahoma and Notre Dame are the only Big 12 teams playing a ranked team throughout the rest of the non-conference schedule so maybe it's off year for the Big 12. Maybe

[FIALA] Maybe it'll show up in the ratings when we get down to the end. The power ratings. So we'll see it to be.

[HAMBLETON] Those computers will count it.

[KUGLER] Although there's been no Big 12 games. Let's take a look at the standing and see where everybody pans out after the first week of play. And of course we put Nebraska at the top. They're one and 0. Iowa State one and one. Missouri one and O.

[HAMBLETON] Iowa State just has Kansas.

[KUGLER] O and one. That's right. Iowa State is one and O as well. We're anticipating perhaps a loss to Iowa. Okay, you know, we're looking into the future around here at Big Red Wrap Up.

[HAMBLETON] I didn't know this was one of those prediction shows.

[KUGLER] Absolutely. Absolutely. We do it all. Kansas State, Colorado, and Kansas round out the north division of the Big 12. Of course Colorado 0 and one. Oklahoma State in the south one and 0. Texas one and one. They are one and one. Oklahoma, Texas, A & M, Texas Tech, and Baylor with a heartbreaker, 0 and one the loss to Boston College and that was a tough one for Kevin Steele. Adrian, we've got an E-mail for you from Dave in Kearney. How many hours does it take to prepare for your radio program? Or does it take any time at all? I know you just wake up and go to the stadium, do your broadcast, and go home.

[FIALA] I just head to Barry's, oil up, and go rip it.

[KUGLER] Yeah.

[FIALA] Prepare. No I've got a weekly routine that I follow in terms of preparation and it involves uh uh reading media guides. The media guide usually Sunday - making my notes from that. Watching film through the course of the week, go to the press conference, talking to coaches - I probably, the film work that I do is probably the most important significant to what I do and then of course making, going through the media guide and picking out all the things that are interesting about players. Making my bio sheets. And Kevin, you've seen the - I make about oh I have about three legal sheets of bullet points that I make for each game and I have a full book, a bio-book of Nebraska, all the Nebraska players and that kind of thing so I - in terms of hours, it'll vary, but you can figure on about 20, 25 hours a week so it's not just walk in the ball park and light it up, it just uh it doesn't happen that way.

[KUGLER] What about your prep, Ken?

[HAMBLETON] I listen to him and.

[KUGLER] There you go.

[HAMBLETON] He didn't mention, not once did he mention he read the newspapers. I can't believe that. You know, we're talking about the life blood of the information.

[FIALA] I read the Lincoln Journal Star.

[HAMBLETON] Yeah yeah sure you do. I'll bring you - I throw one on your porch every day. It says when it says over there, Journal Star, that's what I bring..

[FIALA] It's really fun when Ken comes to the house and hits that punch card.

[HAMBLETON] The preparation is the part of it's - we go to practice every day. We are there every day. The World Herald's there every day. You know, that's part of the newspaper business. If somebody's there you want to find out what's going on. We actually learned a little bit of football. A couple of years ago, I went through five weeks of going to those seven a.m. coaches meetings which if you think you've been bored in your life.. come sit in those meetings. However, you do pick up stuff. We talk to players every day. We talk to coaches every day and like Adrian does, you do a little bit of your research. You watch as much football as you can on TV. You listen to what you can. I mean it's fun. You get paid to do this. I mean, what the heck, there's people that don't get paid to do it and that's the best part about it all is.

[FIALA] Talk to the other SID's, Sports Information Director's from the other schools and pick out as much information as you can.

[HAMBLETON] Of course guys like Adrian who played the game, we can go to em and say, what's that? I mean a lot of stuff doesn't translate into words or pictures and he can give you like this is what practice was like on a two a day when your gut feels like it comes up, you know.

[FIALA] And one of the things that you try to avoid at least I try to avoid anyway is to talk in too technical a terms. I found that fans you could call you know, all those special terms that the coaches use, players use, and you know, some like blitz, everybody pretty much understands what the blitz is, but when you start talking about the wago and all this kind of stuff, people don't pick up on that. They sit there and they say, what was that all about. What's a wago, you know, that kind of thing. So you try to just explain it in terms that everybody can understand and uh and try to paint that picture over the radio that so they can basically see it in their mind and uh and you have to Kevin and you know, Ken, you know, you gotta have enough information to do that and so it's uh it takes quite a bit of preparation.

[KUGLER] So there is prep involved. There's an answer to your questions.

[FIALA] Then we finish at Barry's.

[HAMBLETON] And then next week's trivia question will be what is a wago?

[KUGLER] Yeah there you go. Well it's time now speaking of trivia, that's called the segueway. Time now for tonight's third Big Red Trivia question, be the first caller with a correct answer to our question and you'll receive a VHS copy of "A Day in the Life of Husker Football," produced right here at Nebraska Public Television. And remember, only one winner per household this season. And if Ken starts nodding his head, I'll know this is another easy one. The Husker's next opponent, California, is a pack ten conference school. That's not your trivia question. Nebraska has played every team in the pack ten except three during the 1990s. Our third Big Red trivia question tonight is what are the three pack ten teams that Nebraska has not played in the 1990s. Be the first correct caller, you'll receive a VHS copy of "A Day in the Life of Husker Football." And earlier today, we had a chance as well as going to the press conference, we had a chance to look at the brand new sky boxes. Now this whole new facility will open up this weekend for the game against Cal and a chance for the media to kind of tour around, snoop around in there and see exactly what there was to offer at the new skyboxes. There's the exterior of the old stadium. They built the new facade right on the front of it. Concession stand going up in the concourse. And the elevators, elevators - that's an escalator, Kevin, and that goes up to the club level.

[HAMBLETON] Sideways elevator.

[KUGLER] That's a sideways elevator. It's one of those tricky elevators in my country apparently. Club View Lounge there. You can take a look at that. It goes all the way up. You get the area view - that's my favorite spot of this whole new area. It's very light, very open, very airy. That's the Club View Lounge on the 3rd floor and there's the Club View seats fitting that they're near the Club View Lounge. Now you can look out the windows of this new sky box and you can see where the new baseball stadium is going to be built as we zoom in on it right there. That building will soon turn into a baseball stadium with many many people working on it of course. You're looking up there in the Club View Lounge. And now we move into the skyboxes. Of course these have received an awful lot of publicity. This is the skybox kitchen. Each skybox has a refrigerator, a microwave oven, a dishwasher, front row seating of course for you and your donor friends inside the skybox.

[HAMBLETON] Adrian's is right next to mine.

[KUGLER] I knew you guys were two of the first ones to sign up. There's the skybox right there. And the hallway. Some of the guys are still working around the skyboxes as they try to get this done. Now we move into where well where these guys will sit or will sit in the print media sections and there's a look at the seats as you look out from the print media section. And there's a guy getting busy to work. In the pinicle network booth. This is where Adrian and Warren Swain will spend their time. There's Adrian's seat. And you can see the view. It's higher up this year, Adrian, than it was last year. You're gonna have to get advanced field goggles with this.

[FIALA] You know, we were a little bit concerned initially because like at Arizona State and Oklahoma you're way up in the air and the players look like they're about oh maybe a quarter inch big and it's awfully difficult to see the numbers uh on the player's backs. Now a couple of weeks ago, Warren and I were up there uh for the last scrimage. We were watching the scrimage. You could pick the players' numbers up really well. Plus we're up higher looking straight down, whereas before we were way to the left looking kind of at an angle. Now we have a vantage point where you can see everything develop really nicely. So I think it's gonna be actually be a better viewpoint.

[HAMBLETON] When they did two things. One and they increased the size of the numbers on the back of the players. I'm not making this up. It's true. They are bigger numbers. They put bigger numbers on the field and two, that glass is a little bit concave and so it's a corrective lens and so when you look out the glass - oh I'm just making that up.

[KUGLER] Betsy Stucky of Houston, Texas - mailed. She wants to know how does this year's Cal team, of course, the Husker's next opponent this weekend, compare to last year's and what problems might they present for the Huskers? Thank you, Betsy, you've taken the question right from our mouth.

[HAMBLETON] Probably a little better defense, probably a little worse offense. In a nutshell, they have two of the best linebackers in the country, they'll play a six-man front and an Eagle front too and give Nebraska a little bit more challenge on its running game, but offesively they seem to be a little soft. They only had two touchdowns against Rutgerts and I don't remeber seeing Rutgers on that power list.

[KUGLER] We've got another winner in our Big Red trivia question. We'll try to get the name in before the end of the show.

[FIALA] A great running back, Marcus Fields could give you some fits if you're not careful. Some pretty decent receivers also. They lost their good receiver from last year, but their quarterback the jury out on him right now, we'll see how he can develop. Samuel Clemmens.

[HAMBLETON] Monte Cristo last year, Sam Clemens this year.

[FIALA] I think I'd be more concerned about their defense. He talked to - Kenny talked about the linebackers and they have a great defensive line man too, and Andre Carter. Last year, second team, an NFL prospect Kevin and they expect some good things out of him so defensively they could give us some fits early. You know, we've got to go out and establish it, control it, and then try and tie our mountain, take it away on the second half.

[KUGLER] Well and its a team that gave Nebraska a fit defensively last season. It was 14 to 3 till the very end of the game.

[HAMBLETON] And remember, Nebraska broke in two quarterbacks that game. They broke in Eric Crouch as a starter as a freshman, then he broke and was out. Then he got hurt and then they had to bring in Monte Cristo of the first kind of major competition he had faced and finished well. But you were you know, they were limited. Nebraska was limited in what it could do and what it would do with two brand new quarterbacks. A lot of pressure, big crowd. As you're call, what two-thirds of the stadium was wearing red so it helped Nebraska, but for the first time ever, I've seen on a road game in a long time, Cal quarterback came out and had to do this to quiet down the fans cause and they can't penalize the Husker fans so it was very very strange.

[KUGLER] Well Kathy in Council Bluffs is one of the many that have written and called in about this one. What do you think of Turner Gill being on the sideline? Of course that'll come into play again this weekend against Cal. Turner Gill's move down onto the sideline. Dave Gillespie back up in the booth now. Those two have switched positions. What do you think of Turner on the sideline?

[FIALA] I think it's a good move. I do. I find the quarterbacks coach ought to be down there talking to his quarterbacks. Frank Solich spent a lot of time talking to them and then trying to figure out what he's gonna do as far as coaching goes and other moves as he's gonna make in the ballgame, but now that can go to Turner Gill. He can deal with Bobby and Eric and Jeff and all the other guys. Playing that quarterback spot, Kevin, I think its a good move and I hope they keep it that way. And that Gillespie, Dave Gillespie was on our post-game show and I talked to him afterwards and he enjoyed being up in the booth and it gives him a little bit different perspective and he can visit with his running backs. But the quarterback situation is the key that the quarterbacks coach needs to be there and that gives them this opportunity.

[HAMBLETON] I remember Frank being a former running backs coach - on the sideline can interpret whatever Dave calls down and also add his own to them very quickly. He wasn't a quarterback coach and so now he can have Turner take care of that, you know, your throwing motions off or lift your elbow up or make your snap count better. That kind of thing - I think Adrian's right. It's a good move.

[KUGLER] Barry Webski of Lincoln, our third trivia question winner. We'll get a chance to look at you Barry or at least your name next week and we'll give you the answer to that third trivia question next week on the show. Of course next week on the show we'll take a look at the Cal game and Nebraska. We are with our guest Lee Barfnech of the Omaha-World Herald and Mike Babcock of Huskers Illustrated. Ken, Adrian, we're out of time. About 35 seconds left. Thank you very much for joining us and on what has been my first show. I certainly appreciate it. First show of the 1999 season.

[HAMBLETON] You did a lot - Bill had a lot of practice - you did a lot better than he did. What was his name anyway?

[FIALA] Well I think it was the hat. It made the trip much easier.

[KUGLER] It was the hat. I appreciate the hat and the first show is on the books. The Huskers of course winning over Iowa. For Ken Hamilton and Adrian Fiala, I'm Kevin Kugler plus a big thank you to our Nebraska ETV Sports production crew. We'll talk to you next week as we take a look at Nebraska versus Cal. See you next week on Big Red Wrap-Up.