Omaha daily bee., 1905-11-29
FINAL CLASH on GRIDIRON
Nesting at Lincoln Thursday Winds Up
Foot Ball season.
NEBRASKA AND ILLINOIS ARE CONFIDENT
Booth Gets His warriors Ready for
Hard Game aud Invaders Will
Come Full Of Ginger
and Hope.

The final curtain on the foot ball season OF
1906 at the University of Nebraska will be
rung down Thanksgiving afternoon, when
Booths Cornhuskers and the Illini will
meet for their annual clash. 1t is the be-
lief In the Nebraska camp that the two
elevens are nearly on a par and that IL
there are any odds they are in favor Of
the Cornhuskers. This will be the third
successive Thanksgiving that the Illinois
eleven has opposed Booths pupils on
turkey day. on each Of their previous
visits the warriors from Champaign have
given the Cornhuskers the stiffest kind OF
a fight for the honors and there is a strong
sentiment that the Hlini are coming to
Lincoln confident that they have a fair
chance to win.
On paper the two teams seem quite
evenly matched Each team has been
badly defeated by stronger elevens, the
Illinl losing TO Michigan and Chicago and
the Cornhuskers to Michigan and Mime
sofa, the losers In all four games being
fairly outclassed. Illinois will have an ad-
vantage in the weights Of about eight
pounds to the man, a margin which in the
last two years did not prevent Nebraska
from winning, and on the score of avoirdu-
pos the Cornhuskers have nothing to fear.
The scales also balance fairly even upon
the score Of veteran players. a study OF
the seasons records OF the two elevens
shows that Nebraska has scored a much
greater number of points on opponents
than the nlini. brt it IS likely true that
Nebraska has had more easy games and
the comparison therefore is of no particu
lar purpose in forecasting the relative
strength Of the two teams. All of the
signs, in fact. point to an even battle.
Benedict Carries the Hope.
Much of Nebrsska's hopes are pinned to
Maurice Benedict, the Cornhuskers' bril-
liant quarterback. Last year it was the
neet-footed Bender whose quarterback
playing encompassed the downfall of Illi-
nols, and unless Nebraska's predictions go
completely astray 1t will be Benedict who
figures prominently in another Nebraska
victory. Booth, the CornhuslSers' mentor
has seen Norcross, captain OF Yosts in
vincible Wolverines, in action and he
thinks Benedict much better quarter than
the leader of the wolverines. Benedict did
not play quarter in the Nebraska Michigan
game, but Booth is confident that only in
generalship can Norcross be classed with
Benny As n punter Benedict has only one
or two equals in the west, while in return
ing kicks or in interfering for or pushing
the runner the Nebraska lad ranks with
the best in the country. Benedict began
the year with an injury, an inheritance
from last season, which made it doubtful
II Booth could make use Of him, but he has
Improved steadily in condition and today he
is in fine trim for the Thanksgiving game.
The practice this week at Nebraska be-
gan under discouraging circumstances. \
heavy rain came on Monday, when the field
was already soaked from previous down
pours. and there is now no hope that the
he in fast DlaN
The field has been utterly UNIT for practice
purposes and the Cornhuskers have been
forced to devote their time to running sig
rails on a narrow strip Of turf on the uni
vorsity campus. Scrimmaging with the
scrubs will be attempted only one after
noon. The weather hoodoo has camped
persistently on Nebraskas trail ever since
the season opened and Booth has finally
brcome hardened against such discourage
meuts.
Nebraska'a Line Unsettled.
The lineup Nebraska will present for the
final game is still undecided. Wienstrand
the big guard. whose weight is nc, has not
yet made his peace with the faculty be-
cause Of studentship deficiencies, and his
place in the line likely will be filled by
Jenkins. Weller has also been out Of form
al left tackle during the last few games
and from Lundin's performance against
Doane last Saturday there is every indica
ton that the latter player will be chosen
by Booth. Weller prefers to play in the
back field and he stands much better
chance for right half than for his old sta
ton in tho line, The injury TO Denslow Il
50 slow In mending that his place at righ
end in all likelihood must be taken by Nc
Donald. while tho lamcness of left enc
Johnson may forbid his use for more thar
the first half Mcdonald has been doinl
some superb tackling in recent games anC
n Johnson can but last during both halve
the two end positions should be we'll takeI
care of, There will be no freshmen in tn
Nebraska lineup. the lllni being a confer
ence aggregation and Nebraska havinl
voted to play only second year men. Tn
less there IL a sudden shift in Booths plan
the two teams will be opposed as follows: