Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1916-11-20
DEFEAT MAY MAKE
NEBRASKA ELEVEN
Waloping Administered by
Kansas May Prove Tonic
for Cornhuskers.
WHO GETS CHAMPIONSHIP?
By FRED s. HUNTER.

L HClS 10 hiliS ouSpiSioh lhdt
the defeat of the Cornhuskers at the
hand OF the hated Jayhawk at Lincoln
Saturday, may have been a good
thing. ...
Defeat has been the making of
many foot ball team, perhaps it will
prove the tonic that the 1916 Ne
braska eleven has been needing all
year.
Not since the fall of 1912 had Ne
braska tasted defeat. That year
Minnesota licked Stiehm's men. In
1918, 1914 and 1915 the Cornhuskers
bowled over such worthy opponents
as Minnesota, Michiga Aggies, Notre
Dame, Iowa and all the Missouri Val
ley schools. Not since 1909 had Ne
braska lost Missouri Valley cham
pionship and not since 1909 had Kan
sas so much as scored a touchdown
against the Cornhuskers, let alone a
victory.
Nebraska went into the game Sat-
urday with a brilliant record behind
it. Kansas followers were predicting
a victory for their hopefuls, but they
warent risking any even money, they
were demanding heavy, very heavy
odds and not betting much at that. To
Nebraska supporters hostile victory
seemed remote. 1t probably occurred
to the team itself the same way. And
it is at times like these that defeat
is good thing.
Punch Is Lacking.
Nebraska had been playing all fall
a brand of foot ball that failed to
bring results. The Cornhuskers won
over the Kansas Aggies, ID to 0. They
won over Ames, by the narrow margin
Of 3 to 0. In both games they gained
a great many more yards than their
opponents. They did that against
Kansas too. But it was when the
ball was in the middle of the field,
many yards away from the goal line,
that Nebraska earned its yards. 1t
played great game then. But when
ever the pigskin was in striking dis
lance of the enemy's goal, the punch
Immediately disappeared.
That showed there was too much
confidence on the part of the players,
not that quiet confidence in the abil
ity of the team to win, which is al
ways valuable asset, but an indi-
vidual confidence, which means the
men weren't playing together. Each
man was playing for himself and such
playing seldom wins foot ball games.
Show Real Fight.
-Four times Saturday the Cornhusk-
ers fought like wildcats. Those four
times Kansas had the ball within ten
yards of the Cornhusker goal. Those
four times the Huskers realized how
desperate the situation was and they
pulled themselves together and played
real foot ball. The Huskers have the
foot ball in them, but they haven't
been playing it.
1t is not surprising, however, that
the Huskers have been overcome
dent. The student body, iH fact, the
entire state, has been overconfdent.
A bare handful of loyal rooters from
Kansas Saturday made more noise
and showed more spirit than the
hundreds of Nebraska rooters. Too
much prosperity has ruined many
man, and it looks very much as if it
put the blink on the Nebraska foot
ball team last Saturday.
Iowa Becomes Favorite.
As a result of the defeat at the
hands of Kansas, Nebraska will go to
Iowa City to battle the Hawkeyes
next Saturday with the odds on the
Jones' crew. Iowa has a fair scoring
machine this year, it proved that by
running up nineteen points on Ames
and scoring on Northwestern. Ne
tbraska couldn't score on Ames, it
didn't even come close. So the dope
reads that Iowa will score on Ne
braska, while Nebraska won't be able
to score on iowa, unless it should be
by one of Captain Tim Corey's place
kicks.
But that Kansas defeat, we reiter-
ate, may be the making of the Husk-
ers and they may upset the dope by
exhibiting powerful scoring ma
chine at Iowa City. Stewart may be
able to teach his proteges to show
the same fight when they approach
the enemy's goal line that they show
when the enemy approaches their
goal line. The defeat may make it
possible for him to drill that fight into
them and if it does, as it has with
many other teams, Nebraska should
win from Iowa and give Notre Dame
stiff tussle. But if the defeat has
the other effect, tendency to dis
courage, good night.
The result Saturday makes the Mis-
souri, Valley championship a beautiful
affair. Nebraska was defeated by
Kansas. Kansas was defeated by
Ames., Ames was defeated by Ne
braska. Missouri was defeated by the
Kansas Aggies and the Kansas Ag-
gies were defeated by Nebraska. If
the Missouri Valley must award
championship this year, we'll give it
to Drake, it lost every game.