Nebraska's cybergame highlight weekend slate

Nebraska's hoped-for march toward another national championship begins Saturday with a relatively easy test: at home against San Jose State.<br><br>The No. 1 Cornhuskers have never played the Spartans

Friday, September 1st 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

Nebraska's hoped-for march toward another national championship begins Saturday with a relatively easy test: at home against San Jose State.

The No. 1 Cornhuskers have never played the Spartans of the WAC, but that shouldn't matter when quarterback Eric Crouch and his high-powered offense get going.

Unless San Jose State, a 50-point underdog, pulls off the incredible upset, the game's claim to fame likely will be the first-ever live Webcast of a Division I-A football game.

Foxsports.com has the honors and will use the in-stadium HuskerVision facilities for the video streaming, along with play-by-play from the Pinnacle Sports Network.

In other games involving Big 12 teams, No. 8 Kansas State (1-0) plays Louisiana Tech (1-0), No. 19 Oklahoma plays Texas-El Paso, No. 23 Colorado takes Colorado State in their showdown in Denver and No. 25 Texas A&M plays at Notre Dame.

Also, Iowa State faces Ohio, Kansas will be at Southern Methodist, Missouri plays Division I-AA Western Illinois and Texas Tech (1-0) faces Utah State.

Baylor defeated North Texas 20-7 Thursday, while Texas and Oklahoma State don't get started until next weekend.

League play doesn't begin until Sept. 30, when all 12 squads face one another.

Kansas State will be without star kick returner David Allen, who injured an ankle in a 27-7 victory over Iowa last weekend. Louisiana Tech is coming off a 63-10 victory over Mississippi Valley State.

Texas-El Paso coach Gary Nord will be making his debut against an Oklahoma squad trying to build on a great 1999 season. Nord was the offensive coordinator at Oklahoma in 1995 under then-head coach Howard Schnellenberger.

The Colorado-Colorado State series dates to 1893 and is lopsided in the Buffaloes favor. Colorado has won 12 of the last 15, although Colorado State pasted CU last season.

A&M and Notre Dame know each other best from three Cotton Bowl meetings in the last dozen years. Their coaches know each other well because Fighting Irish boss Bob Davie was an Aggies assistant under R.C. Slocum. Both teams are breaking in new quarterbacks.

Iowa State has beaten Ohio all four previous meetings, the most recent in 1995.

Kansas has the honor of being the first opponent in SMU's new Gerald J. Ford Stadium, a $56.8 million on-campus facility. The Jayhawks won big when the teams met in Kansas last year.

Missouri, which won three of four to start last season, hopes for another strong start against a Western Illinois club that averaged 34.8 points per game last season.

Tech's new coach Mike Leach and his new fast-break offense will try improving upon their 24-3 win over New Mexico that actually was led by the defense.