UNO had everything in place.

A brand-new, breathtaking video scoreboard. Sharp new uniforms. Five straight home games to start the season. And a big crowd for the season opener.

And then UNK came to town and produced two fourth-quarter rallies to stun the Mavericks 32-29.

“We just didn't play like we had much excitement going on at all,” UNO coach Pat Behrns said. “But that just goes to show that even if you get new uniforms and a new video board, that doesn't make a heck of a lot of difference. We had great fan support, and I'm not sure we earned much of our fans' respect. I hope they come back, because we will change. We will get better.”

The University of Nebraska at Omaha is finishing its short, five-day preparation for Thursday's 7 p.m. game with Ouachita Baptist (Ark.).

It looks like a difficult test: The Tigers are picked to finish sixth in the tough Gulf South Conference, beat two top 15 teams last year and rose as high as No. 14 themselves. They had a league-high five players picked as preseason All-GSC, led by tight end Phillip Supernaw.

One might think UNO would prefer extra preparation for a good team after a disheartening loss, but Behrns said that isn't the case.

“(Nonconference) games are so hard to get, and thank goodness we're playing Thursday — I wish we could have played (Monday),” Behrns said. “We've got to get that one (UNK) out of the way, and the only way to do that is to go out and do better.”

Ouachita Baptist opened its season last Thursday with a 73-0 win over the NAIA's Texas College. The Mavs and Tigers are meeting for the first time after both schools were looking to fill an opening on the schedule before starting conference play. Behrns said both schools liked playing on Thursday to give themselves an extra two days ahead of league openers.

“We just wanted to get a game on the schedule,” Behrns said. “I would have hated to have been sitting for another week waiting to play (No. 8) Northwest Missouri.”

Behrns said Tuesday that UNO will stick with John Teigland as its starting quarterback but would also try to get Jon Daniels into the game sooner than it did against UNK. Teigland competed 14 of 19 passes with one interception on a deflected pass. The Mavs had a 23-17 third-quarter lead before going with Daniels, who completed 5 of 11 and was credited with 63 yards rushing on three attempts. Had UNO gone into its two-minute offense, Behrns said, it would have gone back to Teigland.

“We're still very pleased with both of them,” Behrns said.

At tailback, not only is All-MIAA sophomore Levi Terrell doubtful for a second straight game with a hamstring injury, true freshman James Franklin (thigh) is also doubtful after rushing 13 times for 105 yards and two touchdowns in his debut. Franklin injured the thigh on a second-quarter collision with Teigland on a handoff, but Franklin did come back to finish the game.

Senior Duane Bowen (19 rushes, 90 yards) figures to start again, with true freshman Jeff Seybold contending for his first playing time along with senior Bryce Hawthorne (who lost a fumble on his only play).

Starting wide receiver and kick returner Marques Parker is doubtful with a high ankle sprain, but Behrns is hoping that backup tight end Austin Wells (ankle) will be able to return after sitting out last week.

Meanwhile, Behrns was still vacillating on what to do at kicker. All-American Greg Zuerlein has shown little improvement after reinjuring his right groin on the initial extra point of Saturday's game, and the Mavs likely left seven to 10 points on the field without him.

Tyler Johnson, the backup punter who hadn't done any place-kicking in practice before last week, made a 25-yard field goal but also missed from 30 and saw an extra-point try blocked. UNO also failed to convert twice on fourth down when it would have likely turned to Zuerlein for longer field goals.

Behrns is considering using true freshman Jake Ramsay from Lincoln Pius X, but Behrns doesn't want to burn his redshirt year for potentially one game. He said he'd be confident in Ramsay kicking field goals of up to 45 yards.

Defensively, Behrns said, senior Kevin Ehlers will start at one of the interior line positions and that true freshman Shaquil Barrett has a chance to start at linebacker. True freshman Julian Young, a tackle, didn't play Saturday, but he and redshirt freshman nose guard Eric Cummings should get some playing time Thursday.

“We've got to get a better rotation going there and at several other positions,” Behrns said. “We had some guys in for 78 snaps, and that's too many. We have to be fresher in the fourth quarter.”

Contact the writer:

444-1027, rob.white@owh.com

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