Nebraska, Rice Meet Tonight

In Nebraska, where football outranks just about everything, the game no longer seems quite so big.

The No. 4-ranked Cornhuskers play host to Rice tonight in a game postponed five days after last week’s terrorism.

“I don’t think there was realistically any way in the world that we could have been at our best playing last weekend,” Rice Coach Ken Hatfield said.

Several pregame events are planned to honor the victims and rescue efforts.

“There were so many people affected by this,” Nebraska tight end Tracey Wistrom said.

“It would have been difficult to put that behind you and try to play a football game. Hopefully this has given everybody a chance to get back into their daily routine.”

Also tonight, South Carolina plays at Mississippi State.

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The Federal Aviation Administration has granted requests from several schools, including Clemson, Michigan and Penn State, to bar flights within a mile radius of their stadiums and up to an altitude of 3,000 feet this weekend.

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Virginia Coach Al Groh apologized for a comment that offended many, including university President John Casteen.

On a conference call with reporters Wednesday, Groh was told that several of his players were concerned about taking a chartered flight to Saturday’s game at Clemson.

“I’m not saying this to make light of it by any means, but I’m not planning on having Arabs in the traveling party,” Groh said.

Groh, a former New York Jet coach, issued a written apology.

“I certainly did not mean to insinuate that millions of sensitive, God-fearing people of Arabic descent are terrorists,” Groh said.

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The Downtown Athletic Club, home of the Heisman Trophy and just around the corner from where the World Trade Center stood, will be closed indefinitely for inspections.

Following last week’s terrorist attacks, medical personnel from the club administered to those in the area.