Huskers Open Drills Indoors By DON FORSYTHE With raindrops freezing on the Astroturf outdoors Nebraska opened its Orange Bowl preparations in the cozy confines of the Fieldhouse Thursday. There was no grumbling from the troops nor the commander about that turn of events ... a marked change from the attitude about indoor workouts prior to last year’s Sun Bowl trip. Why the difference? The difference is represented in the approximate $45,000 it cost the athletic department to lay Astroturf in the Fieldhouse as well as in Memorial Stadium. “It’s as good an investment as we’ve made,” claims Cornhusker football coach and athletic director Bob Devaney. There’s little comparison between the old and the new Fieldhcuse. The big problem before was dust. The Astroturf ' surface has eliminated that problem. The dust was such a problem before that hardly anybody complained about poor lighting. Inadequate lighting and the fact that it’s difficult to work on the passing and kicking games are the only problem areas now, but they’re not insurmountable. ! Bob Devaney AstroTurf Helps Indoors As long as the weather keeps the Cornhuskers indoors Devaney will hold split workouts, bringing the offensive and defensive platoons in for separate drills. “I’m not worried about getting outside. We’ll get outside for some practices,” said Devaney. “If we get out for only four days that would be pretty good. I’m as worried about getting the team ready too soon as not getting ready soon enough,” he emphasized. Devaney indicated the Cornhuskers will practice through next Friday. Then the players will be given time off to go home before reassembling and making the trip to Miami Dec. 24. He indicated that there would be little contact work in store for the team. “We might possibly do a little spot hitting, but I’m not sure. If we do it would probably be in Miami, but if we had a real good day we might do it here.” Sixty-eight Cornhuskers have been named for the Orange Bowl squad. “Some of them have lost a little conditioning,” Devaney noted after the opening-day workout. “The ones who did were the ones who could least afford to.” Because the LSU films have not arrived the early Cornhusker workouts will be very basic. “It’s no great problem,” said Devaney. “We know what formation they use on offense and we’ll just be polishing our basic plays on offense.” The Orange Bowl teams will exchange films from each of their 11 games.