Gameday: Nebi
Texas cornerback Bryant
Westbrook and NU cornerback
Michael Booker had a verbal battle
all afternoon Saturday, although the
two players were not on the field at
the same time.
Westbrook and Booker played
together at at El Camino High
School in Oceanside, Calif.
Westbrook, who had four tackles
and two pass breakups, got the up
per hand on his former high school
mate, who did noi record a tackle.
Booker’s younger brother,
Deion, is being recruited by both
Nebraska and Texas, and
Westbrook said the Longhorns’ 37
27 win spoke volumes about where
the younger Booker should attend
school. “After the game, I told
Michael I was going to tell his
brother to go to a winning program
like Texas.”
■
The impact of playing without
suspended linebacker Terrell Farley
may have affected Nebraska again
Saturday. An injury to free safety
Eric Warfield forced rover Eric
Stokes to return to his free safety
position, which made Mike Minter,
who replaced Farley at Will line
backer, return to rover. Octavious
McFarlin and Ryan Terwilliger split
time at Will linebacker.
On Wane McGartty’s 66-yard
touchdown pass that pdf Texas in
front 30-27, Minter miss-timed his
jump for the ball. That may not have
happened if he didn’t have to take
a crash course in linebacker tech
nique over the last two weeks. With
Farley in the lineup, the Huskers
were 8-0 this season and 20-0 in his
two-year career. Without Farley,
NU is 2-2.
■
Texas quarterback James Brown
said his headline-grabbing quote
was taken out of context when he
said the Longhorns, a 20-point un
derdog, would beat Nebraska by
three touchdowns.
“I just said that they might lose
by 21 points,” Brown said. “You
never know. I figured we’d win the
game, but I didn’t make any pre
diction. That’s not smart football.”
■
Nebraska’s defense saw its
quarterback-sack streak of 39
straight games come to an end with
out bringing down the elusive
Brown. The 37 points were the most
allowed by the NU defense since
Georgia Tech scored 45 points
against the Huskers in the 1991 Cit
rus Bowl. Oklahoma also scored 45
points against NU in the final regu
lar-season game of the 1990 season.
In addition to failing to win the
conference crown, Nebraska’s 31
game conference win streak was
snapped. It was the first time in six
years that NU did not win a confer
ence title. Texas was the 12th
unranked team to beat a Tom
Osborne coached team in 195 tries.
■
The only good news for the Ne
braska defense was the selection of
rush end Grant Wistrom as the
Touchdown Club of Columbus’ de
fensive lineman of the year.
' - . !
* . j
Gameday notebook compiled
by senior reporter Trevor Parks.
lens shocks Nil
<4
to wei league Sle
Longhorns head to
Tempe; NU goes back
to the Orange Bowl.
By Mike Kluck
Senior Reporter
ST LOUIS — Moments after
Texas’ 37-27 victory over Nebraska on
Saturday, Longhorn Coach John
Mackovic sat in a hallway at the Trans
World Dome,
looking at the
game statistics
and shaking his
head.
Mackovic
stared at the Long
horns’ offensive
numbers: 503 total
yards,,8.8 yards
per play, 353 yards
Evans passing, one punt.
It was the only
time on Saturday that the Texas foot
ball coach was caught off-guard.
“It was a surprise,” Mackovic said.
“We’re not shocked. We’re sure sur
prised, the way we were moving and
the things we were doing. I didn’t
know how many yards, but I kept
thinking we must be gaining some
yards today. When I looked up and saw
we had scored 37 points, even that in
itself was a little bit of a surprise for
me.”
wnat was a surprise to tne o3,iuv
fans in attendance at the inaugural Big
12 chsnpionship game was that Texas
was able to move the ball against
Nebraska’s defense, which many had
considered to be the best in the nation.
The Husker defense came into the
game allowing an average of 232.9
yards per game.
For most of the day, Mackovic and
his junior quarterb£$k^Jaihes Brown,
kept die Comhuskers iikshock as Texas
(8-4) earned a spot in the Fiesta Bowl
against Penn State. Texas entered the
rankings at No. 20.
NU (10-2), which fell three spots
in The Associated Press Top 25 to No.
6, is headed to Miami and die Dec. 31
Orange Bowl against 10-1 Virginia
Tech, the champions of the Big East
Conference. *►
The Longhorns became the first
team to score a rushing touchdown this
season against Nebraska and the first
NU opponent in 40 games to avoid a
sack. Texas also completed a gutsy,
unconventional fourth-and-inches play
to clinch the game.
With just 2:38 remaining in the
game, Texas held a 30-27 lead, facing
a fourth down at its own 28-yard line.
Instead of punting the ball, running
a quarterback sneak or trying to draw
NU offsides, Brown took the snap. The
6-foot, 190-pounder rolled to his left
and found a wide-open Derek Lewis,
who streaked 61 yards down the side
line to the NU 11.
“I thought they were going to go
into a freeze and not snap the ball and
try and draw us offsides,” Nebraska
Coach Tom Osborne said. “When they
snapped the ball, I was amazed. Then,
when I saw the quarterback running
to the left, I was really amazed.
“And then when he threw the ball,
I was even more amazed. We had a
chance to get our hands on him, and if
the guy drops the ball or doesn’t throw
it right, we have a great chance just to
win the game.
“They obviously felt if they didn’t
do something pretty good there, we
might come back and win it. It was a
gamble on their part, but it worked and
Gameday :r;
Player Att, Yds. TDs Player Att. Yds. TDs
7 Scott Frost 18 47 " 0 3 Shon Mitchell 7 16 ° 0
Player Rec. Yds. TDs Player Rec. Yds. TDs
5 Brendan Holbein 3 43 0 81 Pat Fitzgerald 6 73 0
Player Att/Cmp/lnt Yds. TDs Player Att/Cmp/lnt Yds. TDs
s.'wriMMiiu n iMi(iif*i:ici[i|iiiininfii!«iii i 8f
First downs 26 22 Fumbles / returns 3/2 0/0
r nuiiiini iwimipii of -t*
Rushing yards 243 150 Penalties / yards 5/35 4/24
Passing completions 15 19 Kickoff returns / yards 5/92 2/37
Total plays 87 57 Third-down conversion 12 of 20 3 of 9
Average yards per play 4.6 8.8 Sacks / yards 0/0 1/5
H
We went from the
penthouse to the
outhouse over
night”
Charlie McBride
NU defensive coordinator
' .r #... •
1 -IIJ m 111 liP •.
• . - r V
we have to give them credit for it. If
(Brown) hadn’t had mobility and
speed, they might never have gotten
the pass off.”
Osborne wasn’t the only one
amazed y^th the play.
“I thought they were going to run
the quarterback-keeper,” senior Mike
Minter said. “I was surprised when he
rolled out, and it was just me and him
for the first down. Then all of a sud
den, he throws the ball over my head
and I saw the guy was wide open. It
was a great call.”
On the next play, running back
Priest Holmes carried the ball 11 yards
for his third touchdown, and the Long
horns had their biggest lead of the
game.
noimes ana crown neipeu give me
Longhorns their first lead of the game.
Texas took the opening kickoff and
marched 80 yards, scoring when
Holmes found the end zone from five
yards out.
Brown was a perfect four for four
throwing the ball on the drive, com
pleting passes of 10, 11, 10 and 11
yards and scrambling one time for a
four-yard gain as the Longhorns never
faced a third-down situation.
It was the first time since the Sept.
21 Arizona State game that a Nebraska
opponent scored on the opening drive
of a game. The Sun Devils beat NU
19-0.
“Brown was hard to catch,”
Osborne said. “There were times he
was elusive enough that we couldn’t
get the heat on them that we wanted
to, and he would make a play. He did
an excellent job.”
The Huskers were ineffective on
V
their first drive, and the Longhorns
appeared ready to take control of the
game when they moved the ball 54
yards in nine plays to the Nebraska 9
yard line.
But an errant Brown pass was in
tercepted by Eric Stokes in the end
zone to thwart the UT drive. Brown
finished the day 19-of-28 passing for
353 yards with one touchdown and two
interceptions.
After the first interception, Ne
braska put together a 12-play, 80-yard
drive in which I-back DeAngelo Evans
carried six times lor 17 yards. The true
freshman, who was making his first
career start, also caught a screen pass
for a 22-yard gain and scored from two
yards out on a trap play up the middle.
Evans finished the day with a ca
reer-high 32 rushing attempts for 130
yards and three touchdowns.
After the NU score, Nebraska had
a chance to take control. The Husker
defense forced the Longhorns to punt,
anu ixeurasK.a look. me uan ai ns own
43-yard line.
However, on a third-down-and
four play, NU quarterback Scott Frost
fumbled and Texas linebacker Aaron
Humphrey recovered at the Nebraska
37-yard line. Frost was effective
throwing the ball Saturday, complet
ing 15 of 24 passes for 155 yards. The
junior also ran the ball 18 times for 47
yards.
After gaining just five yards, the
Longhorns settled for a Phil Dawson
49-yard field goal. Nebraska re
sponded by putting together a seven
play, 31-yard drive highlighted by jun
ior Jay Sims’ 18-yard run and a career
best 51-yard field goal from Kris
Brown.
Texas needed just three plays and
1:15 to regain the lead when Holmes
broke free for a 61-yard touchdown
run. It was the longest run against the
Huskers this season.
But Nebraska answered with an 11 -
play, 80-yard drive to tie the game at
17 on a 23-yard run by Evans.
“One thing we thought that prob
Please see LOSS on 11