UT coach not getting caught up in ‘rivalry’ hype
By John Gaskins
Staff writer
\
Mack Brown has not forgotten that Halloween
night last year in Lincoln, Mien his Texas players
proudly hoisted him on their shoulders and
marched off the Memorial Stadium turf celebrat
ing the biggest victory in recent UT football histo
ry
And the second-year head coach didn’t down
play the significance of breaking Nebraska’s
seven-year, 47-game home winning streak after
the 20-16 upset.
So as coffee shops, sports bars and dinner
tables all over Nebraska and Texas buzz this week
about the creation of a rivalry between the third
and fourth-winningest football programs in col
lege football history, Brown hasn’t denied that
Saturday’s 2:38 p.m. televised match-up against
NU in Austin, Texas, will be a big game.
“When all of us were little,” Brown said,
“everyone knew who Texas was and who Nebraska
was, and that’s what makes it special. Anytime two
of die traditionally best programs through the years
play, I think it would be considered a rival game.”
But.despite last year’s win and UT’s 37-27
upset over NU in die 1996 Big 12 Championship,
don’t count on Brown getting too carried away
about the whole rivalry thing. Not yet, at least.
Brown said both the third-ranked Comhuskers
and 18th-ranked Longhorns have different teams
from years past, and all the history talk is just talk
by kickoff.
“There will be a lot said of those two games,
but after the first bit of contact, none of that mat
ters,” Brown said. “I think there is enough motiva
tion - when Nebraska’s No. 3 in the country fight
ing to win a national championship coming into
Austin - without talking about last year or three
years ago.”
A lot has changed in UT’s offensive lineup
since last year’s game, in which the Longhorns
were able to make enough big plays down the
stretch to stun the NU defense. The Longhorns lost
the core of their offense in the NCAA Division-I
all-time leading rusher, Ricky Williams, who tal
lied 150 yards against the Huskers.
Texas lost all five of its experienced offensive
linemen that opened up Williams’ attack, and the
Longhorns are also without split end (and current
Dallas Cowboy) Wane McGarrity, who caught the
game-winning touchdown a year ago.
Despite all that, die Longhorns have managed
to put together the Big 12 Conference’s best and
the nation’s 10*-best offense averaging more than
66
When all of us were little, everyone knew who Texas was
and who Nebraska was, and thats what makes it special
Mack Brown
UT head coach
t
459 yards per game.
“We’re, really surprised that we’ve moved the
ball as well as we have this year,” Brown said. “You
can’t take away the fact that last year at this time we
had eight starters that had been around for a long
time. It will be interesting to see how our front guys
respond to the quickness of the Nebraska defense.”
Returning is UT quarterback Major
Applewhite, who could provide the toughest chal
lenge yet to a stingy Blackshirt unit that leads the
conference and ranks in the top four in the nation,
in both scoring (fourth at 9.7 points per game) and
total defense (third at 230 yards per game).
Applewhite, the preseason Big 12 Offensive
Player of the Year, has lit up scoreboards and statis
tic sheets with performances not usually seen from
sophomores. He ranks second in the Big 12 in both
passing (298.7 yards per game) and total offense
(290.6 yards per game) and has thrown for more
than 300 yards in four contests this season.
But Brown is just as impressed with the play of
Williams’ replacement at tailback, sophomore
Hodges Mitchell.
Although he isn’t putting up the Heisman
Trophy numbers Williams did last year. Brown
said Hodges’ 96 yards per game (third best in the
Big 12) and his threat as a backfield receiver (third
in the Big 12 with 127 all-purpose yards per game)
provide UT with a potent ground attack.
Brown said the Longhorns will need that attack
if they have any hopes of knocking off NU for a
third time.
“When you watch Ricky Williams, expecta
tions are really high when you expect your tailback
to gain 250 yards a game,” Brown said, “but we’re
pleased with Hodges.
Lone Star Huskers feel sting of Longhorn wins
TEXAS from page 9
that choice.’
“People were laughing. I took it
personal. This is a really big game for
me to show everyone that I picked the
right place.”
The game is also personal for
Craver because he has some friends
who are Longhorns.
“I have heard from my people back
home that (Lee Jackson and Montrell
Flowers) are talking a lot of stuff,”
Craver said. “I am going to let the game
speak for itself.”
Not only will the game be personal
for Finley and Craver, it will be an
important one for the Huskers’ Big 12
Conference and national championship
aspirations. That alone is motivation,
said freshman rush end Justin Smith,
who chose NU over Texas. _
' “Each game is another team that
stands in our way of winning a national
championship game,” said the 6-foot-4,
250-pounder from Sherman, Texas. In
addition to the normal focus, there is
motivation from losing the last two
meetings with UT, said Nebraska
senior linebacker Julius Jackson.
“When we play Texas, there is a lot
of hostility,” said Jackson, a
Gainesville, Texas, native. “I am 0-2
against them, and I have a lot to prove.”
A win over Texas would vindicate
the six Texans on the Nebraska roster,
but it also would give the Huskers an
edge in recruiting Texas players.
Jackson is well aware of that.
“I am going out to represent
Nebraska and to prove we are a better
school than Texas - that we are more
dominant and more physical when we
are on the field,” Jackson said.
Finley chose to leave his home state
to play for the two-time defending
national champion Huskers. Many
other Texas high school players might
do the same if NU defeats Texas on
Saturday in Austin.
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As for Finley, the mocking calls
from Cuero have already started.
Saturday, he will be ready once and for
all to shut them up.
“They talk a lot of smack,” Finley
said. “A victory would cut down on that
and make my trips home a whole lot
easier.”
www.dailyneb.com
■ /■]
totter
621 Rose Street, Lincoln
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