CROUCH from page 10
probably should have picked up.
Those are all things that maybe I
wasn’t ready for.”
By all accounts, Crouch is ready
for them now.
**♦
“Nothing has changed,”
Quarterbacks Coach Turner Gill said
of his relationship with Crouch since
the sophomore took over the No. 1
slot. “He comes up on his own, asks
questions, does things of that nature,
but not anymore than it was before.
“He prepares himself very well,
and we go through scenarios. But the
system hasn’t changed.”
Know mg Gill, that makes sense.
Crouch’s responsibilities in running
the offense - and Gill’s responsibili
ties in teaching him the nuances of
that offense - shouldn’t change. It
isn’t as if the Millard North High
School grad suddenly got initiated
into the secret NU quarterback club,
complete with a brand new play
book.
It just seems that way sometimes,
especially when looking at Crouch
from 1998 and Crouch today. His
execution of the option has been
lauded by teammates and coaches -
he has developed a deadly pitch fake,
which freezes defenders like former
option wizard Dari an Hagan used to
at Colorado. Crouch also employs
the late pitch, flipping the bail to
Correll Buckhalter when he’s down
field. It has opened the option game
for big plays.
Crouch leads the Big 12 in pass
efficiency, and, considering his posi
tion, there may be no runner more
feared in the league. Although he got
a late start, he has a shot at catching
Applewhite for first-team all-confer
ence honors, provided NU wins
Saturday.
For Crouch, his increased output
boils down to one thing: experience.
“You don’t come out with every
thing,” Crouch said. “It takes time to
gain that chemistry and consistency.”
Junior wide receiver Matt
Davison said Crouch has both in full.
The two developed that chemistry
last year.
“If I’m man-to-man downfield,
he’ll throw it up knowing where I can
go get the ball,” Davison said. But
Crouch has it with the entire offense
now, he said.
. After a year of learning, Davison
holds Crouch’s leadership ability
with that of Scott Frost, whom
Davison played with during NU’s
national championship season in
1997. Frost was the first and only
Husker to rush and pass for 1,000
yards in a season.
“I’m getting that feeling,”
Davison said of the leadership com
parison. “Everybody knows that he’s
the man out there. If you’re going to
lead, you’d better know where you’re
going. Eric knows where he’s going,
so we all want to let him lead us.
“He doesn’t say a whole lot.
When he does talk, everybody lis
tens. He’s always a pick-me-up type
of guy. He’s never negative. He keeps
the mood light. He doesn’t get ner
vous, never uptight.
“So he feels loose and confident,
and it trickles down to the rest of us.
It makes the whole offense go.”
***
That type of leadership may be
put to the test this weekend in a pres
sure situation against the Longhorns
as the game might test the only
aspect of Crouch’s game where he
has not yet fully succeeded: the two
minute drill.
In the three losses he was directly
involved in, Crouch had last minute
shots to win all of them, and each
failed in their own way. His third
and fourth-down passes sailed high
Football Starters
m m. _ _ _ _ Austin, Texas
Nebraska Starters Daryt K. Royal/Memorial
Stadium
Pos. No. Name HL WL Poa. No. Name HL WL
OB 7 ErfcCtouch 0,1 165 IR* 81 Aaron VttHs 6-2 250
I 4 Oan Alexander 6-0 245 NT 96 Steve Warren 6-2 305
FB 15 mmm* 3t m DT it Loran Kaiser 64 295
WB 82 Sean Applegate 5-9 185 RR 83 Kyle Vanden Bosch 64 270
SE 3 Matt Davison 04 165 SLB 37 TfinyOtfe 6-1 220
TE 85 UDeBates 33 250 MLB 13 CartoePbtk 32 250
17 69 AdamJuteh 35 320 WLB 50 Julius Jackson 6-1 240
LG 63 James Sherman 64 295 LCB 3 KeyuoCraver 5-10 190
G 64 DomMc Ratdta 32 295 FS 19 Clrt Pinley 30 205
RG 55 Russ Hochstein 64 290 ROV 21 Mike Brown 310 205
RT 56 Dave Volk 6*5 300 ROB 22 RatphBrown 310 180
PK 26 Josh Brown 32 185 P 17 Dan Hadenfeldt 311 195
Tens Starters
Poe. No. Name HL Wt Poe. No. Name HL WL
Ft 9 Kwame Cavil 6-2 2D5 LE 49 Aaron Humphrey 6-3 260
LT 70 Leonard Davis 6-6 367 LT 64 Casey Hampton 6-1 305
LG 72 Roger Roaster W 315 RT 73 SfettnRogers 54 315
C 62 Matt Anderson 64 310 RE 50 Cedric Woodard 6-3 295
RG 78 AritwanKkk-Hughnes6-3 320 SLB 38 Aaron Babtno 6-1 235
RT 66 Cory Quye 6-6 325 MLB 4 De’Andre Lewis 6-1 238
TE 81 Mice Jones 64 260 WL8 2 EverickRawis 6-1 230
QB 11 Major Applewhite 6-1 205 LCB 5 Ahmad Brooks 5-8 182
m 3 Hodges Mitchell 5-7 190 FS 24 G£g Brown 6-2 200
.fiSLM. Rjcky ftown 64) 225 SS 23 Lee Jackson 6-3 205
SE 22 Ryan Nunez 6-9 185 RGB 1 EnnsWII 5-9 182
PK 13 Kris Stockton 5-9 195 P 33 Ryan Long 6-1 190
and wide agaiiist Texas, a blown
facemask call doomed the Huskers at
K-State and an interception ended
NU’s chances vs. Arizona.
“There were passes that I could
have completed last year,” Crouch
said of late-game failures. “Three or
four passes that were my fault all the
way.
“If it came down to it this week,
we’d be able to execute a lot better.
We’ve been able to run those hurry
up offenses a couple times a week.”
If it did come down to a come
back, and Crouch was able to rescue
the Huskers from defeat, or even if
Nebraska just wins, there will be a
sense of closure for the quarterback
as he exorcises one of his past
demons.
Make no mistake: While Crouch
doesn’t say the words “redemption,”
there’s a bit of that wrapped in
Saturday’s game, as the quarterback
who has already dodged many obsta
cles tries to clear another one.
“Up to this point, it will be the
most important game to me,” Crouch
said. “Those other games and what
I’ve done is behind us.”
He brings up the fumble one
more time for emphasis. And what
he should have done instead.
“That option play, it would have
been a touchdown,” Crouch said.
“But those are different things I think
about this year - a different thing I
would do this year. I’d do it different
ly.”
He’ll have that chance.
NU ready
forUT
TEXAS from page 10
receiver Bryan White on separate
fourth-quarter drives in last year’s
upset that set up the Longhorns’
game-tying field goal and game-win
ning touchdown.
“Last year, it was the big play that
was killing us,” NU defensive coordi
nator Charlie McBride said. “There’s
no question we’re better (at prevent
ing the big play this year).
“When you put the ball in the air,
there’s three things that can happen,
and two of them are bad. If we can
shut down the running game and dic
tate what they’re going to have to do
to win, then we feel a lot better about
ourselves defensively.”
Offensively, the Huskers will try
to continue to bring out the firepower
- both on the ground and in the air -
that has shown more signs of bril
liance each week.
After anemic early-season rush
ing outputs against California (119
yards) and Southern Mississippi (114
yards), NU has used quarterback Eric
Crouch’s passing threat to open up the
ground attack.
The result has been a running
game reminiscent of past dominant
NU teams - averaging 337 yards in
victories over Missouri, Oklahoma
State and Iowa State.
That might provide a lofty chal
lenge to a Texas defense that Solich
called the most dangerous Nebraska
has faced so far. Apparently, it’s too
lofty, according to NU wingback
Bobby Newcombe.
“We can go deep any time we
want to,” Newcombe said. “People
always try to stop our run, but you’re
going to have to stop our pass, too. We
can run the ball on anybody. It’s
almost impossible to stop us from
doing what we want to do offensive
ly”
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