Sports Page 10Friday, October 22,1999 Huskers eager for UTgame By John Gaskins Staff writer At 2:38 p.m. Saturday, the two week buildup from players, coaches, media and fans about No. 3 Nebraska (6-0 and 3-0 in Big 12 Conference play) and No. 18 Texas (5-2 and 2-1) will finally end, as the two teams set tle the battle on the field. But what a buildup it has been. Talk of the start of a rivalry between two powerhouse programs with storied traditions. Talk of a matchup that has enough conference and national championship implica tions to capture a national television audience. And, of course, talk from Nebraska players lusting for revenge from two losses to Texas in three years - one that knocked NU out of nation al championship contention (a 37-27 loss in the 1996 Big 12 Championship game), the other which ended a 47-game home win ning streak (last year’s 20-16 Texas upset in Lincoln). But the talk is almost over now, and so are the two weeks the teams have had to prepare for each other. “This week, the attitude has been ‘Let’s hurry up and get this thing going - let’s get our season on,”’ said NU Defensive Coordinator Charlie McBride. “I think the players are kind of tired of practicing.” The Comhuskers are especially eager to carry the momentum of three straight 24-plus-point victories and a Longhorn chip on their shoulders into Austin. Texas is the only team NO has never beaten in Big 12 Conference play. “Everybody that was here remem bers what happened last year,” NU center Dominic Raiola said. “That just intensifies the situation. They’ve beaten us the last two times they’ve played us. It’s like Nebraska can’t beat Texas - what’s wrong? “We’re a different team this year, and we want to show we can beat them.” You don t have to go far to vali date the magnitude of the game. The matchup pits the Big 12’s best defense in Nebraska (allowing just 230 yards and 9.7 points per game) against the conference’s best offense in Texas (averaging 459 yards per game). On the other side of the ball, Texas’ lO^-ranked defense (national ly) will try to stop a Nebraska offense that ranks seventh in the nation in scoring at 39 points per game. “We have a lot of concerns because I think they’re an excellent, balanced football team,” NU Coach Frank Solich said -“Can they step on the field and beat anyone in this coun try? I think they could.” Nebraska will try to stop an offen sive charge led Major Applewhite, who has thrown for over 200 yards in 17 consecutive games. Supporting him will be the Big 12’s third-leading rusher in tailback Hodges Mitchell and leading receiver in Kwame Cavil. Solich said such talent has given ^Texas the capability to run game breaking plays on an NU defense that has suffocated every offense it has faced so far. Plays like the 76- and 37-yard strikes Applewhite threw to UT Please see TEXAS on 12 Crouch looks to turn bad • t TLTTT ♦ t memory into NU victory By Samuel McKewon Senior staff writer Erie Crouch needs no time to jog his memory. He remembers the third-down and-five from the Texas 7-yard line. He remembers option left. And he remembers tumbling. He remembers losing to Texas 20-16. He remembers the feeling of walking off that Memorial Stadium turf a loser for the first time in 47 games at home and hav ing to walk past UT Coach Mack Brown heaved atop his team’s shoulders singing “The Eyes of Texas” with the Longhorn band. “It hasn’t left my mind - not once, not yet,” Crouch said of that third-quarter MSfSp&k near the Texas goal line with Nebraska ahead 13-10. UT quarterback Major Applewhite hit a 75-yard pass five plays later to jump start the Longhorns'