The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current, December 06, 1999, Page 8, Image 8

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    UT coach:
NU defense
sealed fate
By Darren Ivy
Senior staff writer
SAN ANTONIO - Even when Texas was
down 22-6 in the fourth quarter, Texas Coach
Made Brown still felt confident his team had a
chance to win.
Who could blame him? He had Major
Applewhite, who had led Texas to two previous
come-from-behind victories over Nebraska.
“I really thought we had enough time, but
we still couldn’t get enough momentum to get
bade into it,” Brown said. “The simple story of
this game was it was a defensive football game
with two great defenses, and their offense made
more plays than we did. Our defense held their
offense much better than it did earlier in die
year, but their defense held our offense better
than it did, too.”
In the game, the Longhorns allowed the
Comhuskers 289. total yards and only 14 first
downs. But on offense, Texas had only 173
yards, 164 through die air and 9 on the ground.
“We said before the game if we can’t get
more than 100 yards with Hodges Mitchell and
we couldn’t protect the quarterback and be two
dimensional, we would lose the game,” Brown
said. “We didn’t do either. Our goal was to be
two-dimensional. Our plan died.
“We can make this into a great scheme by
them and a poor scheme by us, but when theirs
whip ours, schemes become less of an issue.”
Brown pointed specifically to Nebraska’s
defensive pressure for crippling his explosive
offense.
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said. “They were faster. They had the same
guys, but they came harder. I think we made
diem mad last time. They weren’t doing any
thing different in the game. Their guys ran by
our guys or ran over our guys and made plays.
The Mocks we made last time, we didn’t make
this time. That was a credit to them.”
The Longhorns’ inability to block Nebraska
defenders puzzled Brown.
“I know we tried hard,” he said. “That is the
confusing tiling. At halftime I was mad, but I
didn’t know who to be mad at because we woe
trying, but they were whipping us. Their defense
was quick and dominating. It gave us an inabili
ty to run the football. Therefore when you can’t
run and be two-dimensional, we couldn’t pro
tect well enough to pass it”
Mitchell, who came into the game as the
second leading rusher in the conference, fin
ished with 17 yards on five carries. Applewhite
also was sacked seven times and knocked
around on numerous occasions.
“If we had to do anything different, the only
thing I would tell our guys was to block them,”
Brown said. '
“Our effort was there. If we hadn’t played
hard, as good as Nebraska plays, they would
have beaten us pretty badly.”
Mike-Warren/DN
ABOVE: NU l-BACK Correll Buckhalter tries to
break through the Texas line and the arm tackle of
strong safety Lee Jackson.
TOP RIGHT: NU ROVER Mike Brown gets an arm in
on Texas quarterback Major Applewhite. The
Blackshirts sacked Applewhite a total of seven
times on Saturday.
FAR RIGHT: SENIOR WEAKSIOE linebacker Eric
Johnson gives an upside down hook ’em horns sign
at the end of play to the Nebraska fans showing
that Nebraska had beaten Texas.
Football Game Review £5** ?
Nskraska Tens
No. Name No Yds TD No. Name No Yds TD
3^MUDjgj^ 2 19 0 22 R.Nunez 3 31 0
Yds TO
Game Stats mmm n mmm n
Rushing attempts 58 29 Interceptions 3 1
TjMftf.flMir '^' 231' 3 TTIMm/ yaitii 4729 2/17
Passing attempts 15 42 Punt returns/yards 6/74 6/44
a yards 55 164 Time of possession 37:51 22:09
Total yards 289 173 Fourth-down conversion 1 of 1 OofO