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vengeance on Texas
■ A strong first drive and
the intense defense combined
to give^MJa decisive victory.
By Darren Ivy
Senior staff writer
SAN ANTONIO, Texas - The down
with-the-Longhoms celebration started
with one minute and one second remaining
in the Big 12 Conference Championship
game Saturday.
As the Blackshirts jogged off the artifi
cial turf in the Alamodome following
sophomore safety Dion Booker's fourth
quarter interception of a Major Applewhite
pass, they did their own version of the Hook
’Em Homs, pointing their pinkie and point
er fingers down at the ground.
After having the Longhorn symbol
thrown in their faces following three
straight losses, it was the Cornhuskers’ turn
to celebrate following their 22-6 victory
over No. 12 Texas before a Big 12
Championship game record crowd of
65,035.
I knew I didn t want to leave
(Nebraska) without beating Texas,” senior
rover Mike Brown said. “I finally got them.
I can die now”
That’s doubtful because NU, 11-1 and
8-1 in the Big 12, still has to play Tennessee
in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl Jan. 2 inTempe,
Ariz. It will be a homecoming for Brown,
who played at Sun Devil Stadium as a
youth.
Brown’s relief about beating Texas was
felt by all the NU players after the game.
Senior linebacker Julius Jackspn, a
Gainesville, Texas, native, held up his Big
12 champions shirt and hat and saluted the
more than 20,000 Nebraska fans in atten
dance as he walked off the field.
Offensive Line Coach Milt Tenopir
found all of his linemen and gave each a big
hug. Center Dominic Raiola, who was crit
icized for saying he hated Texas before the
first meeting, yelled “How about them
Huskers?” three or four times in the tunnel
leading back to the locker rooms so all the
Texas players walking by could hear him.
It was a game the Huskers wanted. It
showed from the opening series of the
game. On that drive, NU moved the ball
from its own 11-yard line to the Texas 43
yard line before being stopped. Despite not
scoring any points, that drive was one of the
most important in the game, said sopho
more Erie Crouch.
“It was important to start off this game
with a great drive like that to show Texas
that we were going tp qpme down the field
and drive on them,” said Crouch, who
looked like Rocky Balboa after the game
with a bruised right eye, cut lip and scrapes
all over his face and neck. “It was a good
momentum-booster for this team.”
Josh Brown got NU on the board first in
the next Husker possession with a career
best 42-yard field goal. Then Crouch got
one of his big plays, a 31-yard touchdown
run on fourth and one, to put NU ahead 10
0 with four minutes and 30 seconds remain
ing in the first quarter.
Another Brown field goal and an NU
safety in the second quarter gave die team
its 15-0 halftime lead. On the Huskers’thhd
play ofthe second half NU junior running
back Correll Buckhalter, filling in for an
injured Dan Alexander, rumbled 55 yards
down to the UT 3-yard line to set up Crouch
for his second spore. Buckhalter finished
with 136 yards on20 carries.
Nebraska’s defense played with the
intensity of a squad that was fighting for its
life rather than to win a football game. The
defensive line was relentless.
Unlike lasfweek against Colorado
when NU surrendered 28 fourth-quarter
points, the pressure was there for all four
quarters.
We played a complete game today,”
said Brown, who led NU with six tackles,
including one sack for a 10-yard loss. “We
really got a lot of pressure on Major
Applewhite. We pretty much dominated
them from the first quarter to the fourth
quarter. We had a mission today. We knew it
was up to us to dominate them and get the
victory.”
And dominate the fourth-ranked NU
defense did. At halftime, Texas had 26
yards on 33 plays. The Blackshirts held the
Longhorns to 173 total yards, including
nine rushing yards.
The mastermind of die defensive gem
was defensive coordinator Charlie
McBride. The 23-year veteran felt chal
lenged this week by Applewhite, who
called the NU defensive plan simple and
said it wasn’t like calculus in breaking it
down.
McBride sent his defensive troops after
Applewhite from every angle and nearly
every play, much the way Kansas State had
when it defeated Texas 35-17 on Oct. 2.
NU got results similar to the Wildcats’.
Applewhite was sacked seven times and
t'fStV*’*'’**" MkeWarren/DN
TEXAS SPLIT END Montrell Flowers struggles to make a catch against NU corner
Ralph Brawn In flhesecond quarter. Flowers did not make the catch, and on the next
play Texas snapped the ball through the end zone and NU was awarded a safety.
Scoring summary Srorebyquarters ^ g Tob\ I
Texas 0 0 0 6 22
Team Qtr. Scoring play Plays-yards Score
NU 2 Team Safety 15 0
TX 4" Ahmad Brooks 20 yd Fumble Return 22 6
completed only 15 of 42 passes for 164
yards, including three interceptions.
“Coach McBride really wanted to get
after him and pressure him and see how he
could react to the pressure,” said Mike
Brown, who became the first Husker defen
sive back and third NU player all-time to
lead Nebraska in tackles three-straight
years. “We shook him up a little bit early.
We didn’t stop pressuring him. He made
some bad throws.”
Those bad throws resulted in three
interceptions that stopped each of the Texas
drives into NU territory, including the final
one with one minute and 25 seconds
remaining in die fourth quarter. The 37
yard return by Booker cm that pick was a
new Big 12 record, topping Mike Brown’s
27-yard return in 1997.
Until Booker made that final intercep
tion though, there were many uneasy NU
fans who wondered if Applewhite would
lead the Longhorns back.
But this Saturday belonged to NU. The
Blackshirts did their job on Applewhite ami
sent the seniors out as champions.
“For the seniors we knew this was our
last game,” said Ralph Brown, who set a
Big 12 championship game record with
five pass breakups. “We wanted to beat
Texas ami win the Big 12 Championship.
We didn’t want to have any regrets after the
game, and we don’t have any now because
we played our hearts out the whole game.”
