NUvs.OU:
Game of
century?
% Forty seconds remained in
the first quarter when I began hal
lucinating.
Nebraska had just scored its
38th point against a Baylor team,
which looked right out of the
movie Necessary Rouehness. and
that’s when I
saw it
I could
describe it
mujch like
the night
o e i o r e
Christmas
e x c e p t Davjd
visions of ni h.
crimson and
schooners
danced in my head. The halluci
nation was more befuddling and
exciting than it was psychedelic.
Barry Switzer was at the reigns
of a speeding covered wagon
blazing down die field, as if it were
a jet named Johnny heading for
die end zona
There was music booming all
around my head, although the
tune was quite repetitive and
became rather maddening, much
like a tell-tale heart
“Boomer Sooner, Boomer
Sooner; Boomer Sooner, Boomer
Sooner!” Enough already, say
something else in the damn song!
After foe music, more images
and sounds were ablaze inside
my head. Triple option, wish
bone, Brian Bozworth, Johnny
Rodgers, “Man, woman and child!
He put’em in foe aisles!”
Owen Field, Game of the
Century, smashmouth, in-the
trenches, down-and-dirty,
Oklahoma against Nebraska
AH of that, and Nebraska was
just in the second quarter playing
Baylor. I can’t imagine what’ll
happen Saturday morning.
An infection has risen across
the state in the past week and will
only be inflamed as Nebraska’s
most anticipated matchup with
Oklahoma in six years approach
es. And you better believe Coach
Frank Solich was planning ahead
to Oct 28 after the first quarter.
He gave backup quarterback
Jammal Lord the most playing
time of his young career, as Eric
Crouch saw foe turf for just one
quarter. Giving Crouch foe hook
may hurt his chances at the
Heisman, but Crouch can't beat
OU with a broken leg.
“We were able<o rest some
people, and that came at a very
good time for us,” Solich said, “if
you look at foe rest of our sched
ule it will be a very demanding
stretch.
And Solich’s plan was a good
one. Holding out the starte^
served two purposes. 1) It avoided
any problems the scoreboard
operator may have encountered
hadNUputuptripledigits.2) Itlet
the Big Red heal a little more.
As Solich said, he was trying to
let Crouch and receiver Matt
Davison, among others, “get back
to 100 percent.” Even Loran
Kaiser, Who hasn’t played in three
games with a sprained foot, was
heard telling a reporter he wiU
pray against me aooners.
All of that is just as well
because Oklahoma had an off
week to soothe any bumps and
bruises it may have encountered
in its physical 41-31 thumping of
Kansas State a week ago.
“The momentum is there for
us and for Oklahoma,” Solich
said "They should be healthy and
rarin'toga”
Even though players will tell
you otherwise, it’s probably pretty
hard not to look forward to a
team's biggest game of the year
when you’re sitting on your hel
met, pads long since removed
and your team is up 59 points on
die Bad News Baylor Bears.
“There wasn’t a thought in my
mind until the end of the game,”
Crouch said And if you’ll buy that
he'll throw the Golden Gate in
free.
Coming at the turn of a new
millennium, this Oklahoma
Nebraska matchup couldn’t have
happened at a better time and
been bigger or more important
After the series’ two-year hia
tus, the resurgence of crimson
colored blood in Oklahomans,
and the serious national title
implications, the game has much
the same flavor and hype of a
Game of the Century.
Good thing it's a new century.
* + v
ABOVE: Huskers
Keyuo Craver
and DeAntae
Grixbyblocka
punt by Baylor's
Adam Stiles
which was
recovered by
Craver for the
first Nebraska
touchdown less
than two min
utes into the
game.
ABOVE: Senior wingback Bobby Newcombe
is tackled by a Baylor defender after a punt
return. Baylor was forced to punt 12 times.
RIGHT: Nebraska rush end Kyle Vanden
Bosch bats down a pass by GuyTomcheck.
Tomcheck completed only 7 of 26 passes
against NU.
