NU makes point of running at Bears
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BY BRIAN ROSENTHAL / Lincoln Journal Star
WACO, Texas — It wasn’t enough that Greg Austin was playing a football game for Nebraska in his home state of Texas.
Nope. Austin wanted to show the home folks why he went to Nebraska.
To run the football.
“This is Nebraska still,” said Austin, the Huskers’ starting left guard. “We’re still Nebraska, we’re going to be Nebraska. When I got recruited, I came here to run the ball. Now that we’re in a passing offense, a West Coast offense, you’ve still got to run the ball.”
The Huskers did just that Saturday night ... 36 times in the second half, to be exact.
That production on the ground led to 10 second-half points and helped the Huskers salt away a 23-14 victory against Baylor at Floyd Casey Stadium.
Nebraska (5-1, 2-1 Big 12 Conference) finished with 182 rushing yards and didn’t have a run longer than 11 yards.
Not that the Huskers really needed the big play. By simply hammering out a couple of yards here and there, Nebraska kept the ball out of Baylor’s hands. The Huskers held the ball for more than 37 minutes — including 10 minutes, 8 seconds in the third quarter and 12:14 in the fourth. They had second-half scoring drives of eight and 14 plays.
“We knew we needed to run the ball coming into this game,” Austin said. “They throw a lot of blitzes and fronts at you. The height of their defense comes off fooling the offense. We knew we had to run the ball effectively.”
Nebraska ran only 15 times in the first half. But in their opening drive of the second half, the Huskers had eight straight running plays, setting up quarterback Zac Taylor’s 21-yard touchdown pass to Todd Peterson.
“We just thought we were starting to wear on them a little bit in the first half, so we said, ‘Let’s continue to lean on them,’ ” Nebraska offensive line coach Dennis Wagner said. “They were tapping some guys out, and we felt good about the fact that we were able to grind on them.”
Austin was among a few offensive linemen who suffered from cramps. He took fluids before the game and again at halftime. He was spelled by Jared Helming. Lydon Murtha also played behind Cornealius Fuamatu-Thomas at left tackle, as the Huskers took advantage of a little depth.
“They’re continuing to get better every week,” said Wagner, whose line gave Taylor more than enough time to throw and allowed no sacks. “The guys played hard and did what we asked them to do. They had a tough week of practice, and we knew this would be a tough environment to play in.”
None of it came easy against a Baylor defense that entered the game allowing an average of 109 rushing yards per game. Cory Ross, who hobbled off the field after a rough fourth-quarter hit, led the Huskers with 93 yards on 26 carries.
But freshmen Cody Glenn and Marlon Lucky helped out, too. Lucky netted 18 yards, and Glenn, who was introduced to Husker fans as a short-yardage guy, did more than just pick up yards on third down. He had 12 carries for 41 yards, which included runs of 7, 3 and 4 yards on Nebraska’s third-quarter touchdown drive. That gave NU a 20-7 lead.
“I followed Greg a lot,” Glenn said. “He did real good. He had a lot of pulls on some of my plays.
“We knew it was going to be tough running on them, but we knew eventually they’d wear down. We just kept pounding and pounding.”
Even Taylor got in on the act, rushing five times for 30 yards, a career best. He also thanked his offensive line.
“They’re playing incredible,” said Taylor, who completed 18 of 32 passes for 168 yards and two touchdowns. “They’re really understanding what we’re trying to do. They really understand their assignments.”
It didn’t look like Nebraska’s run-oriented game plan would work the entire second half. After scoring the touchdown to start the third quarter, the Huskers sputtered on their next series, with Ross gaining 1 yard on two carries and Taylor throwing a couple of incompletions.
Baylor responded with a touchdown drive to cut into Nebraska’s lead, but the Huskers didn’t sway from their plan. On their last scoring drive, Nebraska went back to the ground 13 straight times in a long series that ended with Jordan Congdon’s 22-yard field goal.
No run was longer than 8 yards in that series.
“The focus of emphasis at halftime was to keep on pounding,” Austin said. “We’re coming together. Our protection is getting better. We’ve been practicing all week. You play the game on Tuesday, and when Saturday comes, it’s just like repetition. That’s all it is.”
Reach Brian Rosenthal at 473-7436 or brosenthal@journalstar.com.
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