Trash talk motivates Blackshirts
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BY BRIAN ROSENTHAL / Lincoln Journal Star
Now we know what inspires the Nebraska defense to play well on the road. It’s pretty simple, really. Have the home team come out to midfield during pre-game warm-ups and start talking trash.
That’s what Colorado players did Friday, and they almost caused a melee. You had Buffaloes bouncing up and down at the 50-yard line, with a few game officials trying to separate them from Nebraska players.
“We went up there and held our ground,” Nebraska linebacker Bo Ruud said. “We didn’t want them to cross that line. That’s kind of the rule of warm-ups: Don’t cross the 50. They didn’t cross, but they wanted us to get all riled up.”
Mission accomplished.
“Oh, God, I’ve never been so mad in my life,” Nebraska linebacker Corey McKeon said. “The audacity they had to come in, mutual respect for each program, to come to the 50 and try to taunt us, that’s inexcusable.”
Yes, the Buffaloes got in the Huskers’ head. Just not in the way they had expected.
Numerous Nebraska players, most of them Blackshirts, pointed to that midfield meeting as their source for energy.
Something certainly worked. The Huskers put together arguably their best defensive performance of the season in a 30-3 rout of Colorado at Folsom Field. It ended a two-game road losing streak.
“We came out, we were mad,” McKeon said. “We came out and we pounded them. We came at ’em as hard as we could.”
Perhaps the Huskers were too juiced on Colorado’s first play. Hugh Charles cut back through the line and darted 45 yards into Nebraska territory. It set up CU’s only score, a 33-yard Mason Crosby field goal.
Colorado, though, had just 167 total yards the rest of the game. The Buffs finished with 53 rushing and 159 passing.
Nebraska, which entered the game with a league-leading 42 sacks, sacked Joel Klatt four times and forced him into several more bad throws. The linebackers and defensive backs made solid tackles in the open field. And after the first series of the game, CU didn’t cross the Nebraska 40 again until the final series of the game.
“It was complete. The kids really followed the plan to a ‘T,’” Nebraska defensive coordinator Kevin Cosgrove said. “The kids did a great job of executing today. They played focused, they played hard.”
Perhaps most impressive was the play of Nebraska’s defensive line. The Huskers rotated numerous players throughout the game, many times putting Adam Carriker inside and having Barry Turner and Dontrell Moore wreak havoc from the ends.
“We’ve been toying with that throughout the year,” Nebraska defensive end Jay Moore said. “Adam, he’s a bigger body, a stronger guy, so he can really dominate guys. Just a little change-up at times.”
Moore and Titus Adams teamed for a 9-yard sack of Klatt in the second quarter that pushed CU back to its own 11-yard line. Nebraska forced a punt, got good field position and needed just five plays to score a touchdown for a 17-3 lead.
“The D-line was unbelievable,” McKeon said. “They couldn’t single-block one of our guys. Every time they tried to single block, they’d get penetration, they’d get sacks, they’d get in Klatt’s face. Klatt was not comfortable one time today. There wasn’t one time when he dropped back sure he could get the ball off in time.”
On Colorado’s next possession, Carriker and Barry Cryer combined to drop Klatt for a 12-yard loss, pushing the Buffs back to their own 4. Again, Nebraska gained good field position after a punt, taking over at the 50 and driving for a field goal.
Colorado never responded.
“I could tell after the first quarter, they weren’t into it,” said Ruud, who had three tackles for loss. “After we scored and got the lead on them, they just seemed like they were kind of going through the motions, and we were playing our butts off.”
Klatt finished 20-for-40 with one interception, that coming by linebacker Adam Ickes late in the first half near midfield.
“We knew what they were going to do,” McKeon said. “We watched so many hours of film. We had them down pat. We knew what was coming, when.
“Now I’m about to go have some KFC and a ride home with a win. Can’t get any better than that.”
Reach Brian Rosenthal at 473-7436 or brosenthal@journalstar.com.
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