Resurgent Huskers eye KU
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BY STEVEN M. SIPPLE / Lincoln Journal Star
Zac Taylor said it was embarrassing how it got out of hand. Nebraska’s 40-15 setback at Kansas early last November marked the low point of the Huskers’ 2005 season.
However, Nebraska is 6-1 since the loss in Lawrence and is most pundits’ pick to capture the Big 12 North Division this season. Following a 56-0 thrashing of Troy last week in Lincoln, the 21st-ranked Huskers take a 3-1 record into their rematch with the Jayhawks (3-1) at 6:10 p.m. Saturday at Memorial Stadium.
The nationally televised game (Fox Sports Net) marks the beginning of league play for both teams.
Nebraska coach Bill Callahan on Monday credited persistence and a “core belief system” for helping the Huskers rebound from last season’s defeat at Kansas, which actually capped a three-game skid.
“I think it all came together, particularly after that game,” Callahan said. “Guys got more confidence, had a little bit more knowledge and understanding of what we were trying to get accomplished.”
Kansas outgained Nebraska 428-138 last year and ended the Huskers’ 36-year stranglehold on the series. “Red reign dead,” proclaimed the headline in the Lawrence Journal-World.
A Big Red resurgence ensued, as Nebraska closed with wins against Kansas State, Colorado and in the Alamo Bowl against Michigan. The Huskers never came apart at the seams.
“You have to have a core belief system, something you can draw from on a continual basis,” Callahan said. “We have that for our players. We just focus in on what we have to accomplish the next week. Everybody goes to work and grinds on it.
“That’s been our modus operandi.”
Evidence suggests it’s working well. In tattooing Troy, Nebraska rolled up its largest output on offense in five years (597 yards) and its first shutout in three seasons. The Huskers rank No. 2 nationally in scoring (42.75 per game) while allowing 11.25 to rank No. 15.
Taylor, a 6-foot-2, 210-pound senior quarterback, boasts a 178.26 pass-efficiency rating to rank No. 3 in the nation.
“They have their offense moving,” fifth-year Kansas coach Mark Mangino said Monday. “Their offensive line is probably as physical and tough a line as we’ll see in the conference this year.”
Although Mangino called last year’s triumph a “milestone” for his program, he generally sought to downplay its overall significance.
Although Kansas defeated a quality team that day, Mangino said, one win doesn’t make or break a program.
Mangino basically squelched any notion that the victory gave Kansas “an instant boost.” In fact, the Jayhawks fell the following week at Texas, 66-14, before ending the season with wins against Iowa State and Houston, in the Fort Worth Bowl.
“Nothing has been instant here,” he said. “It’s a continual work in progress. We have to prove we can play week in and week out at that type of level.”
Kansas comes off a 13-7 home win against South Florida. Adam Barmann, a 6-4, 220-pound senior, started at quarterback against the Bulls in place of Kerry Meier, a redshirt freshman sidelined by a sore right shoulder.
“We’re day-to-day on that situation,” Mangino said Monday.
Barmann finished 25-for-35 passing for 273 yards in his 14th career start.
“He’s played very well at times for us, and he’s had some rough spots,” Mangino said.
One of Barmann’s rough spots occurred in October 2004 in Lincoln, where he went the distance in Kansas’ 14-8 loss to Nebraska. The Jayhawks never found the end zone that night as Barmann ended up 24-for-49 for 200 yards.
“He’s a much more mature kid now,” Mangino said. “A lot of people like to complain about their circumstances in life, but he never did. He always worked hard to get better. He’s not a guy to pout.”
Meier this season has completed 47 of 86 attempts (54.7 percent) for 538 yards and six touchdowns, with seven interceptions.
Kansas’ lone loss this season occurred Sept. 15 at Toledo. In dropping a 37-31 decision in two overtimes, the Jayhawks outgained the Rockets 391-237, but were doomed by two turnovers in overtime and five total.
Briefly
-- Nebraska senior center Kurt Mann, who has missed the last three games with mononucleosis, probably won’t practice this week but may return to action “in a week or two,” Callahan said.
Reach Steven M. Sipple at 473-7440 or ssipple@journalstar.com.
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