Curt McKeever: The bold and undefeated
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MANHATTAN, Kan. — Ron Prince speaks with such passion about his mantra to be bold and daring that you almost expect him to start pounding his chest as he delivers the speech.
But as Kansas State’s first-year football coach and Nebraska’s Bill Callahan proved in Bill Snyder Family Stadium here Saturday night during the Huskers’ 21-3 victory, there’s a clear line that separates daring from desperate.
It’s bold and daring when you fake a field goal on your first series, like Nebraska did while executing a 17-yard touchdown play that sent a strong message about how it intended to seize control.
It’s bold and desperate when you fake a punt from your 9-yard line, which is what Kansas State did on its second series.
Essentially, what that told most of the folks who’d packed the joint was that Prince’s club was going to have to take some major chances to stand up to a team it had handled the previous four times in Manhattan.
“It was my attitude to be very aggressive in the game,” Prince said.
Aggressiveness is fine. But seldom does a team get away with a riverboat-gambling type of mentality that could be considered unsound. Granted, K-State’s fourth-down play produced a 38-yard gain. But that was 53 shy of what it would have taken to rattle the Huskers.
Instead, three plays later, Nebraska forced a punt and then marched 80 yards to make it 14-0.
Although the game was only 19 minutes old, it was over.
While K-State freshman quarterback Josh Freeman delivered enough moments to convince you why the Huskers wanted him so badly, he ended up having to operate behind an offensive line reduced to protecting him rather than providing holes for running back Leon Patton, who rushed for 151 yards against Oklahoma State last week.
Saturday, Patton got 13 yards, and by halftime Kansas State’s offense had been made one-dimensional. The Wildcats managed more than one first down on just one of their first seven series, and that came at the end of the half when Freeman completed a couple of passes against a prevent defense.
“We forced them into positions that I don’t think they were too comfortable in,” Callahan said after Nebraska stitched up an old wound by winning here for the first time since 1996.
NU led 14-0 at the break, and well before that it had become clear the Wildcats would need some funny bounces of the ball to give their purple-clad backers hope of change.
But one play after a review reversed what was originally called a stumble fumble by receiver Maurice Purify, I-back Marlon Lucky ended the need for K-State to be bold and daring by sprinting 40 yards for a score that made it 21-0.
Later, down 21-3 and needing three scores in the final 6:34, Prince passed up a chip-shot field goal for a fourth-down pass in the end zone that failed.
Not a good night for the new coach. The play was only an extension of what he’d established during the first-quarter fake-punt call — he’d resigned himself to defeat.
As for Nebraska, it’s on to Texas. And if the Huskers can avoid the third-quarter offensive doldrums that’s plagued them the past couple of games, they just might surprise the mighty Longhorns.
In the world of what have you done for me lately, the two clubs are pretty even. Oh, yeah, there is the matter of Texas’ 2005 national championship and all-time Big 12 Conference-best 17-game winning streak. But like the Longhorns, Nebraska has won nine of its past 10 games, and has reason to feel like it can improve on that.
“We all know they’re going to have a great team ... but we believe we can play with anybody,” Taylor said. “We’re not going to be intimidated — that’s the biggest thing.”
After all, the Huskers got bowl-eligible Saturday on their first attempt. Last year, it took them four tries.
Maybe they’ll continue their bold and daring ways this Saturday?
Reach Curt McKeever at 473-7441 or cmckeever@journalstar.com.
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