Huskers ready to move on
Nebraska players and coaches hope similarities between last year’s loss to Texas Tech and last week’s loss to Texas go no further than a badly-timed fumble.
Both games were heartbreaking, and the 2005 defeat to Texas Tech marked a stretch in which Nebraska lost four of five games. Huskers say that won’t happen again.
“We’re just an older, more mature team,” Nebraska senior quarterback Taylor said. “We have a completely different mind-set. We feel a lot more comfortable. We feel a lot better than we did last year.”
Nebraska, underdogs last year to Texas Tech, appeared to have the game won in the closing minutes, having intercepted a pass deep in Nebraska territory.
The player who intercepted that pass, LeKevin Smith, then fumbled. The Red Raiders recovered and scored the winning touchdown in the final seconds of a 34-31 victory.
Similarly, the Huskers appeared to have beaten No. 5 and defending national champion Texas on Saturday at Memorial Stadium. Again, a fumble in the closing minutes in Nebraska territory, this time by Terrence Nunn, set up the Longhorns’ game-winning field goal in a 22-20 Texas victory.
“The first thing Coach (Bill) Callahan told us Sunday morning is that it’s behind us,” Nebraska defensive end Jay Moore said. “You can’t do anything about it now. We’ve got to turn our focus to Oklahoma State.”
That’s the opponent Saturday afternoon for No. 20 Nebraska. The Huskers (6-2, 3-1 Big 12 Conference) face unranked Oklahoma State in Stillwater, Okla., where they’ve played only once since 1995, a 24-21 loss in 2002.
Nebraska responded from last year’s loss to Texas Tech with a victory at Baylor, but then lost three straight games.
“Last year it was a little different, because we had a lot of question marks on the team yet,” Moore said. “I think last year we took as a moral victory a little bit, ‘Oh, we almost won that game, we should’ve won that game.’ A lot of people didn’t expect us to win that game.
“I think this year, we knew we could win that game. We thought we were going to win that game. There was no second-guessing whatsoever about winning that game.”
Nebraska is coming off a loss to a top-five team for the second time this season. After a 28-10 road loss to then-No. 4 USC, the Huskers regrouped and pounded Troy 56-0 in Lincoln.
“They’ve put things behind them pretty quickly, no matter who the opponent is,” Callahan said. “They’ve moved on. That’s a reflection of their character and their ability to refocus.”
Also in the Huskers’ favor is the fact they’ve gained confidence in recent road games. Nebraska has won convincingly this season at Iowa State and at Kansas State, and dating to last season, has won three consecutive conference road games.
“I think we’ve matured since last year,” linebacker Corey McKeon said of winning road games. “The only thing that should change (on the road) is the color jerseys we’re wearing. That’s what everyone has taken on, the fact that, no matter where you play the game, you still have to play your game, and it’s nice to see that we’ve matured into that.”
Moore said players were upbeat and even joking over lunch on Tuesday about the Texas game. He said players are excited because Nebraska’s goals of a Big 12 Conference North title and a chance of a BCS bowl game are still attainable.
“We understand what we have and what we can do, compared to last year, when we were still kind of understanding of what we were capable of,” Moore said. “This year, we’re know what we’re capable of.”
Reach Brian Rosenthal at 473-7436 or brosenthal@journalstar.com.
Both games were heartbreaking, and the 2005 defeat to Texas Tech marked a stretch in which Nebraska lost four of five games. Huskers say that won’t happen again.
“We’re just an older, more mature team,” Nebraska senior quarterback Taylor said. “We have a completely different mind-set. We feel a lot more comfortable. We feel a lot better than we did last year.”
Nebraska, underdogs last year to Texas Tech, appeared to have the game won in the closing minutes, having intercepted a pass deep in Nebraska territory.
The player who intercepted that pass, LeKevin Smith, then fumbled. The Red Raiders recovered and scored the winning touchdown in the final seconds of a 34-31 victory.
Similarly, the Huskers appeared to have beaten No. 5 and defending national champion Texas on Saturday at Memorial Stadium. Again, a fumble in the closing minutes in Nebraska territory, this time by Terrence Nunn, set up the Longhorns’ game-winning field goal in a 22-20 Texas victory.
“The first thing Coach (Bill) Callahan told us Sunday morning is that it’s behind us,” Nebraska defensive end Jay Moore said. “You can’t do anything about it now. We’ve got to turn our focus to Oklahoma State.”
That’s the opponent Saturday afternoon for No. 20 Nebraska. The Huskers (6-2, 3-1 Big 12 Conference) face unranked Oklahoma State in Stillwater, Okla., where they’ve played only once since 1995, a 24-21 loss in 2002.
Nebraska responded from last year’s loss to Texas Tech with a victory at Baylor, but then lost three straight games.
“Last year it was a little different, because we had a lot of question marks on the team yet,” Moore said. “I think last year we took as a moral victory a little bit, ‘Oh, we almost won that game, we should’ve won that game.’ A lot of people didn’t expect us to win that game.
“I think this year, we knew we could win that game. We thought we were going to win that game. There was no second-guessing whatsoever about winning that game.”
Nebraska is coming off a loss to a top-five team for the second time this season. After a 28-10 road loss to then-No. 4 USC, the Huskers regrouped and pounded Troy 56-0 in Lincoln.
“They’ve put things behind them pretty quickly, no matter who the opponent is,” Callahan said. “They’ve moved on. That’s a reflection of their character and their ability to refocus.”
Also in the Huskers’ favor is the fact they’ve gained confidence in recent road games. Nebraska has won convincingly this season at Iowa State and at Kansas State, and dating to last season, has won three consecutive conference road games.
“I think we’ve matured since last year,” linebacker Corey McKeon said of winning road games. “The only thing that should change (on the road) is the color jerseys we’re wearing. That’s what everyone has taken on, the fact that, no matter where you play the game, you still have to play your game, and it’s nice to see that we’ve matured into that.”
Moore said players were upbeat and even joking over lunch on Tuesday about the Texas game. He said players are excited because Nebraska’s goals of a Big 12 Conference North title and a chance of a BCS bowl game are still attainable.
“We understand what we have and what we can do, compared to last year, when we were still kind of understanding of what we were capable of,” Moore said. “This year, we’re know what we’re capable of.”
Reach Brian Rosenthal at 473-7436 or brosenthal@journalstar.com.
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