Huskers reach deep into bag of tricks
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BY BRIAN ROSENTHAL / Lincoln Journal Star
Joe Ganz must have a short memory. Or a selective one. Something.
Whatever it is, Barry Turner should be appreciative.
Turner, a 6-foot-3, 250-pound Nebraska defensive end, caught a touchdown pass Friday. Despite his receiving prowess in high school as a tight end, he hadn’t exactly earned Ganz’s total trust, though.
“We threw him one about two weeks ago (in practice) and he dropped it,” Ganz said, “so I told him, ‘I’m never throwing to you again.’”
Ganz, Nebraska’s backup quarterback, did anyway. Turner caught it for a 29-yard touchdown — the play coming off a bizarre fake field goal — and gave the Huskers a 14-7 lead against Colorado.
That nifty score was among six — count ’em, six — trick plays, or special plays, that Nebraska attempted. Most were successful in the No. 23 Huskers’ 37-14 victory at Memorial Stadium.
Which begs the question: Did Nebraska really need this much trickery to beat a 2-9 Colorado team?
“They’re plays that we have, that we practice, that we prepare for,” Nebraska offensive coordinator Jay Norvell said. “It’s all about if the situation comes up, you want to use them.
“We’re trying to win every single game, and if they can help us win, we’ll just continue to use every play that we think can help us win.”
Trick plays are nothing new for Nebraska. The Huskers have used them throughout the season, and with success. Passes off fake punts and fake field goals. Halfback passes. Passes from wide receivers.
But what 85,800 fans saw Friday was clearly an emptying-of-the-bag.
A field-goal kicker who’s really a quarterback. A punter who’s really a field-goal kicker. A safety playing I-back. Halfback passes. Throwback passes. Double reverses.
Whew.
“The kids just executed,” Nebraska assistant coach Bill Busch said. “Unbelievable. To a ‘T.’ It was like watching practice. I was excited.”
Probably especially so on the Ganz-to-Turner pass, which Busch helped design with offensive line coach Dennis Wagner.
Nebraska, on fourth-and-7 from the CU 29-yard line, looked to attempt a field goal using a swinging- gate formation, or what the coaches termed a muddle-huddle swing. Only Ganz, who hasn’t attempted a field goal since high school, lined up as the kicker, with Jake Wesch holding.
The snap went directly to Ganz, whose intended target was receiver Todd Peterson over the middle. The play was designed to simply gain a first down.
“They covered it pretty well for all of the confusion,” said Ganz, noting he was surprised Colorado didn’t call a timeout. “That corner (covering Turner) made a mistake. He kind of sat, thinking I was throwing it to Todd coming across, but I threw it deep to Barry.”
If that wasn’t clever enough, then how about Tierre Green’s fourth-down run to gain a first down? He caught the CU defense asleep when it appeared the Huskers were going to call a timeout, what with quarterback Zac Taylor walking toward the sideline.
Nope. Green, the starting safety and a former I-back, took a direct snap from center and darted off to the right, easily gaining 7 yards to the CU 33-yard line on the fourth-and-1 play. It led to a fourth-quarter touchdown.
Nebraska had lined up to punt on the play, but Taylor was in as punter Dan Titchener’s protector. Titchener then quickly lined up as a receiver, Taylor went under center, Green came from his wing position to line up in the back field, then Taylor got up and started sauntering toward the sideline when the ball was snapped.
“The defense relaxes when the quarterback walks away,” said assistant coach Shawn Watson, who helped design the play. “We played off human nature.”
Another special — and critical — play was field-goal kicker Jordan Congdon’s quick-kick punt. Nebraska lined up for what would’ve been a 55-yard field-goal attempt; instead, Congdon’s surprise punt rolled to the CU 1, where Turner alertly downed the ball.
Colorado was stuffed for a safety on the next play for a 23-14 NU lead.
“Everything in special teams is fourth down,” Busch said. “You’ve got one shot. That’s it. That’s all you have to operate.”
Not everything worked perfectly, though. Marlon Lucky’s halfback pass — a play NU had run successfully against Texas — intended for Matt Herian in the end zone was overthrown. A few plays later, on the same drive, Lucky had a throwback pass to Taylor; Colorado was called for pass interference on the incompletion. Nebraska scored a touchdown on the drive.
Also, Maurice Purify’s double-reverse run in the third quarter netted nothing … except a holding penalty.
If nothing else, Texas or Oklahoma, whichever team Nebraska faces in next week’s Big 12 Championship Game, knows to be prepared for anything.
“It makes you cautious all the time,” Busch said. “It makes the opponent work.”
Reach Brian Rosenthal at 473-7436 or brosenthal@journalstar.com.
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