NU focuses on tackling OU's backs

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BY BRIAN ROSENTHAL / Lincoln Journal Star

Nebraska defenders heaped praise upon Oklahoma’s running backs Tuesday. And with good reason. Adrian Peterson or no, there appear to be some quality runners in the group.

Tough, downhill, come ’atcha runners.

“They might run harder than anyone we’ve seen all year,” Nebraska linebacker Lance Brandenburgh said. “When they hit the gap, they’re going to be at full speed.”

Impressed? Well, for Nebraska fans, that probably wasn’t even the scariest of descriptions uttered by a Blackshirt.

Said linebacker Corey McKeon of the Sooner running backs: “They’re hard to tackle.”

Uh-oh.

Nebraska plays the tough-running Sooners in Saturday’s Big 12 Conference championship game in Kansas City, Mo., a week after having some tackling miscues in the Huskers’ season-finale against Colorado.

Exactly how serious those issues are seems to be debatable among players. Defensive end Jay Moore said tackling and communication problems were “blatant” against the Buffs.

McKeon, though, said the reason tackling is a hot topic this week is because of two big running plays by Colorado. The Huskers didn’t wrap up Hugh Charles, who broke loose for a 44-yard run. Mell Holliday also broke tackles on a 45-yard touchdown run that tied the game in the third quarter.

“Every other play, the tackling was sound,” McKeon said. “It looks like a big concern, but it’s not a big concern. There were 60 other plays where there was sound tackling.”

That may be true, but it still doesn’t erase the two or three big running plays that have haunted the NU defense in recent games. Big plays that resulted, in part, from bad tackling.

It happened against Oklahoma State, when Bobby Reid broke a tackle at the line of scrimmage en route to a 56-yard run. At Texas A&M, Stephen McGee (57 yards) made defenders miss, and Michael Goodson (53 yards) broke three tackles near the line of scrimmage.

Then Colorado made the Huskers look bad on two plays.

“That is a concern,” Nebraska coach Bill Callahan said. “We’ve got to be able to wrap, tackle, take people to the ground. By and large, if we can lesson the amount of explosive plays in the running game, we’d be a better defense statistically. No question about that.”

As it is, the Huskers rank an ordinary 48th nationally and sixth in the Big 12 in rush defense, allowing 126.9 yards per game. Of the 13 opponents’ running plays for 20 yards or more, eight have been for at least 38 yards.

Oklahoma, meanwhile, averages 188.6 rushing yards to rank 14th nationally and third in the Big 12. The Sooners have done it with and without Peterson, the former Heisman Trophy candidate who will miss his seventh straight game because of a broken collar bone. OU coach Bob Stoops confirmed Tuesday that Peterson will not play.

The Sooners have plugged along with Allen Patrick (665 yards, 4.7 yards per attempt), Chris Brown (339, 5.4) and Jacob Gutierrez (220, 4.9).

Saturday against Oklahoma State, Patrick opened the third quarter with a 65-yard touchdown run. After missing the two previous games with an ankle injury, Patrick finished with 163 rushing yards.

“He doesn’t want to make a lot of cuts,” McKeon said. “He just wants to run north and south, which is impressive. Running backs like that are hard to stop.”

McKeon didn’t totally discount the issue of tackling. He said coaches have addressed the problem and will make it a point of emphasis this week.

While safeties have endured a brunt of the criticism for missed tackles, linebackers haven’t been immune, either. The many spread offenses Nebraska has faced have created more running room, meaning more difficult one-on-one, open-field tackles for defenders.

The good news for Nebraska? Oklahoma does not spread the field. The I-formation, the power runs, the counters … it all means more activity for the linebackers, particularly Bo Ruud and Stewart Bradley, who’ve been spread out in recent games. Now, they’ll be back in the box.

“It’s easier to gang tackle, get guys down,” McKeon said. “The more guys we get around the football, the better off we’ll be tackling.”

In any case, it might not be a good week to be a tackling dummy at a Nebraska practice.

“It’s something we’re really going to have to stress on in practice this week,” Moore said, “wrapping up people, being in a good football position.”

Reach Brian Rosenthal at 473-7436 or brosenthal@journalstar.com.