Red Report: Cosgrove looks for ways to get through 'wall'
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By the Lincoln Journal Star
On the morning before Nebraska’s showdown with No. 1 Southern California, defensive coordinator Kevin Cosgrove stressed how difficult it is to put pressure on USC quarterback John David Booty.
The Trojans, he said, use a lot of seven-man pass protection, making it tough to rush Booty.
“When you study them, he looks like he could sit back there and have a cup of coffee all the time. Amazing,” Cosgrove said at the Big Red Breakfast in Omaha. “They form a wall, so it’s hard to get interior pressure. So you got to get pressure from the edge.”
Where’s Lydon? Husker junior offensive tackle Lydon Murtha was not spotted on the field during Thursday’s practice.
On Friday, Cosgrove was asked by a fan during a question-asking session if Murtha was injured.
“I don’t remember that,” Cosgrove said. “I was down on the other end. As far as I know, he’s good to go.”
Husker coach Bill Callahan did not mention anything about a Murtha injury after Thursday’s practice.
He said then no one has been ruled out of Saturday’s game. “We’ll keep looking at everybody and take it all the way to the game.”
Quick hits: One fan asked Cosgrove what kind of weather he should pray for?
“Snow,” the coach joked.
* Cosgrove said safety Tierre Green was looking “great” in coming back from a shoulder stinger suffered against Wake Forest. About defensive tackle Ty Steinkuhler, injured in the opener, he said: “It’ll be good to have Stein back this week.”
* The coach said he likes the size cornerbacks Zack Bowman (6-foot-2) and Armando Murillo (6-0) bring to this year’s contest against the tall Trojan receivers.
“I like our matchups,” he said. “With the added size of Zack and Armando, there’s going to be some jump balls there. With the size we have, I think we’ll make some plays.”
* Southern Cal had a bye week last week after a season-opening 38-10 win against Idaho.
Cosgrove doesn’t see the week off giving the Trojans any advantage.
“Bye weeks, I don’t really care for them,” Cosgrove said. “I’d rather play 14 straight.”
Opponent watch: Southern California
Not a lot of gossip to write home about: In USC football history, only three players from Nebraska have lettered for the Trojans, but two of them went on to play in the NFL.
Lincoln High’s Bill Betz was a fullback for the 1947 and ’48 Men of Troy. Before that, Beatrice’s Theodore Ossowski lettered as an offensive tackle in 1943, and Robert Robertson, a quarterback from Omaha Central, played from 1939-41.
Robertson, who led the Trojans in passing in 1941 (on just 73 attempts), played for the NFL’s Brooklyn team in 1942. Ossowski played for the football New York Yankees in 1947.
* He’s been here before: Tailback Stafon Johnson has never seen Memorial Stadium from the inside, but he did run in a Junior Olympics National Track and Field Meet held at Ed Weir Track.
Running for the L.A. Jets, he finished third in the 100 meters and also was on the national-champion 1,600 relay.
“I was running track just to get better in football, and it turned out to be a great aspect,” Johnson said. “I was always told track helps football. That’s why I always go back to track when I’m feeling like I’m not going through something right, because speed changes the game. When you have speed, it makes a lot of things easier.”
Johnson, who had just three carries as a freshman last season, rushed for 64 yards on 12 attempts two weeks ago in the Trojans’ opener against Idaho.
* Looking to be Luck(y)er again: Tailback C.J. Gable and Nebraska I-back Marlon Lucky are renewing a friendly rivalry that began when Gable was at Sylmar (Calif.) High and Lucky at North Hollywood. Their teams met twice, with the first game ending in a tie and the next one in favor of Sylmar. Gable then got the best of his fellow Californian again last year when the Trojans beat the Huskers.
“I talked to him (recently) and was saying that’s it’s going to be a good game between us,” Gable said. “It’ll be like high school again.”
* Never thought he'd see Keller in red: Pete Carroll would just as soon things had gone better for Sam Keller at Arizona State. Had they, he wouldn’t be seeing a guy who two years ago threw a big scare into the Trojans before they came back to beat the Sun Devils 38-28.
Keller ignited ASU to a 21-3 halftime lead, then threw four of his five interceptions in the second half.
“What I recall is they came out smoking and we kind of ran ourselves back in the game with our offense,” Carroll said. “But he was in the process of having a great season and did a great job and, obviously, became a big-time quarterback there.
“Nebraska gets the benefit of all that experience. It’s amazing that they’ve been able to transition and he fits in so well and looks like he’s been there his whole career.”
* Quotable: “Coach Carroll emphasizes to us every week that no matter what number ranked we are we want to improve ourselves. We just come in and prepare for that team just knowing that it doesn’t matter who we play, unranked or ranked, that team can come in and pull an upset. The week we played Idaho, Michigan losing their game to Appalachian State was a big heads-up for us that Idaho can come in and pull the same thing.” —Linebacker Rey Maualuga, on whether some early season upsets have helped the Trojans stay focused.
- Brian Christopherson and Curt McKeever
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