Curt McKeever: Don't put this on Keller; USC's that good
It’s inevitable that some will call this Sam Keller’s nightmare of 2005 revisited.
Just like that sweltering evening in Tempe, Ariz., two years ago when he was at Arizona State, Keller was rarin’ to lead a 14th-ranked team to a look-at-us, we’re-gaining-on-you upset of No. 1 Southern California.
He had the Trojans on his home turf again, too. And, just like in 2005, he’d caught fire in the first half.
Two years ago, Keller was in the kind of zone that allowed the Sun Devils to stun the visitors and head into halftime with a 21-3 lead. Saturday, he completed 15 of his first 19 passes for 167 yards to help steer the Huskers to a 10-7 second-quarter advantage.
If only Pete Carroll’s assembly line of All-Americans had been impressed. Unfortunately, they came roaring out of the break at Keller again.
In 2005, USC swiped four of Keller’s throws to turn its deficit into a 38-28 victory. On Saturday, the Trojans capitalized on a couple of third-quarter picks to break open a game where control had already been seized.
That’s why labeling Nebraska’s 49-31 defeat a Keller nightmare revisited would be a slap in the face to both Nebraska’s quarterback and a club responsible for the most oohs and aahs ever heard on one night in Memorial Stadium.
It’s hard to imagine Nebraska will see a team anywhere close as talented as the Men of Troy the rest of this season.
Consider that USC’s first offensive play from scrimmage was a 50-yard run — by a fullback.
It took the Trojans all of four plays and a minute, 38 seconds to go 96 yards for their first touchdown.
Then, after Keller had rallied his team into the lead — a cause helped out by a ‘disconcerting’ penalty on Southern Cal linebacker Rey Maualuga that turned a field goal into a TD — back came Carroll’s bunch. And this time, things really got disconcerting for the Huskers.
With tailback Stafon Johnson starting to look like he was back at the Junior Olympics National Track and Field meet over in Ed Weir Stadium, where he first ran with nothing but daylight in front of him, USC took the lead for good. This time, the Trojans needed five snaps and two minutes, one second to travel the 45 yards to pay dirt.
Next series is more of the same. Johnson gets five of his 11 carries and 60 of his 144 yards and the Trojans are up 21-10.
For Keller to pull the Huskers out of this, he’ll have to be more resilient than the greatest crime fighter of them all.
But just like Superman, he and his sidekicks can’t fight Kryptonite, which on this night comes in the form of dynamic 6-foot-6 defensive end Kyle Moore.
If this were a Hollywood script, he’d have played the part of ‘The Claw.’ You don’t really see much of him, but when you do, he steals the scene.
In the opening one, with NU’s first series of the third quarter as the backdrop, we find Moore deflecting a Keller pass to teammate Terrell Thomas. Five plays later, quarterback John David Booty hits Anthony McCoy for a TD and it’s 28-10.
Moore then makes a bid for more than just Best Supporting Actor, coming right back to snare another Keller throw and return it 24 yards to the Nebraska one-yard line.
After Chauncey Washington carries the ball over the goal line, they should have started rolling the closing credits on the giant HuskerVision video board behind the North end zone.
Tha tha tha, that’s all, folks. The Huskers will not be kicking booty on this night.
“Boom, boom, they’ve got two picks and momentum. Probably the only two mistakes I made,” said Keller, who threw for 389 yards and a pair of scores. “But against those guys you can’t do that.
“... We kept saying, ‘Let’s go back and do it again. Let’s go score.’ Obviously, it separated the game. They were up 35-10.”
Perhaps, first-year Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh knew what he was talking about this summer when he said the Trojans had the best talent he’d seen on film, and then offered that they just might be the most impressive group in college history.
You think losing to a team like that would give Keller nightmares again?
“They pose problems ... everything’s going to be fine,” he said.
Reach Curt McKeever at 473-7441 or cmckeever@journalstar.com.
Just like that sweltering evening in Tempe, Ariz., two years ago when he was at Arizona State, Keller was rarin’ to lead a 14th-ranked team to a look-at-us, we’re-gaining-on-you upset of No. 1 Southern California.
He had the Trojans on his home turf again, too. And, just like in 2005, he’d caught fire in the first half.
Two years ago, Keller was in the kind of zone that allowed the Sun Devils to stun the visitors and head into halftime with a 21-3 lead. Saturday, he completed 15 of his first 19 passes for 167 yards to help steer the Huskers to a 10-7 second-quarter advantage.
If only Pete Carroll’s assembly line of All-Americans had been impressed. Unfortunately, they came roaring out of the break at Keller again.
In 2005, USC swiped four of Keller’s throws to turn its deficit into a 38-28 victory. On Saturday, the Trojans capitalized on a couple of third-quarter picks to break open a game where control had already been seized.
That’s why labeling Nebraska’s 49-31 defeat a Keller nightmare revisited would be a slap in the face to both Nebraska’s quarterback and a club responsible for the most oohs and aahs ever heard on one night in Memorial Stadium.
It’s hard to imagine Nebraska will see a team anywhere close as talented as the Men of Troy the rest of this season.
Consider that USC’s first offensive play from scrimmage was a 50-yard run — by a fullback.
It took the Trojans all of four plays and a minute, 38 seconds to go 96 yards for their first touchdown.
Then, after Keller had rallied his team into the lead — a cause helped out by a ‘disconcerting’ penalty on Southern Cal linebacker Rey Maualuga that turned a field goal into a TD — back came Carroll’s bunch. And this time, things really got disconcerting for the Huskers.
With tailback Stafon Johnson starting to look like he was back at the Junior Olympics National Track and Field meet over in Ed Weir Stadium, where he first ran with nothing but daylight in front of him, USC took the lead for good. This time, the Trojans needed five snaps and two minutes, one second to travel the 45 yards to pay dirt.
Next series is more of the same. Johnson gets five of his 11 carries and 60 of his 144 yards and the Trojans are up 21-10.
For Keller to pull the Huskers out of this, he’ll have to be more resilient than the greatest crime fighter of them all.
But just like Superman, he and his sidekicks can’t fight Kryptonite, which on this night comes in the form of dynamic 6-foot-6 defensive end Kyle Moore.
If this were a Hollywood script, he’d have played the part of ‘The Claw.’ You don’t really see much of him, but when you do, he steals the scene.
In the opening one, with NU’s first series of the third quarter as the backdrop, we find Moore deflecting a Keller pass to teammate Terrell Thomas. Five plays later, quarterback John David Booty hits Anthony McCoy for a TD and it’s 28-10.
Moore then makes a bid for more than just Best Supporting Actor, coming right back to snare another Keller throw and return it 24 yards to the Nebraska one-yard line.
After Chauncey Washington carries the ball over the goal line, they should have started rolling the closing credits on the giant HuskerVision video board behind the North end zone.
Tha tha tha, that’s all, folks. The Huskers will not be kicking booty on this night.
“Boom, boom, they’ve got two picks and momentum. Probably the only two mistakes I made,” said Keller, who threw for 389 yards and a pair of scores. “But against those guys you can’t do that.
“... We kept saying, ‘Let’s go back and do it again. Let’s go score.’ Obviously, it separated the game. They were up 35-10.”
Perhaps, first-year Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh knew what he was talking about this summer when he said the Trojans had the best talent he’d seen on film, and then offered that they just might be the most impressive group in college history.
You think losing to a team like that would give Keller nightmares again?
“They pose problems ... everything’s going to be fine,” he said.
Reach Curt McKeever at 473-7441 or cmckeever@journalstar.com.
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