Texas A&M whips Nebraska in Lincoln
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BY BRIAN CHRISTOPHERSON / Lincoln Journal Star
Tom Osborne brought positive energy back to Nebraska this week.
Unfortunately for Husker fans, the new interim athletic director couldn’t bring back one of his former defenses.
New week, old story: Opposing offense manhandles Nebraska’s defensive front, scores with ridiculous ease, crowd groans, wonders when the nightmare will end.
Texas A&M didn’t need more than a handful of plays to whip the Huskers 36-14 Saturday at Memorial Stadium.
“Obviously, we’re hurting again. It’s a very tough ballgame to swallow,” Husker coach Bill Callahan said. “Our kids played with a better effort from a week ago, but not enough to sustain a performance to the expectation that we expect in the second half.”
It’s the first time Nebraska has lost three home games since 1968, when the Huskers went 6-4 under Bob Devaney.
Now 4-4, with a road trip to Texas looming, the idea of the Huskers winning two more games and qualifying for a bowl game almost seems far-fetched.
In its four losses, Nebraska has been outscored by an average of 26.5 points a game.
Frustrating, said Husker junior defensive end Zach Potter. He wouldn’t call it a nightmare. Frustrating, yes.
“We have to stick together. We’ve stayed together through everything and this is only our fourth loss, so we’re still 4-4,” he said. “We still have four games left. If we just quit now, I don’t really want to end up being 4-8. We just have to keep going.”
Senior cornerback Andre Jones put it another way.
“You play this game for respect,” he said. “That’s what we’ve got to get back.”
No need to get fancy to take down the Huskers these days. The Aggies did it with a vanilla playbook.
Quarterback Stephen McGee would put the ball in the belly of a running back. Sometimes, he’d keep it there. Oftentimes, he’d pull it away and carry the ball himself for a significant chunk of yards.
McGee was so effective, A&M coach Dennis Franchione had him run the ball a career-high 35 times.
He had 167 yards. That number would have been higher if not for two sacks.
“That’s not exactly the way we want it,” Franchione said of running his quarterback so much. “But when you have something they can’t stop, and they weren’t stopping it, you’re going to make them do it until their nose bleeds.
“(Nebraska) did make some adjustments on some other things, but on those things they didn’t have answers.”
If McGee was tough for the Huskers to tackle, at least he weighed less than A&M’s 268-pound running back Jorvorskie Lane, who had four touchdowns and 130 yards on just 15 carries, averaging 8.7 yards a rush.
Lane, ever humble, credited his offensive line.
“I could have drove my car through the holes they were making,” Lane said.
Potter said he probably tackled Lane more than 10 times Saturday. Unfortunately, McGee had the ball on most of those plays.
There were moments early on when the Huskers breathed a fire they hadn’t in previous weeks. They sacked McGee twice. They almost intercepted him twice. Almost.
After one sack, linebacker Corey McKeon stood up and did the old Blackshirts’ skull and crossbones signal. The fans chanted “DEFENSE,” hoping that they might see something, anything, that might make them believe.
But there were Husker turnovers, two of them — fumbles by Quentin Castille and Nate Swift — that helped the Aggies to a 16-14 halftime lead.
“It kills you. You turn the ball over, and you give their offense a short field to defend for our defense,” Callahan said. “It’s difficult. It’s challenging, especially when you’re struggling. It’s like, ‘Dang it, we just got off the field and stopped them and now we have to go out there and stop them again.’”
The Aggies took control on their first two drives of the second half, going 80 yards in nine plays and 80 yards in 11 plays to make it 30-14.
The Huskers are now 0-16 under Callahan when trailing at halftime.
Nebraska tried to shake it up this week. Offensive coordinator Shawn Watson, who previously was in the press box, stood on the field and shared the playcalling with Callahan.
But Nebraska’s offense still was lacking. Husker quarterback Sam Keller (26-for-44 for 275 yards) was inconsistent and the team twice failed on fourth down in A&M territory.
“We work our butts off everyday at practice ... on and off the field, watching film and everything,” Swift said. “Every one of the past three games I thought we were really prepared for, we just did not go out there and execute.”
Not surprisingly, the Husker locker room was gloomy after the game.
“We have a lot of guys trying to keep other guys up,” Swift said, “trying to keep guys out of the dumps.”
Many fans stayed until well into the fourth quarter, but quietness overtook the stadium.
Husker linebacker Steve Octavien raised his hands to try to stir the crowd with six minutes left and A&M driving, but not many fans responded.
Rarely would you hear a Husker fan wish the football season to end, but maybe this time.
Reach Brian Christopherson at 473-7439 or bchristopherson@journalstar.com.
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