Huskers' upset bid falls short at Texas
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BY BRIAN CHRISTOPHERSON / Lincoln Journal Star
AUSTIN, Texas — Sam Keller did not stop to chat this time.
The bill of his cap shadowed his eyes, his stare distant as he waded out of the locker room and through the clutter of bodies and television cameras.
The Husker quarterback had had a rough day, his left shoulder in a sling, his team defeated. He needed to find someone.
Tears streamed down his face when he saw her. His mom hugged him and no one had to say anything.
Yes, this hurt plenty. An inspired Husker performance fell victim to heartache in the Deep South on Saturday, a 28-25 win going to those Texas Longhorns.
“I’m awfully proud of the way that our players performed and the effort they gave on the field today,” Husker coach Bill Callahan said. “It was heartfelt. They gave everything they had.”
Junior running back Marlon Lucky put it more bluntly: “We fought our butts off.”
And yet victory was still elusive. Nebraska (4-5) has now lost four straight games for the first time since 1961. This one was different than the previous three losses. Those were blowouts, embarrassing. This game was nothing like that.
This game seemed tinted scarlet.
“We’ve never been so sick of anything in our entire lives,” Husker senior safety Ben Eisenhart said. “(We’re) so tired of losing and so tired of going to class and having everybody ask you questions. It’s just a real downer.”
With pessimism flying and coaches’ futures in jeopardy, Nebraska had the kind of showing for three quarters that put goose bumps on the arms of its faithful.
The Huskers looked like the Huskers again.
They blitzed relentlessly, giving an absolute beating to Texas sophomore quarterback Colt McCoy, even knocking him out of the game for one play on a big hit by Phillip Dillard.
But the Longhorns got wise in the fourth quarter, spreading the field on offense, running the ball out of the shotgun formation.
Nebraska’s defense, so confident for most of the game, suddenly looked unsure. Holes that were nowhere to be found for three quarters were now quite obvious.
Texas running back Jamaal Charles was the beneficiary, amassing an amazing 216 yards on 13 carries in the final quarter, an average of 16.6 yards a carry. In the first three quarters, he had just 74 yards on 20 carries.
His three fourth-quarter touchdowns rallied Texas from a two-touchdown deficit.
The stadium shook the most when Charles raced 86 yards around the right end for a touchdown to give Texas a 21-17 lead with 7:33 left.
He scored again less than four minutes later on a 40-yard run straight up the middle that proved to be the game winner.
McCoy, who left the game for one play with 13 minutes left and his team down 17-9, said he met a new team when he came back to the huddle after his injury.
“I could see the fire in the linemen’s eyes, and I knew there was something different about them,” McCoy said. “I told them, ‘Look me in my eyes and I’m going to look every one of you in your eyes. Let’s go to work. Let’s play. This is why we play college football, right here. Let’s go win.’ And it seemed like we had the momentum from that point on.”
The Huskers still did not go quietly. Nebraska rallied for a late TD, pulling within three points on a 4-yard catch by Maurice Purify with 1:55 left.
Purify caught the pass from junior quarterback Joe Ganz, who came into the game on the drive after starter Keller got nailed.
Keller stayed down for a few minutes and did not return to the game. It’s a left shoulder injury. An X-ray was taken in Austin. Results will be known in Lincoln.
“He’ll help with the team, do whatever he can,” said Keller’s dad, Mike.
The Huskers attempted an onside kick, but Texas came up with it. The Longhorns then ran out the clock.
“You can lose by one. You can lose by 20. A loss is a loss,” Husker running backs coach Randy Jordan said. “They don’t see how many style points you have at the end of the season. They only ask you how many wins you got and how many losses.
“But what I can take from this is our guys never quit, our guys fought, our guys competed. I didn’t see a head down the entire game.”
The Longhorns entered as 21-point favorites. Many feared another Husker calamity on TV.
But the Huskers packed no white surrender flag for this trip. They came to Austin to shock the doubters, and it looked like it’d happen when Nate Swift caught a 23-yard touchdown pass less than three minutes into the third quarter to make it 17-3.
The Husker bench erupted like a championship had just been won. Callahan raised a fist to the air. Jordan raced 40 yards down the sideline, waving his arms and shouting.
“The effort today was commendable, but we’ve got to transfer that to wins,” Callahan said.
Then there was Nebraska offensive coordinator Shawn Watson. Standing outside the locker room after the game, his eyes glistened, his voice wavered.
“I think the thing that everybody is learning is how you work through adversity with integrity,” he said. “I’m really proud of them. They fought hard. They played a gutsy game, man.”
Reach Brian Christopherson at 473-7439 or bchristopherson@journalstar.com.
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