In a humoring mood at his weekly news conference prior to Nebraska's game at Kansas State, Bill Callahan spoke glowingly about a quarterback who turned his back on the Huskers. He threw in some kind adjectives for the Wildcats and then offered to "put a few more coach-speak words in there."

Callahan needn't make up anything about fifth-ranked Texas. He means it when he says he thinks there'd be a different result now if the Longhorns played top-ranked Ohio State again. Indeed, with one of the best defenses in school history and a rapidly developing redshirt freshman quarterback, the Hook 'ems appear to be better equipped for a bout against the Buckeyes than they were the second week of the season.

Today, Callahan's upstart club steps into the ring against that team — one that will be playing its first true road game of the season, but brings the confidence of having players who've helped produce 15 straight road victories, as well as the 2005 national championship.

The Huskers come in believing they’ve taken major steps while winning nine of their past 10 games, and even from the one loss,  last month at Southern California, the team Texas knocked from the college football throne.

Add in the fact that today's battle in Memorial Stadium will mark only the third-ever meeting between two NCAA Division I-A programs with 800 victories and you'd think Callahan's juice glass would be overflowing.

He claims otherwise.

"It's great that we're playing Texas, but I enjoy each and every game that we're involved in — no more, no less than anyone else," Callahan said.

Any one else think that's just more coach speak?

Ask Texas coach Mack Brown about the subject and you'd think a national championship was about to be decided.

"They get excited when a program (they're facing) is like the one they're involved with," Brown said of his Longhorns. "They like to go into an environment that's full and loud and loves their team, because it's more challenging. When you can go to an Ohio State or to a Nebraska and win, that's more satisfying and more fun."

The differing views are understandable. As good as Texas is, Brown knows his club will still need to play like it's on fire. Nebraska is no walkover.

Meanwhile, Callahan doesn't want to make the Longhorns out to be so big a deal that his players start thinking they have no chance unless they produce an overachieving, not-yet-seen performance.

But let's make no mistake about today's brunch-time opportunity for the Huskers: It's as big a spread as they've seen, and if they're able to clean their plates, full stomachs or not, dessert would never taste better.

This is a double shot of whipped cream kind of game for Nebraska. It's October, and if this were baseball, the Huskers would be one of those good playoff teams not from New York. And yet, as the Tigers and Cardinals have already shown, the big, bad Yankees and Mets can be had.

Best of all, this test of will won't require a trip to The Bronx or Queens.

It's a one-game shot, too, and while Texas' lineup is stacked, there may never be a better chance for the Huskers. This will be quarterback Colt McCoy's first in-the-fire kind of setting, and if he's going to melt, you figure it'll be now rather than in Austin next year. Or in Kansas City later this year. Remember, the treatment the Longhorns gave Gary Barnett and Colorado when they met up a second time last season?

"I think it's a huge advantage that we're playing this game at home," Husker quarterback Zac Taylor said before offering advice on when fans could make life in Lincoln the most deafening to the Longhorns. "Especially when Texas' offense is in the huddle. It's (then) that it causes the most problems."

Not that he doesn’t think 11 men can’t slow the Texas offense,  but … well, they won’t be able to all the time. Nor should the Huskers’ offense expect many easy yards.

The Longhorns are No. 2 nationally in scoring, and it's not just because of McCoy's impressive ability to deliver the ball (he has 18 touchdown passes to just three interceptions). Texas' defense, which ranks No. 2 against the run, regularly gives its offense a short field (forcing 40 three-and-outs in 85 possessions). And sometimes, it just handles the scoring itself. Five of the 19 turnovers it's created have been returned for touchdowns.

What's more, the Longhorns' special-team units have produced three other scores.

"They specialize in stopping the run, but we specialize in establishing the run," NU I-back Cody Glenn said.

Nebraska leads the Big 12 and is 11th nationally with a per-game rushing average of 207.7 yards. That pales to the gaudy numbers of Nebraska's better option-based teams. But 200 yards is right about what you need to make the West Coast offense click. Put it this way, if the Huskers get 200 on the ground today, you should like their chances.

If they can't generate 100, then Taylor will have to have the kind of day against a skilled veteran secondary that leads to late-night air time from Corso and Co.

Regardless of what happens today, and as long as it can win again on the road next week, Nebraska will hold an even bigger contest when Missouri comes to town on Nov. 4. But if the Huskers want to be looked at differently then, if Callahan wants his program to be viewed not only as moving in the right direction but being at the doorstep, he'll cut loose as if today is his second chance at a Super Bowl.

"I think this game is a must-win, considering where we want to go and how the season has been going," Glenn said. "We want to be in Kansas City playing for the Big 12 championship and this is a team that we're probably going to see down there. If we can beat them this time, we know what we need to do to beat them again."