Nebraska led 17-9, the fourth quarter was a couple of minutes old, and it appeared that Kevin Cosgrove's defensive game plan was really taking effect.
BRIAN ROSENTHAL / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Friday, October 26, 2007 7:00 pm
AUSTIN, Texas — A dazed Colt McCoy lay on the field near the Nebraska sideline. Nebraska linebacker Phillip Dillard had flattened the Texas sophomore quarterback.
McCoy, who’d had his breath knocked out, slowly arose and trotted toward the Texas bench to sit out the next play.
Nebraska led 17-9, the fourth quarter was a couple of minutes old, and it appeared that Kevin Cosgrove’s defensive game plan was really taking effect.
Pressure McCoy. Don’t let him get in a rhythm. Rattle him. Make life miserable.
“You gain confidence when you see the quarterback rattled,” Nebraska safety Larry Asante said. “He didn’t really know what to do with the ball. He was looking around, he was trying to get the ball off as fast as he could.
“Just seeing that, you know you got ’em exactly where you want ’em.”
Or so the Huskers thought.
Texas’ next three plays following McCoy’s one-play exit? Runs of 25 yards by Jamaal Charles, 24 yards by McCoy and 25 yards by Charles. All three came on the zone read. The third one resulted in a touchdown.
And that was just the beginning.
No. 17 Texas amassed 261 yards in the fourth quarter — 216 coming on the ground by Charles — to win 28-25 Saturday at Texas Memorial Stadium. It spoiled what had been an encouraging, inspiring Nebraska defensive performance for three quarters.
“We had effort from everybody on this team,” Nebraska defensive end Zach Potter said. “We came out with everything we had.”
That included a barrage of blitzes, something Nebraska (4-5, 1-4 Big 12 Conference) had seldom shown in its previous eight games. A team that had blitzed less than 20 percent of the time before Saturday came after McCoy early and often, blitzing nearly 80 percent of the game.
“We just felt that it was a good opportunity for us,” said Cosgrove, Nebraska’s embattled defensive coordinator. “Everything worked for the most part. We just didn’t do quite well enough.”
Were there any blitzes Cosgrove wishes he could have back?
“Really, none of them,” he said. “When you put on the pressure like we were wanting to put it on them … if you don’t execute it exactly right, there’s a chance you can get hurt.”
Like on Charles’ 86-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter — an outside zone play where Charles got to the perimeter and darted down the Nebraska sideline. It came with 8 minutes, 52 seconds remaining and put Texas ahead 21-17.
Nebraska brought pressure again when Charles broke free for a 40-yard touchdown run with 2:35 remaining for a 28-17 lead. After the Huskers had pulled within three points with 1:55 left, Texas ran out the clock, thanks to a tackle-breaking run by Charles.
On a second-and-14 play, Charles appeared destined for a 3-yard loss but escaped the grasp of Ndamukong Suh, reversed field and gained 16 yards to the Nebraska 29-yard line.
Charles finished with 290 rushing yards, and Texas had 364.
“A breakdown here and there,” Potter said, describing problems on Texas’ long runs.
Before the Longhorns’ began badgering Nebraska with the zone read — the same formation Texas A&M used last week in rushing for 359 yards in Lincoln — the Huskers had stopped Texas by getting to McCoy.
“It took us a whole half to figure out what was going to work,” McCoy said. “I’ve never been in a game where they’re going to blitz every play. Literally every play, Nebraska was bringing somebody, and most of the time they were bringing everybody.”
Nebraska sacked McCoy once but hurried him 10 times and hit him many others. McCoy was 12-of-28 for 181 yards.
With that much success, why hasn’t Cosgrove blitzed more often this season?
“Offenses change,” Cosgrove said. “You have to be careful what you do against certain offenses. The thing about the Big 12, you see a different type of offense every week. You have to defend what you’re going to see. And what we did today isn’t necessarily what would work last week, or the week before.”
McCoy’s lone interception came when Asante blitzed him and tipped the ball as McCoy threw. Potter grabbed the ball near the line of scrimmage for Nebraska’s first forced turnover since the Iowa State game four weeks ago.
The Huskers took possession at the Texas 41-yard line but punted after three plays, pinning the Longhorns at their 2. Three players later, Charles broke loose for Texas’ longest play of the season.
“Once he got out in the open, he used his speed,” Nebraska cornerback Zack Bowman said, “and it was off to the races.”
And the beginning of another painful ending for a beleaguered Nebraska defense.
Reach Brian Rosenthal at 473-7436 or brosenthal@journalstar.com.