Eric the Red
Team HuskerBoard
Curt McKeever: Huskers don’t want to count on cushion
Depending on your perspective, Nebraska has a one-game cushion with two to play in its goal to advance to the Big 12 Conference championship game.
While technically true, the last thing the Huskers need in College Station, Texas, today is laissez faire attitude.
Will a loss to Texas A&M likely spoil their primary goal of this season? You wouldn’t think so. Colorado awaits the day after Thanksgiving, and I’d give the Buffaloes about the same chance at surviving a late-November hunt as a farm-raised turkey.
But don’t think the Huskers’ reputation isn’t staring down the barrel of a loaded gun.
For all of the measurable progress under third-year coach Bill Callahan — things like being able to go toe-to-toe with Texas last month, regaining respect last season by playing Oklahoma and Texas Tech in down-to-the-wire battles one year after getting routed, and beating Michigan — there’s still the eyebrow-raising, road-kill memory of Oklahoma State two weeks ago. It causes us to wonder whether that loss or the wins at Iowa State and Kansas State were the bigger accidents.
And now it’s November, the month when teams either play well enough for past sins to be forgiven or slide further toward the flames.
Colorado knows all about the latter. At one point last season, the Buffaloes were cruising with a 7-2 record and coach Gary Barnett had a contract extension on the table.
Then, they lost their last two Big 12 games and had to back into the league championship game, where a 70-3 slaughter at the hands of Texas made that contract extension magically turn into a pink slip.
Callahan, of course, faces nothing close to those consequences. But you can see a similar deal here, right? Nebraska could finish anywhere from 11-3 to 8-6.
“Everyone here talks about us needing to win one more game, and that’s far from my mentality,” senior defensive end Jay Moore said. “I look at it as having four games left this year (and) I don’t want to have another loss for my career and for this team.
“I don’t want to be even to where we were last year. I want to be better, (so) I’m just trying to get my attitude out to the rest of the team because some of these guys (know) all we need is one more.”
Granted, one more win will get the Huskers to a land they haven’t seen in seven years, and that would be a step in the right direction. But we all know they’d feel a lot less apologetic about unlocking that door if they could win today. Or at least give themselves a chance.
The hope that they’re closing the talent gap on their South Division opponents — only one of which they’ve beaten under Callahan — would feel more like reality.
“Really, people remember we lost to USC,” quarterback Zac Taylor said. “But if we win out from here, people kind of tend to forget the games you played in September, and the close games. If we can finish out strong, that’s more what we’ll remember and what the fans remember.
“We don’t want to settle just for winning one game and barely slipping into any championship. We want to go in strong.”
Though far from being the powerhouse Callahan envisions, Nebraska can argue that, at its best, it can now play with anybody. For sure, Texas A&M views the Huskers as a program it needs to beat to show it’s also on the trail that leads to championships.
That combination should supply those in the land of the 12th Man with high drama.
If NU wants to make it last a full game, it should plan on a hot start. The Aggies’ defense, having entered halftime either tied or trailing in five of 10 games, has allowed just seven second-half touchdowns and 61 total points.
Conversely, the Blackshirts, who did enough to leave Missouri’s Chase Daniel with a miserable memory of Memorial Stadium last Saturday, will have to contend with a quarterback, Stephen McGee, who’s been intercepted just twice in 243 passes.
They’ll also need to shore things up in run-game defense, as thunder-thighed tailback Jorvorskie Lane and his lightning-quick sidekick Mike Goodson pose greater threats that Mizzou’s Tony Temple, who rushed for 99 yards.
If Moore has his way, the game against Colorado in 13 days will merely be for the icing.
“I want to win the Big 12. I want to go to a BCS bowl game and win that, too,” he said. “I want to end this season in the right way.”
The end begins today, and if you’re a Husker, you aren’t thinking about any one-game cushion.
Reach Curt McKeever at 473-7441 or cmckeever@journalstar.com.
Depending on your perspective, Nebraska has a one-game cushion with two to play in its goal to advance to the Big 12 Conference championship game.
While technically true, the last thing the Huskers need in College Station, Texas, today is laissez faire attitude.
Will a loss to Texas A&M likely spoil their primary goal of this season? You wouldn’t think so. Colorado awaits the day after Thanksgiving, and I’d give the Buffaloes about the same chance at surviving a late-November hunt as a farm-raised turkey.
But don’t think the Huskers’ reputation isn’t staring down the barrel of a loaded gun.
For all of the measurable progress under third-year coach Bill Callahan — things like being able to go toe-to-toe with Texas last month, regaining respect last season by playing Oklahoma and Texas Tech in down-to-the-wire battles one year after getting routed, and beating Michigan — there’s still the eyebrow-raising, road-kill memory of Oklahoma State two weeks ago. It causes us to wonder whether that loss or the wins at Iowa State and Kansas State were the bigger accidents.
And now it’s November, the month when teams either play well enough for past sins to be forgiven or slide further toward the flames.
Colorado knows all about the latter. At one point last season, the Buffaloes were cruising with a 7-2 record and coach Gary Barnett had a contract extension on the table.
Then, they lost their last two Big 12 games and had to back into the league championship game, where a 70-3 slaughter at the hands of Texas made that contract extension magically turn into a pink slip.
Callahan, of course, faces nothing close to those consequences. But you can see a similar deal here, right? Nebraska could finish anywhere from 11-3 to 8-6.
“Everyone here talks about us needing to win one more game, and that’s far from my mentality,” senior defensive end Jay Moore said. “I look at it as having four games left this year (and) I don’t want to have another loss for my career and for this team.
“I don’t want to be even to where we were last year. I want to be better, (so) I’m just trying to get my attitude out to the rest of the team because some of these guys (know) all we need is one more.”
Granted, one more win will get the Huskers to a land they haven’t seen in seven years, and that would be a step in the right direction. But we all know they’d feel a lot less apologetic about unlocking that door if they could win today. Or at least give themselves a chance.
The hope that they’re closing the talent gap on their South Division opponents — only one of which they’ve beaten under Callahan — would feel more like reality.
“Really, people remember we lost to USC,” quarterback Zac Taylor said. “But if we win out from here, people kind of tend to forget the games you played in September, and the close games. If we can finish out strong, that’s more what we’ll remember and what the fans remember.
“We don’t want to settle just for winning one game and barely slipping into any championship. We want to go in strong.”
Though far from being the powerhouse Callahan envisions, Nebraska can argue that, at its best, it can now play with anybody. For sure, Texas A&M views the Huskers as a program it needs to beat to show it’s also on the trail that leads to championships.
That combination should supply those in the land of the 12th Man with high drama.
If NU wants to make it last a full game, it should plan on a hot start. The Aggies’ defense, having entered halftime either tied or trailing in five of 10 games, has allowed just seven second-half touchdowns and 61 total points.
Conversely, the Blackshirts, who did enough to leave Missouri’s Chase Daniel with a miserable memory of Memorial Stadium last Saturday, will have to contend with a quarterback, Stephen McGee, who’s been intercepted just twice in 243 passes.
They’ll also need to shore things up in run-game defense, as thunder-thighed tailback Jorvorskie Lane and his lightning-quick sidekick Mike Goodson pose greater threats that Mizzou’s Tony Temple, who rushed for 99 yards.
If Moore has his way, the game against Colorado in 13 days will merely be for the icing.
“I want to win the Big 12. I want to go to a BCS bowl game and win that, too,” he said. “I want to end this season in the right way.”
The end begins today, and if you’re a Husker, you aren’t thinking about any one-game cushion.
Reach Curt McKeever at 473-7441 or cmckeever@journalstar.com.
