Husker notes

[np_husker]

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=3918...;u_sid=10470686

 

NU Notes: Rodgers happy for Swift, record feat

 

LINCOLN — Johnny Rodgers offered congratulations Saturday, not long after Nate Swift broke his Nebraska record for receptions.

 

Rodgers visited the NU locker room after the 32-20 win over Baylor. He shook Swift's hand and told the senior he was proud of his efforts.

 

"Some people think that you're upset because somebody's breaking your record," Rodgers said Sunday. "Absolutely no animosity whatsoever, and I wanted to make that clear by my presence.

 

"I can't be upset about holding a record 36 years and letting it go to a younger one."

 

Swift caught 11 passes to push his career total to 147. The record-breaking catch was No. 144, a 9-yard touchdown that supplied the go-ahead points with 1:15 left in the third quarter.

 

"We both agreed that it helped out that we won the game," said Rodgers, a regular at NU home games.

 

Rodgers hadn't paid much attention to Swift's pursuit until recent weeks. The 1972 Heisman Trophy winner got Swift's number from NU Athletic Director Tom Osborne and phoned him late last week.

 

"I just wanted to congratulate him on his efforts the last four years and I wished him well," Rodgers said.

 

One mean screen

 

Nebraska waited awhile Saturday before dusting off one of its old favorites: The middle screen.

 

Joe Ganz dumped a short pass to I-back Marlon Lucky midway through the fourth quarter and Lucky turned it into a 69-yard gain. The play stands as the Huskers' longest this season and came on third-and-16 from the NU 26.

 

"I knew it would come," Lucky said. "It came and it got caught."

 

Lucky continued his run of productive performances. The senior rushed 16 times for 83 yards and a touchdown and caught three passes for 82 yards.

 

Lucky is now the fourth player in NU history to go over 4,000 all-purpose yards at 4,136, trailing only Rodgers (5,586), Mike Rozier (5,445) and Ahman Green (4,280).

 

NU on ESPN

 

ABC picked the Texas-Texas Tech game so ESPN gets Nebraska-Oklahoma on Saturday.

 

The Big 12 set the two games for the two television time slots last week. After both Texas and Texas Tech won Saturday, ABC chose the matchup of 8-0 teams.

 

Safety speaks first

 

Senior strong safety Larry Asante played perhaps his best game at Nebraska Saturday in the Huskers' 32-20 win over Baylor. He matched nose tackle Ndamukong Suh with a team-high seven tackles, including two key stops behind the line of scrimmage to halt Baylor drives in the second half.

 

After the game, Asante offered some final thoughts on the Bears.

 

Of quarterback Robert Griffin, he said: "He didn't want to pass the ball. He wanted to use his feet to run around and make plays."

 

Asante said he was surprised, in fact, Baylor didn't use Griffin in more of a running role. The freshman QB rushed for 99 yards in the first quarter but only 22 in the final three periods as NU held Baylor scoreless in the second half.

 

OU's Lewis shines

 

Oklahoma linebacker Travis Lewis continued his spectacular season as a redshirt freshman with 15 tackles and two interceptions in the Sooners' 58-35 win over Kansas State Saturday.

 

Lewis, a former high school All-America running back from San Antonio, committed to Nebraska as part of the Huskers' 2007 recruiting class. He reneged on his pledge on the eve of signing day.

 

He leads OU with 83 tackles, 32 more than any other Sooner.

 

Freeman's big day

 

Kansas State quarterback Josh Freeman threw for a career-high 478 yards Saturday against Oklahoma — the second most by a K-State QB behind Chad May's 489 in a 1993 loss to Nebraska.

 

Freeman was intercepted three times and sacked twice as he connected on 29 of 51 throws. Often, he bought time by scrambling, OU coach Bob Stoops said Sunday.

 

Stoops said he was not overly concerned about the Sooners' ability to defend the pass. OU still leads the Big 12 in pass efficiency defense.

 

Coaches meet again

 

Stoops is impressed with the work of Nebraska's Bo Pelini in his first season as head coach.

 

"He's made a great impact," Stoops said of Pelini, who served as co-coordinator of the Oklahoma defense in 2004. "Offensively, they're scoring a bunch of points and moving the football, and you can tell the defense is drastically different than it was a year ago."

 

Proud Pelini

 

Pelini, rejected as a head coaching candidate after the 2003 season by then-Nebraska athletic director Steve Pederson, offered this two-word answer Sunday when asked what he recalls about the 2004 NU-Oklahoma game: "I won."

 

The coach said nothing else for a few seconds before continuing.

 

"We won," Pelini said. "That's about it."

 

OU, with Pelini on the sideline, beat the Huskers 30-3. — Mitch Sherman and Rich Kaipust

[caveman99]

Freeman's big day

 

Kansas State quarterback Josh Freeman threw for a career-high 478 yards Saturday against Oklahoma — the second most by a K-State QB behind Chad May's 489 in a 1993 loss to Nebraska.

 

Freeman was intercepted three times and sacked twice as he connected on 29 of 51 throws. Often, he bought time by scrambling, OU coach Bob Stoops said Sunday.

 

Stoops said he was not overly concerned about the Sooners' ability to defend the pass. OU still leads the Big 12 in pass efficiency defense.

 

Stoops may not be overly concerned with his pass defense, but he should be for this week. If he thought Freeman was mobile in the pocket extending plays, then he should be worried about Joe Ganz.

[clone]

Freeman's big day

 

Kansas State quarterback Josh Freeman threw for a career-high 478 yards Saturday against Oklahoma — the second most by a K-State QB behind Chad May's 489 in a 1993 loss to Nebraska.

 

Freeman was intercepted three times and sacked twice as he connected on 29 of 51 throws. Often, he bought time by scrambling, OU coach Bob Stoops said Sunday.

 

Stoops said he was not overly concerned about the Sooners' ability to defend the pass. OU still leads the Big 12 in pass efficiency defense.

 

Stoops may not be overly concerned with his pass defense, but he should be for this week. If he thought Freeman was mobile in the pocket extending plays, then he should be worried about Joe Ganz.

 

while the ganzinator is no slouch...

 

Freeman has scored more tds with his feet than ANY other b12 qb. The stat they showed during the game was 13 for freeman and 8 for mcCoy (2nd place).

 

BEAT OU!!

[melscott62]

OU's Lewis shines

 

Oklahoma linebacker Travis Lewis continued his spectacular season as a redshirt freshman with 15 tackles and two interceptions in the Sooners' 58-35 win over Kansas State Saturday.

 

Lewis, a former high school All-America running back from San Antonio, committed to Nebraska as part of the Huskers' 2007 recruiting class. He reneged on his pledge on the eve of signing day.

 

He leads OU with 83 tackles, 32 more than any other Sooner.

 

you have got to be freaking kidding me. didnt he go to OU because they said he would be a RB

 

boy we could use him right now

 

by the way this is yet another example of a RB playing LB.

[TMul]

OU's Lewis shines

 

Oklahoma linebacker Travis Lewis continued his spectacular season as a redshirt freshman with 15 tackles and two interceptions in the Sooners' 58-35 win over Kansas State Saturday.

 

Lewis, a former high school All-America running back from San Antonio, committed to Nebraska as part of the Huskers' 2007 recruiting class. He reneged on his pledge on the eve of signing day.

 

He leads OU with 83 tackles, 32 more than any other Sooner.

 

you have got to be freaking kidding me. didnt he go to OU because they said he would be a RB

 

boy we could use him right now

 

by the way this is yet another example of a RB playing LB.

 

Those are the little tricks Stoops like to pull in the recruiting game. A vast majority of in the know members on HI knew Lewis would be a lb at OU. That's what pissed so many husker fans off. Hopefully Pelini learned some of these tricks from Stoops and Miles. They had to have rubbed off somewhat.

 

The same thing can be said about C. Glenn. He was offered by Texas as a LB and declined because Cally sold him about playing RB being his Thunder and Lucky as Lightning. Well imagine C. Glenn redshirting for Texas or NU and playing LB during his time here.

[junior4949]

The really sad part of what you just described is probably the difference of Glenn playing on Sundays or watching from home on Sundays. Iowa State did the same thing with a kid from I believe Omaha a few years back.

[Street Novelist]

ABC taking Texas@TT over NU@OK? years ago this would have been blasphemy

[admo]

Sucks both games will be on practically the same time!!!!!!!!!!1