Thursday, October 19, 2006
Nebraska gets another shot at elite with No. 5 Texas visiting
Associated Press
LINCOLN, Neb. -- Playing fifth-ranked and defending national
champion Texas on Saturday is a chance for Nebraska to show it's a
major player again in the Big 12 -- and another opportunity for the
Cornhuskers to rejoin college football's elite.
Texas coach Mack Brown already has put Nebraska back on its
pedestal.
"It takes some time to get your program where you want it to
be, established. I think you have to declare Nebraska's back,"
Brown said.
That might be premature. The Cornhuskers' first appearance on
the big stage this season ended with a 28-10 road loss to Southern
California.
There are, however, some numbers backing Brown. The Huskers
(6-1, 3-0 Big 12) have one of the nation's top rushing attacks, an
efficient quarterback in Zac Taylor and a defense allowing 13.4
points a game. They've won nine of 10, and their No. 17 ranking is
the highest under third-year coach Bill Callahan.
What Nebraska doesn't have is a win over a high-quality
opponent.
Texas (6-1, 3-0) has lost only to top-ranked Ohio State. The
Longhorns have won 18 straight in the Big 12 and 27 of 28 road
games, including 15 straight.
"We want people to notice and, if you beat a team like Texas,
you'll get that kind of respect," Taylor said. "We feel like if
we have the successful season that we're on track to have, people
will notice us. If we beat Texas and no one notices, no big deal.
We're still on pace to meet all of our goals."
Brown said he's impressed with what Callahan has accomplished in
a short amount of time.
"Bill has done a good job recruiting. They look good in
uniform," Brown said. "This will be two really good-looking
football teams pregame, because a lot of these guys will keep
playing on Sundays after they get through."
The Top 25 schedule starts Friday night when No. 4 West Virginia
plays at Connecticut.
On Saturday, No. 1 Ohio State hosts Indiana. North of Columbus,
Ohio, No. 2 Michigan hosts Iowa. The No. 2 team in the country has
lost the past two weeks and four times this season. The Wolverines
will try to avoid the hex.
No. 6 Louisville is at Syracuse; No. 7 Tennessee hosts
Southeastern Conference rival Alabama; and No. 8 Auburn plays at
home against Tulane in a nonconference game.
No. 10 Notre Dame is at home for UCLA and No. 11 California
plays host to Washington.
The top teams in the Atlantic Coast Conference meet in Death
Valley when No. 12 Clemson plays No. 13 Georgia Tech.
No. 14 LSU is home against struggling Fresno State. The Bulldogs
have lost five straight.
No. 15 Arkansas is home to face Mississippi; No. 16 Oregon is at
Washington State; No. 18 Boise State plays in-state rival Idaho;
and No. 19 Rutgers is at Pittsburgh in the Big East's big game of
the day.
No. 20 Oklahoma plays its first game after Adrian Peterson's
injury at home against Colorado.
No. 21 Wisconsin is at Purdue; No. 22 Boston College is at
Florida State; No. 23 Texas A&M plays at Oklahoma State; and No. 24
Missouri looks to bounce back from its first loss of the season
against Kansas State.
Texas won its last meeting with Nebraska 31-7 in Austin in 2003.
Thirty days later Nebraska athletic director Steve Pederson fired
Frank Solich.
"We won't surrender the Big 12 to Oklahoma and Texas,"
Pederson said that day.
The Huskers have lost twice to Oklahoma since then, by scores of
30-3 and 31-24.
Now they face a Texas program that has practically owned them
the last 10 years. Nebraska's only win against the Longhorns during
that time was a 22-6 victory in the 1999 Big 12 championship game,
the last time the Huskers played for the league title.
As is his style, Callahan wasn't biting when asked whether this
was the biggest game in his three years at Nebraska.
"They're all big, and every game is big in the Big 12,"
Callahan said. "We just have to keep an even keel in our approach.
That's worked well for us in the last nine of 10 games. We don't
make any more of it than what it really is."<
^Alabama at No. 7 Tennessee<
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- With the way the offenses of Alabama and
Tennessee have been playing, it's unlikely they'll will produce
another game like last year's 6-3 struggle.
Or maybe it will.
On the Third Saturday in October, nothing is certain with the
Volunteers (5-1, 1-1 SEC) and Crimson Tide (5-2, 2-2). The
border-state series dates to 1901.
The Volunteers have won nine of the last 11 meetings, including
seven in a row from 1995 to 2001. The teams have split the last
four games with Alabama winning a year ago in Tuscaloosa in one of
the lowest-scoring games in the series.
"It's close pretty much every year. Is it going to be like last
year 6-3 or is it going to be like '03 with the score when you add
it up it's almost 100 points? I don't know which one it would be,"
Tennessee offensive guard David Ligon said.
The Vols won 51-43 after five overtimes in '03, but this rivalry
has also produced three scoreless ties.<
^Indiana at No. 1 Ohio State=
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- If Indiana has any chance to upset
top-ranked Ohio State, redshirt freshman quarterback Kellen Lewis
probably needs to have the game of his life.
The redshirt freshman has already had quite a start to his
career.
Lewis has led three game-winning fourth-quarter drives this
season and has brought the Hoosiers back from deficits of 14 points
or more on three occasions. Indiana (4-3, 2-1 Big Ten) has won its
last two games, including an upset of then-No. 15 Iowa last week.
"He's reduced the negative plays, the mistakes," coach Terry
Hoeppner said. "All of a sudden the things that were a blur to
him, you feel as if they have slowed down."
Lewis faces his toughest test, playing one of the nation's
stingiest defenses in front of 105,000 fans.
