Curt McKeever: NU shows focus, learns lessons in win
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Art Briles is right. His Baylor team does have the talent — especially with a quarterback like freshman Robert Griffin, who can make everyone around him look better — to feel it should hold its own against the Huskers and Cowboys and, yes, even those Sooners that NU will play in Norman next Saturday.
To any Nebraska fan wanting to relive the ’90s, that idea is upside-down, but it’s really the way of the world in the Big 12 Conference circa 2008.
So let’s first give Bo Pelini’s bunch credit after NU rallied from a 20-17 halftime deficit to beat the Bears 32-20 in Memorial Stadium on Saturday.
Texas 28, Oklahoma State 24: On a day when Colt McCoy showed he’s human -- throwing a third-quarter interception and losing a fumble in the fourth period -- the Longhorn defense put on its superhero armor. Texas held the Cowboys to a field goal after McCoy threw a pick for the first time in 101 passes, then kept them on their own half of the field following his fumble to beat a third straight ranked opponent and set up next Saturday’s matchup of unbeatens at Texas Tech.
Texas Tech 63, Kansas 21: While the Longhorns are three-quarters of the way through their stretch of ranked opponents, the Red Raiders began theirs with a stunningly easy win in Lawrence. It wasn’t Graham Harrell’s five TD passes that made this a shocker, but Kansas quarterback Todd Reesing throwing three of his first four passes in the third quarter into the arms of Tech’s Darcel McBath. Reesing finished just 16-for-26 for 154 yards as the Jayhawks suffered their most-lopsided loss since being drubbed by Kansas State 64-0 in 2002.
Fresno State 30, Utah State 28: Sure, there were a lot bigger games than this one (like Penn State-Ohio State). But let’s hear it for Kevin Goessling, who booted a 58-yard field goal as time expired for the decisive points. Goessling had earlier missed from 22 yards.
The last time Nebraska won a game it trailed at halftime was in 2003 against Penn State. That fact gives these Huskers reason enough to be happy today.
But more than just the final score, it’s how they got there that should leave them feeling they learned something meaningful about themselves.
After watching Griffin treat them in the first half like the hurdles he glides over in spring track meets, the Huskers raised themselves high enough to send the kid to some major spills.
At halftime, Griffin had accumulated 168 of the Bears’ 234 yards and guided them to three touchdowns.
Over the next 30 minutes, however, he managed just 87 yards and Baylor could add nothing more to the highest point total it had ever produced in the first half of a Big 12 road game.
“Everybody was up (at halftime), and to see that in everybody’s eyes ...,” NU linebacker Cody Glenn said. “Everybody on this team was focused in knowing that we’re about to go out and win this game.”
That’s how the defense looked while stuffing Griffin for a 1-yard loss on third-and-goal from the NU 1-yard line early in the third quarter.
How quarterback Joe Ganz appeared after the Huskers got the ball back, coolly avoiding pressure and at the last possible moment finding Nate Swift for a 15-yard gain on third-and-10.
How the defense ignored an unnecessary roughing-the-punter penalty against Will Henry to come back and sack Griffin on a fourth-and-4 play.
And how Ganz again responded in the clutch — first hitting Todd Peterson for 6 yards on third-and-5, then connecting with Swift on a 53-yard scoring strike.
With those key contributions — combined with what Texas Tech did to Kansas and Oklahoma did to Kansas State on Saturday — it’s no longer a stretch to think NU can win three of its remaining four regular-season games and be bowl-bound with an 8-4 record.
“They have been really, really persistent in finding the way through difficulties and adversity, and that happens when a team starts coming together — when ‘it’ starts happening,” offensive coordinator Shawn Watson said. “That ‘it’ I’m talking about is chemistry, so that is what I’m enjoying most about coaching this team and being around these guys. Every day.
“I mean, you can feel it. The seniors have done an unbelievable job of leading our players. And Bo has done a tremendous job as a head coach of developing that. And the guys on his staff have done an excellent job of promoting the message. We’ve got a neat thing going on.”
But here’s the deal. If they’re not careful, the Huskers also could falter and finish 6-6. And at this point, that would be a major downer.
Had a defense that didn’t allow a third-down conversion not cleaned up its first-half miscues, there’s probably a major swing in mood from one sideline to the other Saturday.
But the Bears never would have gotten close to being in that position without Nebraska’s three personal-foul penalties, two of them against Glenn that extended drives that led to 13 Baylor points.
Keep holding onto a lit firecracker, and eventually it’ll blow up in your hand.
Glenn’s hits on Griffin weren’t malicious. In fact, the first penalty looked as much the fault of the Bears’ quarterback as anybody.
“He tripped over his own foot, really,” said Glenn, who also said he only brushed Griffin’s facemask instead of yanking on it on his other 15-yard penalty.
That may be the case, too. But if you send a quarterback sprawling into his sideline or dare an official by putting your hand in front of a helmet, you’re like the kid with that lit firecracker.
“They (the penalties) hurt our team and they hurt the momentum of the game,” Glenn acknowledged.
And for that, he sounded sincerely sorry.
Really, though, the lessons Nebraska learned against the Bears can be just as valuable as if Glenn had gotten his preference and “beat ’em down in the first half (to) get the game over with.”
A lot of times, you find out much more about a team when it’s been pushed into a corner.
“You’re going to have games that go right down the stretch and you’ve got to be prepared for it, so this was a good game to get us like that,” Glenn said. “The next couple games we might — and we understand how to handle it and how to take care of it.”
Considering what lies next, their timing is perfect. Off to Norman they go.
Reach Curt McKeever at 473-7441 or cmckeever@journalstar.com.
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