Curt McKeever: Huskers will go as far as defense carries them
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If you're looking for the next Prince Charming of college football, you'll need to search beyond Nebraska's castle.
Sorry, folks. When a second straight opponent viewed to be no more a threat to the Huskers' throne than a small army of commoners gets a crack to win on the final play, you don't qualify as royalty.
C'mon, admit it. Yeah, a win is a win is a win. But did you really think Nebraska's 36th straight victory against Kansas would resemble the 14-8 scramble that occurred
Saturday in Memorial Stadium?
Didn't you think the Huskers would have shown those tremendous strides that coach Bill Callahan credited them with taking since the close call at Pittsburgh two weeks ago?
"I'm not overly surprised," a media member strolling through the press box said of Saturday's game.
It turns out the guy was talking about Northwestern holding a 10-point, third-quarter lead on Ohio State.
As for Nebraska? The more I see of this team, the more I'm led to think this season will be a replay of 2003. The Huskers are going to go as far as their down-and-dirty defense takes them.
And I've got no problem with that, either. It's ridiculous for anyone to believe Callahan was going to march into South Stadium, click his heels three times and have players who had no experience running the West Coast offense make all of his wishes come true.
I'm reminded now how Nebraska chancellor Harvey Perlman made a comment about how unconvincing the Huskers looked while winning nine games under Frank Solich last season. But it'd be unfair to compare what a first-year program has to do to win with one that had been established long before NU's amazing streak against the Jayhawks even began.
Whether you want to believe it or not, Callahan and his team will be playing catch-up with the rest of the Big 12 this season, and may still be behind the eight ball well into next year before the ride begins to feel more like a Cadillac.
The good news is that a strong defense can still make the bumps a lot less choppy. Take Saturday's game, for instance.
Nebraska's offense managed just one first down in the fourth quarter. And yet, I'm pretty sure most of you felt the same as I did — that the Huskers were in no serious danger of giving up the lead.
"Our offense went along, (and) scored when we had to," Callahan diplomatically offered. "But our defense was really something else.
"It was chilling in so many respects. ... They obviously won the game for us. Great team defense."
Exhibit one:
After Joe Dailey threw his third interception, a rocket that Rodney Harris caught off a ricochet and returned 32 yards, the Jayhawks looked in business at the NU 26-yard line.
But senior captain Barrett Ruud sniffed out a first-down bootleg call that looked set up for a big gain to drop quarterback Adam Barmann for a 3-yard loss. Two plays later, junior strong safety Daniel Bullocks made a pretty breakup on a sideline throw to Gary Heaggans. And on fourth down, sophomore end Jay Moore got enough heat on Barmann to force him to step up and make a throw into the end zone that didn't come close to finding its mark.
Exhibit two:
After getting just 4 yards on their third full series of the fourth quarter, the Jayhawks started their fourth at their 39 with 3:53 to play. After running back John Randle got a yard, Ruud broke up a pass intended for Mark Simmons before freshman Cortney Grixby provided tight coverage on an overthrow to Brandon Rideau.
Kansas then reverted to a fake punt on fourth down, but the play went nowhere, as Ruud came in to wallop punter Kyle Tucker, who had taken a pitch from Barmann.
"If I can't tackle the punter, I might as well walk off the field," Ruud said. "That's about as good a shot as you're going to get."
And yet, Kansas still got the ball back with 1:05 left at its 22, and moved to the Nebraska 43 thanks to completions to Gordon, tight end Lyonel Anderson and Randle. Simmons then got called for offensive pass interference pushing away from the smothering coverage applied by cornerback Fabian Washington, and after Charles Gordon caught a no-harm 9-yarder against sagging coverage, Barmann was left with no choice but to toss a Hail Mary from the NU 49 on the final play.
To his credit, he made a perfect loft into the end zone. But just like most of their other plays in the game, this one didn't work in the Jayhawks' favor, as free safety Josh Bullocks swatted the ball to the turf.
Is that an ugly win? The mirror might reveal different answers.
"The Kansas defense is good," NU wide receiver Ross Pilkington said, "but I think we beat ourselves more than they beat us. ... We've got to really step it up."
Washington's take, of course, was much different.
"Right now, we're putting them on our back," he said of the NU offense. "We're going to try and win as many games as we can."
If that number gets the Huskers to the promised land, Prince Charming or not, they'll have no trouble looking in the mirror.
Reach Curt McKeever at 473-7441 or cmckeever@journalstar.com.
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