Huskers stay low-key
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BY STEVEN M. SIPPLE / Lincoln Journal Star
Prominent Nebraska football players, one after another, filed toward a makeshift tent set up by an ABC-TV production crew Tuesday in the north end zone at Memorial Stadium.
The TV folks wanted to interview Huskers about the big game coming up.
Come Saturday night, Nebraska players will find themselves in Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, where fourth-ranked Southern Cal has won 27 consecutive games. Movie stars likely will stroll the sideline. ESPN’s College GameDay crew will be on hand, not to mention — gasp — Brent Musberger doing play-by-play.
How well 19th-ranked Nebraska handles the hype and excitement might well go a long way toward determining whether the Huskers come out of Los Angeles with easily the biggest win of the Bill Callahan era or their first loss of the season.
“This is the first time it’s going to happen to a lot of our players,” Nebraska senior tight end Matt Herian said of the prime-time atmosphere. “I think a lot of players are excited to play in a game that means this much. The last few years, we haven’t had an opponent this big. It means a lot to the players.
“At the same time, we can’t get distracted by all of that stuff on the sideline. We have to focus on what’s going on between the lines. That’s our job.”
It’s a challenging task when one considers Southern Cal returns a dozen starters from last year’s national runner-up. The Trojans, coming off a 50-14 season-opening triumph on Sept. 2 at Arkansas, feature perhaps the nation’s most talented crew of wide receivers and a fast and explosive defense.
Southern Cal has captured two of the past three national championships and the last two Heisman Trophies. No wonder many people are using Saturday night’s game as a gauge to measure how far Nebraska’s program has progressed since Callahan took over as head coach in January 2004.
“The challenge is significant when you consider the matchups,” said Callahan, who has a 15-10 record at Nebraska. “Whatever the outcome is, it’s not going to define us.”
“We want to do well,” he added. “We want to measure ourselves and then take it into conference play. Our goal is still to win the Big 12 North championship.”
Nebraska arguably hasn’t played a regular-season game of this magnitude since 2001, when the third-ranked Huskers defeated No. 2 Oklahoma 20-10 in Lincoln.
Nebraska opened this season with convincing wins against Louisiana Tech (49-10) and Division I-AA Nicholls State (56-7). Nevertheless, the Huskers are 18 1/2-point underdogs according to at least one betting service.
“I understand totally,” Herian said. “The Trojans are the ones who have proven themselves the last few years, and we’re a team that has to come in and prove ourselves. Being an underdog is no surprise to any of us, really. I think a lot of us like it.”
“A lot of our players have been waiting for a game like this just to see where we’re at,” Herian added. “USC is a good team. You have to go play those teams and see where you’re at.”
As for pregame hype, “It’s getting pretty big, and I’m not going to let it get to me,” said Nebraska sophomore wideout Nate Swift. “The word around the team is we’re not going to get caught up in it.”
Nebraska middle linebacker Corey McKeon wasn’t worried about the Huskers getting caught up in Los Angeles glitz.
“Lincoln’s the same way; it’s not going to be any different,” McKeon cracked, tongue-in-cheek.
After all, he said, Nebraska has Larry The Cable guy as one of its prominent fans.
“We can throw him in at right guard if we need to,” McKeon said.
Reach Steven M. Sipple at 473-7440 or ssipple@journalstar.com.
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