BRIAN ROSENTHAL / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Saturday, November 12, 2005 6:00 pm
Harrison Beck has watched Nebraska quarterback Zac Taylor get rushed, blitzed, sacked, knocked down, battered, bruised, drilled into the turf You get the picture. You’ve seen the picture, all season.
“You’re always wondering, Can he get up from this one?’” said Beck, one of Taylor’s backups.
And Saturday, for the first time this season, the answer was no.
Taylor, who’s earned the respect of many Big Red followers for his ability to take hit after hit and bounce back, didn’t get up this time. He took off running up the middle on a broken play and was knocked out cold.
That was in the fourth quarter of a two-point game involving two teams fighting for bowl eligibility.
What do you do? Simple. Insert your next-best player at the position, which happened to be Beck, a true freshman who hadn’t played this season.
“It’s a no-brainer,” Nebraska coach Bill Callahan said of the decision to burn Beck’s redshirt in the second-to-last game of the regular season. “We’ve talked about that and we made that decision. It was the best decision in the best interest for this football team.”
It also produced the desired result. Beck guided Nebraska to a seven-play, 55-yard drive that resulted in Jordan Congdon’s 40-yard field goal with a little more than a minute left, and Nebraska beat Kansas State 27-25 at Memorial Stadium.
“This is what I came to Nebraska for, to play football, to be in pressure situations,” said Beck, noting he had no reservations about losing his redshirt. “The whole team kept confidence in me, was encouraging me.”
Beck was only 1-of-6 through the air, with an interception. But the one completion, off a bootleg, was for 21 yards to Nate Swift on NU’s game-winning drive. A subsequent roughing-the-passer penalty pushed the Huskers along.
“As a quarterback, you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do under pressure situations,” Beck said. “If it wasn’t for my line and all the running backs and wide receivers and everybody helping me none of this could’ve happened.”
Beck came to Nebraska from Clearwater, Fla., as one of Callahan’s most highly-touted recruits. His arm, many believed, would be the key to NU’s future success in the West Coast offense.
Oddly enough, Beck’s first big play as a Husker wasn’t a pass. It was a tackle.
In his third series after replacing Taylor, the right-handed Beck rolled out to his left and threw across his body, with the pass intended for Terrence Nunn. But K-State cornerback Bryan Baldwin read the play, intercepted the pass at the NU 45-yard line and headed toward the end zone.
Beck tackled Baldwin at the 9, and K-State settled for a field goal and 25-24 lead.
“I was just like, I can’t let this guy score a touchdown,’” Beck said. “You have to do that every time you throw a pick. It’s embarrassing, but it happens.”
Swift, who had seven catches for 109 yards and two touchdowns, said Beck was calm and poised.
“Once he got in the huddle, you could see he was comfortable in there,” Swift said. “He wasn’t that nervous. He was able to spit out the plays and make sure everyone knew it. He did a couple of audibles, too, which is great for someone who hasn’t played a lot, to be able to see that in a game.”
Beck’s first play was a handoff to Cory Ross for a gain of 3 yards. Beck stumbled out from under center on the next play and lost 7 yards, and NU was called for offensive-pass interference on third down.
Beck had three straight incompletions on his second series, overthrowing his first receiver.
“He was a little bit nervous at first, but he’s a competitor, and he kept competing and he made a big play,” NU offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Jay Norvell said.
“I’m really proud of him. He’ll learn from this experience, and he’ll gain a lot of confidence from it, being able to win the game.”
Norvell said Taylor, who suffered a concussion, was starting “to clear up” after the game. Nebraska has a bye this week, and coaches are hopeful Taylor will be ready to play Nov. 25 at Colorado.
“We’ll come in with a plan,” Norvell said. “We would have loved to play Harrison more this year, but the games really didn’t dictate it. Every game we’ve been in has been a close game.
“We felt like if the game was in the balance and we needed him that he was ready to play. That’s how we prepared him. He’s a team guy all the way. We talked about the scenarios. He wanted to win the game.”
Reach Brian Rosenthal at 473-7436 or brosenthal@journalstar.com.