BRY BRIAN CHRISTOPHERSON / Lincoln Journal Star

No one wanted to be in Zack Bowman’s shoes.

Not right then, not with Oklahoma running back Adrian Peterson sniffing six points and a chance to humiliate another foe.

It was early in the first quarter of Oklahoma’s 31-24 win against Nebraska on Saturday when Bowman took a ride on the Peterson train.

The Husker junior cornerback drew the misfortune of being the last line of defense between Peterson and the end zone. That’s akin to trying to keep a loose pit bull from a slab of meat.

It never ends well and this was no exception. Peterson dragged Bowman like he was a little kid for the final five of 36 yards until Peterson had his touchdown.

“I was trying to tackle him like I was tackling a receiver,” Bowman said sheepishly after the game. “I learned my lesson on that one. Strong guy. Very strong.”

Nebraska defenders had said all week they wanted the hobbled Peterson to play Saturday. They wanted Oklahoma’s best.

Well, they got him. Playing with a sore ankle, the sophomore gashed the Huskers good and sound.

He ran for 146 yards on 24 carries. He had two touchdowns. He gave out as many licks to Husker defenders as they gave to him.

The 6-foot-2, 218-pound sophomore said after the game he was playing at about “85 or 90 percent.” Nebraska doesn’t want to see him at 100.

NU rush end Jay Moore said he’s the best running back he’s ever played against. Fellow Blackshirt Bo Ruud said “he runs with a purpose.”

“If he sees people, he goes into them,” the linebacker said. “He’s kind of like an old-school, real running back. He’s the real deal. … The only way to tackle him one-on-one is to hit him with all you got, straight up, a good squared stick. If you try to arm tackle, well, you saw what he does to arm tackles.”

Peterson, who had played sparingly in the last four games, had 119 yards by halftime against the Huskers.

“I knew he was going to come out and play against us and he was going to be pumped. It was a big comeback game for him,” said Husker sophomore linebacker Corey McKeon. “But we gave him too much.”

As rough as Peterson was on Bowman during the game’s first touchdown, he made a bigger mess out of Husker safety Blake Tiedtke in the second quarter.

Breaking free for a big gainer along the right side, Peterson was seemingly going to be ushered out- of-bounds or hauled down after about 20 yards by Tiedtke.

Instead, the running back cut back on the NU safety and left him grasping at air. Tiedtke wouldn’t have even had him in flag football. Fifty-eight yards downfield, the Huskers finally got him to the ground.

While Peterson’s talents were widely acknowledged by Huskers, there seemed to be some discontent at the lack of holding calls against Oklahoma during some big Sooner runs. OU was not called for holding during the game.

Asked how difficult it was to tackle Peterson one-on-one, McKeon said: “I didn’t have a problem with it. But it’s tough getting off holds that make it difficult to tackle someone.”

Added McKeon: “I’m thinking about filing a police report for all the times I was molested off the line of scrimmage. I’m not going to talk about (the officiating) cause I was told not to. But there’s a lot of pissed-off people.”

Some in Oklahoma might deem those comments as sour grapes. What can’t be argued is that Peterson’s performance is a significant upgrade from the 58 yards he was held to against NU last year, a season in which he was a Heisman Trophy finalist.

As for Nebraska’s struggles containing Peterson this time around, defensive coordinator Kevin Cosgrove acknowledged some missed tackles.

But he added, most rightly: “A lot of it has to do with him, too.”

Reach Brian Christopherson at 473-7438 or bchristopherson@journalstar.com.