Wobbly passing game leaves Nebraska deflated

Sporting News, The, Nov 1, 1999 by Sean Deveney

In defeating Nebraska, 24-20, Texas used a simple philosophy any defensive coordinator worth the foam in his headphones would come up with: Stop the skittering of option quarterback Eric Crouch and make him do what normal quarterbacks have to do--throw the ball.

The Longhorns did that. They held Crouch to 35 yards rushing on 17 carries and held Nebraska's running game, which was averaging 265.3 yards a game, to 192 yards.

Crouch was forced to throw. He had 20 attempts after averaging 9.5 in the first six games. His numbers (12 completions, 204 yards) were decent but deceiving. Crouch's arm is suspect--there are pizza makers who toss tighter spirals--and he threw only two deep passes. Of his 12 completions, four went to running backs. Two others were screens to wingback Bobby Newcombe. Crouch threw six passes to the team's best deep threat, wide receiver Matt Davison, and three were incomplete. That allowed Texas to stack the line and attack Crouch with blitzes.

This is not a breakthrough in defensive game-planning. Nebraska rolled to 6-0 because it had better athletes than its first six opponents and could run over them. Against Texas, a team whose athletes are on par with the Huskers', Nebraska's lack of a passing threat was fatal.

The loss likely knocks the Huskers from the national-title picture, but it was bound to happen. Nebraska was clamped by a strong Texas defense and still has Texas A&M and Kansas State ahead. Expect them to follow the lead of the Longhorns.

Sean Deveney is an associate editor and college football writer for THE SPORTING NEWS.