The question posed to Nebraska's seniors elicited rueful grins:
Three years ago did you have any sympathy for Penn State, which
finished 12-0 yet didn't win even a share of the national
championship? The 1994 title had gone to the 13-0 Cornhuskers
alone.
"I didn't really feel bad for them," defensive end Grant Wistrom
said. "I suppose that's why I can't ask for sympathy votes now."
"I remember a lot of guys laughing that Penn State got screwed,"
tight end Tim Carpenter added.
"At the time you think you're the deserving team," tackle Eric
Anderson said. "Looking back, you feel for what Penn State went
through because we're going through the exact same scenario."
By embarrassing Texas A&M 54-15 in the Big 12 championship game
last Saturday, the Cornhuskers positioned themselves to again
finish 13-0. Nebraska led 23-0 before the Aggies picked up a
first down. "If they're the Number 2 team in the nation," said
Texas A&M quarterback Branndon Stewart afterward, "I'd hate to
play the Number 1 team."
Instead of top billing, Nebraska is in the role of Blanche
DuBois: The Huskers must depend on the kindness of strangers,
specifically the Washington State Cougars, who play No. 1-ranked
Michigan in the Rose Bowl. "People are talking only about
Michigan," defensive tackle Jason Peter says. "We're just the
other team that's undefeated. There's nothing we can do." As
Nebraska athletic director Bill Byrne says, adroitly combining
two clichés, "The shoe is on the other foot, and if it fits,
we'll wear it."
Quarterback Scott Frost is the most outspoken Nebraska senior on
the subject of the national title. He was at Stanford during the
1994 season, so unlike his classmates he has only one
championship ring, which he won after transferring to Nebraska
and playing quarterback on the '95 scout team. "It's just as big
a crime to deny these kids as it was to deny Penn State," Frost
said before last Saturday's game.
Against the Aggies, Frost ran for 79 yards and two touchdowns
and completed 12 of 18 passes for 201 yards. He felt the Huskers
made a sufficient statement. "I don't see how the coaches who
saw that game wouldn't vote for us," he said afterward,
referring to the panel of coaches who vote for the USA
Today/ESPN Top 25. "If we beat Tennessee, they have to give us a
share of the title."
Well, actually, they don't. To the voters who recall Nebraska's
miraculous 45-38 victory over Missouri on Nov. 8, the Huskers
are 12-0 only on paper. After narrowly escaping defeat, Nebraska
fell from No. 1 to No. 3. "This team put itself in a bad
situation when we didn't play as well as we're capable of
against Missouri," says senior linebacker Octavious McFarlin.
"The results weren't what people expected, and that cost us."
The Cornhuskers didn't help themselves with the voters, either
in the media or among the coaches, by only narrowly beating
Colorado three weeks later.
Nebraska is already indebted to Michigan. In 1995 the Wolverines
upset undefeated, second-ranked Ohio State 31-23 in the last
game of the regular season. The top-ranked Huskers then routed
second-ranked Florida 62-24 in the Fiesta Bowl to finish as the
lone unbeaten.
"We've won national championships," says Byrne. "We know what it
takes. Sometimes it takes a little luck."
Issue date: December 15, 1997
|
