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A different dynasty Oklahoma stealing Nebraska's Big 12 thunder
Updated: Saturday October 27, 2001 8:05 PM
Thirty-three consecutive nine-win seasons. Thirty-two consecutive bowl trips. Seven conference and three national championships the past 10 seasons alone. Nebraska has been college football's most dominant program for quite some time. Which it makes it all the more remarkable to think the Cornhuskers might be one game away from slipping to second banana in their own conference. It's not that Nebraska has slowed down any since Tom Osborne's 1997 retirement. Since taking over as head coach, Frank Solich has won 39 of 46 games -- 30 of 33 following his debut season -- for the highest winning percentage (.848) among active Division I-A coaches (excluding those who began this season). Not too shabby. Yet headed into Saturday's showdown, the aura of invincibility seems to be swinging toward adversary Oklahoma. Mind you, the Sooners have a long, long way to go to reach Nebraska's string of continuity. While OU and Nebraska used to tussle regularly for Big 8 supremacy in the 1970s and '80s, the Sooners spent the '90s mired in the pits of probation while the Huskers reached their most dominating heights yet. But things have changed since ringing in the millenium. It began last season in Norman, when the Sooners did something against Nebraska that just doesn't happen. Like many a Big Red victim, they fell behind 14-0 faster than you can say "option." But unlike the Missouris and Baylors of the world, OU didn't blink. The Sooners roared back with 31 unanswered points, for a 31-14 win. In the waning moments, Sooner fans pelted the field with oranges, symbolizing the Miami bowl game where OU would go on to capture the national championship. Nebraska wound up spending the holidays in San Antonio, battering around Northwestern in the second-tier Alamo Bowl -- quite uncharacteristically, the Huskers' second pre-New Year's game in three seasons. "We had two losses last year," said QB Eric Crouch, "and anytime we lose a game, it's something that sticks with us for a while." A year has passed, and once again, Nebraska appears at first glance its usual, dominant self: 8-0, beating people by an average 39-11 margin, tops in the country in rushing at 339 yards a game. But Oklahoma hasn't slowed down either, its winning streak up to 20 games, three of its victims -- North Carolina, Kansas State and Texas -- tougher than anyone on Nebraska's schedule. "It seems like in big games, everybody just seems to rise to the occasion," Sooners QB Jason White said. "Coach [Bob] Stoops always pushes us in practice, but it seems like everybody steps it up before big games." You think of Nebraska, you think of Crouch. You think of Oklahoma, you think of Roy Williams and Rocky Calmus, the deep receiving corps and the sport's most inventive coaching staff. But mostly, you think of that aura. The one that only a champion can boast. The one the New York Yankees are emanating right now, and the one Oklahoma has been emanating for 20 games now. Nebraska was blessed with one itself not so long ago. It reared its head from the time Big Red ran out of the tunnel to the time it ran off the field 60 minutes later with another lopsided number on the scoreboard. And it could be called upon when needed most, like if a game came down to a receiver catching a touchdown off a teammate's foot. But lately, it only seems to show up when the Huskers play Notre Dame, their overtime win in South Bend last year and their impressive thumping in Lincoln last month representing the closest thing to "big" wins the past two seasons. Conversely, for the Sooners the past two seasons, the aura has shown first and foremost in their unwavering confidence, one that Stoops seems to personally inject into every last player. It shows when safety Williams leaps over a blocker to hit Texas QB Chris Simms and force a game-breaking interception. It shows when untested QB White enters mid-game and calmly steers the ship out of trouble. And it shows when six different players lead the team in receiving over the first seven games. "I don't think the fact this is a very huge game in many aspects is going to affect either team," said Solich. "Because both teams are from such tradition-rich programs, they know what [big games are] all about when they step on the field, and they expect to play their best football games in these kind of games." Maybe so. But beating Nebraska once, at home, is one thing. Beating Nebraska twice -- and doing it in Lincoln, with a sophomore quarterback who's making his second career start -- well, that kind of thing just doesn't happen. At least not when Nebraska has the aura.
Go ahead and cheerFollowing a 10-7 loss to Arkansas in Little Rock two weeks ago in which his team had repeated trouble calling audibles over the deafening crowd noise, South Carolina coach Lou Holtz's initial plan for Saturday's game at Tennessee's massive Neyland Stadium did not go over too well. "We will not come out of the huddle," Holtz announced Monday. "They can penalize us all the way back to the 1-inch line, but we are going to give our players a chance to call their signals. That's the least you can do." In doing so, he cited the SEC rulebook, which states both teams must have equal opportunity to call signals at the line. The idea that one of the league's biggest games of the season might be determined by an obscure rule -- one that would now have to be enforced when indignant Vols fans reached even louder volumes than usual - was disgusting to fans and radio talk-show types. On Wednesday, Holtz backed off his statements considerably, denying they were an attempt to send a message to the league's refs -- or incite opposing fans. "I'm sorry it was interpreted that way. That wasn't my intent at all, and I probably was naive in saying that. "... We aren't going to look for scapegoats, we'll look at ourselves first. In no way whatsoever is it an inference on officials or anything else, I just didn't feel we really had a chance to call signals [against Arkansas]. But that's our fault, that's something we have to work on." His offense, which produced 656 yards last week against Vanderbilt, probably shouldn't be the coach's first concern against the ninth-ranked Vols. Try a surprisingly inconsistent run defense going against the SEC's top tailback, Travis Stephens.
Wolfpack coup ... againBack in August, N.C. State appeared to suffer a tremendous blow when prized receiver recruit Tramain Hall was declared a non-qualifier. Hall had already attended the university and practiced with the team for a semester, graduating early from his Florida high school and enrolling in January, but the NCAA ruled him ineligible because he enrolled before taking his state's high school exit exam. Crushing at the time, it may in the long run serve as a blessing in disguise. Hall has been attending Los Angeles Valley Junior College this year, and after sitting out the season's first five games, made his debut ... as a running back. He carried 16 times for 156 yards, and a star was born. "In my career I've had 55 guys make NFL squads -- Christian Okoye, Jason Sehorn -- and Tramain's more dominating," his coach, Ron Ponciano, told the Charlotte Observer. Hall and Ponciano attended NCSU's game against Clemson two weeks ago and left with every intention of Hall enrolling again next fall. The struggling Wolfpack could have used his help at receiver this season. But with three-year starting tailback Ray Robinson graduating, a running back -- a potentially explosive one at that -- will be even more appreciated. Stewart Mandel covers college football for CNNSI.com. The "College Football Beat" appears each Thursday during the season. Got a comment, question or scoop for the Beat? Click here.
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