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 Thursday, October 25, 2001
Have your appetite ready for this one
By Brent Musburger
Special to ABC Sports Online
LINCOLN, Neb. -- Make it a Nebraska rib eye, medium rare. With a baked potato and cream spinach on the side. Warm the bread. A full-blooded Cabernet. And let's get it on!
Welcome to Big Game America. This is Oklahoma-Nebraska. This is heartland football. This is why football in the Midwest is hard to beat.
|  | | Freshman defensive tackle Tommie Harris is second on the Sooners with 10 tackles-for-loss and tied for first with eight QB hurries. |
Just like last year, the stakes are enormous (and I don't mean the kind you are eating). Last October, Nebraska was ranked No. 1 in the BCS poll, and Oklahoma was No. 2. This year, it is reversed when they meet in Lincoln on Saturday (ABC, 12 p.m. ET).
It could be the first of two games they play this year. The loser still has a great shot to win its division and wind up in a rematch on Dec. 1 in the Big 12 championship game in Dallas.
This game matches two of the most impressive streaks in college football. The Sooners have won 20 straight, the longest winning streak in the land. And the Cornhuskers have won 19 in a row in Lincoln, the home-winning streak in the nation.
For me, the key player is Nebraska quarterback Eric Crouch. If he starts running downhill and conducting an option clinic, the Huskers will be in business. So here are the matchups involving Crouch to match:
1. Freshman defensive tackle Tommie Harris
Harris' job will be to disrupt any kind of fullback play. Crouch's option doesn't feature the fullback very much, but it's a constant threat and it makes him much more dangerous on the boundary if he is able to power up the middle occasionally.
2. Linebacker Rocky Calmus
Calmus isn't as fast as Crouch, but he's a sure-tackling linebacker who understands the angles. He will force Crouch to pitch, along with the defensive ends and hope Dahrran Diedrick doesn't start eating up big chunks on the outside.
3. Safety Roy Williams
This may be the most important matchup of the game. Williams is a great tackler who loves to force the run, and the only way Crouch can break a long one is to get past him. No one has been able to do that this year against Oklahoma. Williams is an instinctive player and he has been at his best this year in big games. Just ask Chris Simms, who was trying to rally Texas when Williams came flying at him in the end zone late in that game, forcing the interception that sealed the game.
On the other side of the ball, Oklahoma must shore up its offensive line after giving up eight sacks last week against Baylor. If they let the Blackshirts of Nebraska do that, this game won't even be close. But the Bob Stoops coaching staff has never disappointed in a big game, and you have to believe that the Sooners will be ready.
Dream matchups
Here are some games that I would like to see down the road, and it doesn't matter which bowl they play in.
Miami vs. UCLA
The best quarterback (Ken Dorsey) against the best running back (DeShaun Foster).
Michigan vs. Texas
The best of the Big Ten against a team that's getting better every week, especially since Mack Brown started using freshman sensation Cedric Benson, the running back from Midland, Texas.
Florida vs. Oklahoma
Steve Spurrier Sr. against Steve Spurrier Jr. Young Steve is an offensive assistant under Bob Stoops at Oklahoma. Stoops owes much of his success to Spurrier, and this matchup would be a classic.
Maryland vs. Illinois
Maryland's Ralph Friedgen is the Coach of the Year and he has a shot at winning the ACC title. This resurgent Illinois team features Kurt Kittner, one of the best quarterbacks in the country.
Brent's Heisman Ballot
The Heisman race has narrowed to four -- three quarterbacks (Miami's Ken Dorsey, Nebraska's Eric Crouch and Florida's Rex Grossman) and one running back (UCLA's DeShaun Foster).
If Crouch comes up big Saturday against Oklahoma, he'll get a huge boost.
Better eat this steak before it gets cold, man, and get over to the ballpark. Memorial Stadium in Lincoln is one of the great settings in all of college football. Mack Brown still talks about how the Nebraska fans applauded his Texas team following their upset of the Huskers in 1998. That was also the last time that Nebraska lost a home game.
These folks know their football, and there is no rivalry like they like better than the ancient one against Oklahoma.
Brent Musburger is a play-by-play announcer for ABC's coverage of college football. He writes a column every week for ABC Sports Online.
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