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Nebraska still looking for complete game
By Todd Cooper
Special to ESPN.com
NU vs. NU.
Sure, the Sylvania Alamo Bowl is all about Nebraska University vs. Northwestern University, ground battle vs. aerial assault, perennial powerhouse vs. program-on-the-rise.
But come Saturday, the game might be more about Nebraska battling itself, battling letdown and battling the reality it hasn't played a complete game in any of their big games this year.
That would, indeed, make this bowl game NU vs. NU.
"It's certainly not the place we wanted to be," senior offensive guard Russ Hochstein said. "We set our goals at the beginning of the season to be the No. 1 team. Unfortunately, it did not work out that way. We came up short in two games, and that put us in the predicament we're in now."
Most programs consider a bowl game paradise; Nebraska calls it a predicament. But "predicament" probably best describes Nebraska's situation after its downward spiral from No. 1 to "no one" in the national championship race.
|  | | Eric Crouch and Nebraska had Heisman and national title dreams before the season, but ended up in the Alamo Bowl. |
As the Huskers prepare for the Wildcats, a once-promising year has turned into a quandary of unanswered questions, such as: After sitting atop the polls for the first half of the season, how do you get motivated for the Alamo Bowl? And when you're accustomed to playing on Jan. 1 or later -- as Nebraska has 18 of the last 20 years -- how do you get ready to play in a so-called minor bowl before New Year's Day?
Of late, the Huskers have been in the business of manufacturing motivation.
Some samples:
Defensive end Kyle Vanden Bosch talks about atoning for Nebraska's last game in which the Blackshirts gave up 32 points and 451 yards to Colorado. Of course, that was 3-8 Colorado.
Hochstein talks about the amenities of a bowl game -- of staying in a hotel and lounging in a warm climate. "It is a bowl game. So we go down, we stay overnight and we have some fun while we're down there. And every bowl is the same in that aspect." Gee, maybe the coaches will let them order pizza, too.
Always passionate, linebacker Carlos Polk talks about a "burning" desire to win his last game as a Husker. But instead of motivating his teammates, Polk might have added fuel to Northwestern's fire.
"I never really did care for Northwestern," said Polk, who grew up in Rockford, Ill., not far from Northwestern. "They had that one good year in 1995, and that was about it."
Polk bolstered his bulletin-board material with this analysis of the Wildcats' offense, ranked third in the nation: "They have a great offensive scheme, but if we come out and play the way we're capable of playing, it should be relatively easy for us."
That would be a change. Nothing has been relatively easy for Nebraska, offensively or defensively, since they started 7-0 and sat atop all the major polls. Offensively, the Huskers played one quarter of great football against both Oklahoma and Kansas State.
But through a combination of panic and poor play calling, the Huskers disappeared during the rest of those games.
The defense, meanwhile, has played decently in big games, holding Oklahoma to essentially 21 offensive points in Nebraska's 31-14 loss. But the Blackshirts struggled against such passing "powerhouses" as San Jose State, Missouri, Iowa and Colorado.
Those game films should leave Northwestern quarterback Zak Kustok, running back Damien Anderson and the Wildcats' third-ranked offense licking their chops.
It also doesn't help that the Huskers historically have been the target of up-and-comers' attention. Nebraska has served as kingmaker to the likes of Miami and Florida State in the early and mid-1980s, Colorado and Georgia Tech in the early 1990s and Kansas State in the late 1990s.
Northwestern would love nothing more than to join that list.
All of those factors mean Nebraska, again, is playing not to lose. Beat Northwestern and no one blinks. Lose and everyone laughs.
Still, the players insist -- somewhat meekly -- that they won't be thinking about what-could-have-been. They say their biggest motivation, as it has been since their collapse in Norman, is redemption.
"If you would have looked at the big picture at the beginning of the year," Nebraska quarterback Eric Crouch said, "you probably never would have known that we were going to face Northwestern. We don't face them very often. This will probably be the only time I'll see this team my whole career, so we've got to go out there with an attitude and a will to win the game."
Now, if they can only find that attitude and will.
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