Jan 2, 2002
By JIM LITKE
AP Sports Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) – A few days of fun in the sun has done only so much tolighten the mood.
“We got to meet Heather Locklear at a Lakers game, and I had my picturetaken with Brad Pitt,” Nebraska linebacker Jamie Burrow said Tuesday,brightening at the memory.
“Then just about the time I started feeling good about things, theyintroduced us at the basketball game and we got booed – and I mean loud.That,” he said with a pause, “made me mad all over again.”
That’s the way the last six weeks have gone for the Husker Nation. On Nov.23, in the last game of its regular season, Nebraska got thumped 62-36 byColorado. It was as bad a beating as one of the proudest programs in collegefootball ever had to absorb.
Ever since, whether on campus in Lincoln, or here in the streets and mallsof LaLa Land, the faithful have been seeing red as often as wearing it.
Things were bad enough when Nebraskans were resigned to waiting until nextseason to compete for the national championship they practically consider abirthright. Then, Oklahoma, Florida, Texas and Tennessee all stumbled in quicksuccession, and the Bowl Championship Series computers crunched the numbers onefinal time. And back into the title picture crawled the Cornhuskers.
They have been smiling weakly for photo ops ever since. The bookies won’tgive them a sniff, and trying to convince the rest of the country they’reworthy of playing unbeaten, mighty Miami in the Rose Bowl has proved asfrustrating as having an argument with yourself.
“We’ve heard about it over and over and over again, believe me,” safetyDion Booker said. “But you can sit back and listen to talk only so long.That’s why, right about now, we’re looking for someone to take it out oninstead of each other in practice.”
Lord knows, they’ve tried all kinds of diversions. Because of the cool wet,weather, the beach hasn’t been an option. And so, between workouts, coach FrankSolich sent his players on sightseeing tours and shopping forays. They posedfor pictures with Will Smith, dropped in on NBA star Allen Iverson’s holidaybash, and even taped an episode of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” withRegis Philbin.
But everywhere they went, there were reminders. With as many as 70,000Nebraska fans expected to descend on Pasadena by Thursday night’s kickoff,they’ve been impossible to miss.
In the malls, the Cornhuskers’ red-sweatered following trails a respectfuldistance behind, unsure whether to serenade their heroes or pray for them. Whenthey get back to the team hotel, the players find half the people in the lobbyrushing them for autographs, the other half keep their noses buried in thenewspapers, stunned to find Nebraska’s odds of beating the Hurricanes are onlyslightly better than George O’Leary’s chances of landing another head coachingjob.
“There’s so much tradition behind us that you can only imagine what they’refeeling, especially since the last time our fans saw us, we were getting ourtails kicked,” Burrow said. “But people shouldn’t be surprised to know weweren’t shocked by what happened in that one game. There was no yelling orfingerpointing on the sidelines against Colorado, and when we got back within12 points, we were sure we’d win.
“That hasn’t changed. But there’s only so much you can do in terms ofgetting your confidence back without actually playing a game.”
Coaches pull all manner of motivational stunts to instill anus-against-the-world mentality in their teams. In that respect, Solich has beenhanded a free pass. Ever since the Cornhuskers leaped over Colorado and Oregonto land the No. 2 spot in the BCS rankings, he hasn’t had to make anything up.
But here’s the funny part: Nebraska-Miami is anything but a mismatch.
The Hurricanes have been vulnerable away from home, and you can’t get muchfarther from the Orange Bowl than all the way on the other side of the country.Miami hasn’t defended well against the run – and option running attacks inparticular – and nobody runs the option better than Nebraska. They’ve won thesame number of games, but Nebraska played a tougher schedule and slipped uponly against a Colorado team that closed out the regular season playing betterthan anybody.
“They might be telling themselves they don’t have anything to lose, butthey have the same stake in this that we do – a shot at the nationalchampionship,” Miami assistant coach Rob Chudzinski said. “None of the hypegoing in matters. Once the game starts, there’s no difference between us andthem.”
Jim Litke is the national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Writeto him at jlitke@ap.org