Double Coverage Vol. 5, Issue 6

THE DAILY TEXAN PRESENTS:

Oct. 15, 2010 Vol.5, Issue 7

— In what could be their final meeting, Texas must stop Nebraska’s run. | page 10In what could be their final meeting, Texas must stop Nebraska’s run. | page 10ONE MORE TIME

11

‘‘Every player on the defense has to do their job and not worry about

anything else.”

— Sam AchoDefensive end

Friday, October 15, 20102

EDITOR’S NOTEThe Daily Texan’s Double Coverage is printed the Friday before every Texas football game and twice during OU week.

theLINEUP

Cover photo: Stephen Keller, above: Caleb Bryant Miller | Daily Texan Staff

In this file photo, former Texas kicker Hunter Lawrence prepares to connect with what would become the game-winning field goal in last season’s Big 12 Championship.

A HISTORY OF VIOLENCETexas is 3-0 in Lincoln under Mack Brown but the Longhorns return this year under different conditions.

page4

R.I.P. TEXAS OFFENSEWith anemic play-calling and a reluctancy to throw the long ball, Greg Davis’ offense is suffering.

7

Columnist Dan Hurwitz argues that the Cornhuskers’ departure is a solemn occasion.

15 WHO NEEDS NEBRASKA?

Double Coverage Editor……………Will Anderson Design Editor…………………….Mustafa SaifuddinPhoto Editor……………………………Derek StoutPage designer........................Martina GeronimoCopy Editors........Elyana Barrera, Cristina Herrera............................................Sydney FitzgeraldDaily Texan Sports Editor………………Dan HurwitzWriters……...................................Sameer Bhuchar,............................................Alexandra Carreno,…………...........................…Austin Laymance,......................................................Jordan Godwin, …………………........Laken Litman, Jonathan Parrett

THE DAILY TEXAN PRESENTS:

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9 GAMEStoWATCH!

POWER RANKINGS13 !

PLAYERStoWATCH17 !

POSITION BATTLES!6

With three Tarheels barred from competing, North Carolina is a longshot in the ACC title race.

15 NCAA PASSES JUDGEMENT

Quarterback Robert Griffin is back at Baylor and making up for time lost from last year’s injury.

18 THE RETURN

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Friday, October 15, 2010 3

By Austin LaymanceDaily Texan Staff

When redshirt freshman Tay-lor Martinez took over the start-ing quarterback role for Nebras-ka during spring practice, few outside of Lincoln were pre-pared to defend the revamped Cornhusker running attack, which is putting up a mind-bog-gling 337 yards per game.

Not bad for a team that lost it’s starting play-caller, Zach Lee, to injury and was forced to turn to a relatively unknown commod-ity from Corona, Calif., in Mar-tinez. But the first-year start-er’s play has caught the eye of Heisman Trophy voters and, of course, Texas defensive coordi-nator Will Muschamp — whose main task this Saturday will be formulating a game plan to con-tain the explosive runner.

“One man’s misfortune is an-other guy’s opportunity,” Mus-champ said. “Taylor cashed in on that opportunity and they have really molded what they do after him and his ability. He presents a different athlete back there. Play-wise, there’s some different things designed to get

the ball in his hands.”Martinez has set the college

football world on fire with his legs in the Cornhuskers’ new-look op-tion offense. With Martinez and his 10.8 yards per carry at the helm, Nebraska has literally run

over its opponents this season — going for back-to-back 300-yard rushing performances for the first time in six years.

The Cornhuskers are averag-ing a nation-best 8.3 yards per play, an impressive statistic that has transformed the Nebraska offense from a bit of a snooze in 2009 to a definite must-see. Five plays or less was what Huskers needed to score on 14 of their 25 touchdown drives, with eight scoring drives taking a minute or less off the clock.

Martinez and the Cornhuskers have saved their best play for the Big 12. In the conference open-er against Kansas State, Marti-nez had a historic day, produc-ing the best rushing performance by a quarterback in Nebraska his-tory. He gouged the Wildcats for 241 yards on just 15 carries and scampered into the end zone four times, while adding another score on a 79-yard pass.

“He’s a special player, he’s got great one-step quickness and when he takes off he goes,” Muschamp said. “You see his athleticism and vertical speed and quickness. He’s not only

quick, he’s fast as well.”It’s Martinez’s world-class

speed that has produced big plays on the ground for the Cornhuskers. He’s scored from more than 40 yards out 11 times and surpassed the 200-yard

mark against Kansas State on the opening drive of the second half thanks to an 80-yard score in which he ran virtually un-touched up the middle.

Martinez is rewriting the Ne-braska record books in his first season under center. He al-ready has the school’s best sin-gle-game rushing performance for a QB and four record offen-sive outings. The man he sur-passed in the record books, Eric Crouch, won the Heisman Tro-phy in 2001.

With the way he’s dismantling defenses this season, it’s not a stretch to say he should garner

some serious Heisman consid-eration. But Martinez must first face a talented Longhorn de-fense that has heard about his spectacular play for two weeks.

Muschamp preached assign-ment football to his defense and even had the team practice with-out a ball to focus on playing a man and not worrying about who has the football in the op-tion offense. His game plan has sunk in with the players, espe-cially junior linebacker Emman-uel Acho.

“When you’re playing an op-tion team everybody has an as-signment,” Acho said. “It just

comes down to doing your job and you’ll be successful. If not, you’ll have a long day. If they run the ball they’re on the field longer, they’re burning clock and they don’t have to pass. It’s the utmost importance to stop the run first and foremost.”

Acho moved to inside line-backer against Oklahoma to shore up the team’s interior de-fense. After recording 17 tack-les against the Sooners, Acho will have to perform well again this weekend if the Longhorns have any shot at containing Martinez and the Huskers’ po-tent rushing game.

Charlie Riedel | Associated Press

Nebraska quarterback Taylor Martinez speeds past a Kansas State defender on his way to a 41-yard touch-down in a game on Oct. 7. Martinez rushed for 242 yards in Nebraska’s 48-13 win. The quarterback runs the productive triple-option offense Texas will face this Saturday.

Freshman quarterback runs into Texas game

‘‘You see his athleticism and vertical speed and quickness. He’s not only quick, he’s fast as well.”

— Will Muschamp, defensive coordinator

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By Laken LitmanDaily Texan Staff

In the Mack Brown era, Texas is 7-1 against Nebraska, 3-0 in Lin-coln. Texas also owns an overall 9-4 record over Nebraska in the history of the two schools.

Of course, this year is different.Why? Because the Huskers are

a fifth-ranked, 5-0 team and the Longhorns are an unranked, 3-2 one this season.

Another reason is the one sec-ond that was put back on the clock in the 2009 Big 12 Cham-pionship. Remember? Nebraska thought it had won the game and a sea of red swarmed over the field at Cowboys Stadium. But Texas head coach Mack Brown knew the game wasn’t over.

“I remember I told the offi-cial, ‘I’m going to call the time-out if we need it. I got it in my pocket,’” Brown said. “And we were fine until about 12, 11, 10 …Then I remember seeing the ball hit out of bounds and looking at the clock simultaneously and I thought there were two seconds left. I wasn’t concerned. I knew the official would stand up and do the right thing.”

Then the rest was history — kicker Hunter Lawrence stepped up and nailed a 46-yard field goal, crowning Texas as Big 12 champion and Alabama’s oppo-nent in the national title game.

As Texas celebrated for the next month, Nebraska went back to work. The Huskers were fu-eled by the anger that one second took from them the Big 12 Cham-pionship. The Nebraska athletic department created the “Red Out

Around the World – 10.16.2010,” campaign. A video on the Red Out site contains the tagline, “Wear Red. Be Loud.” although the most famous part of the cam-paign’s slogan, “Beat Texas,” was removed by request of NU head coach Bo Pelini.

As the Huskers head into this weekend, it’s apparent that whatever the coaches and play-ers did paid off as the team is more talented this year with a dual-threat quarterback in Tay-lor Martinez (who can kill op-ponents on the ground or in the air) and the top-ranked pass de-fense in the country. Nebraska has been waiting for this com-ing Saturday since last Decem-ber. Even though this game doesn’t have the same implica-tions as their last meeting, Ne-braska wants revenge.

Texas on the other hand, doesn’t feel the same animosity.

“I like [the animosity Nebras-ka feels],” said junior safety Blake Gideon. “I hope people want to beat us. I don’t want to play a team that doesn’t want to beat me as bad as I want to beat them.”

Brown said he doesn’t feel any animosity toward Nebraska, last year’s conference championship game or the fact that Nebraska is leaving for the Big Ten next season.

“I don’t understand it and I don’t feel it,” he said. “It’s not in our building.”

What Brown does feel is the ex-citement to play in Lincoln for a fourth time. Since the Big 12 con-ference was formed, Texas has won all three meetings in Lincoln, but all three were by a combined

nine points as this series has a his-tory of last-minute plays.

There was 1998, Brown’s first year in Austin, when No. 23 Tex-as beat No. 7 Nebraska 20-16.

“I mean the Ricky [Williams] game I’ll never forget,” Brown said. “Forty-seven straight wins and he had a great night against a super Blackshirt defense.”

Brown’s next trip to Nebras-ka was in 2002, when seventh-ranked Texas beat unranked Ne-braska 27-24.

“[Nebraska head coach] Frank Solich trying to be aggressive goes for the score to win the game,” Brown said. “And then [Texas cornerback] Nathan Vash-er intercepted the ball in the cor-ner with three seconds left.”

In 2006, No. 5 Texas beat No. 17 Nebraska 22-20 on a field goal in a snowstorm.

“Our kicker had a pulled groin, so poor [backup kicker] Ryan Bailey is on our sidelines and most of our players didn’t know who he was,” Brown said. “I didn’t know what Ryan would do when he got out there and he kicks it right down the middle into a snowstorm to win the game.”

Now it’s 2010 and Brown is ready to bring his underdog Longhorns to face a national ti-tle-eyeing Nebraska.

“You got to do it on TV, and from a national scene, to win a game that we’re in trouble with, to step up and be the strong lead-er that you need to be,” Brown said. “That’s what we’re asking the guys to do. Who’s going to step up on Saturday at 2:30?”

1998: No. 23 Texas defeats No. 7 Nebraska 20-16Ricky Williams rushed for 150 yards against the Cornhuskers on his way to a Heisman. It was a huge upset win for head coach Mack Brown, then in his first year at Texas, and the Longhorns finished 9-3 and ranked No. 15 in the country.

2002: No. 7 Texas defeats Nebraska 27-24A field goal was the only thing separating these two sides. Senior Chris Simms passed for a then-Texas record 419 yards but the Longhorns need-ed a late interception in their own end zone to seal the deal.

2006: No. 5 Texas defeats No. 17 Nebraska 22-20Another field goal, this one from unknown back-up Ryan Bailey, toppled the Huskers in a snowy mid-season thriller. Despite a promising start to the season, Texas lost two of its last three games and defeated Iowa 26-24 in the Alamo Bowl.

2010: Unranked Texas travels to play No. 5 NebraskaA little more 10 months have passed since the Longhorns defeated the reigning North division champs on a last-second field goal and tensions run high as the two collide in what might be their last game as conference foes.

Texas’ record in Lincoln under Mack Brown

3-2 (1-1 Big 12)last game: 28-20 loss

vs. Oklahoma.

5-0 (1-0 Big 12)last game: 48-13 win @ Kansas State

Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, Neb.ABC, 2:30 p.m.

Texas No. 5 Nebraska@

Team tests winning record, prepares for grudge match

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Friday, October 15, 201066 matchups

Neither team has a player with more than two touchdown receptions, but Texas’ wideouts have the game-breaking speed that can chal-lenge Nebraska’s top-ranked pass defense. The Longhorns throw more than twice as of-ten as the Cornhuskers, but Nebraska’s Bran-don Kinnie has made the most of his oppor-tunities — averaging 43 yards per catch. The Longhorns have a slight advantage provided they hang on to the ball.

Taylor Martinez leads an option attack for Nebraska that has rolled over the compe-tition in five games — with the redshirt freshman QB averaging more than 147 yards on the ground. Martinez leads the country with 12 rushing touchdowns and has looked unstoppable thus far. Texas QB Garrett Gilbert has more interceptions than touchdown passes and is facing the best defense he will see all year.

MATCHups— By Austin Laymance | Daily Texan Staff

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QUARTERBACK RUNNING BACK RECEIVERS OFFENSIVE LINEThe Longhorn tailbacks have been out-rushed by the Cornhusker’s QB while Tex-as’ running back-by-committee philoso-phy has been disappointing this year to say the least. The Cornhuskers boast two punishing runners in Roy Helu Jr. and Rex Burkhead who have combined with Marti-nez to form the No. 2 rushing attack in the country. Nebraska is averaging a nation-leading 7.7 yards per carry.

The Longhorns’ front five had more holes than Swiss cheese the last time these two teams met and will once again have their hands full protecting Gilbert from one of the top defenses in the nation. Nebraska’s big boys up front have been dominant, opening up huge holes for the ball carri-ers and keeping Martinez’s jersey clean — he’s been sacked just seven times.

Nebraska is home to the best pass defense in the nation. The Cornhusker secondary is a turnover machine, intercepting 11 passes — three were returned for scores — and forcing three fumbles. Opposing QB’s are completing a dismal 50 percent of their throws against Ne-braska. The Longhorn secondary is nothing to laugh at either but their three picks don’t quite stack up to the Cornhuskers’ ball hawks.

Nebraska defensive tackle Jared Crick, the Big 12’s preseason co-defensive MVP, an-chors a smothering defense that has held opponents to 21 or fewer points in 13 straight games. Texas is tops in the confer-ence in sacks and tackles for loss but the elusive Martinez is a nightmare for defens-es. Texas must stick to its assignments or Nebraska could run away with the victory.

Emmanuel Acho played like a man possessed against Oklahoma and the Longhorns will need another strong effort from the junior lineback-er if they hope to slow down the Cornhusk-ers’ prolific running game. Nebraska’s Lavon-te David leads the conference in tackles record-ed with 16 against Kansas State last week in the team’s conference opener — he had 19 the week prior versus South Dakota State.

Texas relied on last-second field goals to beat Nebraska in 2009’s meeting as well as the Longhorns’ last trip to Lincoln and this game could come down to Justin Tucker’s leg. Nebraska’s Alex Henery is perfect on field goals this year and is four shy of the school’s all-time record.

DEFENSIVE LINE LINEBACKERS SECONDARY SPECIAL TEAMS

Everyone remembers Nda-mukong Suh’s 4 .5-sack, 12-tackle performance against Texas in the Big 12 Champi-onship. Crick has been equal-ly dominant this year and al-ready has 13 solo tackles. To keep Garrett Gilbert upright,

Huey will have to protect the quarterback’s blindside. Crick will move around on the in-side and uses his size plus quick hands to blow past of-fensive guards so expect dou-ble teams from Huey and cen-ter David Snow.

Acho has found success since moving to the outside, posting 24 tackles, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery in his last two games. As the strongside linebacker it will often be Acho’s assignment to move laterally behind the de-

fensive line and keep Marti-nez from escaping outside for a big gain. That’s easier said than done, with Nebraska’s QB averaging over 10 yards a carry, but Acho will be instru-mental in the Texas defense’s efforts to slow him down.

vs.

Taylor Martinez, QB

Emmanuel Acho, OLB

vs.

Jared Crick, DT

Michael Huey, LG

BATTLES — By Will Anderson | Daily Texan Staffposition


By Jordan GodwinDaily Texan Staff

Texas’ offense is broken but the problem is a simple one.

First, a brief history lesson — with the zone-read option in the spread offense, Texas quarterbacks Vince Young and Colt McCoy ran and passed the ball, and the rest of college football followed suit. But recently, Texas offensive coordina-tor Greg Davis slammed the brakes and hand-chose pro-style quarter-back Garrett Gilbert, parting ways with the dual-threat play-caller.

“He runs the offense and he re-cruited Garrett,” said Texas head coach Mack Brown this week.

It’s also new to Gilbert, who ran a pass-heavy spread offense since his Pop Warner days until Davis sud-denly asked him to change. And Gilbert isn’t the only one struggling during this learning season — the offensive linemen, who spent years on their heels protecting the quar-terback, are suddenly being used as run blockers.

Unranked Texas’ offense sits 71st in the nation with 360.0 yards per game, just ahead of No. 72 North Texas. The Longhorns have put up those numbers against defens-es that rank an average of 96th in the country, allowing 374.8 yards

per game. Gilbert has contributed an average of 233.0 of those yards, and he’s the 50th-ranked quarter-back in offense.

Texas is actually the only team in the Big 12 South without a quarter-back ranked in the top 30. In Tex-as’ offense, Gilbert has attempt-ed 180 passes and gained 75 rush-ing yards. In this day and age, that doesn’t cut it.

Of the top 25 quarterbacks, only seven have rushed for less than 100 yards, all of whom have either at-tempted 200 passes in a spread of-fense or have thrown it down-field for an average of more than 8.0 yards per pass. Under Texas’ sideways-oriented offense, Gilbert throws for a little more than 6.3 yards per pass.

Gilbert is still a first-year start-er but of the quarterbacks ranked ahead of him, 21 are underclass-men and nine are seniors. With Tex-as visiting Nebraska this weekend in the house of Cornhusker fresh-man Taylor Martinez, the Long-horns will see a quarterback who throws for 132 yards per game and rushers for 147.4 more.

Martinez has 660 passing yards on just 64 attempts, largely because of his running game. Last week against Kansas State, he had 369

total yards and five touchdowns. With 241 rushing yards and four rushing touchdowns, he only need-ed to attempt seven passes.

Speedy receiver-turned-running-back D.J. Monroe is one possible of-fensive option for Texas who has the ability to break big plays like his 60-yard touchdown run against Oklahoma. He has touched the ball 11 times this year, gaining 133 yards, which is a higher average of yards per carry than any elite rush-er in the nation, including Marti-nez’s uncanny 10.8 mark.

“We’re constantly looking for more ways to get D.J. involved,”

Davis said. “Obviously, he’s one of the explosive guys that can make big plays.”

Brown has kept Monroe from becoming a full time back be-cause of the latter ’s struggling in pass-protection situations. Monroe is indeed smaller than the average back at 5 feet, 9 inches and 171 pounds, but the true sophomore has shown his worth in every game in which he’s played.

Texas is running out of options.

Its offense is one of the worst in the Big 12, ranking ninth in scoring, eighth in rushing, sixth in passing and eighth in total offense. Giv-en the success of the team in re-cent years, its easy to see why such numbers seem atypical.

“We thought our offense would grow with Garrett,” Brown admit-ted, while spurning the idea that Texas’ struggles are a result of Gil-bert’s inexperience. “I’m not fall-ing into that excuse yet – at Texas, you should always be good.”

Lauren Gerson | Daily Texan Staff

Texas quarterback No. 7 Garrett Gilber drops back to pass against Oklahoma in this season’s Red River Rivalry. Gilbert is completing 63.3 percent of his passes but has rushed for just 14 net yards.

Texas offense sees dramatic dropoff under QB Gilbert

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One quarterback set high school records for passing yards, earned Gatorade’s National Player of the Year Award and was heralded as the next big NFL arm. He was anointed a top-level QB before his first real start and a big part of his team’s preseason ranking.

The other play-caller was suc-cessful in high school but many recruiting services listed him at ‘ath-lete’ rather than quarterback. He worked with the scout team during his first collegiate season and didn’t earn his starting role until hours before the season opener.

Can you guess which one plays for fifth-ranked Nebraska and which plays for 3-2 Texas?

By now it’s painfully obvious that Garrett Gilbert has struggled in his first year with the Long-horns. He cannot help the great expectations thrust upon him by a prolific high school career. He can-not help the hamstrung play-call-ing by offensive coordinator Greg Davis, more nonsensical than con-servative. He does not have the liberty of handing the ball to a sig-nature back, taking 30 to 40 plays off per game; instead, even when the running backs are involved, Gilbert is usually throwing the ball on a screen play.

Nebraska’s Taylor Martinez, on the other hand, has found uncon-ventional success running the ball. He averages 12.8 passing attempts per game and just under eight completions. Still, he has been able to rack up yards through the air because of the respect de-fenses pay to his running ability. And boy can he run. His first play from scrimmage — the first time he ever touched the ball as a colle-giate player — the redshirt fresh-man torched Western Kentucky

with a 46-yard touchdown run. Talk about first impressions.

Gilbert’s first extended experi-ence behind center for Texas came, as we all remember, in last sea-son’s national championship. His first throw was an incomplete pass to fullback Antwan Cobb. His sec-ond, another incompletion. In his third attempt, Gilbert hit Tre’ Net-won, who was then dropped for a four-yard loss. In the first half of that game, Gilbert threw more interceptions (two) than positive-yardage completions (zero).

This isn’t a de-mand for Davis’ job or even an-other call for the coach to open up his playbook and let Gilbert throw it down-field. No, this is an attempt to show the distinc-tions between an offensive system that embraces a quarterback’s s t rengths and

one that ignores them.Gilbert has no place under cen-

ter. From the shotgun at Lake Tra-vis High School, the young man shredded defenses with accu-rate vertical passing. The pow-er-running game, the entire rea-son head coach Mack Brown tried to shift Gilbert closer to the line, has proven futile. Goal-line situa-tions remain the only effective use of Cody Johnson and the double tight-end sets.

Bo Pelini at Nebraska mean-while shifted to a triple-option of-fense with his new quarterback. Martinez benefits from the pres-ence of Roy Helu Jr. and Rex Bur-khead but could thrive even with-out them because of his dyna-mism in the zone-read. It is a sim-ple case of a head coach under-standing how to best utilize the tools at his disposal.

Of course, changing the entire offensive system at this point in the season would be like asking Brown to win a national champion-ship without Vince Young. Talent-ed quarterbacks deserve talented coaching and so far Nebraska has shown superiority in that regard.

By Will AndersonDaily Texan Columnist

Disparity in play product of Pelini’s superior coaching

Of course, changing the entire offensive system at this point in the season would be like asking Brown

to win a national championship without

Vince Young

2009 stats:144-of-180 passing, 1151 yards63.3 pct accuracy, 4 TDs/5 INTs14 net yards rushing, 0 TDs

GARRETT GILBERT- TEXAS QB -

Derek Stout| Daily Texan Staff

2009 stats:39-of-64 passing, 660 yards60.9 pct accuracy, 3 TDs/3 INTs737 net yards rushing, 12 TDs

TAYLOR MARTINEZ- NEBRASKA QB -

Charlie Riedel| Associated Press

QB COMPARISON

8


— By Will Anderson | Daily Texan StaffGAMEStoWATCH

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4-1 (1-1 SEC)last game: 24-17 win

vs. Texas A&M

6-0 (3-0 SEC)last game: 37-34 win @ Kentucky

Jordan-Hare Stadium, Auburn, Ala.CBS, 2:30 p.m.

No. 12 Arkansas No. 7 Auburn@6-0 (2-0 Big Ten)

last game: 38-10 win vs. Indiana

5-1 (1-1 Big Ten)last game: 41-23 win vs. Minnesota

Camp Randall Stadium, Madison, Wis.ESPN, 6 p.m.

No. 1 Ohio St. No. 18 Wisconsin@5-0 (1-0 Big 12)

last game: 26-0 win vs. Colorado

3-2 (0-1 Big 12)last game: 24-17 loss vs. Arkansas

Kyle Field, College StationFSN, 11 a.m.

No. 21 Missouri Texas A&M@4-1 (2-1 SEC)

last game: 35-21 win vs. Alabama

3-3 (0-3 SEC)last game: 37-34 loss vs. Auburn

Commonwealth Stadium, Lexington, Ky.ESPN2, 6 p.m.

No. 10 S. Carolina Kentucky@

Arkansas regained some respect, if not its national title chances, by beating Tex-as A&M on Oct. 9 in Dallas. Quarterback Ryan Mallet stole the show from A&M’s Jerrod Johnson, the Big 12’s preseason darling, by completing 27 of 38 passes for 310 yards and a trio of touchdowns. Both teams showcased their aerial attacks in that game, with Arkansas prevailing only after a game-ending interception.

Now the Razorbacks head to Auburn to face a different test; the Tigers have a dual-threat quarterback similar to A&M’s Johnson but also a much better ground game. Auburn can burn Arkansas with the pass or with the run and a hostile crowd at Jordan-Hare Stadium will like-ly turn this into electric game full of big-yardage plays.

The Buckeyes once again reign atop the college football world, reaching the No. 1 overall spot in The Associated Press poll for the first time since the end of the 2007 sea-son. As the best quarterback in the Big Ten, Terrelle Pryor has matured into a poised and accurate passer who can still scramble for big yards. Meanwhile, the team’s sixth-ranked scoring defense has held four opponents to fewer than 15 points.

Pryor was the Big Ten’s co-offensive play-er of the week for his performance against Indiana but he shared that honor with Wis-consin running back John Clay. Clay ran for 111 yards and three scores versus Minnesota and is on pace to finish with 1,300-plus rush-ing yards this season. Despite Wisconsin’s slip against Michigan State, the Badgers are still in the discussion for Big Ten champs.

With no signature victories and just a sin-gle conference win, Missouri heads into its first true road trip of the year untested. The team’s gaudy passing numbers have come against Miami of Ohio (63rd in pass defense), Colorado (87th) and McNeese State (106th in the Football Championship Subdivision, for-merly Division I-AA). Blaine Gabbert will likely play but battled injury last week. Plus, since former captain Derrick Washington was dismissed in the offseason for violating team rules, a three-man committee at run-ning back has failed to fill the void.

Still, if the Tiger defense can prove their shutout of Colorado last week was no fluke, the offense will have a shot at downing A&M. That said the Aggies will be prepared and motivated as they fight to keep from dropping to 3-3.

Despite defeating then-No. 1 Alabama, the Gamecocks still sit behind the Crim-son Tide in the AP poll because of a one-possession loss to Auburn in week four. Depending on how Auburn finishes the season, the Gamecocks could take a huge step this week by defeating Kentucky to move to .750 in the SEC.

Two fourth-quarter field goals were the only things standing between Kentucky and a monumental home win versus Au-burn last weekend. Despite the Wildcats’ poor record, they average 434 total yards and 36 points per game. Now they get South Carolina, which just finished a har-rowing four-game stretch, in the safe con-fines of Commonwealth Stadium and an-other chance at a big-time SEC upset on national television.

Games2watch 9

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THE RUN STOPS THE RUN STOPS HEREHEREBy Laken LitmanDaily Texan Sta!

For Texas, the theme for Saturday’s game is Stop the Run, Part III.

In the Longhorns’ back-to-back losses against UCLA and Oklahoma, the opposi-tion’s rushing attack beat the nation’s former top-ranked defense to a pulp. Texas is hop-ing to avoid its third straight loss and knows it will have to clog Nebraska’s run, which is the second best in the nation led by tailbacks Roy Helu Jr. and Rex Burkhead and quarter-back Taylor Martinez.

Nebraska beats teams on the ground and in the air so the Longhorns will pick the lesser of two evils and try to force Martinez to become a one-dimensional passing quarterback on Saturday. Martinez is averaging 147 rush yards per game on 10.8 yards per carry and his pass-ing stats are dangerous, too, as he’s averaging 132 yards per game on 10.3 yards per throw.

Containing the Huskers’ zone-read will be challenging for a Longhorns defense that hasn’t been playing to its normal standard the past few weeks. To get back on track, junior line-backer Emmanuel Acho will be a key player.

From the start of the season against Rice through the UCLA game, Acho has started at middle linebacker. But after Texas’ ! rst loss, the coaches decided he would be more bene! cial to the defense on the strong side so he could rush off the edge and blitz.

“Emmanuel is so smart and when we are talking about eye discipline and assignment discipline, that ! ts him to a ‘T,’” said head coach Mack Brown. “He’s smart, has a dis-ciplined life and does exactly what he’s sup-posed to do. Plus he’s athletic enough and tough enough to be disruptive.”

After moving to the strong side against Oklahoma, Acho had one of his best games as a Longhorn. He made a career high 17 tackles, nine of which were solo and 4 " for a loss. He also caused a sack and a forced fumble on the Longhorns’ ! nal defensive play of the game, which almost resulted in a defensive touchdown.

Last week, the FBS awarded Acho with National Linebacker of the Week honors because of his performance against the Sooners.

“He played very well [against OU],” said defensive coordinator Will Muschamp. “He was very active, played well in space and tack-led well. He’s a good blitzer and caused that fumble there late to give us a chance.”

Like most Texas players, Acho was extreme-ly humble when asked about his domination against OU and said he was just doing his job

and that it was a team effort.“A lot of it comes down to the defensive line

and linebackers and everybody just doing their job,” Acho said. “Everybody has an assignment and everybody has a job to do, and it comes down to if you do your job, you’ll be success-ful. If not, you’ll have a long day.”

Senior defensive end Sam Acho was proud of his little brother.

“He made some unbelievable tackles against OU,” Acho said. “I’m excited for him, and I’m not just saying that because I’m his brother.”

As a whole, however, Texas didn’t cover assignments particularly well against OU — especially in the ! rst half, which led to an early de! cit.

During the bye week, Muschamp empha-sized that his unit cannot make the same mis-takes when they head up to Lincoln this week-end. Additionally, he reinforced the importance of playing assignment football and keeping the gaps closed so the Huskers’ running game can’t slip through.

“We can’t allow chunk yardage play because then you get behind on the scoreboard and their defense really takes effect,” he said.

After a week off, Emmanuel Acho and the rest of the Longhorns are con! dent in their reju-venated bodies and mindsets, and are ready to face one of the best teams in the country.

“There’s nothing — if we play to Texas stan-dards — nothing that we should be too worried about,” Acho said.

Linebacker Emmanuel Acho will play key role on strongside trying to slow down Nebraska

By Jordan GodwinDaily Texan Sta!

The good news is that Texas has the sixth best defense in the nation in terms of allowing the fewest total yards.

The bad news? The Longhorns’ elite pass defense that has carried the team at times will likely become irrelevant this Saturday.

Entering the home of a Nebraska offense that ranks second in the nation in rushing and 106th in passing, cornerbacks Curtis Brown and Aaron Williams could probably take the day off. Nebraska runs the ball rough-ly 74 percent of the time and averages 337.6 yards per game, including an FCS-best 7.74 yards per carry.

Before the season started, Texas head coach Mack Brown said his team’s defense might be one of the best he had ever coached. There won’t be a better chance for the

players to live up to that hype than against Nebraska.“It’s a great opportunity for us to play against those

guys and prove what we’ve got,” said defensive end Sam Acho.

The Longhorns’ rush defenders will de! nitely have to outperform their last two games. Texas’ rush defense is ranked 19th in the nation, allowing an average of 104.0 yards per game. But that ranking isn’t nearly as impressive when you ! gure in the fact that they were facing rushing offenses that rank on average 86th and normally rush for just 124.2 yards per game.

“We’ve de! nitely let some guys slip through the holes in these past few games,” said defensive tackle Kheeston Randall. “We’re going to have to play better than we’ve been playing.”

Randall has been a consistent presence on the inside, but it’s the other tackle that has struggled. The open-ing week starter, Tyrell Higgins, was replaced as the starter last week by sophomore Alex Okafor, but after Oklahoma rattled off several big runs early in the game, Higgins played much of the game. This week, Okafor is back as the starter against Nebraska because coaches like his potential.

“Alex is improving every day,” said defensive coordi-nator Will Muschamp. “He’s a guy that’s a really good athlete with great ability and work ethic.”

On the outsides, Acho and Eddie Jones have been stel-lar in containing the run at the point of attack, but the linebackers have struggled with missed tackles.

Nebraska took advantage of Kansas State’s defense last week, largely because of missed tackles. The Cornhuskers rushed for 451 yards in that game, the third time this season they’ve ran for more than 350 yards. They’ve been held under 250 yards only once this season, but Muschamp attributed those “struggles” to their own mistakes and nothing special that opponent South Dakota State was doing.

Nebraska’s leading rusher is quarterback Taylor Martinez, who ranks fourth in the nation with 147.4 rush-ing yards per game. But behind him, Roy Helu Jr. aver-ages 83.0 yards per game and Rex Burkhead averages 72.2 yards per game.

“They’re all blue-collar guys that are hard-nosed, north-to-south runners,” Muschamp said. “You’re not going to see a lot of dancing with them.”

To simulate Martinez’s speed, the Longhorns have

practiced with sophomore receiver Brock Fitzhenry as the scout-team quarterback. At Giddings High School, Fitzhenry was one of the best running quarterbacks in the state, posting 36 career 100-yard rushing games, which is ninth in Texas high school football history.

“But it’s tough to simulate that guy,” Muschamp said of Martinez. “He’s a great player.”

Throughout the past two weeks, the Longhorns have preached assignment football. They know they’ll have to be more patient than usual against Nebraska’s potent running game.

“Don’t try to be a Superman and get the quarterback, and then the running back goes 80 yards,” Randall said. “It’s pretty much just doing your job and having the right techniques.”

Texas’ defensive players still believe they’re worth the hype. They’re con! dent they can contain Nebraska’s offense enough to let the offense try to win one for a change.

“Every player on the defense has to do their job and not worry about anything else,” Acho said. “They can’t worry about doing too much — do more than what you’re sup-posed to. If everyone does their jobs, we’ll be ! ne.”

After getting thrashed by two teams, Texas defense prepares for serious challenge from Pelini’s Cornhuskers

Derek Stout | Daily Texan Sta!

Above, junior linebacker Emmanuel Acho. Left, members of the Texas defense.


Martinez gaining traction in Heisman race with legs

A freshman Heisman candi-date who didn’t even start the season? Believe it. Nebraska fans have been treated to one of the nation’s most valuable players in quarterback Taylor Martinez.

With only 660 yards and three touchdowns through the air, Mar-tinez may not be the best passer in the nation, but he does have a set of wheels that punishes de-fenses. Nebraska head coach Bo Pelini and his staff don’t even ex-pect him to throw very much per game. Last week versus Kansas State, perhaps his breakout per-formance of the season thus far, he only threw the ball seven times, completing five for 128 yards. His legs did most of the damage — he carried the ball 15 times for 241 yards with touchdown runs of 14, 35, 80 and 41 yards. Martinez’s 241 rushing yards set a Nebraska quarterback record and were the

eighth most in school history.Texas head coach Mack

Brown has taken notice of how good Martinez is and will have to prepare to defend against him on Saturday.

“They were super on defense last year and everybody knew that,” Brown said. “But they didn’t have the explosive plays on offense, and Taylor brings them unbelievable plays.”

Despite his quarterback’s stel-lar performances, especially as a freshman, Pelini still thinks the upcoming game versus now un-ranked Texas is not going to be a walk in the park.

“They’ve won a lot of foot-ball games for a long time,” Pe-lini said about the Longhorns. “They’re going to come out fir-ing. We understand that and know that’s going to be the case. We have to be ready to match their intensity, execution and be ready to go earn it on the field because it’s not just going to happen.”

Wildcats’ leading receiver out for season with injury

Kansas State lost more than the

game to Nebraska last weekend. The Wildcats also lost their second-leading receiver.

Wideout Brodrick Smith suffered

a broken leg late in KSU’s loss to Nebraska, requiring him to have

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Kansas State wide receiver Brodrick Smith is carted off the field after breaking his leg against Nebraska on Oct. 7. Smith, the team’s leading receiver prior to the game, will not return this season.

BIG 12 NORTH notebook — By Sameer Bhuchar | Daily Texan Staff

SMITH continues on page 13


season-ending surgery.Head coach Bill Snyder visited

Smith in the hospital this week.“Injuries happen,” Snyder said.

“You hate for it happen. You hate to see a young person who invests so much of his time and his effort and cares so much to lose the opportu-nity to do what he enjoys doing. I think that’s the biggest concern.”

With Smith out, the Wildcat of-fense takes a serious hit at a vulner-able moment. With a run-depen-dent offense, defenses force Kan-sas State to beat them through the air, meaning the Wildcats are going to need a strong replacement to fill Smith’s big shoes.

The replacement may come in the form of Oregon transfer Chris Harper.

“Chris Harper has had a real-ly good week of practice,” said quarterback Carson Coffman. “I’m really excited to see what he’s going to do.”

Smith will be available for the 2011 season, Snyder estimated.

Missouri slips into Top 25 without signature victory

Most teams have to beat real powerhouses before they can jump from the unranked kiddie pool to the Top 25 adult swim, but Mis-souri seemed to bypass that step.

The No. 21 Tigers have played only two teams from BCS confer-ences and zero ranked teams. De-spite that, Missouri snuck into the Top 25 national polls after defeat-ing Miami (OH) 51-13. Fans can as-

sume this is because of the Tigers’ top defensive statistics. Missouri ranks third in the nation in points allowed and last week the team shut out Colorado.

Missouri captain and corner-

back Kevin Rutland is the head of a unit that leads the Big 12 in scoring defense and is tied for second in the conference with 14 forced turnovers.

“It’s been special so far, and you take note of it and would like it to keep going,” Rutland said. “But we take it with a grain of salt. We know things can change, but we know if we keep our play at the

level it’s been, we’ll be just fine.”They will have to keep up their

stellar level of play against Tex-as A&M on Saturday in what will likely be the Tigers’ toughest

matchup yet. The schedule does not get any easier. After the Ag-gies, the Tigers face No. 6 Oklaho-ma and No. 5 Nebraska.

“It’s a big challenge for us,” said defensive back Carl Gettis. “I think it will really help us determine where we are ... as a team and help us determine how good we are and where we want to be.”

13 powerrankings

— By Sameer Bhuchar | Daily Texan StaffBIG 12 POWER RANKINGS

The Cornhuskers ran all over a Kansas State team that was supposed to have a fighting chance to contend for the Big 12 North. Opponents can prepare for their run attack all they want, but chances are they’ll still be watching Nebraska’s dust settle.

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The Sooners didn’t play last week, but to put them underneath a team like Missouri or Oklahoma State would be like projecting the Oakland Raiders to win the Super Bowl. Oklahoma proved it can run well, pass better and finally play solid defense.

Quarterback Blaine Gabbert played last week’s game against Colorado with a hip pointer. Despite the injury, Gabbert and the Tigers flattened Colorado 26-0, proving that their third-ranked scoring defense can carry them far this season.

Cowboy fans were left scratching their heads after a 54-28 victory over the Rajun Cajuns from Lafayette. The score doesn’t indicate how close the game was, but nonetheless the potent OSU offense posted 50 points for the third time in five games.

The Longhorns’ 28-20 loss to Oklahoma created a disgruntled fan base and coaching staff under scrutiny. Texas has learned that its offense can’t score regularly and its once-lauded defense is very beatable — all bad signs heading into Lincoln.

The Aggies are 3-2. Most predicted them to be a stronger team, but turnovers seem to plague this squad. Last week versus Arkansas, Texas A&M gave the ball away four times and QB Jerrod Johnson has thrown nine interceptions this season.

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On paper the Bears seem like a better team than a No. 8 ranking. Robert Griffin has already thrown for more than 1,700 yards and 13 touchdowns, but last week’s loss to Texas Tech keeps Baylor from moving any higher in power rankings.

The Wildcats were used to running all over opponents, but instead got trampled on by Nebraska last week. Kansas State will have a chance to get back on track against in-state rival Kansas on Saturday.

Kansas continues to climb in the polls despite not even playing last week. The Jayhawks are still one of the conference’s weakest teams but move up by virtue of the other programs suffering big losses.

The Cyclones lost 68-27 against No. 10 Utah last week, and the road does not get any easier; they take on No. 6 Oklahoma with one of the worst defenses in the nation, giving up 419.17 yards per game.

Zero. As in the number of points the Buffaloes managed against Missouri last week. The Buffaloes have a tough Big 12 schedule ahead and are counting the days until they never have to see that type of schedule ever again.

Videos of Texas Tech’s botched onside kicks were some of the highest viewed videos on YouTube this past week. Tech will drop even further if they don’t beat Oklahoma State this week, a game that will define the team’s status in the Big 12 South.

BIG 12 NORTH CONF. OVERALL

1. Missouri 5-0 1-0

2. Nebraska 5-0 1-0

3. Kansas St. 4-1 1-1

4. Iowa St. 3-3 1-1

5. Colorado 3-2 0-1

6. Kansas 2-3 0-1

STANDINGS‘‘We know things can change, but we know if we keep our play at the level it’s been,

we’ll be just ! ne.”

— Kevin Rutland, Missouri captain

SMITH: Kansas State must find new weaponFrom page 12


Oklahoma coaches snub Alexander, other veterans

Entering week seven, defen-sive end Frank Alexander re-mains frustrated. The Oklahoma junior continues to play only a small role on defense.

“Frank is in very good stand-ing with us. He’s a wonder-ful young guy that continues to work,” said head coach Bob Stoops in his weekly press con-ference. “We are going to start the guys or play the most that we feel, practicing or playing, are giving us the most production ... Otherwise, it’s the only way for me to keep my job and win.”

A part-time starter his fresh-man and sophomore year, Al-exander held high hopes for his junior season. While a sprained ankle sidelined him from the opener, he has continued to work hard.

But even against Texas, Alex-ander, who Stoops says is close to 100 percent, did not start and received little playing time.

Only time will tell if Stoops will choose to start Alexander again this season.

“In the end, not only Frank, but anyone else that’s not starting we obviously feel someone else is do-ing something a little bit better, a little more consistent, a little more the way we want it,” Stoops said. “I’m just not going to anymore sit here and try and detail why certain

guys that people think ought to be starting are. There’s not a positive way to say it.”

OSU’s Blackmon emerges as top receiving talent

Oklahoma State sophomore Jus-tin Blackmon has become familiar with consistently being compared to Michael Crabtree. After all, the receiver has striven to model his style after the former Texas Tech receiver.

“When we first started learning the offense, we watched a whole bunch of clips on Crabtree and learned a lot of stuff from him,” said Blackmon. “Some of the things I do is some of the stuff I got from the film I watched.”

Blackmon, under offensive co-ordinator Dana Holgorsen, the former Tech assistant coach, leads the country in receiving yards, re-ceptions and points per game.

This season alone, Blackmon has 47 catches for 748 yards un-der his belt. These numbers also include 11 touchdowns.

Fittingly, Blackmon and the Cowboys take on the Red Raiders in Lubbock on Saturday afternoon.

“Some of the stuff that he does is ridiculous,” said OSU defensive end Richetti Jones. “I love watch-ing him. When the ball is in the air and number 81 is running for it, I am ready to put my hands up for a touchdown.”

Despite preseason hopes Aggies on shaky ground

The Aggies head into Satur-day’s home game against Mis-souri at a crucial point in their season — it is Texas A&M’s con-ference opener. The Aggies will also be fighting to keep from falling to .500 and to remain un-beaten at home this season, the latter feat they haven’t accom-plished since 1999.

“They believe in themselves and they believe in what we’re doing,” said Texas A&M head coach Mike Sherman. “They believe in who

they are doing it with. That’s a pos-itive. As long as you have that as a coach, you just tell them to keep swinging. You’re bound to hit a home run.”

No. 21 Missouri arrives this weekend with a clean 5-0 record.

Playing an error-free game is necessary for the Aggies, who have not done so since their sea-son opener, a 48-7 win over Ste-phen F. Austin in College Station.

“It’s not a situation where we’re getting beat into the ground and not having suc-cess,” said quarterback Jerrod Johnson. “I think you lose con-

fidence if you think you’re over-matched. We have great players and a great system, we’re just making unfortunate mistakes at unfortunate times.”

BIG 12 SOUTH CONF. OVERALL

1. Oklahoma 5-0 1-0

2. Oklahoma St. 5-0 1-0

3. Baylor 4-2 1-1

4. Texas 3-2 1-1

5. Texas Tech 3-2 1-2

6. Texas A&M 3-2 0-1

STANDINGS

Oklahoma State wideout Justin Blackmon is tackled by a Louisiana-Lafayette defender dur-ing a game in which Blackmon caught 13 passes.

Gerald Herbert Daily Texan Staff

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By Jon ParrettDaily Texan Staff

North Carolina was supposed to compete for the ACC title this year. The Tar Heels were supposed to have one of the most talented de-fenses in the country. They were supposed to have several players destined for the NFL draft.

Instead, some of those players won’t see a down for the Tar Heels all season.

Defensive tackle Marvin Austin was dismissed from the team on Monday, while defensive end Rob-ert Quinn and wide receiver Greg Little were ruled permanently inel-igible by the NCAA.

North Carolina athletic direc-tor Dick Baddour said the uni-versity would not appeal the NCAA ruling.

Both Baddour and head coach Butch Davis apologized on Mon-day, and said they should have done more to prevent their stu-dent-athletes from violating NCAA rules.

Austin, Quinn and Little were three of 13 Tar Heels that had been suspended since the beginning of the season, when the NCAA be-gan its investigation into allega-tions that the players had received

improper benefits from agents dur-ing the spring and summer.

The NCAA made its ruling Mon-day after finding that Quinn and Little received travel accommo-dations and jewelry, and then lied about it to NCAA investigators in three separate interviews. North Carolina decided it would not wait to hear the NCAA’s ruling on Aus-tin, after hearing preliminary infor-mation that Austin received dou-ble the benefits that Quinn and Lit-tle received.

The NCAA found that Quinn re-ceived two black diamond watch-es, a pair of matching earrings and travel accommodations to Mi-ami for benefits, worth $5,642. The NCAA also found that Little ac-cepted diamond earrings and trav-el accommodations to the Baha-mas, Washington, D.C., and a pair of trips to Miami, worth $4,952.

Baddour said the NCAA found that Marvin Austin re-ceived benefits worth between $10,000 and $13,000.

“I want to apologize to the NCAA and the entire North Car-olina Tar Heel community includ-ing my teammates, coaches, stu-dents and fans,” Austin said in a statement released through

his attorney.Baddour said the universi-

ty would honor the three players’ scholarships as long as they con-tinued to pursue their degrees at North Carolina, but none are al-lowed to practice with the team.

Baddour also said the universi-ty was through investigating the rest of the team’s players regard-ing accepting improper benefits from agents, but that an investi-gation concerning academic in-fractions is ongoing.

North Carolina has had 13 play-ers under investigation by the school and the NCAA since be-fore the Tar Heels’ season open-er against LSU. Linebackers Quan Sturdivant and Bruce Carter were cleared Sept. 3, the night before UNC’s game against LSU. Run-ning back Shaun Draughn and safety Da’Norris Searcy were both held out of the LSU game, but were cleared to play against East Caro-lina. Safety Deunta Williams was suspended for four games by the NCAA and the NCAA also sus-pended cornerback Kendric Burney for six games for receiving $1,426. The Tar Heels still have seven play-ers that have not yet been ruled on by the NCAA or the university.

Ted RichardsonAssociated Press

Heels move on a! er recent suspensions

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By Dan HurwitzDaily Texan Columnist

Where were you when Hunt-er Lawrence made the field goal heard round the world? Do you remember?

I will never forget that mo-ment as every door at my apart-ment complex simultaneously opened up and one after anoth-er the neighbors, draped in burnt orange, piled out of their homes running circles around the court-yard, hugging and high-fiving people they had never met.

Thirteen years before that field goal — when Hunter Lawrence probably didn’t even know what a Big 12 was — James Brown found tight end Derek Lew-is on fourth-and-inches setting up the winning score in the in-augural Big 12 Championship against Nebraska.

After that 61-yard play, I wouldn’t be surprised if the same thing happened at the old Waterford Condominiums in 1996 as the students celebrat-ed an upset of the then third-ranked Huskers.

Moments like this are go-ing to make me miss Nebraska when they go to the Big Ten.

Since the Big 12 began play in 1996, Nebraska and its his-toric program have brought ex-citement to college football and more specifically, Texas fans.

From Brown’s fourth-and-inches in ‘96 to Ryan Bailey’s field goal in the snow in ‘06, to the final second being put back on the clock for a Lawrence field goal in ‘09, Texas and Nebraska have developed a little rivalry.

But with Texas winning eight of nine matchups since 1996, it

is much more of a rivalry for Nebraska, who has fallen just short to the Longhorns so many times in recent history.

While down here we may consider Nebraska just another team, the Cornhuskers flat out don’t like Texas.

There is a reason that they added “Beat Texas” to their promo video over the summer for their “Red Out Around the World” promotion that is sched-uled for Saturday.

Texas hasn’t just beaten the Huskers eight of the last nine times, they have barely squeaked out wins in seven of the eight wins since 1996.

Texas continues to break the hearts of Nebraska fans. The Big 12 Championship in 1996 end-ed any chances of the Huskers competing for a national cham-pionship. In 1998, Texas, behind Ricky Williams ended Nebras-ka’s 47-game home win streak. The Longhorns kept Nebraska out of a BCS game last year.

And to make things worse for Nebraska, they haven’t been the kings of the Big 12 as they had expected. Texas and Oklahoma have owned that title.

I was aware that Nebras-kans weren’t too fond of the Longhorns, but was surprised to see their version of “the good, the bad and the ugly” shirts, the Longhorns are fea-tured as the ugly.

Really? Nebraska wouldn’t even be in Texas’ top-five schools to put on the shirt. If there was a shirt big enough, it would probably read Nebraska as “the overrated” or “the scar-iest mascot.”

Despite Texas’ recent domin-cance over Nebraska, the Corn-huskers have their chance to get the last laugh on Saturday. Un-fortunately for them, the Long-horns will once again bring a drought and kill the corn.


By Dan HurwitzDaily Texan Columnist

Huskers to be missed when leaving Big 12

North Carolina athletic director

Dick Baddour speaks at a

press confer-ence last Monday

announcing the dismissal of defensive tackle

Marvin Austin from the team.

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— By Austin Laymance | Daily Texan StaffPLAYERStoWATCH

The redshirt freshman has exploded onto the na-tional scene in his first season under center for the Cornhuskers, displaying Heisman Trophy potential while rewriting the Nebraska record books. Marti-nez single-handedly dismantled the Kansas State defense in the Cornhuskers’ last game, racking up 241 rushing yards and accounting for five touch-downs — four on the ground — while setting the NU record for single-game rushing yards by a QB. Martinez is the perfect player for Nebraska’s op-tion offense and has the ability to score from lit-erally anywhere on the field. He has 12 rushes of over 40 yards — 11 have gone for touchdowns — and his 10.8 yards per rush average is the highest

among the top 100 rushers in the nation. Mar-tinez has run for 12 scores while throwing for three more in five games for Nebraska, good for 43 percent of the Cornhuskers’ points.

However he’s also thrown as many intercep-tions as touchdowns this year (3) and has strug-

gled with accuracy.

Travis Martinez, QB

The final piece of Nebraska’s three-headed rushing attack, Burkhead is a big-play back for the Cornhuskers. He’s dangerous with the ball in his hands and is averaging 7.9 yards per touch through five games. The sophomore from Plano is more versatile than Helu Jr. — he leads all NU backs in receiving — and has seven plays for over 20 yards. Burkhead has eclipsed the 100-yard mark in total offense three times for the Cornhuskers and made the most of his first start, going for 104 yards at Washington on only 13 carries. He has found the end zone three times — all on the ground — and brings the added element of the passing game to an all ready outstanding Ne-braska rushing offense. His soft hands out of the backfield and vision have made him a force at receiver as he av-erages over 16 yards per catch. Burkhead is another Cornhusker runner who does his damage running through the open space created by Martinez.

Rex Burkhead, RB

Helu Jr. is the thunder to Martinez’s lightening. The bruising senior from California is the team’s second leading rusher and uses his 220-pound frame to punish defenses between the tackles. Helu runs with a mean streak and never shies away from contact. But don’t be fooled by Helu’s blue-collar style. The senior can turn on the jets in the open field and outrun de-fenders — he has three touchdown runs of over 58 yards. He’s a north-south runner who makes one cut and gets up field and is quick to make defenses pay when they over pursue. While he has only toted the rock 51 times, Helu has made the most of his touches, averaging 8.1 yards per carry. Af-ter posting four 100-yard performances in 2009, Helu Jr. has cracked the century mark three times this season. If Tex-as shifts all of its attention to stopping Martinez watch out, Helu makes his living gashing defenses when they are out of position.

Roy Helu Jr., RB

Courtesy of The Daily Nebraskan

Courtesy of The Daily Nebraskan

Next issue: Oct. 22

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By Sameer BhucharDaily Texan Staff

Baylor quarterback Robert Grif-fin has seen his fair share of ups and downs as a football player.

The ups: He earned Big 12 Freshman of the Year honors in 2008.

The downs: He missed most of his sophomore season. Griffin suf-fered a devastating tear to his ACL in the third game of the season against Northwestern State.

But now, Griffin is six games into his junior season and is back on the upswing.

His rare ability to run the ball

as well as he throws it makes Grif-fin one of the conference’s most feared quarterbacks. Through six games this season, Griffin has tossed for more than 1,700 yards and 13 touchdowns, not to men-tion ran for more than 200 yards and six touchdowns. He’s had ca-reer days this season and is pro-jected to get even better. With his rising numbers, there is good rea-son why Griffin’s name is dropped in the best-Big-12-quarterback con-versation. However, there are still some who question if Griffin truly is healthy.

After Baylor ’s loss to No. 4 TCU on Sept. 18, Horned Frog players said they thought Grif-fin looked slower and less ath-letic than expected. Griffin, on

Baylor’s Grif!n returns stronger from ACL injury

Duane Laverty | Associated Press

Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III, right, passes the ball against Kansas in a game on Oct. 2. The Bears won 55-7 and Griffin threw for a career-high 380 yards in one of the best performances since his return from ACL surgey in the offseason.

Sidelined last season, quarterback energizes Bears’ refined offense

BAYLOR continues on page 19


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Please recycle your copy of Double Coverage.BAYLOR: Despite criticism, junior says he’s healthythe other hand, thought those comments were baseless.

“I really don’t understand that whole statement in general be-cause I’ve never played against any of those guys,” Griffin said. “How would they know if I was faster or not? That’s all I’ll say about that.”

Griffin’s me-against-the-world attitude has inspired him to come back stronger than ever. ACL tears usually require months of intensive rehab, and many play-ers never mentally recover, but Texas Tech head coach Tommy Tuberville was amazed at how fit he looked when the Bears met the Red Raiders last weekend.

“The thing about injuries now is you have to remember, you tear your knee up and you go through eight months of just gut-wrench-ing rehab. His knee is fine,” Tu-berville said. “You have to gain that confidence back, and you can tell from the first year to this game, [Griffin] is really starting to gain it back and saying, ‘Hey, I can do this. It’s fine.’”

Griffin attributes his team’s suc-cess to a better understanding of

the offense and a growing sense of cohesion among his teammates. After trampling Kansas 55-7 on Oct. 2, Griffin saw great potential in the Bears.

“Whenever we are clicking, we can put up some big numbers,” Griffin said. “In the Big 12, peo-ple said it [head coach Art Briles’ offense] wouldn’t work, but now we’re starting to figure out what we have to do to move the ball and get big yards. It’s just going to continue to grow.”

Though Griffin and his Baylor teammates narrowly lost to Texas Tech last week, the Bears are still on track to reach their first bowl game since 1994 — two more wins would make them bowl eligible and Baylor faces 3-2 Colorado this Saturday on the road. And as ev-ery fan, player and coach in Big 12 knows, however Griffin plays his team will follow suit.

“He’s as good as I’ve seen in a long time. He can carry a team on his back and he’s sure enough do-ing that,” Tuberville said after last week’s game. “He puts so much pressure on your defense. I’m glad we’re past him. I’d hate to see him every week. I’ve got gray hairs from just playing one week.”

From page 18

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Double Coverage Vol. 5, Issue 6