Auburn's Winning Cotton Tale Based On Nebraska Errors
By ED HOWARD
January 02, 2007
Two Nebraska turnovers.
Followed by two Auburn touchdowns, each beginning with the Tigers in Christmas-gift field position.
That was the storyline in No. 22 Nebraska’s 17-14 loss to No. 10 Auburn in the Cotton Bowl on New Year’s Day 2007.
NU and Auburn were tied at halftime, 14-14.
Auburn scored on John Vaughn’s 42-yard field goal in the third period.
Nebraska blew a good opportunity to tie the game, or win, late in the fourth period.
Game over.
Nebraska ended the 2006 campaign at 9-5. Auburn finished 11-2. The high point of the NU season was winning the Big 12 North Division title. The low note might be that Nebraska was 0-4 against Top Ten teams.
Coach Bill Callahan reiterated his standard ABC after-a-loss reassurances: (A) Nebraska is on the march toward being a top-flight contender. (B) The Huskers aren’t quite there, is all. (C) It’s coming; and pretty soon, too.
To be sure, a couple of Callahan calls set his critics bellowing on the blogs and radio talk-shows.
Callahan ordered a fake punt, a hotsy-totsy reverse from NU’s 29 yard line, early in the second quarter. It was the kind of stuff NU pulled off well in 2006, to the consternation of Big 12 opponents. The magic wasn’t there Monday morning. There was a fumble, Auburn covered it at the NU 14. The Tigers’ scored their second touchdown three plays later. Auburn led, 14-7.
Callahan later said he had figured it was so early in the game, if the fake punt didn’t work out, there would be time to recover from any unpleasant result. He just figured wrong.
By the way, the first Auburn score, which tied the game at 7-7 in the first period, came after a pass by NU quarterback Zack Taylor was deflected, intercepted and returned 52 yards to the NU 9-yard line.
Auburn went up, 17-14, on a field goal that marked the only score in the third period.
With a couple of minutes left in the fourth period, Callahan decided against letting Jordan Congdon attempt what would have been his longest-ever field goal, by about five yards, from 47 yards out. Needing 11 yards for the first down, Nebraska went for it. Taylor overthrew his receiver.
How can you criticize Callahan’s decision in that situation? Who would put the game on the toe, and the shoulders, of a kicker who had never connected from that distance?
The issue, among others, centers on how the Huskers wound up facing fourth-and-11. After a fumble recovery gave them the ball at the Auburn 42 with 5:24 remaining, Nebraska moved to the Tigers’ 27. The Huskers lost yardage on consecutive plays, bringing up the fourth-and-long deal, a situation that should have been avoided.
A maddening thing for NU fans: Both of Nebraska’s scores came at the end of long drives, during which the Huskers obviously had things in hand. The first Big Red touchdown came on Taylor’s 13-yard pass to Nate Swift. It capped a 17-play, 80-yad drive. The second score came when Brandon Jackson scored from the 20, polishing off a drive that began 13 plays earlier at the Nebraska 28.
Go, as they say, figure.
Most of those adrift on the roiling Red Sea are understandably frustrated. Remember the final throes of the Frank Solich mini-era? The storied Blackshirt defense literally provided the offense in some NU wins – or prevented losses from becoming humiliating losses.
Sound familiar?
The difference for Callahan is that Solich ran waaaay short on people who believed things could get better with him in charge. No matter how you choose to remember Solich, there was no realistic reason to believe they could. Go back and look at who NU beat and who beat NU, and by how much, when Solich had the gig.
Callahan, meanwhile, is still cushioned with some of the “Give the guy a chance to make a new system work” buffer. Those cushions do wear out, however.
Ask Frank.
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