Five Keys To USC

Can the Huskers use the home crowd to upset the Trojans? It depends on Callahan, Keller, and defense

No preamble. Let's just break it down.

The Bill Callahan gameplan: This isn't merely a key to the game, but a preeminent storyline for the media, too. Nebraska's head coach seemed to spend last year's 28-10 loss to USC inside his own vest, running the ball well after it became clear it wouldn't be very successful.

Callahan has a number of savvy arguments to defend that gameplan, the best of which is this: The Trojans are slightly undersized and entrenched in Cover 2 defense. Even USC Head Coach Pete Carroll would concede that.

The No. 1 thing you're supposed to do against undersized, Cover 2 defenses? Run the ball.

If you can't - or don't even try - you'd better have one terrific quarterback and some All-American receivers. Or you'd better force six turnovers. The Cover 2 just doesn't break easily if there's no running game to bend it.

Just ask Sam Keller.

See, when he played at Arizona State, Keller was terrific for one half against the Trojans. He torched the Men of Troy and led his team to a 21-3 halftime lead.

"I might have thought of myself as somewhat bulletproof," he said Tuesday.

Well, yeah - over two touchdown drives, he completed 6-of-6 passes for 100 yards. You’d feel invulnerable, too.

But he lost that hot hand as USC mounted a second-half comeback. Keller threw four second-half interceptions, two while ASU was still in the lead. Trojan defenders, Keller said earlier this year, seemed to come out of nowhere to make plays. On another, a ball popped out of a Sun Devil's hands, and into a Trojan's.

But here's another thing: Arizona State ran for just 68 yards that day. On 32 carries.

Sound familiar?

Keller's arm was the whole show. The longest ASU drive of the day lasted three minutes, 28 seconds.A bunch lasted less than a minute. No wonder USC racked 617 total yards; it had 16 drives to do it. And that's with four punts, two drives ending on downs, and an interception in the first half.

That's not merely a testament to the Trojans' amazing 2005 offense. It also shows that, against a Cover 2, it'll catch up with the team who chooses not to run the ball.

The chances of Keller winning this game, on his own, are slight. Husker fans at Memorial Stadium Saturday need to understand they won't be sitting down for an evening of Air Coryell.

Nebraska's going to run the ball. And, on some plays, probably not very well. It's how Callahan tries to run the ball, and what passes he supplements it with, that matters.

Don't expect traps; USC's too fast for that. The Huskers ran a nice toss play with Kenny Wilson last year, but he was faster than Marlon Lucky is now.

At this point, Nebraska's fairly in love with those stretch plays out of the "heavy" formation that feature an armada of tight ends. If Callahan calls for a steady dose of those, Lucky has to pick his running lanes quickly and decisively. They won’t be there for long. The Huskers could try to gash a fullback, or work some quick receiver reverses. NU could try draw plays out of the shotgun, or shovel passes, which are essentially running plays, to counter USC's speed upfield.

In the passing game, Nebraska has to find gaps in the zone. Look for USC's corners to play tight, and for them to hunt down any screen and swing passes to Lucky. Keller's "check downs" might be there, but they won't be worth as much.

"They don’t have any layups for you," Callahan said. "There are no gimmes out there. What you get, you have to earn."

Which brings us to trick plays. It was a little awesome to watch Lucky launch that nervous, low pass to a wide-open Nate Swift for a touchdown in last year's 22-20 loss to Texas, because the Longhorns' attacking, sell-out defense was so ripe for it. Callahan knows when, and how, to pull the trigger on the trick play. Maybe he's not yet in the Bowden wing, but he's certainly got a bust down the hall from Osborne.

He'll only get a couple chances to knock down the dominoes, change the field and juice the crowd.

Trojan explosives: While USC's offense bears some resemblance to Nebraska's, Offensive Coordinator Steve Sarkisian will use his athletes a little differently.

On Wednesday, Phil Elmassian, who coaches NU's defensive backs, put it this way:

"(USC) is going to put the ball down the football field," he said. "Especially on early downs. Double patterns. They ain't gonna throw for four yards - hell, they'll run it for four yards.

"They're not thinking about that. They're going to take advantage of their athletes on the perimeter and the quarterback's talent. He's an NFL guy. One of the better quarterbacks in college football."

Elmassian said Nebraska's secondary has to turn USC's big-play opportunities into "defensive explosives." Turnovers. Sacks. Big hits on receivers.

"You have to deal with a different degree of focus and intensity and match the speed of the game," he said.

NU actually limited USC's big plays last year, partially because the Trojans didn't need them. Quarterback John David Booty was able to accumulate first downs, eat clock and slowly march his offense for touchdowns.

The Trojans got just enough out of their running game to keep the Husker front seven honest, and cornerbacks Cortney Grixby and Andre Jones gave receivers Steve Smith and Dwayne Jarrett ample cushion to easily catch short slant routes.

So what's different this year?

1. NU has better depth at cornerback, and senior Zack Bowman, who saved the Huskers' hides against Wake Forest, can match up with a big receiver.

2. Larry Asante will probably try, and maybe succeed to make a Trojan receiver pay for a route over the middle.

3. David Ausberry and Patrick Turner, gifted as they are, lack the savvy and experience of Smith and Jarrett.

All of those are in Nebraska favor. Against them? USC's offensive line is better than last year, save a freshman center. The running backs are a year older.

And fullback Stanley Havili's one of those guys whose stats don't reveal just how valuable he was to the game. Havili could be that thorn in NU's side. Watch for him.

And watch for this: Can Defensive Coordinator Kevin Cosgrove really blitz so freely in this game, as he did against Wake Forest and Nevada? If so, what will the damage be in the secondary?

The Saturday Matinee Idols: Both Sam Keller and Josh Booty have that "it" factor. They've got the size, the command, the look, and the swagger. Keller has the fire and delivery of Phillip Rivers. Booty reminds one of a more mobile, less accurate Tom Brady.

The game could turn into a duel. Or it could be a contest of which quarterback doesn’t shoot himself in the foot.

Keller - and he'd admit this - is impatient. He'll avoid sacks, but at times he'll rush his whole process and throw off of his back foot. Keller has a good arm, and sometimes he lets it do too much of the work.

On Tuesday, Offensive Coordinator Shawn Watson had as good an explanation of Keller's play against Wake Forest as anyone. It's "coachspeak," but worth reading.

"He got out of rhythm a couple times," Watson said "and basically had guys pop open and just didn't get the bounce to hit them. He has to get the bounce and not jump at the throw. Step through his footwork, get back to balance, and make the throw.

"Or he has a big day. He hits a couple "almost opportunities" and has a big day. And he missed a couple of them. What he's got to do is adhere to his fundamentals. That's the biggest issue for him."

Callahan's been Keller's biggest supporter, and wisely so. But when the fourth-year coach hinted at all the yards and points left on the field against Wake, Keller was responsible for some of that.

He has to try to correct it against the nastiest defense he'll face all year.

And then there's Booty. Booty's about as classic as a quarterback comes. He rolls out of the pocket on one of his patented bootleg passes, looking like a real Trojan circling around wounded enemies, before he cocks his right arm and jabs a sword into them 20 yards down the field. There's just something right about that image.

But No. 10 gets wild. Two or three times a game, he throws a pass begging to be picked off. Either it's overthrown, a javelin tossed into double coverage with the blissful hope that one of USC's giant receivers nab it, or a poorly-chosen stop route.

Last year against Nebraska, he threw three by Elmassian's estimation. Two in succession, actually. But the Huskers caught none of them.

"You don't have to catch all three of them," Elmassian said. You just have to catch one of them. And then - you just never know."

You just never know.

The Electric Zoo: Just how noisy could it be at Memorial Stadium Saturday night? The loudest ever. The Sea of Red might sustain a roar equivalent to that moment Eric Crouch caught the pass in the 2001 Oklahoma game. It'll be a night game, it'll be a little chilly, the students will be a little snookered.

It could be worth a touchdown. It could be worth two.

In 1991, it certainly sidetracked eventual national champion Washington for a half. Almost three quarters, in fact. There were the Huskers, who might have lost by four or five touchdowns in Seattle, holding a 21-9 lead with just a little more than 15 minutes left. Now, of course, the UW found its groove and roundly humiliated NU in the fourth quarter - the final score was 36-21 - but that was one of the great college teams in history.

USC isn't. It's good. But it's not Washington good.

Yeah, the game has changed over the last 25 years. Fans rely too much on HuskerVision to pump them up; it's funny to read the complaints of fans who don't appreciate the production value of the Tunnel Walk, or whine because the speakers aren't loud enough. What is this, their personal home theater? What are we, four years old and in need of our Dora The Explorer tape? Pull out the pacifier. Make your own noise.

Which, surely, Husker fans will. Expect USC to be rattled. The Trojans have played in big crowds. And loud crowds. Will they have been as big and loud as this, though?

The Want-It Factor:Time to play amateur shrink for a minute.

Nebraska's emotional approach this week was akin to that voice an astronaut uses as he blasts into outer space. His head's thinking: "I'm going to outer space!"Meanwhile, his voice monotonously drones: "The shuttle remains on the correct heading." Actually, I think they just say numbers.

Anyway, the outer mood doesn't the inner moment.

And neither does Nebraska's.

Reporters aren't stupid. Like good cops, they sense when they're being fed a story. All week, Callahan and his team have been on a level keel, like they're meeting USC for a summit. Maybe Callahan is - you get the sense he loves the intellectual challenge of this moment. But the team? Are they going to be crazed dogs come Saturday night? Men with an impossible mission? Will they act like some of those Husker teams in the early 1990s, who put on their proverbial jackets and ties for bowl games, then gained about nine yards in the first half?

Make no mistake: Nebraska's national title teams in 1994, 95 and 97 had a terrific emotional quotient on the field, even if it wasn't so great off the field. It's a chemistry that was lost by the old regime during The Day After Thanksgiving Massacre in 2001. I'm not sure it's ever really been regained by Callahan.

Well, it's time. Could be, anyhow. What do the Huskers got to give? Will they follow Keller's lead? How often do they throw up the skull and crossbones? Or can Nebraska maybe string USC out into the chess match Callahan clearly wants.

For this one night, on its home field, the Huskers can probably out-scheme the Trojans.

Now - can they out-smash them?

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