The Nebraska Running Game. RIP, 2005.
We all remember it, don’t we? College football administered last rites a year ago after the Cornhuskers rushed 22 times for only 21 yards in a 40-15 drubbing at Kansas, their first loss to the Jayhawks in 36 years.
Nebraska finished 107th out of 119 teams in rushing. We repeat. That’s Nebraska, winner of 15 national rushing titles, 107th in rushing. That’s like Exxon finishing 107th in profits.
Turns out, however, reports of the Nebraska running game’s death were greatly exaggerated.
Coach Bill Callahan hasn’t resurrected his status to deity yet, but he proved this season that he can raise the dead. Nebraska’s running game is alive and very well.
It just resurfaced with a little different appearance. It’s a four-headed monster that has become as dangerous as it sounds.
Among sophomore Marlon Lucky (68.0 yards per game), junior Brandon Jackson (51.7), sophomore Cody Glenn (56.3) and junior Kenny Wilson (44.4), Nebraska is averaging 207.7 yards per game.
Only 10 teams in the country average more, and it’s more than twice the 96.0 yards the Cornhuskers stumbled to last year.
“I just try to put the emphasis on all the guys getting their touches and trying to balance the board in terms of what they do well,” Callahan said on a conference call Tuesday.
The return to, if not dominance, at least competence, has transformed Nebraska (6-1, 3-0 Big 12) from a one-time power dangerously slipping toward the abyss to the No. 17 team in the country. Whether Nebraska can make that next leap to Big 12 dominance will be determined starting at 10 a.m. MDT on Saturday when it hosts fifth-ranked Texas (6-1, 3-0), merely the No. 2 rush defense (47.7) in the nation.
When Callahan arrived two years ago, everyone knew he would bring Nebraska into the 21st century by introducing the forward pass. What no one expected was the running game would revert back to the 18th century, when it didn’t exist, in his West Coast offense.
It was not by design. After the Kansas debacle, Callahan started making changes. He replaced senior right tackle Seppo Evwaraye with freshman Matt Slauson, an Air Force Prep graduate, and senior left tackle Lydon Murtha with sophomore Chris Patrick a week later.
Nebraska’s rushing total improved in the last three games of 2005, topping out at 151 in the Alamo Bowl win over Michigan. With the addition of junior Brett Byford at center and sophomore Mike Huff at guard, Nebraska’s running game has taken off from where it left off a year ago.
All four backs are on pace to top 500 yards. Only once in Nebraska’s storied land-rush history, in 1979, did it have four backs with that many. Not that they want to compare themselves to Nebraska’s past.
“We want to be kind of like the Pittsburgh Steelers and how they won the Super Bowl last year, just by being physical every single game,” Glenn said. “They came out and hit people with Jerome Bettis and Willie Parker, just pounding every game. That’s what we want to do.”
You probably know Bettis and Parker. You probably don’t know these Cornhuskers. Here’s a look:
Marlon Lucky, So., 6-foot, 210, North Hollywood (Calif.) H.S.
Lucky is the lone I-back who was all-world in high school. Rivals.com ranked him the No. 2 back in the nation after he gained 2,036 yards and 40 touchdowns as a senior.
But he turned down Southern California, saying, “I’m not an L.A.-type guy.” He lived in Dallas through the seventh grade and moved to Hollywood to be with his uncle and guardian.
A true slasher, Lucky is averaging 6.3 yards per carry but has yet to separate himself from stiff competition below.
Brandon Jackson, Jr., 5-11, 210, Horn Lake (Miss.) H.S.
He flew under the radar after a shoulder injury in the spring of 2005 held him to 52 yards a year ago and shoulder surgery last spring sidelined him until fall.
However, he’s healthy and Mississippi’s two-time offensive player of the year has shown he’s a hybrid between Lucky’s speed and Glenn’s toughness. The change of pace between backs has overshadowed any potential jealousy.
“Like this weekend when we played Kansas State,” Jackson said Tuesday. “When I got through pounding the defense, Marlon Lucky came in and gashed them for a 40-yard touchdown.”
Cody Glenn, So., 6-foot, 230, Rusk (Texas) H.S.
From the same East Texas area as Earl Campbell, Glenn has been labeled “Baby Earl.” He even wears the NFL Hall of Famer’s No. 34. But Glenn went to a small 3A school. That’s why Texas wanted him only as a linebacker or safety.
Glenn did little in spot duty last year but has blossomed with six touchdowns, tying Lucky for the team lead. Talk about incentive. Glenn said this week, “I am not a linebacker.”
Kenny Wilson, Jr., 6-foot, 220, Butler County (Kan.) CC.
His 4.4 speed made him Rivals.com’s eighth-rated JC prospect in the country, and he won the Kansas state 100 and 200 titles three years ago at Liberal (Kan.) High.
Texas will see all four backs. Keep in mind, so did USC and the Trojans stuffed Nebraska for 68 yards on 36 carries. But what Nebraska learned will be used against the Longhorns.
“They specialize in stopping the run, but we specialize in establishing the run,” Glenn said. “It’s going to be a great test.”
Staff writer John Henderson can be reached at 303-954-1299 or jhenderson@denverpost.com.
