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Blackshirts dominate Longhorns

Four games ago Mike Brown and Ralph Brown had a heart-to-heart talk, discussing the fact that they only had a short time left in their Nebraska careers.

Since then both have played like men possessed and in the process earned All-American honors.

Saturday the Browns and rest of the Blackshirts were all-world holding Texas quarterback Major Applewhite to fewer than 200 passing yards for the first time in his career and not allowing the Longhorn offense to score on them.

"We played a complete game today," said Mike Brown, who led NU with six tackles, including one sack for a 10-yard loss. "We really got a lot of pressure on Major Applewhite. We pretty much dominated them from the first quarter to the fourth quarter. We had a mission today. We knew it was up to us to dominate them and get the victory."

And dominate the fourth-ranked NU defense did. At halftime, Texas had 26 yards on 33 plays. For the game the Blackshirts held the Longhorns to 173 total yards -- nine on the ground and 164 through the air.

The statistics don't lie.

"Their defense was quick and dominating," Texas coach Mack Brown said. "Their defense lined up and whipped us at the line of scrimmage. It gave us an inability to run the football. Therefore when you can't run and be two dimensional, we couldn't protect well enough to pass it.

"I thought our guys got a little bit frustrated because we've been able to move the ball against everybody. That is a real credit to Nebraska."

The mastermind of the defensive gem was defensive coordinator Charlie McBride. The 23-year veteran felt challenged this week by Applewhite, who called the NU defensive plan simple and said it wasn't like calculus breaking it down.

If he were able, McBride likely would have gone after Applewhite himself, but since he used up his eligibility long ago he did the next best thing. He sent his defensive troops after Applewhite from every angle and or nearly every play, much the way Kansas State had when it defeated Texas 35-17 Oct. 2.

NU got similar results as the Wildcats. Applewhite was sacked seven times and only completed 15 of 42 passes for 164 yards including three interceptions.

"Coach McBride really wanted to get after him and pressure him and see how he could react to the pressure," said Mike Brown, who became the first Husker defensive back and third NU player all-time to lead Nebraska in tackles three-straight years. "We shook him up a little bit early. We didn't stop pressuring him. He made some bad throws."

Those bad throws resulted in three interceptions that stopped each of the Texas drives into NU territory including the final one with 1 minute and 25 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. The 37-yard return by sophomore safety Dion Booker on that pick was a new Big 12 record, topping Mike Brown's 27-yard return in 1997.

In the first half, Ralph Brown recorded his 11th interception of his career, which moved him up to a tie for fourth all-time. He also broke up five other passes giving him 16 on the season -- a new school record that broke the 14 he had last year.

But on one of those diving pass break ups in the second quarter, Ralph Brown dislocated his right thumb. He also injured his left hand and his groin.

"I was hurting in the second quarter, but this was my senior year," said Ralph Brown, who became the first player to lead NU in pass break ups for four-straight seasons. "I just dug deep. I didn't want to go out and sit on the sidelines and watch the others win the game. I wanted to be on the field and play hard. The victory makes this pain feel a lot less than what it would be had we lost."

A fourth loss in four years would have been more than Mike Brown could have taken.

"I knew I didn't want to leave (Nebraska) without beating Texas," Mike Brown said. "I finally got them. I can die now."

NU fans hope not, because the Blackshirts still have one challenge left when they likely play Tennessee in the Fiesta Bowl in a rematch of the 1997 Orange Bowl.

And the Huskers will need both Browns for that game.

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