Monday, December 6Nebraska remains positive about FiestaAssociated Press SAN ANTONIO -- Nebraska is headed back to the Fiesta Bowl.
The No. 3 Cornhuskers found out officially Sunday that their
22-6 win over Texas in the Big 12 championship game Saturday at the
Alamodome was not enough to pass up No. 2 Virginia Tech in the
final Bowl Championships Series ratings.
"I did not look at it closely enough to have a feel for it,"
Nebraska coach Frank Solich said during a teleconference Sunday.
"But what I was hearing before the conference championship game
was that even if we beat Texas, it would not be enough to get us
into the national championship game."
Nebraska (11-1) will play defending national champion Tennessee
(9-2) on Jan. 2 in Tempe, Ariz. Although the game won't be for the
national title, all is not lost for either team. Nebraska, as Big
12 champion, was guaranteed a BCS bowl and the payoff of about
$12.5 million that comes with it. And No. 6 Tennessee is a Sugar
Bowl-caliber team, Solich said.
"They were picked at the beginning of the year to possibly be a
repeat national championship team. You add all that up and you know
that's going to be a great football team," Solich said. "I know
the organization. Coach Fulmer is a tremendous football coach.
Their program is tremendously solid and I think they're going to
continue to produce great football teams."
Nebraska came out of Saturday's game with a lot of injuries.
All-conference tight end Tracey Wistrom didn't dress because of a
knee injury and starting running back Dan Alexander had to leave
the game to get stitches on the palm of his right hand. Solich said
the list keeps going, so the team is backing off to three practices
a week in the near future.
"You've got to give them a little time off. They really need to
get their energy level back. We have got finals coming up in a
week's time, so there's a lot in front of them right now," Solich
said.
The Huskers' last appearance in the Fiesta Bowl was after the
1995 season, when they routed Florida for their second straight
national championship. Nebraska has only played Tennessee once,
beating the Volunteers 42-17 in the Orange Bowl two years ago to
clinch a share the Huskers' third national title of the decade.
Nebraska was hoping to win a fourth title this season. After
stumbling at Texas in a loss in October, the Huskers gradually
moved back up in the BCS standings by continuing to win and getting
some upsets in other games. But, Nebraska lost ground again after
the final game of the regular season by letting a 24-point lead
slip away in the fourth quarter at Colorado before winning in
overtime, 33-30.
Computer experts predicted last week that Tech's 1.54 lead in
the BCS standings -- a combination of polls, computer rankings,
strength of schedule and losses -- was too much for Nebraska to
overcome. They were right. Tech's final BCS rating was 6.12 points,
still well ahead of Nebraska's 7.42 points.
The Huskers said all week they would worry first about Texas and
let the BCS take care of itself. Nebraska took care of the
Longhorns, who were the only team to beat the Huskers this year, by
shutting down All-Big 12 quarterback and conference player of the
year Major Applewhite. Nebraska sacked Applewhite seven times and
didn't allow an offensive touchdown for the fourth time this year.
Quarterback Eric Crouch rushed for two touchdowns, Correll
Buckhalter rushed for 136 yards and Josh Brown kicked two field
goals for the Huskers, who had lost three straight to Texas.
The Cornhuskers were disappointed that they wouldn't be playing
for another national championship, but tried to remain positive
after winning their second Big 12 title, something no other team
has done in the league's four-year existence.
"If you think about it, there's not a team on our schedule that
we didn't beat this year. As far as this football team is
concerned, we're probably one of the best teams in the country,"
Crouch said. "The system's going plug those things out. We've got
to go with what we've got."
