Cornhuskers had tricks up their sleeves

Buffs were caught off-guard on many deceptive plays

B.G. Brooks, Rocky Mountain News

Published November 25, 2006 at midnight

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LINCOLN - By the time Nebraska had signed off on its 37-14 victory Friday against the Colorado Buffaloes, the only remaining question for Cornhuskers coach Bill Callahan was this:

"Was any trick left unshown, any gadget unused?"

Perhaps only the "Fumblerooskie."

At the right time, in all the right situations, No. 23 Nebraska played CU for fools - and the Buffs fell hard for most of the foolery. The Cornhuskers unleashed I-back option passes, an I-back throw-back pass to the quarterback, a pass from field-goal formation, and a run from punt formation after a direct center snap to the up-back.

"I think those are plays we have always executed," Callahan said, maybe too modestly. "It was an excellent job by our staff. . . . It's all timing, it's feel, it's instinct, it's where the ball is in field position."

Said CU coach Dan Hawkins: "I've seen some of that stuff before. You have to give them credit for being creative."

The most stunning of the gadget plays - both to the record Memorial Stadium crowd of 85,800 and the bleary-eyed Buffs - was the pass out of apparent field-goal formation on fourth-and-7 at the CU 29-yard line.

Nebraska trotted out its holder on the play but also sent out backup quarterback Joe Ganz instead of its placekicker. The interior offensive linemen positioned themselves wide to the left of the center, apparently ready to shift into a standard formation before the ball was snapped.

The shift never happened. The ball was snapped directly to Ganz, who passed 29 yards to defensive end Barry Turner, a former tight end, for a touchdown that helped give Nebraska a 14-7 lead.

"We've seen them line up and do some things like that before," Hawkins said. "Ultimately, we had a guy (cornerback Terrence Wheatley) back there - we just didn't cover the thing, so you have to give them credit."

Speaking as much about the season as the final game, CU special-teams coach Kent Riddle blamed "mental errors and me communicating with those guys better, so that even when we know what's coming, we're ready to play at that point."

On the fake field-goal attempt/ pass, Riddle said the Buffs "were thinking about calling timeout, but then we saw we were totally good, lined up and everybody was matched up. We thought we didn't need to burn it (a timeout). We thought we were in the advantage there."

Riddle said Ganz's entry from the sideline was noticed, but the thinking on the CU sideline apparently was that Ganz would be the holder on the play and Jake Wesch, rather than Jordan Congdon, would be the kicker.

"Even once we saw the quarterback there, we were still matched up," Riddle said. "And the guy's going to have to unload it in a hurry to not their normal receivers. And we felt good about that."

Not for long, though.

That Nebraska went that deep into its trick bag didn't surprise Riddle. "Everything lined up for them to use all of them, because you've got to be in the right field position to do all of that," he said. "We knew what was coming and didn't stop it."

ETC.: CU receiver Cody Crawford (five catches, 79 yards) posted single-game career bests. He finished the season with 15 receptions for 222 yards . . . Buffs QB Bernard Jackson was not intercepted in his final 66 passes of the season . . . Nebraska I-back Brandon Jackson (142 yards) became only the second opponent to surpass 100 yards rushing against CU . . . Buffs defensive lineman Alex Ligon, injured for most of the season, posted his first sack since 2004 . . . CU finished 0-5 on the road, the first winless road campaign since 1984 . . . The 23-point loss was the Buffs' largest this season, surpassing a 21-point defeat (24-3) at Oklahoma.

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