Texas cornerback Bryant Westbrook and NU cornerback Michael Booker had a verbal battle all afternoon Saturday, although neither player was on the field at the same time. Westbrook and Booker played together at at El Camino High School in Oceanside, Calif. Westbrook, who had four tackles and two pass breakups, got the upper hand on his former high schoolmate, who did not record a tackle. Booker's younger brother, Deion, is being recruited by both Nebraska and Texas, and Westbrook said the Longhorns' 37-27 win spoke volumes about where the younger Booker should attend school. "After the game, I told Michael I was going to tell his brother to go to a winning program like Texas."
The impact of playing without suspended linebacker Terrell Farley may have affected Nebraska again Saturday. An injury to free safety Eric Warfield forced rover Eric Stokes to return to his free safety position, which made Mike Minter, who replaced Farley at Will linebacker, return to rover. Octavious McFarlin and Ryan Terwilliger split time at Will linebacker. On Wane McGarity's 66-yard touchdown pass that put Texas in front 30-27, Minter miss-timed his jump for the ball. That may not have happened if he didn't have to take a crash course in linebacker technique over the last two weeks. With Farley in the lineup, the Huskers were 8-0 this season and 20-0 in his two-year career. Without Farley, NU is 2-2.
Texas quarterback James Brown said his last headline-grabbing quote was taken out of context when he said the Longhorns, a 20-point underdog, would beat Nebraska by three touchdowns. "I just said that they might lose by 21 points," Brown said. "You never know. I figured we'd win the game, but I didn't make any prediction. That's not smart football." Brown was wrong. Texas beat the Huskers by only 10.
Nebraska's defense saw its quarterback-sack streak of 39 straight games come to an end without bringing down the elusive Brown. The 37 points were the most allowed by the NU defense since Georgia Tech scored 45 points against the Huskers in the 1991 Citrus Bowl. Oklahoma also scored 45 points against NU in the final regular season game of the 1990 season. In addition to failing to win the conference crown, Nebraska's 31-game conference win streak was snapped. It was the first time in six years that NU did not win a conference title. Texas was the 12th unranked team to beat a Tom Osborne coached team in 195 tries.
The Nebraska defense, which had not allowed a rushing touchdown all season prior to Saturday -- surrendered three on Saturday to UT running back Priest Holmes. The only two times NU has allowed an opponent to score a touchdown on its opening drive this season, Nebraska has lost.
The only good news for the Nebraska defense was the selection of rush end Grant Wistrom as the Touchdown Club of Columbus' defensive lineman of the year.
Gameday notebook compiled by senior reporter Trevor Parks.
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