 "Photo: Vanessa Skocz")
It certainly didn't seem like just another game day in Lincoln.
Steve Pederson was gone as athletic director after being fired earlier in the week. Tom Osborne, the legendary Nebraska coach who won three national championships, was looking on as the interim director. Offensive coordinator Shawn Watson was on the field helping NU Coach Bill Callahan call plays instead of occupying his usual spot in the press box.
Even the Tunnel Walk was different. No longer were Cornhusker players seen jumping out of fighter jets on the jumbo screen. Instead, old school highlights of past Nebraska teams drew huge roars from the 288th consecutive sellout crowd at Memorial Stadium.
By the end of Saturday's game, though, the atmosphere was eerily similar to the previous week, when the Huskers were blown out at home by Oklahoma State. Fans again headed for the exits early as Texas A&M (6-2, 3-1 Big 12 Conference) put the finishing touches on a 36-14 win - the third consecutive game in which the Huskers (4-4, 1-3 Big 12) lost by 20 points or more.
"I'm just disappointed," Callahan said. "I felt coming into the year that we had a good team. We still have a good football team and we have talent. We're just not getting it done for whatever reason."
Texas A&M posted 459 offensive yards, including 359 on the ground, in battering Nebraska's defense.
Running the option, Aggie quarterback Stephen McGee rushed for a career-high 167 yards on 35 carries to torch the Huskers. McGee was helped on the ground by 268-pound running back Jorvorskie Lane, who battered his way to 130 yards on 15 carries for an average of 8.7 yards per touch.
Throughout the game, McGee faked handoffs to Lane, only to keep the ball and run through holes in the Huskers' defense.
"You've got to give credit to McGee," Callahan said. "We had a hard time stopping the read option. … He made a lot of plays off of that."
In the first half, Nebraska stayed close with the Aggies.
After Texas A&M scored a touchdown and had the ensuing extra point blocked to go up 6-0, the Huskers answered with an eight-play, 80-yard drive that was capped by freshman running back Quentin Castille's three-yard touchdown run to put Nebraska on top 7-6 with 6 minutes, 32 seconds left in the first quarter.
An Aggie field goal and another touchdown gave Texas A&M a 16-7 lead. Nebraska scored a touchdown late in the second quarter to cut the deficit to 16-14 going into halftime, but that was the last time the Huskers would score.
Texas A&M outscored Nebraska 20-0 in the second half.
"We just didn't finish our drives in the second half," said NU senior offensive lineman Carl Nicks. "We just couldn't convert."
Now the Huskers are faced with going on the road for three of their final four games, and their preseason goal of qualifying for the Big 12 championship game is out of reach.
"We don't have quitters here," said NU senior quarterback Sam Keller. "Things have not been going our way at all for three weeks now, and you can't just quit because it keeps happening. You just have to keep fighting. You just have to keep trying."
BENGOULDSMITH@DAILYNEBRASKAN.COM
