AUSTIN, Texas - Colt McCoy shook his head in disbelief.
He sat alongside his offensive coordinator, Greg Davis, who was trying to explain how his Texas offense adjusted to Nebraska's often-blitzing attack.
"We had to make major adjustments at halftime," Davis said. "(Nebraska) had blitzed 19 percent of the time coming into this ballgame, and I estimate that they probably blitzed us over 70 percent of the time. But at halftime it was a major overhaul with what we had planned to do going into the ballgame."
Texas Coach Mack Brown called Nebraska's defensive schemes the most extreme change from one week to the next he had seen a team apply to a game.
As crazy as it was, the Longhorns were nearly bucked by it.
Before Jamaal Charles rushed for 216 of his 290 yards in the fourth quarter alone, Texas was stood up straight by the Cornhusker defense. The Longhorns scored only one field goal in the first half.
Even after its halftime adjustments, Texas continued to struggle in the third quarter. The Longhorns allowed Nebraska to stretch its lead to 14 points before pulling closer with two field goals. After putting together 209 yards in the first half, the Longhorns amassed just 75 in the third quarter as Nebraska continued a heavy blitzing attack.
"I've never been in a game where they're going to blitz every play, literally every play," McCoy said. "(Nebraska) was bringing somebody, and most of the time they were bringing everybody. And we had worked on that a little bit, but that hadn't been part of what they were doing all year."
Texas coaches remained confident that because of Nebraska's aggressive blitz, if they could get Charles past the line of scrimmage into the secondary, he would have the opportunity to make some long runs.
When Texas' junior running back busted out in the fourth quarter, the Longhorn offense made a jailbreak for the end zone.
"I just came out here and tried to run downfield as hard as I could," Charles said. "I know I've been going through some stuff, like fumbling the ball, and I just wanted to get over that. The offensive line opened some holes (for me)."
UT's offensive transition from stagnant to electric happened in a heartbeat. Early in the fourth quarter, McCoy went to the sideline after having the wind knocked out of him. Freshman quarterback John Chiles replaced him and handed off to Charles, who ran 25 yards up the middle, his longest run of the day to that point.
After that, it didn't rain - it poured.
McCoy returned on the next play, tucking the ball on a zone-read run and collecting 24 yards to the left side of the field.
The following play, Charles took a draw 25 yards for a touchdown. The two-point conversion attempt failed, putting Texas to within 17-15 with 12:23 to go in the game.
Two drives later, starting at their own two-yard line, the Longhorns leaned on Charles once again, and he responded with an 86-yard run down the right sideline for his second touchdown of the day.
"After that long run, it just came," Charles said. "It was my time, it was my time to show everybody what I can do, and I proved it out there today."
The touchdown gave Texas the lead for good. Charles added another insurance touchdown - his third of the day - with a 40-yard run up the middle on a called audible by McCoy.
Charles' 290 yards were the most recorded by an individual against Nebraska in school history. It also put Charles at more than 1,000 yards on the season, continuing a proud tradition of 1,000-yard backs at Texas.
Additionally, the win was the 100th for Brown, who's in his 10th season with the team.
"I thought the players made sure it was one I would remember for a long time," Brown said. "When you talk about team all the time, you have to say thank you to all those players for 10 years who aren't here today."
JONATHANCROWL@DAILYNEBRASKAN.COM
