Nebraska brings in sea of red

Steve Guiremand

Thursday, Jan. 3, 2002 | 10:40 a.m.

PASADENA, Calif. -- There will be a whole lot of red in the stands for the 88th Rose Bowl game tonight thanks to fourth-ranked Nebraska, which could have as many as 70,000 fans on hand for its battle against No. 1 Miami.

But there will be a lot of very red faces on Bowl Championship Series officials if the Cornuskers (11-1) find a way to upset the Hurricanes (11-0) and claim a share of the national championship.

That's because it has been 41 days since Nebraska has played a game the folks with the BCS would love to forget, a 62-36 thrashing at the hands of the University of Colorado. Still, the Cornhuskers, who didn't even win their division in the Big 12 Conference, find themselves playing for the national championship thanks to BCS computer and strength of schedule rankings over Pac-10 champ Oregon (11-1) and the Big 12 champ Buffaloes.

The winner of tonight's game is guaranteed the Sears Trophy, which goes to the coaches' national championship winner. But if the Huskers upset Miami, there's an excellent chance that Oregon, which crushed Colorado, 38-16, in Tuesday's Fiesta Bowl, will garner the Associated Press version of the national title.

Wasn't the BCS put together so there would be a true national champion each year?

"The world won't come to an end because of (split titles)," Roy Kramer, commissioner of the Southeastern Conference and creator of the BCS, said recently. "In the long run, it hasn't hurt interest and discussion about college football. That's always been part of the mystique of the game."

Nebraska players and coaches have spent the last nine days in Southern California defending their selection to the game, getting booed by fans at a Lakers game, and trying to put behind them the 62-point defensive debacle against Colorado.

"We were pathetic," senior middle linebacker Jamie Burrow said about the Colorado loss. "I've never been embarrassed to be a part of this program, but that day I was. ... I was embarrassed.

"We gave up the most points in Nebraska history, and that's not something I want to be remembered for. So I have a chance to make things a little sweeter in this last game."

It won't be easy.

Miami comes into the game with the nation's top scoring defense (9.4 points per game), a talented offensive line led by mammoth 6-foot-9, 340-pound Outland Trophy-winning tackle Bryant McKinnie, and Heisman Trophy finalist Ken Dorsey at quarterback. The Orange County Register quoted an NFL scout as saying as many as 40 Hurricanes have NFL potential.

"Miami has it all," Nebraska coach Frank Solich admitted. "They have physical people up front. They're able to stop the run and rush the passer. ... And if you look at their interior people and think, 'Hey, we're just going to run a power offense,' it isn't going to work."

Still, the Cornhuskers do have a Heisman Trophy winner in quarterback Eric Crouch, who operates the No. 1 running attack in the nation at 314 yards per game. And before the Colorado loss, Nebraska had won 11 straight games, including a 20-10 victory over defending national champion Oklahoma.

"We went through 11 straight games playing as well as anyone in the country," Solich said. "When you do that, you have some talent."

"The biggest thing about the Colorado game is that is not going to be the same Nebraska team we are going to see," Miami offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski said. "Every team stumbles during the season. They're going to bring their 'A' game and we need to bring our 'A' game if we want to win. People say Nebraska has nothing to lose in this game. But they have exactly the same stake we do going into this game."