By MICKEY HERSKOWITZ

AUSTIN -- All week the Nebraska players had grumbled about how deeply they hated the University of Texas, and how much the Longhorns had denied them, cost them, taken from them.

And Texas sent them yet another message Saturday: Learn to live with it, Huskers. Love will not keep us together.

In one of the singular victories in the history of a school that saw football become the true religion under a coach named Bible, and ruled the land under another named Royal, Texas did it again. The No. 18 Hook 'em Horns upset third-ranked Nebraska 24-20 and for the second time in three years jeopardized the Cornhuskers' chances for the national title.

Mack Brown said his team was frustrated in a wobbly first half, one that ended with Nebraska leading 13-3 and Texas showing a puny total of 92 yards on offense.

But if the winners were frustrated, imagine the primal scream that must have stuck in the throats of those on the losing end of this hard and at times bewildering day. The Cornhuskers lost three fumbles, one a terminal miscue at the Texas one-yard line early in the fourth quarter.

Their multitalented quarterback Eric Crouch coughed up two of the bobbles and was stopped twice on fourth-down options inside the Texas 40. Hesitating, unable to decide whether to pitch or keep, he let a swarming Longhorns defense make the decision for him, and Crouch was buried for losses both times.

In the duel of sophomore quarterbacks, the clear winner was the sassy, baby-faced leader of the Longhorns, Major Applewhite. Bothered by a blustery and swirling wind in the first half -- "I was throwing curveballs," he said -- Applewhite rallied his team to three touchdowns in the final 30 minutes, getting the game-winner on a 17-yard pass to Mike Jones with just under six minutes left.

Up to that point, the game had been almost as whimsical as it had been emotional. When Crouch lost his second fumble in the third quarter at the Texas 38, Applewhite threw three straight passes to Kwame "Cadillac" Cavil, the last one for 13 yards and the touchdown that put the Longhorns ahead 17-13.

Even after Correll Buckhalter had fumbled the ball away at the Texas one, Crouch brought the Cornhuskers back, cut to the flag and scored from the nine, restoring Nebraska to the lead 20-17.

Earlier in the day, Applewhite had confided to a network TV correspondent, and millions of viewers on ABC, that he expected "an ugly game," and he would be happy with "an ugly win." He fulfilled his wish and his forecast, but there were moments of majesty and he provided several.

There was no time for meditation after the Huskers took their last lead. The Major moved the Horns 60 yards in four plays, starting with a 39-yard pass to Ryan Nunez and ending it with the toss to Jones, who broke a tackle and willed his way into the end zone.

"We tried to get Kwame one-on-one with the strong safety," Brown said, "but Major did a great job of taking what was there. We had not run that play this year.

"The thing about Major, and we've talked about it before, he has such great poise he didn't let the first half carry into the second."

In handing Nebraska a third straight upset defeat, Texas improved to 6-2 and 3-1 in the Big 12. The Longhorns have more resources than Willie Nelson has hair.

Brown noted his offense failed to rush for 100 yards, but said: "Hodges Mitchell gave us what we needed. We thought we had to stay two-dimensional."

In his postgame news conference, Brown was like the honoree at a banquet, thanking everyone in the room, including the people who fill the towel dispenser.

"The defense gave us some turnovers," he said, "and it was big when we moved the ball off the goal line after the defense gave it to us down there. It was a complete, total team win. Give credit to the offensive line. They did a great job."

In this assessment, he had the support of his trigger man, Applewhite.

"They were playing so well, the (Nebraska) defensive linemen quit their pass rush and just put up their hands (on pass attempts)," Applewhite said.

Texas plays a hungry and aggressive brand of ball, and Brown coaches them with a passion that has him in line to join D.X. Bible and Darrell Royal as legendary thinkers. This was the kind of win that makes you feel you found just what you wanted marked down 75 percent at your favorite store.

Nebraska had 10 more first downs, an edge of almost 150 yards in total offense and nearly a 10-minute bulge in time of possession. But this was a game of turnovers, with Texas losing none of them, and momentum-shifting penalties. The Horns had one of those, a holding call that brought back a punt, forced them to rekick and cost them 50 yards in field position.

That exchange led to Nebraska's tying field goal, a 22-yarder by Josh Brown. In a battle between two teams with high-octane attacks, it was ironic the first three scores were the result of kicks. But you doubt a record crowd of 84,082 was ever really boiled.

Nebraska went more for the tricky stuff, with Bobby Newcombe, who lost his starting job at quarterback, completing a halfback pass for 33 yards, and Crouch hit one for 49 to a wide-open Tracey Wistrom. But Crouch held the ball so long the Texas defensive backs had time to look around and see who was missing, and Greg Brown and Ervis Hill teamed up for a saving tackle at the 14.

Two plays later, the Horns dodged a bullet, maybe even a cannonball, when Crouch fumbled.

So a humbled Nebraska team returned late Saturday to Lincoln, its record 6-1, no doubt thinking of how many new reasons it has to hate Texas. Let the Cornhuskers count the ways. The Longhorns will count the score.