SAN ANTONIO -- Nebraska linebacker Julius Jackson had a message for Texas quarterback Major Applewhite after the Cornhuskers' 22-6 victory Saturday in the Big 12 Championship Game.
"If he can read our defense, it must not have been in English today," Jackson said.
Some things you just don't do, like taking a chance on saying something that might send one of the best defensive units in college football into a fighting frenzy.
Applewhite didn't mean it the way it sounded, but his comments earlier this week -- saying the Nebraska defense "wasn't that complicated and it wasn't going to be calculus" -- were taken as a "Major" insult by the Nebraska players.
The result of that ire was an in-your-face performance by the Cornhuskers that punished Applewhite and the Texas offense.
Nebraska had seven sacks spread out among six players, five other tackles for losses and three interceptions in holding the Longhorns scoreless on offense and limiting Applewhite to less than 164 yards passing -- the first time in 22 starts the Texas quarterback has been below 200 yards.
"We weren't real happy about what (Applewhite) said this week," Nebraska linebacker Brian Shaw said. "We have been focused all week to prove we are the better team. We were there in his face when he wasn't expecting it.
"He was getting a lot of misreads today on what we were doing. We would show him one look and give him another. He didn't know where we were coming from. We showed him things he's never seen before."
They also were telling Applewhite things he hadn't heard before when they were knocking him to the turf.
"The first time I hit him, I told him, 'It's good to see you again.' " Jackson said "He was complaining that his offensive line wasn't blocking. I said, 'Yeah, that really stinks, doesn't it?' "
The Applewhite comments were such a sore point with the Nebraska players that defensive coordinator Charlie McBride made sure to bring it up again before the game.
"I used it in my pre-game talk," McBride said. "I know he probably respects our defense, but when I heard what he said, I admit it got me a little touchy. I told our players, 'If (Applewhite) thinks we're easy to read, let's show him how easy it's going to be to get in his face.' We had a major pride factor today. I said, 'I want you guys to come at them so hard that I can see you peel off their eyeballs.' "
The Longhorns totaled only 31 yards on 33 plays in the first half and finished with nine yards rushing -- the lowest total in school history.
The Cornhuskers said it was Applewhite's words that inspired them to play their best defensive game of the season.
"That comment gave us a boost," said cornerback Ralph Brown, who broke up four passes and had an interception. "We couldn't believe a quarterback would say that about us. But he didn't know who was coming at him today are where they were coming from."
Nebraska blitzed on almost every play and rarely gave Applewhite time to get comfortable in the pocket.
"We brought the pressure that we wanted to, and that was the difference," Jackson said. "We knew he would get jittery and throw the ball away."
"The last time we played them we didn't use all our blitzes. We figured we could use our basic defense, but he burned us a few times. This time we felt we had to get in his face. He's not very agile, so we knew he couldn't avoid the pressure."
Nebraska defensive back Mike Brown said the Cornhuskers wanted to demonstrate that their defense is more complex than Applewhite might think.
"People can say what they want to say, but what he said hurt us a little bit," Mike Brown said. "We know our defense isn't that simple. We show people a lot of things, and we did that today. We proved to him early on it wasn't going to be easy. We forced him into some bad throws."
After the 24-20 loss at Austin in October, McBride said he looked at the tape of the Kansas State-Texas game when the Wildcats blitzed on every play and forced Applewhite into numerous mistakes.
"I think we learned something from what Kansas State did to them," McBride said. "I think I did a lousy job of preparing our guys in the first game against Texas. I was way too conservative.
"The biggest thing today was we got in his face and made him move his feet. We took some chances with all the blitzing, but luckily they never were able to come up with the big play."
Jackson said the bottom line was to let Applewhite and the Longhorns know the Cornhuskers still can be a dominant team, despite the three consecutive losses to Texas before Saturday.
"We all wanted this pretty bad," Jackson said. "We wanted to prove to him that we are the better team. They are a good team, but we're better."
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