College Football
Monday, December 6
Nebraska remains positive about Fiesta
Associated Press

SAN ANTONIO -- Nebraska is headed back to the Fiesta Bowl.

The No. 3 Cornhuskers found out officially Sunday that their 22-6 win over Texas in the Big 12 championship game Saturday at the Alamodome was not enough to pass up No. 2 Virginia Tech in the final Bowl Championships Series ratings.

"I did not look at it closely enough to have a feel for it," Nebraska coach Frank Solich said during a teleconference Sunday. "But what I was hearing before the conference championship game was that even if we beat Texas, it would not be enough to get us into the national championship game."

Nebraska (11-1) will play defending national champion Tennessee (9-2) on Jan. 2 in Tempe, Ariz. Although the game won't be for the national title, all is not lost for either team. Nebraska, as Big 12 champion, was guaranteed a BCS bowl and the payoff of about $12.5 million that comes with it. And No. 6 Tennessee is a Sugar Bowl-caliber team, Solich said.

"They were picked at the beginning of the year to possibly be a repeat national championship team. You add all that up and you know that's going to be a great football team," Solich said. "I know the organization. Coach Fulmer is a tremendous football coach. Their program is tremendously solid and I think they're going to continue to produce great football teams."

Nebraska came out of Saturday's game with a lot of injuries. All-conference tight end Tracey Wistrom didn't dress because of a knee injury and starting running back Dan Alexander had to leave the game to get stitches on the palm of his right hand. Solich said the list keeps going, so the team is backing off to three practices a week in the near future.

"You've got to give them a little time off. They really need to get their energy level back. We have got finals coming up in a week's time, so there's a lot in front of them right now," Solich said.

The Huskers' last appearance in the Fiesta Bowl was after the 1995 season, when they routed Florida for their second straight national championship. Nebraska has only played Tennessee once, beating the Volunteers 42-17 in the Orange Bowl two years ago to clinch a share the Huskers' third national title of the decade.

Nebraska was hoping to win a fourth title this season. After stumbling at Texas in a loss in October, the Huskers gradually moved back up in the BCS standings by continuing to win and getting some upsets in other games. But, Nebraska lost ground again after the final game of the regular season by letting a 24-point lead slip away in the fourth quarter at Colorado before winning in overtime, 33-30.

Computer experts predicted last week that Tech's 1.54 lead in the BCS standings -- a combination of polls, computer rankings, strength of schedule and losses -- was too much for Nebraska to overcome. They were right. Tech's final BCS rating was 6.12 points, still well ahead of Nebraska's 7.42 points.

The Huskers said all week they would worry first about Texas and let the BCS take care of itself. Nebraska took care of the Longhorns, who were the only team to beat the Huskers this year, by shutting down All-Big 12 quarterback and conference player of the year Major Applewhite. Nebraska sacked Applewhite seven times and didn't allow an offensive touchdown for the fourth time this year.

Quarterback Eric Crouch rushed for two touchdowns, Correll Buckhalter rushed for 136 yards and Josh Brown kicked two field goals for the Huskers, who had lost three straight to Texas.

The Cornhuskers were disappointed that they wouldn't be playing for another national championship, but tried to remain positive after winning their second Big 12 title, something no other team has done in the league's four-year existence.

"If you think about it, there's not a team on our schedule that we didn't beat this year. As far as this football team is concerned, we're probably one of the best teams in the country," Crouch said. "The system's going plug those things out. We've got to go with what we've got."

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