Jon Zatechka scored Nebraska football’s second touchdown in the second-ranked Huskers’ 29-0 victory against Texas Tech at Memorial Stadium in mid-October 1997.
No, that’s not a misprint: Jon Zatechka, the right offensive guard.
With 4:59 remaining in the third quarter, Zatechka fell on Ahman Green’s fumble in the end zone to finish a nine-play, 85-yard drive. It was Zatechka’s first, and last, career touchdown.
It was Green’s only mistake on an afternoon with temperatures in the mid-60s. For the fifth-consecutive game, Green rushed for more than 100 yards, this time 178 on 24 carries. He also scored the game’s final touchdown on a 7-yard run, capping a 12-play, 80-yard drive.
“Today, offensively, we just basically played smash-mouth football,” Green said. “It wasn’t a big score with big runs. It was basically hike the ball, 4, 5 yards and a pile of dust all day long.
“It was a basic football day … something that football’s all about.”
Nebraska’s first touchdown came on a 10-play, 71-yard drive, finished off by Scott Frost’s 3-yard pass to fullback Joel Makovicka, with 8:09 remaining in the second quarter.
Kris Brown kicked field goals of 32, 41 and 35 yards.
“I’m pleased with the way we played today,” Coach Tom Osborne said. “Defensively, we did an outstanding job. Any time you don’t let anybody score, you obviously had a great day. We decreased the number of big plays against us. The pass coverage was good. The run defense was solid, and we just made fewer mistakes. I’m satisfied with that progress.”
Texas Tech only managed 127 yards of offense, including 17 rushing on 26 carries. Four of those “carries” were quarterback sacks for 30 yards in losses, so the Red Raiders actually rushed for 47 yards on 22 carries. Carlos Polk, Jason Peter, Octavious McFarlin and Jason Wiltz had the sacks.
Rover Mike Brown was the Huskers’ leading tackler, with nine.
Nebraska had 446 yards of offense, on 81 snaps for the second-consecutive game, including 400 rushing. Frost was 5-of-12 passing for 46 yards and the touchdown, with one interception. He rushed for 83 yards on 19 carries, however, taking one sack.
The Huskers’ longest play was a 26-yard Frost pass to wingback Lance Brown.
“Offensively, we went against a good defense,” said Osborne. “My main concern going into the game was that Texas Tech had really played outstanding defense the last couple of weeks. They are a real solid unit, and we really had to work to get our yards. The wind was strong enough that it affected the passing game a little bit. Their corners are good and they blanket you and they don’t give you much to throw at.
“Fortunately, we were able to run the ball.”
Top-ranked Penn State edged Minnesota 16-15 that afternoon, causing Osborne to field the question if he thought Nebraska would move past the Nittany Lions in the polls.
“I don’t know. I don’t want to get into that stuff,” he said. “I get so tired of coaches saying, ‘We deserve this.’ What do we deserve? We played well today and that’s what we try to do. I think we have a good team, and I think we are playing well. We are not unbeatable. We didn’t run away from these guys. We have to play well every week.”
Do the Huskers have the mentality of a top-ranked team?
“I sure hope so,” Osborne said. “We’ll have to see what happens.”
What happened in the short term was Nebraska climbed past Penn State to the top spot. What happened in the long term? You should know the answer.
But this season is only half over.
