Washington did what Arizona State had done in upsetting top-ranked Nebraska football the previous season. The Huskies’ defense crowded the line of scrimmage to stop the run.
What it didn’t do, however, was cover Husker center Josh Heskew. And “if the center isn’t covered, we should be able to run almost any play we have,” Heskew said.
Heskew spoke following the Huskers’ 27-14 upset of second-ranked or third-ranked (depending on the poll) Washington in Seattle, Nebraska’s third win in the 1997 season. The Huskers were ranked sixth or seventh. The last time they had defeated a higher-ranked opponent on the road was 1985, at Oklahoma State, 34-24. The Cowboys were fifth-ranked, Nebraska ninth.
Washington’s defense ranked first nationally against the run, a misleading statistic, possibly, because the Huskies’ victories had come against pass-oriented Brigham Young and San Jose State. Still, they won those games by a combined score of 80-23.
Husker guard Aaron Taylor, who would win the Outland Trophy that season, said beforehand the game would be won up front, “with the offensive and defensive lines.”
Nebraska rushed for 384 yards, including 129 each by I-back Ahman Green and fullback Joel Makovicka. Quarterback Scott Frost carried 18 times for 97 yards and two touchdowns. He completed 8-of-15 passes for 88 yards, without an interception. Green scored the other touchdown, and Kris Brown kicked field goals from 20 and 31 yards in the fourth quarter.
Both Washington touchdowns came on passes by freshman Marques Tuiasosopo. The Huskies’ starting quarterback, Brock Huard, left the game in the second quarter with an ankle sprain and watched the second half from the sideline in street clothes.
Nebraska dominated time of possession, 34:31 to 25:29, and ran 81 plays to Washington’s 58.
Offensively, the Huskers did some things “we hadn’t shown,” Tom Osborne said. “But I don’t want to say we pulled a fast one here. Most of the stuff we ran was base. But we did have three or four plays that we hadn’t shown before.”
Those plays “worked pretty well,” he said.
Washington took the opening kickoff and drove to the Nebraska 16-yard line. But after Huard tried to get the Huskers to jump offside on fourth-and-2, the Huskies’ Randy Jones attempted a 33-yard field goal. It went left. Nebraska took over and drove 80 yards on six plays, the last a 34-yard Frost touchdown run.
On its next possession, Nebraska drove 56 yards on 10 plays, the last a 30-yard Frost touchdown run. Just over 13 minutes into the game, the Huskers led 14-0.
Green ran 4 yards for Nebraska’s third touchdown midway through the second quarter, before Washington finally got on the board with the first of Tuiasosopo’s touchdown passes. He would finish 12-of-22 for 270 yards and the touchdowns, without an interception.
Not that Tuiasosopo and Huard weren’t pressured. The Huskers had 13 quarterback hurries and four sacks, one each by Jay Foreman, Chad Kelsay, Mike Rucker and Eric Johnson.
Foreman was Nebraska’s leading tackler with nine.
Tuiasosopo’s second touchdown pass came late in the third quarter to cut the lead to 21-14. Brown’s field goals in the fourth quarter sealed the upset and moved Nebraska to third in the rankings.
Prior to the game, Grant Wistrom, Nebraska’s All-America rush end who would win the Lombardi Trophy in 1997, said, given the performance the previous week against Central Florida, “Maybe we’re not as good as we thought we would be.”
Then again, maybe the Huskers were.
Washington, which finished 8-4 and ranked 18th, would surely agree. Heskew had been right.
