Longhorns Roll Left and Over Nebraska

I have to admit it. I was a skeptic. Then "Steelers Roll Left" came along and altered all noteworthy human events from now until eternity. OK, it was "just" the national championship picture.

Going into last Saturday's inaugural Big Twelve championship game--to be precise and pay homage to the corporate sponsor, the Dr. Pepper championship game--between Texas and Nebraska, I thought the Horns had about the same shot of winning as the proverbial snowball in hell.

There was a better chance, it seemed, of someone coming out of the closet at an N.R.A. meeting. Basically, I was going to be besides myself if the 20.5-point underdogs covered the spread.

There had been enough bad blood between the two programs to get Nebraska riled up. Texas quarterback James Brown's victory prediction was just the latest episode in this feud.

It began a couple of years ago, when four teams left the Southwest Conference to merge with the Big Eight to form the Big Twelve (or Dirty Dozen, as those left behind called it). The two schools first clashed when Texas led a successful campaign to outlaw Prop 48 athletes which Nebraska opposed.

In front of a crowd dominated by Nebraska red, the Longhorns won again, this time on the field, 37-27. The upset was historic for even a school with as great a football tradition as U.T., which has won three national championships, including in back-to-back seasons in 1969 and '70.

Back then, Texas was the biggest, baddest (and slightly scandal-prone) program which stomped inferior teams with a relentless wishbone attack. Now, Texas was seemingly mired in another mediocre year peppered by losses to ranked teams.

Now, it was Nebraska who had the unstoppable triple option offense and the aura. It was Nebraska going for a third straight title. It was Nebraska with the out-of-control image; star linebacker Terrell Farley was suspended for his second D.U.I., and departed tailback Lawrence Phillips personified a domestic violence problem.

But subplots aside, it all came down to Texas quarterback James Brown doing what a leader does. His Jimmy-the-Greek-like prediction, teammates later said, gave the team needed confidence.

Brown then backed it up by throwing for 353 yards against the fourth-ranked defense in the country. Nebraska was so intimidating because of the intense pressure it put on QBs.

The defensive end duo of Grant Wistrom and Jared Tomich was enough to make any mortal quarterback's pants get a little heavier.

But in true Texas fashion, Brown stood by his guns, and Texas won a thriller. After a back-and-forth game which neither team led by more than seven, Brown completed a 66-yard touchdown to Wayne McGarity that gave the Horns a lead it wouldn't surrender with 8:53 left.

Still, the decision wasn't finalized until Texas coach John Mackovic, who must have the biggest cajones this side of the Rio Grande, made one of the gutsiest calls ever.

On fourth-and-two-inches from his own 29, Mackovic went for it despite being up by three with two minutes left. It was the right decision because Nebraska's huge offensive line had been wearing down Texas. But who would get the ball? The hot running back, Priest Holmes? A quarterback sneak perhaps?

Nope. This is when the play known as "Steelers Roll Left" took its place in college football history. Brown faked it to Holmes, who was swallowed up by Nebraska's "D," then rolled left. He later said he could have run for the first down, but he lofted the ball over the Nebraska defenders instead.

Standing at the end of the rainbow, waiting for the pot of gold, was tight end--back-up and designated blocker tight end--Derek Lewis, who romped 61 yards to the Huskers' 10-yard line. The next play, Holmes's third touchdown, ended the Huskers' hopes for an unprecedented third straight national championship.

Texas, a top ten team earlier this year, salvaged a season when it suffered four losses in a five-week stretch and dropped out of the top 25. It took a seemingly unbeatable team head-on and won without any questionable calls or lucky breaks.

But the victory symbolized much more. Three years ago, Brown went to Texas although many people advised him to go elsewhere. They'll never play a black quarterback there, especially one who ran the option in high school, the doubters said. But he remained confident in his abilities--"I can throw the ball and will be the starter," he said.

So he did, setting a Longhorn career record for touchdown passes and beginning his career as a starter 15-1-1. Brown took the job away from the number one quarterback prospect in the country coming out of high school, Shea Morenz, midway through his first season.

I hope that somewhere, a kid saw the game and said to himself, "I can succeed no matter what people say." All jokes about his name aside, James Brown showed us why sports is so great. When it came down to crunch time, he simply put the load of an entire state's hopes on his shoulders and then took everyone else along for a magical ride.

Bryan Lee, a freshman out of Houston, brings his 4.4-speed to his column, which draws its name from a cosmic interaction between his fas unsername (blee) and the Houston Rockets' slogan during their championship years. He wrote his application essay about Jerry Rice and will name his fistborn son after the wide reciever. He bleeds burnt orange.