By RICHARD CROOME
Eagle Columnist

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It was almost as if the Oklahoma State players were jumping up and down alongside coach Mike Gundy with their arms flailing, begging to be put into the game so they could be part of the onslaught against the "Blackshirts" of Nebraska last week. Cowboys were practically tripping over themselves to get on the field for their chance to play at the famed Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Neb.

Oklahoma State scored 38 points in the first half. The Cornhusker volleyball team doesn't give up 38 points in some of its matches.

And all of this happened on the weekend the Cornhuskers celebrated their last national championship, which was culminated by holding the Peyton Manning-led Tennessee Volunteers to 17 points -- 28 less than the Zac Robinson-led OSU Cowboys scored last Saturday.

It also was homecoming for Nebraska, which hadn't lost to Oklahoma State at Memorial Stadium since 1960. But none of that seemed relevant as the Cowboys' skill players were running as free as they do during pre-game drills.

The Cornhuskers gave up 40 or more points three times under Tom Osborne. Since Osborne retired, they have surrendered at least 40 points 14 times. Four of those 40-plus debacles have come this season, including three at home. Southern Cal scored 49 at Memorial Stadium and won. Ball State scored 40 and lost. OSU hit 45 and sent Nebraska athletics into a tailspin, with the school firing athletic director Steve Pederson and bringing back Osborne to serve as interim AD.

Now the Aggies come in, with an offense that has stalled in five of its last six halves (the Baylor game doesn't count; just look at what Kansas did to the Bears last week).

By their own admission, last week was "disappointing" for the Aggies on offense. Offensive coordinator Les Koenning Jr.'s word for the week to put it in perspective was "explosives" -- or lack thereof.

Koenning classifies explosives as runs of at least 10 yards and passes of at least 15 yards.

Oklahoma State had 19 explosives against Nebraska, with four other plays finishing just 1 yard short of Koenning's criteria. Throw them in and the Cowboys had 23 very productive plays in 71 snaps at Memorial Stadium. And one has to figure that Gundy, being the kind who doesn't like to see young players embarrassed, called off the dogs pretty early in the second half.

A&M had four explosives in Miami. In Lubbock, the Aggies had eight with five coming on the first two drives and the longest a 20-yard run by Mike Goodson.

If the Aggies can't produce more big plays against Nebraska, they are sunk.

The good news is that it's the perfect matchup from an Aggies' point of view offensively.

A&M's option-based ground game, second only to Oklahoma State statistically in the Big 12, gets to work against an inexperienced defensive line and defense allowing a league-low 5.1 yards per carry. Baylor's rush defense (11th in the Big 12) is more than a yard better per carry than the Cornhuskers.

"[A&M] is a big option team. Option is responsibility football," Nebraska defensive coordinator Kevin Cosgrove said Tuesday between dodging questions about his future and that of the recently fired Pederson. "We had a few problems, which was obvious, and we're trying to clear it up."

Outside of bringing defensive ends Adam Carriker and Jay Moore back from their NFL teams, it's unlikely one week is enough time for Nebraska to clean up its problems on defense.

A&M senior guard Kirk Elder more or less noted that when watching film, being impressed with how the OSU line got through the front four and to the Cornhusker linebackers. That means the defensive line wasn't doing its job, and the stats this season might suggest that line can't do its job.

It won't be doing it in black this Saturday. The Cornhusker defenders have played so poorly by their standards that they took off their traditional black practice jerseys earlier this week, a symbolic gesture Nebraska will try to use for motivation.

Last year, A&M rushed for 155 yards against Carriker, Moore and players like linebacker Bo Ruud, who is still around. The Aggies threw for 288 yards, one of its best showings in the last two seasons, but fell 28-27 on last-second heroics by Maurice Purify and Zac Taylor.

A good chunk of that rushing yardage came on two "explosives," and if the Aggies are to stay in the mix for the Big 12 South crown, the offensive line, which was highly touted as the strength of the team coming into the season, will have to perform much like OSU's.

• Richard Croome's e-mail address is richard.croome@theeagle.com.

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