When the No. 9 Oklahoma football team plays the No. 13 Nebraska Cornhuskers this Saturday for the Big 12 Championship, the Sooners won’t be facing the same team they saw last season.
In 2009, OU traveled to Lincoln, Neb., and lost 10-3 to the Cornhuskers. If this season’s statistics are any indication, the Big 12 Championship game won’t be so low-scoring.
Nebraska is averaging almost 34 points per game this season, as opposed to the 25 it averaged last season. Part of the reason for the offensive improvement by the Cornhuskers is the change at the quarterback position.
Redshirt freshman Taylor Martinez took over the job this season, getting the starting nod over senior quarterback Zac Lee, and has added a new dimension to the Nebraska offense.
The Corona, Calif., native is the Cornhuskers’ second-leading rusher with 1,109 yards on 134 carries, an average of 7.3 yards per carry. Martinez has also thrown 1,435 yards at 59 percent accuracy, making him a true dual-threat player.
Martinez has had some injury issues this year, and it is unclear whether he will start after injuring his ankle. If he doesn’t, his likely replacement would be sophomore Cody Green, the quarterback who started as a true freshman last season against OU.
Green is also a running threat, but OU secondary coach Willie Martinez said Green could be used in combination with sophomore back Rex Burkhead, who has seen action in the Wildcat formation this season.
“It’s just another thing we have to defend, another dual threat,” Martinez said.
Nebraska has had some high-scoring games this season, scoring more than 40 points five times and scoring 50 or more twice. But the Huskers have also proven they can be stopped, as they were against Texas A&M, when they scored only six points in a loss.
One key to stopping the Huskers’ offense will be to stop the running game. Neither Martinez nor Green is a prolific passer, so the running game is the foundation of Nebraska’s offense.
“There’s going to be a lot of downhill running and some zone reads,” senior defensive end Jeremy Beal said.
The zone read means the Sooners will have to watch for Martinez or Green to either hand the ball off, scramble for yards or throw on any given play, but Martinez said it starts with stopping the run.
“The first thing you hear from a defensive coach is that you want to stop the run,” Martinez said. “And they are very good at running the football. And if you’re good at that, it opens up the pass game.”
Kickoff for the Big 12 Championship game is scheduled for 7 p.m. Saturday at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.