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Updated 6:42 AM on Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Fortunes reversed for Aggies, Huskers

A decade ago the Nebraska Cornhuskers defeated Texas A&M to win the Big 12 Championship at the Alamodome before a national television audience.

Nebraska proceeded to win the national championship, which was the third for head coach Tom Osborne, who retired and was replaced by longtime assistant Frank Solich.

A&M rebounded from that 54-15 thumping to win the school's only Big 12 title the following year, beating Kansas State in double overtime.

Those certainly were better days for both programs.

The loser of Saturday's A&M-Nebraska game will be lucky to make it back to San Antonio for the Alamo Bowl. A&M (5-2 overall, 2-1 Big 12) is in a four-way tie for first place in the South, but four Top 20 teams are next, making Nebraska a must-win game for the Aggies.

Free-falling Nebraska (4-3, 1-2) has been outscored 86-20 in the last two games. The school on Monday fired athletic director Steve Pederson, who hired embattled head football coach Bill Callahan, who is 26-18 overall, including 14-14 in the Big 12. Callahan's fate will be determined by the new athletic director, and beating A&M would be a good start toward impressing the new boss.

A&M has its own distractions. Head coach Dennis Franchione has been under fire since it was reported he e-mailed a secret newsletter to a select group of boosters.

Franchione already was under scrutiny for not elevating the program's status. Franchione is 30-25 in five years, including a 17-18 conference record.

You'll have to listen to Saturday's game on the radio to form your own picture of the coaches' emotions, because the Big 12's television partners passed on it in favor of four other games.

Don't fret. Both teams will be on television next week, but only one coach will be coming off a much-needed victory.

Win or lose, Callahan said he must remain the same, which is important for the players, who are looking to him for leadership.

"They've tried to remain [as] focused as possible," Callahan said. "It's tough on everybody, and that's an honest opinion. I think our players see a lot of things out there and they read a lot of things.

"I've mentioned that before they're only human. You can't help but to hear those things. I can't focus on that and neither can our players. We've got to remain focused on the task at hand and that's the preparation for Texas A&M."

The 51-year-old Callahan, who replaced Solich, has the background to mentally handle this. He was a Big Ten assistant for 12 years and worked for Oakland Raiders' owner Al Davis for five years.

"You've just got to maintain poise and confidence and believe in what you're doing," he said.

Franchione's demeanor hasn't changed, even though this is something he's never encountered at this level. The 56-year-old Franchione has coached at seven universities or colleges, each time moving on to a better job.

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A&M cornerback Danny Gorrer, who was injured late against Texas Tech, tore his left anterior cruciate ligament and will miss the rest of the season.

The junior from Port Arthur Memorial, who has made 24 career starts, will rehabilitate the knee for a couple of weeks before surgery.

"Danny was really starting to play well and come into his own," Franchione said during Monday's Big 12 conference. "I'm sad for him."

Sophomore Jordan Peterson (13 career starts) and junior Arkeith Brown (2 career starts) will replace Gorrer, Franchione said.

Senior offensive guard Chris Yoder, who was injured in the first half against Tech, "will be out for a little bit," Franchione said.

Yoder (19 career starts) was replaced by sophomore Michael Shumard, who has never started a game.

Depth in the offensive line was one of the team's strengths, but junior offensive tackle Yemi Babalola (19 career starts) hasn't played since getting hurt against Miami.

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Tech coach Mike Leach won his sixth game in eight tries against the Aggies.

He's an offensive-minded coach with the statistics to prove it, but he's also willing to be conservative -Êif he thinks he has the better team and conditions dictate it.

Leach didn't have his offense go for it on fourth down Saturday for the first time in 11 games.

He punted on fourth and 3 from his 37 with the game scoreless, and he punted on fourth and 2 from his 39 after A&M scored. Both times there were boos. He also punted on fourth and 2 from his 36 on Tech's first second-half possession.

Tech fans also grew restless with the Red Raiders running the football in the first quarter, even though they faced a 20 mph wind and an A&M defense geared up to stop the pass.

The Red Raiders ended up with 108 yards rushing on 29 carries -Êboth figures were the third most by a Leach team against A&M.

My guess is radio talk shows in Lubbock on Monday weren't critical of Leach, who also opted to give A&M the wind to start the third quarter. He wanted to make sure his high-powered offense had the wind in the fourth quarter.

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A&M's home game with 15th-ranked Kansas on Oct. 27 will be televised by ESPN2 at 6 p.m. The league's other TV games that day will be Colorado at Texas Tech, 11 a.m. (ABC) and Nebraska at Texas, 2:30 p.m. (ABC).

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The Big 12 players of the week were Oklahoma State running back Dantrell Savage, Oklahoma linebacker Curtis Lofton and Kansas State place-kicker Brooks Rossman.

Savage had 212 yards rushing on 20 carries in a 45-14 victory over Nebraska. Lofton had 18 tackles and returned a fumble 12 yards for a touchdown in a 41-31 victory over Missouri. Rossman had four field goals in a 47-20 victory over Colorado.

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My fingers turned slightly maroon Monday when I wrote one T-shirt Tech fans wore Saturday had "beating Tech" on the front, and the back had "as if A&M needed another tradition." The shirt had "losing to Tech" on the front.

Maybe my subconscious was attempting to start a new tradition.

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A few Aggies are hopeful that A&M wins Saturday, but the Cornhuskers then win out, because of Tim Cassidy, Nebraska's associate AD for football.

The popular Cassidy, who made two stops at A&M totaling 19 years, has been at Nebraska for Callahan's four years.

His oldest son, Austin, is a freshman walk-on defensive back for the Huskers.