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Updated 7:56 AM on Wednesday, October 24, 2007

McGee's impersonation of Lane not bad

By ROBERT CESSNA
Eagle Columnist

Three days after Stephen McGee ran the football like a 277-pound tailback, he was still stealing Jorvorskie Lane's thunder.

McGee had 35 carries for a career-high 167 yards rushing in Texas A&M's 36-14 victory over Nebraska on Saturday. On most of those carries, Nebraska keyed on Lane, who made sure his quarterback knew the Husker ends - 265-pound Barry Turner and 285-pound Zach Potter - were taking free shots at him while McGee kept the ball on A&M's zone read.

McGee just smiled at Tuesday's press conference when asked about it, mimicking Lane's high-pitched frustration in the huddle Saturday.

"His reaction was, 'Ah, man, every play, every play I got hit back there,'" McGee said. "He'd go, 'Man, that boy's big.' [And I'd say], 'Not as big as you.'"

No one wearing Red on Saturday was laughing as McGee and Lane proved unstoppable.

Eight Nebraska defensive linemen combined for only 15 tackles as A&M had 66 rushes for 359 yards. Lane had 130 yards on 15 carries, never getting caught behind the line, while McGee was stopped behind the line only twice on his quarterback school-record 35 carries - and both of those plays were passing plays, not designed runs.

Still, McGee's minus 17 yards on two sacks cost him a chance to break David Walker's single-game school record of 182 yards rushing by a quarterback set in 1977. McGee's 35 carries were a record, bettering Walker's 27 against SMU.

The 220-pound junior quarterback took some of the hardest shots of his career, needing an IV afterward.

"I'm OK with [McGee carrying it 35 times]," said Lane, whose career high is 28 carries.

"After the game, I felt for him a little bit. But 35 carries for a quarterback ... you have to respect him."

Why would A&M head coach Dennis Franchione keep calling McGee's number and subject his quarterback to so much punishment?

Simple: Nebraska couldn't stop him.

"It was a lot, but it was what we did to win the game," Franchione said of McGee's 35 carries. "You know, last year when we played Kansas we threw it 45 times [and] probably called 50-55 passes. So I don't anticipate that'll be an every week deal. It happened in that game because of the circumstances."

Only once before had McGee carried the ball more than 18 times, and it also came in a victory - last year's 12-7 triumph at Texas when he had 24 carries for 108 yards and two touchdowns.

However, A&M has been leaning more and more on McGee's legs.

McGee has 711 yards rushing, already exceeding last year's sophomore total of 666. He's on pace to carry the ball 195 times for 1,333 yards if the Aggies play a bowl game.

A&M's offense is slanted toward the run by more than 100 yards this season.

The Aggies average 260.1 yards rushing, which is fifth in the country, to only 154.8 yards passing, which ranks 111th.

Last year after eight games, A&M was much more balanced and even averaged more yards passing (208.4) than rushing (203.9).

Lane and fellow tailback Mike Goodson have combined for 1,040 yards this year, which is a little better than last year at this juncture (897).

But the big difference is McGee, who had only 365 yards a year ago after eight games.

It will be interesting to see if McGee and A&M can continue to have success running. The next four teams are solid against the run. Oklahoma is fifth in the country, allowing only 68.9 yards per game. Kansas is seventh (78), Texas 11th (89.4) and Missouri 28th (116.9).

In 10 of his 22 starts, McGee alone has rushed for more yardage than Kansas is allowing.

And the Jayhawks know it. KU defensive end Russell Brorsen said stopping McGee will be vital.

"That's going to be a whole other dimension to their offense that we haven't really seen this year because he will take off, and he is very fast," Brorsen said. "So you have to keep an eye on him."

Kansas was one of the teams that was able to keep McGee's legs under control last season, holding him to 30 yards rushing on 12 carries. McGee countered by going 25-of-45 passing for 240 yards in rallying the Aggies to a 21-18 victory.

Ironically, that's the only time McGee has thrown more passes than 35 - his number of carries last week - in a single game.

But he doesn't care about the method, only the result.

"If it means we're gonna win, I'll run it 40," McGee said.

If he does have to run it 40 times, he doesn't expect any kindness from his blockers, who had to block 88 times last week.

"They don't feel sorry for me at all," said McGee, who will have to wait to hear Lane's impersonation of him.

"I'll save it for next week," Lane said. "I'm going to work on it a little bit."

McGee has shown a knack for beating teams with his arm when they take away his legs.

Oklahoma State held McGee to 43 yards rushing on nine carries earlier this month, but McGee was 17-of-26 passing for 192 yards in the 24-23 victory.

McGee's worst rushing effort as a starter was minus 12 yards on eight carries against Missouri last year, but he was 19-of-23 passing in leading the Aggies to a 25-19 victory.

The only Division I quarterback with more rushing yards than McGee is Michael Desormeaux of Louisiana-Lafayette, who has 151 carries for 883 yards.

Desormeaux plays at Tennessee this week but closes with Middle Tennessee State, Florida International and Louisiana-Monroe, which is a shadow of the competition awaiting McGee.

Florida quarterback Tim Tebow has five more carries than McGee, but Tebow averages 4.6 yards per carry, while McGee's average is 5.9.

Fans and media members often speculate about McGee's durability. Tebow (6-3, 235) is comparable in size to McGee, and it's safe to say defenses in the Southeastern Conference hit just as hard as those in the Big 12. Tebow, however, is expected to run, and his durability never seems to be an issue.

Tight end Martellus Bennett and cornerback Jordan Peterson, who missed the Nebraska game with injuries, are expected back Saturday. A&M used backup safety Stephen Hodge some at cornerback last week with Peterson out.

Second-year defensive coordinator Gary Darnell said he couldn't ask much more out of senior linebacker Mark Dodge.

"He doesn't drive me home or nothing like that, and my lawn needs mowing, but other than that ..." Darnell said. "He's fun to watch, and [linebacker] Misi [Tupe] is the same way."

Darnell is also high on true freshman defensive end Von Miller, who is becoming a force for the Aggies.

Darnell compared KU quarterback Todd Reesing (5-11, 200) to former Boston College great Doug Flutie, while Franchione compared Reesing to Missouri quarterback Chase Daniel.

n Robert Cessna's e-mail address is robert.cessna@theeagle.com.