In a Rush to the Top : With Quarterbacks Hurting, Nebraska Gives the Ball to Phillips . . . and Gives It to Him . . . and Gives It to Him

BOULDER, Colo. — The amazing thing isn’t that Colorado defensive coordinator Mike Hankwitz and his staff are spending two solid days watching videotape of Nebraska’s offense, better known as I-back Lawrence Phillips.

What is amazing is that after viewing the nation’s third-leading rusher, they still have an appetite.

Sitting in a cramped meeting room, the conference table covered with open videocassette boxes, notes and diagrams from the morning session, Hankwitz picks at his plate of lukewarm stir-fry chicken. In between bites he explains how Phillips, the sophomore from Baldwin Park High, has kept the quarterback-impaired Cornhusker offense from collapse.

“One of the premier running backs in the country,” Hankwitz said with a sigh. “He’s a typical Nebraska I-back. He’s an aggressive runner, but they’ve always had tough running backs. They have the ability to make you miss, but they’re not going to put five moves on you. They’re going to give you a move and then go north-south.”

Few runners have a better sense of direction that Phillips, who doesn’t need a compass to know that ‘north-south’ in coach-talk means end zones. In only eight games, Phillips has rushed for 12 touchdowns. He has gained 1,242 yards, averaged 6.8 yards per carry, and his eight consecutive games of 100 yards or more tie a Nebraska record set in 1950.

If Phillips keeps this pace, he could finish with about 1,800 yards, which would give him the second-best season in Nebraska history, no small feat considering the list includes Heisman Trophy winner Mike Rozier, Derek Brown, Jeff Kinney, I.M. Hipp, Keith Jones, Calvin Jones, Bob Reynolds and Ken Clark.

“Average player,” said Bob Simmons, Colorado’s assistant head coach.

Simmons smiles when he says it.

Earlier in the morning, when Simmons and Hankwitz were clicking the VCR control button back and forth, watching Nebraska’s signature dive plays, counter traps and fabled “43 toss,” they saw the ghost of Cornhusker I-backs past. They saw a little of Rozier in Phillips’ running style.

“That’s exactly what we said,” Simmons said. “It don’t look like he’s running, but you don’t catch him. He’s smooth. He’s got that long gait.”

“Yeah, he’s the difference,” Hankwitz said. “He may not look like a fast guy, but you know he’s running.”

West Virginia knows. Phillips gained 126 yards against the Mountaineers in the Kickoff Classic. He got 175 against Texas Tech, 178 against UCLA, 138 against Pacific in only nine tries, 168 against Wyoming, 221 against Oklahoma State, 126 against Kansas State’s eight-man front and 110 against Missouri in only two quarters.

You yawn--typical Nebraska stuff. After all, isn’t this the state with three seasons: planting season, harvest season and 1,000-yard seasons?

But this is different, mainly because the Cornhuskers are down to their last experienced scholarship quarterback. Preseason Heisman candidate Tommie Frazier is out for the season after doctors discovered a blood clot behind his right knee Sept. 25. Frazier’s replacement, Brook Berringer, the only remaining scholarship quarterback with any appreciable playing time, suffered a partially collapsed lung against Wyoming Oct. 1 and now wears enough body armor “that I look like Robo-Cop,” he said.

Meanwhile, Berringer’s backup, walk-on Matt Turman, injured his shoulder last week and is out. True freshman Monte Christo is back after sitting out six weeks because of torn ligaments in his throwing hand, but an appearance against No. 2-ranked Colorado isn’t exactly what the Cornhuskers are hoping for.

After Christo, Coach Tom Osborne can choose from wingback Clester Johnson, wide receiver Ryan Held, former student manager Andy Kucera and walk-on Trent Schlaka. If that doesn’t work, there’s always Our Lady of Lourdes . . . or Phillips, who seems heaven-sent for third-ranked Nebraska.

“It’s not like I think God is sitting up there saying, ‘I’m gonna zap the quarterback,’ ” left tackle Rob Zatechka said.

Maybe not, but with Berringer’s status in question and the rest of the quarterbacking depth chart in disarray, Phillips has become the logical centerpiece of the Cornhusker offense. He has help. Nebraska’s offensive line, the best at Lincoln in the last five years, is bigger than some farm machinery.

But for all its people-moving skills, Zatechka and Co. can do only so much. The rest is up to Phillips, who has quietly moved himself into Heisman contention, though you wouldn’t know it by talking to him. Ask him about his national profile and you get polite indifference.

“I guess,” Phillips said with a shrug. “I’ve seen me on TV a couple of times.”

Mostly he sees Colorado’s Rashaan Salaam, or Alcorn State’s Steve McNair, or Washington’s Napoleon Kaufman on the weekly updates. Phillips is the Heisman afterthought.

“That’s fine,” Phillips said. “I don’t really get upset because I don’t get mentioned. I’m proud of what I’ve done at Nebraska.”

He ought to be. Against Kansas State, Phillips not only faced an eight-man defensive line, but found himself the center of attention on every option play. The Wildcats didn’t even bother assigning a defender to the quarterback, which is unheard of. Instead, they followed Phillips’ every move.

“They’d put both guys on the pitch man,” Zatechka said, “and he’d still gets 100 yards a game.”

Colorado runs the only true 3-4 defense in the Big Eight Conference, so a repeat of Kansas State’s scheme isn’t likely. But Phillips has the Buffaloes’ attention and Colorado has his.

When Phillips arrived for the weekly Nebraska news conference earlier in the week, he wore a black and gold Colorado baseball cap. So did his buddy, all-American linebacker Ed Stewart.

“I just want to think about them a lot,” Phillips said.

Nobody on campus seems to mind the fashion statement. In fact, hardly anybody has noticed Phillips or his hat. It seems to be a trend.

“I don’t think people know I’m on the football team,” he said.

They will if he somehow leads undefeated Nebraska past unbeaten Colorado in Lincoln on Saturday morning.

“I think they’ll be surprised if they think all we can do is run,” Phillips said.

Uh, Lawrence, at the moment that’s all Nebraska can do. The Cornhuskers are No. 1 nationally in rushing offense (390 yards per game) and No. 101 in passing (110.8 average). And if Berringer, one of the few Cornhuskers somewhat familiar with the concept of the forward pass, gets hurt, then look for Phillips to run until he or Colorado drops.

This isn’t new to Phillips. Earlier in the season, when Frazier’s blood clot was diagnosed, the senior quarterback cornered Phillips and told him to expect more carries. He wasn’t kidding. With Frazier in the lineup, Phillips never rushed more than 24 times in a game. Without Frazier, Phillips hasn’t carried the ball fewer than 27 times.

“And the funny thing is, I haven’t been as sore as I think I should have been,” said Phillips, who has dipped only his sprained left thumb into the whirlpool after recent games.

Phillips’ performances haven’t gone unnoticed by his teammates. They see his left thumb, which is swollen twice the size of his right. They heard Osborne call him, “the one-armed man,” which was the coach’s way of complimenting him for playing hurt. They heard the hits on each of his 33 carries against Oklahoma State and 31 against Kansas State.

Stewart, who says he knew Phillips could play the very first time he saw him in practice, gives him the edge over Calvin Jones and Derek Brown, who both collect NFL paychecks. Phillips, six feet and 200 pounds, has the power of Jones and the speed of Brown. “And he will run over you if he catches you slipping,” Stewart said.

No need to tell that to Hankwitz and Simmons. They’ve got calluses on their fingers from pressing the reverse button on that VCR. Each time they see the same thing: “They’re going to let their best player make plays,” Hankwitz said.

Nebraska’s best player is Phillips, the semi-reluctant star. And so what if Phillips didn’t ruin Hankwitz’s lunch? He can do worse. He can ruin his Saturday.

LAWRENCE PHILLIPS

RUSHING STATISTICS

Opponent Car. Yds Avg TD West Va. 24 126 5.3 0 Tex. Tech 19 175 9.2 2 UCLA 19 178 9.4 1 Pacific 9 138 15.3 1 Wyoming 27 168 6.2 3 Okla. St. 33 221 6.7 3 Kan. St. 31 126 4.1 1 Missouri 22 110 5.0 1 Total 184 1,242 6.8 12