Nebraska into Big 12 title game with dramatic win over Aggies

Football Betting Lines

11/12/2006 - College Station, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Zac Taylor threw a nine-yard touchdown pass to Maurice Purify with 21 seconds remaining, as Nebraska upset No. 24 Texas A&M, 28-27, to clinch first place in the Big 12 North Division and earn a spot in the conference championship game for first time since 1999.

The Cornhuskers (8-3, 5-2 Big 12) blew a 14-point lead in the second quarter and Texas A&M finally went ahead on a one-yard TD run by Jorvorskie Lane with 7:28 remaining. The Aggies capitalized on a spectacular 44-yard catch by Chad Schroeder to move inside the red zone, and after the TD run, Stephen McGee threw to Martel Bennett for the two-point conversion for a 27-21 Aggies lead.

That lead looked to be in jeopardy on Nebraska's next drive, but Taylor's pass was intercepted by linebacker Mark Dodge at the Huskers 45. The Aggies then looked to put the game away on a 42-yard field goal, but Layne Neumann's attempt was blocked with 1:57 left to give Nebraska life.

The Huskers final drive was the deciding factor. Taylor converted a 4th-and-3 with a 22-yard pass to Todd Peterson to move the ball to the A&M 46. Purify's catch was preceded by a personal foul against the Aggies' Marques Thornton, who was whistled for roughing the passer on 3rd-and-10. The Huskers capitalized, as Purify fought off two defenders in the back of the end zone to haul in the deciding score.

The Aggies couldn't move past their own 40 in the waning seconds.

Taylor finished 21-of-35 passing for 267 yards, with two touchdowns and one interception for the Cornhuskers, who were coming off a 34-20 win against Missouri last Saturday.

Peterson led the receiving corps, hauling in seven passes for 82 yards and one score, while Cody Glenn ran for a pair of touchdowns.

McGee threw for 244 yards on 18-of-31 passing for the Aggies (8-3, 4-3), were failed to rebound from a tough a 17-16 loss to Oklahoma last weekend. McGee also added 58 yards on the ground and rushed for one score.

Mike Goodson finished with 80 yards rushing on 11 carries and one touchdown, while Lane, who wasn't a factor until late, also had a score, ending with just 13 yards rushing on six carries.

Even with the loss, the Aggies are still on course for their most successful campaign since the 1988 championship squad went 11-3.

The Huskers racked up 243 yards in the first 30 minutes of play to open a commanding lead.

After both teams traded punts to open the game, Nebraska got on the scoreboard on its next possession. The Huskers went 66 yards on 11 plays, capped by Glenn's two-yard burst to make it 7-0 with 5:58 left in the first quarter.

The Aggies responded with a score on the next series, set up by Kerry Franks' 47-yard catch. Goodson followed up two plays later by rumbling 22 yards to the end zone.

The Huskers came back with a scoring drive that bridged the first and second quarters, ending on a six-yard TD run by Glenn on the opening play of the second.

Nebraska added another score with 11 minutes left on the clock in the first half, as Peterson's four-yard scramble gave his team a 21-7 edge.

The Aggies cut the lead to 21-10 with 16 seconds remaining in the half, as Neumann connected on a 37-yard field goal.

Trailing late in the third quarter, Texas A&M rallied to score 17 points and take the lead.

First, Goodson stepped up on a crucial third-down play, taking the handoff and breaking several tackles to get himself into the open field. Huskers linebacker Bo Ruud made a touchdown-saving tackle by knocking Goodson out of bounds, but not before the freshman racked up a huge gain of 54 yards. Four plays later Neumann split the uprights from 20 yards out to make it a 21-13 game with 16 ticks remaining until the fourth quarter.

Then, after another Nebraska punt, McGee sprinted up the field and went 57 yards to the end zone, exploiting an assignment breakdown by the Huskers. The Aggies followed by attempting the two-point conversion, but this time McGee's rush failed and the score remained 21-19 with 12:51 remaining.

Game Notes

Nebraska leads the all-time series 10-2 and has won the last four contests... The Huskers improved to 1-2 against the Big 12 South this season...Taylor has 5,193 career passing yards, a new Nebraska career passing record. The previous record was 5,035 yards by Dave Humm from 1972 to 1974.

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SPORTS BETTING - Tennis is an underrated and under-utilized bettors' sport.

Ten years ago, at just about this time, I called Alan Boston in Vegas and left him a voicemail that went something like this (abridged version): "Hey Alan, Chad Millman from ESPN The Magazine calling. I want to do a book about wise guys, you in?"

A couple weeks later I got a message back (abridged version): "I don't know, maybe," Boston said. "Call me and we'll talk about it. But not later today. I got $1,000 on Andre Agassi to win the French Open at 40-1, and he's in the finals."

Here's what happened next (abridged version): Agassi won his tourney. Boston won his $40,000. I wrote sportsbook.

In the ten years since, how much has been wagered on the big-time tennis events? Put it this way: The Nevada Gaming Commission doesn't even track the number year by year because it's so small.

"Tennis makes up about one-tenth of one percent of our take," says Lucky's bookmaking boss Jimmy Vaccaro. "The last big golf major we probably had $100,000 worth of bets. In tennis, we might have written two big tickets."

Tennis' lack of popularity amongst the American bettoratti is no surprise, really. For starters, the biggest sports betting holidays -- the Super Bowl, the NCAA tourney -- are must see TV. People, at least the degenerates I know, plan vacations around watching those events in Vegas sports books.

But Wimbledon? Doesn't exactly reel in the whales. "Seriously, it's the nuts as an event," says Boston. "But who even knows when it's on?"

Here's another reason that helps explain why golf gets traction, something I call "The Bubbe Theory." My Bubbe is pushing 95 and has cataracts so bad that, to her, even the most crystalline Chicago day is mostly cloudy. But she still listens to the Cubs games, and she still calls me in a fit if she disagrees with something Rick Telander writes in the Chicago Sun Times. She's a sports fan. If she doesn't know you, you're just filling a niche. And niche players, even historically good ones like Roger and Raf, don't drive betting volume. Only the highest profile names attract square money, which inflates wagering totals like a shot of saline to the lips. Bubbe, and the public, loved Agassi, tennis' last cross-the-rubicon, mainstream draw. She also has a crush on Tiger. She's given me standing orders to put a sawbuck on the big cat whenever I walk through a sports book (or mistakenly tap into one via my Internet machine.) That explains why the Masters is getting $100K in action at some books while the four tennis majors might not get that combined this year.

This isn't a case of tennis being a difficult sport to bet. In fact, in Europe, it's probably the second most popular sport for gambling after soccer. Granted, as the WSJ football betting last week and The Mag's Shaun Assael examined in even greater depth last year, that might be because gamblers across the pond see it as an easy game to fix. But it could also be because, over there it holds the kind of sway the big two do over here.

Street corners in Spain are peppered with public courts and kids doing their best Raffy impressions. In some war torn parts of Eastern Europe poverty-stricken kids view tennis as an escape route, like football or basketball here. A couple years ago The Mag's Lindsay Berra wrote a great piece about Belgrade's Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic. They learned the game as kids while bombs were raining down on their homeland. They practiced in drained swimming pools. Not exactly Nick Bolletierri conditions.

In the United States, casual fans think tennis is played four times a year. But on the tightly packed European continent, national interest in homegrown talent runs deep every weekend. Of the ATP's current top 20 players, only two, tennis betting and James Blake, are American. Fourteen are from Europe, representing six different countries.

No wonder fans from Lisbon to Bhudapest get jacked up for the net game, whether it's Wimbledon or a low-level tourney like the Estoril Open in Portugal (congrats to Spain's Albert Montanes for winning that one, btw). Chances are good that someone representing their flag will not only be playing, but have a shot at winning.

And that's all any bettor can ask for.

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