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Mon November 27, 2006

Norman native carries Cornhuskers into title game
Big 12 Championship: Oklahoma vs. Nebraska

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By Eric Olson
AP Sports Writer
LINCOLN, Neb. — Zac Taylor needed Nebraska.

Nebraska needed Zac Taylor.


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What started as a marriage of convenience has been blissful, indeed.

Until Nebraska came calling two years ago, Taylor's best offer coming out of junior college was from Marshall.

Taylor, who grew up in Norman, the son of a former Oklahoma Sooner, always wanted to play football in the Big 12 Conference. Here was his chance.

Nebraska coach Bill Callahan needed a quarterback for his West Coast offense. Joe Dailey, the starter in Callahan's first season, was not the right fit, as a 5-6 record proved. Callahan could see that Taylor had a good arm but, more important, a great demeanor.

Ask his coaches and teammates, and they'll tell you Taylor is the No. 1 reason the 23rd-ranked Huskers (9-3, 6-2) will play No. 13 Oklahoma in Saturday's Big 12 championship game in Kansas City, Mo.

"We really couldn't have done what we've done here the last two years without Zac," offensive coordinator Jay Norvell said.

"He's allowed us to accelerate this program faster than any player I've ever been around," Callahan said.

"I'd be lying if I said I thought we could be here without Zac," fullback Dane Todd said.

Callahan and local media are touting Taylor for All-Big 12 honors. It's not because he set the school's single-season passing yardage record in consecutive years, or because he's completed 62 percent of his passes or because he's thrown 24 touchdown passes and just four interceptions.

The bottom line, Callahan said, is that Taylor has single-handedly gotten the West Coast system up and running at a place where, before 2004, throwing the ball was the exception rather than the rule the previous 25 years.

Taylor not only has proven adept at changing plays at the line, but he has also been given the task of making calls for the offensive line.

"When you've got a player who can come in and digest everything you want to do from a philosophical standpoint and then go out on the field and do it, that just lifts your program," Callahan said.

"Players like that come around only so often. Nebraskans should be real proud of this kid and what he's brought to this program in a very short period of time."

Taylor was a football vagabond before he showed up at Nebraska. He wanted to play in the Big 12 — his dad, Sherwood Taylor, was a defensive back at Oklahoma from 1977 to 1979 — and he made an oral commitment to Oklahoma State when he was a high school senior.

But OSU changed coaches before he enrolled, and he wound up at Wake Forest.

He didn't fit in there, so he transferred to Butler County (Kan.) Community College, where he led his team to the national championship game.

Callahan said he was impressed with Taylor's knowledge of offenses and offered a scholarship.

"Once Nebraska comes calling, it's kind of ‘game over' for me," Taylor said.

Taylor will leave as the standard for Nebraska passers. He'll also be known as the quarterback who led the Huskers back to prominence.

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