Nebraska Tries to Pull Rank : Orange Bowl: Despite Hurricane warnings, Cornhuskers could be a challenge for No. 1 Miami.

As unofficial spokesman for the Nebraska Cornhuskers, tight end Johnny Mitchell is none too pleased with some of the recent sights and sounds of his Orange Bowl visit.

Why, look, isn’t that Miami Hurricane wide receiver Lamar Thomas playfully mugging for the cameras as he munches on some corn and then spits it out? Get it--corn . . . Nebraska?

Mitchell, an All-Big Eight Conference selection and Associated Press third-team All-American, wasn’t amused.

“That don’t mean nothing,” Mitchell said. “The game still (has) got to be played here Jan. 1. When it comes to the pushing, the shoving and the hitting out there, the real men are going to come out.”

Translation: Real men eat their veggies, and for Nebraska.

And look there. Isn’t that Miami defensive end Rusty Medearis calmly predicting that the Cornhuskers don’t have a “prayer” in tonight’s game?

Mitchell’s eyes flared on that one.

“That means they don’t respect us, but, hey, that’s them,” he said. “I’ll tell you what, we’re going to be prepared and ready to go. And if they prepare for Washington . . . well, when they line up in front of us, we’re going to get their attention, I promise you that.”

And, by the way, what were Mitchell’s thoughts about the following hot topic of discussion: If--or is it when ?--the Hurricanes beat Nebraska, do they need to win by 15, 25 or an even 30 points to guarantee a national championship over Rose Bowl favorite Washington?

“Heh, heh, heh,” Mitchell said, laughing. “That’s my thought: ‘Heh, heh, heh.’ ”

Back and forth it has gone. The Hurricanes say one thing. The Cornhuskers, usually represented by the vocal Mitchell, say another.

But give Mitchell credit for cutting to the heart of the matter, which is: If Miami is to win its fourth national championship in its last nine years, then the Hurricanes are going to have to beat the Cornhuskers first and, by the murmurings of assorted poll voters, they better do it convincingly.

That’s because Miami not only has to win at the Orange Bowl tonight, but it also must win the hearts of those who consider Washington the nation’s best team. The Huskies, who play Michigan in today’s Rose Bowl game, are tied with the Hurricanes atop the USA Today/CNN Coaches’ poll.

The AP poll has Miami No. 1, with Washington No. 2. But for how much longer?

A handful of voting possibilities abound, including the safe choice, co-champions, which was the case last season with Georgia Tech and Colorado; a single champion, meaning a Miami victory coupled with a Washington loss (or vice versa); an improbable champion, meaning Michigan, and an unthinkable champion, meaning both Miami and Washington end the season undefeated, but only one is picked to finish first in both polls.

Hurricane Coach Dennis Erickson has a possible solution. “I’d like to vote twice,” he said.

Don’t laugh--he might need to if Miami (11-0) merely sneaks past 11th-ranked Nebraska (9-1-1), a team Washington beat by 15 points at Lincoln, Neb., in late September.

Nor should anyone dismiss the Cornhuskers’ chances of surprising Miami. For all of their blustering, the Hurricanes aren’t without a handful of genuine concerns. For instance:

--Never mind winning a championship, what is Miami going to do about its running back situation? Granted, the Hurricanes usually use a one-back offense, but Erickson never meant it literally.

Stephen McGuire is out because of an injury, and backup Martin Patton was suspended because of alleged misuse of credit cards. That meant Erickson had to install redshirt freshman Larry Jones as the starter and hope for the best. Just in case, wide receiver Kevin Williams has spent time taking handoffs in practice, and free safety C.J. Richardson, a running back in high school, has been moved to offense.

If none of this works, Erickson said he will junk his running game and go with four or five wide receivers. He was serious.

--How does Miami guard against overconfidence? After all, the Hurricanes will be playing a home game at the Orange Bowl, site of 44 consecutive Miami victories. Also, Nebraska might have taken a psychological hit--if you believe in such stuff--when Cornhusker fullback Omar Soto was declared out in an eligibility mess Tuesday.

Overconfident? Impossible, said Miami linebacker Micheal Barrow.

“I look at their running backs, Derek Brown and, uh . . . (Calvin Jones) and those two run hard ,” Barrow said. “Then I look at their tight end, Jesse (sic) Mitchell, and he makes things happen. And their quarterback, well, he reminds me of (former Notre Dame star) Tony Rice. I don’t understand (why) they’ve been disrespected a lot.”

That’s easy for Barrow to say. In three sentences’ time, Barrow couldn’t remember the name of the Big Eight offensive newcomer of the year (Jones), a third-team All-American (Johnny, not Jesse, Mitchell) and the Big Eight offensive player of the year (Keithen McCant). Other than that, Barrow respects them just fine.

Nebraska isn’t without its own legitimate problems. Injuries to its secondary have forced Coach Tom Osborne to switch Tyrone Hughes, a wide receiver until last Friday, to defensive back.

Equally disturbing, if you’re a Nebraska follower, is the Cornhusker habit of losing big games. In the past 11 seasons, Nebraska is 8-17 against top-10 teams, a historical note that, whenever mentioned, never fails to rankle the usually placid Osborne.

Osborne predicted wonderful things for his team tonight. He didn’t guarantee victory, which is OK, because Mitchell nearly did.

“When the bomb hits, it’s going to be ugly,” Mitchell said. “I’ll tell you one thing, it won’t be an upset. It won’t be an upset because we have a great team.”

MORE LOSSES? Nebraska may forfeit games after using an ineligible player. C5