Robertson Waxes Phlegmatic After Polishing Off No. 1

Kirk Robertson, you and your teammates on the Arizona State football team just upset No. 1 Nebraska! How do you feel?

“It really wasn’t anything big,” said Robertson, a 1992 Simi Valley High graduate and the Sun Devils’ center. “If it was, it hasn’t sunk in yet.”

OK, but doesn’t shutting out Nebraska bode well for the rest of the season?

“I try not to get caught up in the emotion of the game,” Robertson said. “The focus now is on Oregon.”

Any national title hopes floating around Tempe?

“Check with me in January.”

Robertson apparently excels at keeping his emotions, as well as defensive linemen, in check.

The 6-foot-5, 305-pound senior has made 10 consecutive starts for Arizona State. But he exhibited nothing approaching excitement days after the Sun Devils snapped Nebraska’s 26-game winning streak with a 19-0 victory in Tempe.

Arizona State is ranked No. 6 in the Associated Press poll. The Sun Devils (3-0) play host to Oregon (3-1) Saturday at 2:30.

After handing the defending national champions their first loss since 1992, Robertson and his teammates find themselves the objects of campus-wide attention.

“You find out you have a lot more friends now and teachers make announcements about the team before classes,” Robertson said. “A couple of years ago people would say ‘Oh, you’re a football player . . .’ and it was like you were supposed to be embarrassed.”

Nebraska routed Arizona State last season, 77-28, in a game Robertson missed because of a knee injury. But in this year’s game, the Sun Devils outgained the Cornhuskers, 401 yards to 216, and a capacity crowd of 74,089 tore down the goal posts at Sun Devil Stadium.

“No one in the stadium except us thought we could do it, not even my parents,” said Robertson, who was cheered on by father David, mother Judy and girlfriend Jessica Long, also a native of Simi Valley.

“They said if we could stay close it would be a victory in our hearts. But there was no doubt in my mind.”

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Brigham Young running back Ronney Jenkins, a freshman and former Hueneme High standout, scored the winning touchdown Saturday against New Mexico in the Cougars’ Western Athletic Conference opener at Provo, Utah.

Jenkins carried seven times for 37 yards and scored on a six-yard run in the third quarter of BYU’s 17-14 victory. He has 70 yards and one touchdown in 20 carries and is ranked 13th in kickoff returns in NCAA Division I-A with an average of 25.8 yards. Jenkins has played in each of the Cougars’ four games.

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Jerry Brown, a former Taft High running back now a redshirt freshman at Oregon, is listed as the Ducks’ starting tailback for Saturday’s game at Arizona State.

Brown has carried 29 times for 144 yards and a touchdown this season.

Other Ducks with local ties include defensive backs Jaiya Figueras (Glendale High) and Ronnie Gipson (Kennedy), and flanker Jibri Hodge (Saugus). Gipson is listed as the second-string right cornerback and has made 18 tackles. Figueras is the likely starting strong safety against Arizona State and has made 11 tackles.

Hodge started against Nevada on Sept. 7 and caught seven passes for 150 yards. However, a sternum injury has sidelined him for much of Oregon’s last two games and he is out indefinitely.

Three area players are significant contributors at Oregon State (0-3). Junior strong safety Larry Bumpus (Oxnard High) and left tackle Grant Forman (Santa Clara) have started each of the Beavers’ three games, while junior middle linebacker Anthony Murray (Sylmar) is scheduled to make his first start Saturday at California.