Husker offense knocked cold by Tiger D
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BY BRIAN ROSENTHAL / Lincoln Journal Star
COLUMBIA, Mo.–So much for a shootout. Oh, Missouri certainly held up its end of the deal. Nebraska? The Huskers folded.
While the Nebraska defense has endured its share of criticism in recent weeks, head coach Bill Callahan’s vaunted West Coast attack hasn’t exactly helped.
Saturday night was particularly troublesome.
An offense that has become increasingly one-dimensional could do nothing against a defense that entered the game ranked among the nation’s worst.
Nebraska couldn’t run the football, something Missouri quickly discovered. The Tigers then turned up the pressure on Sam Keller, rendering the passing game nearly as ineffective.
The result? A whopping six points against the nation’s No. 93 defense, and another blowout loss on the national stage.
A record Faurot Field crowd of 70,049, and an ESPN television audience, saw No. 17 Missouri’s maligned defense shut down No. 25 Nebraska in a 41-6 victory.
Nebraska (4-2, 1-1 Big 12 Conference) had plenty of problems, but none bigger than an inability to run the football.
That hadn’t been a problem for previous Missouri opponents. Ole Miss ran for 229 yards, Illinois State 155, Western Michigan 132.
Nebraska? Try 74 yards, on only 25 carries.
Why couldn’t the Huskers fare better on the ground?
“I don’t know. I really don’t know,” said junior running back Marlon Lucky, who carried 17 times for 67 yards. “We got down, so we had to pass. That was the deal.”
But even early, when the game was anything but decided, the Huskers appeared hesitant to even try to run.
Nebraska went three-and-out on three passes on its first possession, and didn’t turn to Lucky until the third play of its second possession.
Another tell-tale sign Nebraska lacked confidence in the run: passing plays in the first half on third-and-2, third-and-2 and third-and-1. One of those was converted.
When faced with a fourth-and-1 inside the Missouri 35-yard line in the third quarter, Nebraska did try to run. Running back Cody Glenn was stuffed for no gain.
“Their defense just held us,” Lucky said. “That’s what it was. They got what they wanted.”
The Huskers entered Saturday ranked 50th nationally in running the ball, averaging 160.6 yards. But over their previous four games before Saturday, that average was merely 97.5 yards.
Missouri (5-0, 1-0) had the nation’s 71st rush defense but didn’t look that inept against Nebraska.
“Bad day for us,” Lucky said. “Bad day for the Huskers.”
Nebraska didn’t help matters with a barrage of penalties. False starts on the first play of each half set the tone.
Quarterback Sam Keller was 25-of-43 passing for 223 yards, with an interception. He was sacked twice and pressured multiple times. Lucky was his leading receiver, with seven receptions.
Nebraska’s longest drive in the first half went from its own 24 to the Missouri 10. But Keller was sacked on first-and-goal for a 7-yard loss, and a delay of game penalty set Nebraska back to the 22-yard line. A pair of incompletions led to Alex Henery’s second field goal of the game, a 39-yarder.
The Huskers, minus a running game, never again threatened to score.
Reach Brian Rosenthal at 473-7436 or brosenthal@journalstar.com.
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