The Nebraska football teams St. Joseph, Mo., native Mike Rucker played on went 4-0 against Missouri.

Now, little brother Martin looks to go 2-1 against the Huskers.

Let the trash talk begin.

“This week there’ll definitely be something going on between us, and it’ll be fun to see what happens,” Missouri’s junior tight end said.

Martin Rucker and the Tigers come to Lincoln for a game Saturday that will leave the winner holding first place in the Big 12 Conference North Division. That team would then need just one win in its remaining two games to advance to the league championship game.

Both the Huskers and Mizzou missed opportunities to improve their positions last week when they lost to Oklahoma State and Oklahoma, respectively. What adds to the drama for Rucker is that his older brother, a second-round NFL draft pick in his eighth season as a defensive end with Carolina, will attend Saturday’s game because the Panthers are off Sunday.

“My brother went there, my brother’s going to be there, they recruited me — yeah, it’s going to be a big game for me,” Martin Rucker said. “But I just can’t let that get to me. I’ve just got to prepare this week just like every other week, if not harder.”

Rucker enters with 32 receptions for 284 yards and three touchdowns. His reception total is second-highest among Big 12 tight ends, trailing teammate Chase Coffman’s 40.

Last week, Oklahoma limited limited Rucker to three receptions for 29 yards en route to a 26-10 victory in Columbia, Mo.

“I don’t know if it was so much that they just did it to me. I think they did it to everybody,” Rucker said of the Sooners’ defensive play that allowed 284 passing yards but recorded three interceptions. “I don’t think they really did anything different than any other team’s done. They disguised their coverages really well. That was one thing that I will give them credit for. But at the end of the day, it just came down to us turning the ball over and us getting penalties that we didn’t overcome.”

And if Mike wants to bring up last week’s game? Well, little brother definitely knows some things about the Huskers’ 41-29 loss at Oklahoma State that would sting.

“Nebraska’s human just like us. He knows that just as (well) as anybody,” Martin said of his brother. “So we’re just going to go out and play. I’ll be talking trash and he’ll be talking trash. It’ll be fun.”

Reach Curt McKeever at 473-7441 or cmckeever@journalstar.com.