BRIAN ROSENTHAL / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Saturday, October 22, 2005 7:00 pm
COLUMBIA, Mo. — When Nebraska didn’t face third-and-long, the Huskers were pretty effective on offense.
Well, that didn’t happen very often Saturday in a 41-24 loss to Missouri at Faurot Field. Nebraska had only two extended series in which the offense didn’t have a third-down play of at least 8 yards.
Those series: A touchdown drive of four plays in the first quarter, and a drive that ended in a lost fumble after the Huskers had converted on fourth down inside the Missouri 30.
Exceptions, of course, were two short TD drives of 1 and 8 yards in the first half. There also was a short series in the third quarter in which quarterback Zac Taylor, on second-and-15, was under pressure and lobbed a ball that was intercepted.
The two plays before Taylor’s interception epitomized Nebraska’s day on offense. The series began with a false-start penalty, and on first-and-15, wide receiver Nate Swift dropped a pass.
Twelve penalties, most on them against the offense, were a main reason for the second-and-long and third-and-long plays.
“When that happens, you can’t win games like that,” Nebraska running back Cory Ross said. “Just something we’ve got to fix.”
And dropped passes — at least six of them — prohibited the Huskers from finding any sort of offensive rhythm. Three times, dropped passes would’ve converted third-down plays.
“You can’t play in that situation,” Nebraska offensive coordinator Jay Norvell said. “When you get into second-and-15 and third-and-15, those are very tough plays to make on the road. Then you get into protection issues. We’ve got to do a better job of staying in cycle.”
In the first half alone, Nebraska faced third-and-8, third-and-10, third-and-12, third-and-10, third-and-9, third-and-30 and third-and-13. The Huskers converted twice.
“We got behind the 8-ball a little bit, they got some pressure, and we had some poor plays,” Norvell said.
Nebraska had two holding penalties that led to its third-and-30 situation. Missouri, notorious for blitzing on first-down plays, sacked Taylor four times and knocked him down several other times.
“They pressured us, they brought some extra pressure, they matched us up with our backs at times,” Norvell said. “Zac’s got to push the pocket and try to make some plays down the field. It wasn’t so much the blitz. It was just a base rush.”
Nebraska fell behind 24-10 but scored two touchdowns via a short field to tie the game at halftime. But in the second half, the Huskers had a false-start penalty on their second play, threw two incomplete passes, then had a dropped ball by Swift that would’ve converted third-and-15.
“It’s hard to get back into it when you do those things,” Norvell said. “It’s not so much what they did to us, it’s what we did to ourselves. We’ve got to understand that and rectify that for next week.”
Nebraska ran for minus 2 yards, the second-lowest figure in school history. That reflected 41 lost yards in sacks. Husker running backs attempted only 13 rushes.
The Huskers had three second-half turnovers, including one when Terrence Nunn, after catching a slant pass and converting on fourth-and-2, fumbled deep in Missouri territory. The Tigers recovered at their 3-yard-line.
“You can’t do that and win against a good football team,” Norvell said. “and these guys were good today.”
Reach Brian Rosenthal at 473-7436 or brosenthal@journalstar.com.