COLUMBIA, Mo. — Just like two years ago here, Nebraska defenders could’ve used some of those handcuffs local police were slapping on trespassers of Faurot Field.

Hey, that probably would’ve worked better than anything the Blackshirts tried against Missouri quarterback Brad Smith.

In fairness, Nebraska players said their game plan against Smith, while not involving handcuffs, was solid. Their execution, though, wasn’t.

Whatever the case, Smith looked like a Heisman Trophy winner in compiling 480 yards of total offense in Missouri’s 41-24 victory Saturday.

“We had some blown assignments,” Nebraska linebacker Bo Ruud said. “Nothing he did … I mean, he, of course, runs great, but … we just didn’t do our jobs. Simple things we normally do right that we didn’t do right today.

“I was really disappointed in our team. First couple of plays, we had three blown assignments. Just frustrating.”

Smith had a career-low 84 yards of total offense last week against Iowa State before being knocked out with a concussion. Against Nebraska, he had 156 total yards in the game’s first 6 minutes, 12 seconds.

“We tried to get him out of the game by hitting him as hard as we could,” Nebraska linebacker Corey McKeon said. “He kept getting up. He’d stay down for a little bit, but he’s a tough kid. He’d take a blow and then come back in.”

Smith’s first quarter included a 50-yard completion in which he faced no pressure, a 53-yard run on a quarterback counter play and a 79-yard touchdown run on a quarterback trap.

“We felt like we had a good plan,” Nebraska defensive coordinator Kevin Cosgrove said. “We knew he’s an excellent football player, and he was hot today.”

Nebraska began the game in a 3-4 alignment, with freshman Phillip Dillard starting among the four linebackers. The Huskers stuck with the 3-4 look throughout much of the game, opting for an extra linebacker to drop back in coverage when the Tigers went to a five-wideout, empty-backfield formation.

“We knew they would have a plan for our empty adjustment,” Cosgrove said. “Any time they spread you out like that, two things can happen. One, you can keep your four down linemen in, like we tried to change up a little bit, but you’re going to have lesser coverage. They had those big receivers, and we felt like that might put too much pressure on our safeties.”

Nebraska blitzed with some success and some failure.

It worked when the Huskers brought everyone — and someone’s kitchen sink — and mauled Smith in the second quarter. Barry Turner forced a fumble, and Jay Moore recovered at the Missouri 8, setting up a touchdown.

A similar blitz on a fourth-and-6 play in the third quarter backfired, as Missouri converted with an 11-yard pass. It led to a field goal and 34-24 lead.

“Their coaches are making the calls and checks on the sideline,” McKeon said. “They’re not even playing with their players. They’re letting the coaches make all the calls. No matter what we’d line up in, they’d check the call. They were keying off me and (Adam) Ickes all game.

“You’ve got to give them credit. They played smart football.”

The Tigers’ final touchdown, a 14-yard run by Tony Temple, came against a blitz. Nebraska also blitzed Ickes on Smith’s 79-yard TD run in the first quarter, a play in which the middle of the field was left open.

“Sometimes we might have been showing our blitz too early, and they were checking off here and there,” Moore said. “We tried to bring the heat, and they were picking it up.”

After Smith helped Missouri gain 290 yards in the first quarter, Nebraska buckled down and limited the Tigers to 14 yards in the second quarter. The Huskers held Missouri on its first two possessions of the second half, but then the Tigers drove 97 yards in 10 plays for a touchdown, capped by Smith’s 45-yard run.

“That kind of broke our back a little bit,” Cosgrove said.

Nebraska, which entered the game with the nation’s No. 1 rush defense, allowed 277 rushing yards. The Tigers threw for 246, with Smith completing 22 of 38 passes. He also overthrew some wide-open receivers.

Players repeatedly said Nebraska’s 3-4 scheme wasn’t a problem. Ruud said Missouri used splits similar  to that of Texas Tech.

“They’re kind of a hybrid of Texas Tech and Utah with what they do,” Ruud said. “After we watch the film, we’re going to be kicking ourselves in the butt. They were such little things we gave up.”

Moore agreed.

“We always have really good game plans,” he said. “I’m positive we had a good game plan. But we didn’t execute. And when you don’t execute, no game plan looks good.”

Reach Brian Rosenthal at 473-7436 or brosenthal@journalstar.com.