Nebraska’s next two football opponents might be at Missouri (Oct. 8) and home for Texas Tech (Oct. 10) – two games that could say quite a bit about how the Huskers finish Year Two under head coach Bo Pelini.
However, it was hard not to notice the shockwaves coming out of Waco, Texas, on Sunday night where the Huskers visit Baylor for a matchup on Halloween. No pun intended but the news that emanated from Waco suddenly makes Nebraska’s trip there less scary.
Rivals.com, reported that Baylor sophomore quarterback Robert Griffin III and kick returner Mikail Baker will both miss the rest of the 2009 season due to season-ending knee injuries.
An MRI exam conducted Sunday afternoon revealed Griffin's right knee had an isolated tear in his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). The injury occurred during the first quarter of Baylor's 68-13 victory over Northwestern State on Saturday.
Baker, a senior defensive back and return specialist for the Bears, also suffered a season-ending injury during Saturday's contest with what an MRI revealed to be an ACL tear and a tear to his medial and lateral meniscus.
X-rays taken Sunday were negative on backup quarterback Blake Szymanski's shoulder, and an MRI revealed a contusion to his right shoulder. The status of Szymanski, who took a hit on a rush near the goal-line Saturday, is described as "day-to-day" by Baylor's training staff.
Suffice it to say, this is a huge blow to the Bears. As a true freshman in 2008, Griffin earned Big 12 Newcomer of the Year honors. Griffin guided the Bears, who have been enormously overmatched since joining the Big 12 in 1996, to a 4-8 record last season and were off to a 2-1 start this season. One of those defeats last season was a 32-20 setback to Nebraska in Lincoln.
Most Husker fans and media members viewed Baylor as a trap game as it comes one week before a home contest against Oklahoma, which is without its starting quarterback Sam Bradford (broken collar bone suffered in the season-opener). However, the Sooners have more than enough talent to get by most teams. Baylor, on the other hand, does not have that luxury.
With Griffin gone, the Huskers go from slight favorite to significant favorite. Personally, I was never one that thought Baylor was going to be a humungous challenge for Nebraska, but this will definitely make it easier. Keep in kind, the Huskers defeated Baylor with Griffon last season at a time in which Nebraska was still figuring out Pelini’s scheme. Not that the Huskers have perfected his scheme but having allowed just 28 points in four games would suggest they are on their way.
Make no mistake, Griffin is a phenom. I guess we'll find out how much of Baylor's success was due to Griffin, and how much of it was the talent around him. Something tells me it is the former.
Granted, these are not the helpless Bears that we knew in previous years but the threat that Baylor posed to Nebraska was always overstated in my opinion. Nebraska is a better football team. Period. And it's probably not that close. Yes, Griffin is a fine player and he may have had some highlights against the Huskers but unless Nebraska really its thumb up its butt it would not have lost to a Griffin led Baylor team.
True, Baylor is actually a decent team because of Griffin. Why Griffin went to Baylor rather than Texas or OU is beyond me. He would have been a Heisman candidate at one of those schools.
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