So what got into the Huskers in the fourth quarter?
I will probably wonder for days. Thursday’s 27-12 come-from-behind win over the Missouri Tigers was like exorcising a demon considering that Missouri had won four of the last six head-to-head meetings over Nebraska, mostly in dominating fashion with two 35-point wins the last two years (41-6 in 2007 and 52-17 in 2008).
Honestly, Nebraska won because they are the better team. Is this a landmark win or a signature win? Well, too early to say. We have to see where Missouri, which entered the contest rated No. 24 in the Associated Press poll behind Nebraska’s No. 21 rating, finishes the season. However, psychologically this is a huge win for the Huskers considering the Tigers recent dominance.
Next Saturday’s game at home against Texas Tech is big for the same reason. The Red Raiders have won the last three meetings. First there was the 70-10 debacle in 2004 and next there were two hard luck losses (34-31 in 2005 and 37-31 in 2008).
Granted, Thursday’s game was played in crappy conditions – wet field and it was raining for much of the night. This is also a huge win because two years ago when Nebraska endured loss after loss, mostly in convincing fashion, as fans we kept saying how we wanted a team that played with effort and resolve. Well, effort and resolve don’t always mean style points but those two elements give a team a chance to pull a game out of the fire when things go against them.
Nebraska trailed 12-0 entering the fourth quarter, looking like it had no chance to win. Sure, the defense was outstanding. The tackling was much more secure. The pressure was on Blaine Gabbert all night. However, the Nebraska offense couldn’t move the ball six feet. Next thing you know, two touchdown passes from Zac Lee to Niles Paul. One more to Mike McNeill. Roy Helu and Rex Burkhead salt the game away with timely runs.
This game also showed exactly why athletic director Tom Osborne hired Bo Pelini to be Nebraska’s head coach. Offenses have become all the rage in the Big XII. Pelini is a defensive minded coach. The Huskers were playing lifeless football, especially on defense. They needed a guy like Pelini to light a fire in them.
You know the old phrase, “Offense sells tickets, defense wins championships.” With the way rules have been made to favor offenses, that theory is not quite as true as previous times but let’s not kid ourselves, defense still matters.
The current Husker defense might not totally remind us of the days of yore just yet but any defense that allows just 40 points through five games is definitely doing something right. While the conditions were raw, Nebraska stifled an offense that can still score in Missouri.
We saw a defense that beat the crap out of Missouri. Those teams in the 90's played like they were mad. As Jason Peter said in his book and .I'm paraphrasing "Peyton Manning was a good guy but I wanted to hurt him."
Nebraska defensive tackle Ndamukong seemed the same way. There were a couple times he could have just wrangled Gabbert to the ground. On the play were Gabbert got hurt he seemed to be giving him a little extra -- not dirty just trying to throw him around. Gabbert is lucky his leg didn't get snapped. On the bogus horse collar play he ended up coming down fully on top of Gabbert. And then on another pass play...a short pass he absolutely destroyed the receiver.
I don’t know that I’d quite call this a signature win. That would be a Big XII title game or BCS bowl game.
Nonetheless, thanks to a punishing defense, this win is a huge step in the right direction.
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