Missouri/Nebraska Recap, etc.

So, It Rained a Bit in Columbia

My score prediction having been slightly off (to be fair, I made that prediction long before it was clear that it was going to rain like a motherfucker on Thursday (five to six inches (depending on what report you believe) in a twenty-four hour period is unreal)), I still maintain that Nebraska is the better team by a decent margin. Both quarterbacks looked bad throwing the ball in that rain, and the only difference I saw was that for three quarters Gabbert’s receivers were helping him out a lot more than Lee’s were. RPT at Rock M Nation (the best Missouri blog I’ve seen (out of one Missouri blog)) had an excellent recap post in which he essentially said, quite correctly, that you can’t say much about either team as the conditions were so abnormal. This is largely true. But Nebraska’s biggest question mark coming into the game was in the secondary (well, probably actually linebacker but with all the four and five wide sets Missouri uses linebackers generally aren’t going to make a big impact one way or the other), and what I saw was a group of DB’s who were locking down their man. There was much commenting by certain television personalities about how good the Huskers defensive line (led by Ndamukong “I own your fucking back field” Suh, which more on him in a minute) was dominating their offensive line, which was certainly true, but it didn’t stop Gabbert from doing a very excellent job of escaping pressure and buying time. Trouble was Nebraska’s DB’s were not allowing Missouri’s very decent receiving core to gain any separation (in conditions that are supposed to favor the receivers, as they’re the ones who know where they’re supposed to run and are therefore less likely to slip while trying to adjust). Minus one instance of DB slippage, there were no really open guys for Missouri, with every catch they made being very admirably tough with a DB draped all over them. It was actually a much underrated kind of performance that would probably be getting at least a little more press had Niles Paul not finally broken free and ended up with 100+ receiving yards on the day, had not Nebraska erupted for 27 fourth quarter points any one of which seemed impossible at the end of the third, had not NU finally began to hold on to the interceptions they were dropping throughout the game (no one seems to remember that Prince Amukamara (the best lock down CB I’ve seen at NU since pre-injury Zack Bowman, by the way) had a ball fly through his hands on, like, the Tigers first or second possession), had not Ndamukong Suh been, you know, Ndamukong Suh. Missouri played well, played tougher than I thought given the conditions, and seemed like a team with a lot of upside. Nebraska seemed like a team that can compete right now. Texas Tech next week will tell us a little more (unless it’s raining/snowing in Memorial stadium like it was in Columbia, which this being Nebraska is entirely possible). People can say Zac Lee looked awful all they want (which, I mean, he finished with a better stat line than Gabbert, but people are giving him a pass for some reason while hanging Lee out to dry), but I think he’s going to be good enough to win most of his games, and the defense looks like it will take a lot of pressure off of him this year. We’ll see how it plays out, but I like Nebraska a lot after Thursday’s game.

Ndamukong Suh for Heisman?

It’s being floated by at least two non-Nebraska affiliates, and while it seems crazy it also seems like the year for it to happen. Tim Tebow is concussed, which even if he plays this week means he’s one bad hit away from not playing, like, ever again. Sam Bradford has already missed too much time to really be in the running. And Colt McCoy, barring some kind of statistical turnaround come Big XII play (which as the defenses he’s facing are going to be, for the most part, way tougher that UTEP’s, Wyoming’s, Texas Tech’s, etc. (and yes I know TTech is a Big XII team, but they’re defense is awful and Oklahoma’s/Nebraska’s/Missouri’s are not)), just hasn’t played well enough to win the Heisman (it doesn’t help that he’s not going to get 800 yards again this year, because Mack Brown, unlike Urban Meyer, actually care’s about his player’s futures). No running back is playing at a high enough level right now, at least not consistently, and there’s not really any do-everything receiver/returner types out there, either. Jimmy Clausen has put up the numbers, but one bad game will drop him out with the perceived weakness of their schedule (although Michigan’s resurgence has somewhat bolstered that). Eric Berry is still very much in the race, but he has yet to get a pick this year and you know offenses are throwing away from him. At this point, based purely on dominance and impact on team’s fortunes, no one deserves it more than Suh. There’s definitely a lot of season left, and we were in this same situation when Tebow won it the first time, but I think if Suh keeps playing at this pace (which, to extrapolate it out based on current production, would put him at, on the season (using a 13 game season, so not even assuming a north championship): 83 tackles total, 18-19 for loss, 8 sacks, 18-19 fucking pass breakups (worthy of bolding), 2-3 forced fumbles and 2-3 interceptions. That’s a decent stat line for a linebacker. For a defensive tackle, that’s unreal. He’ll need some kind of Heisman moment, for sure, like a return for a TD to seal a win over, say, Oklahoma, and he’ll need all of the offensive guys listed above to knock themselves out of contention (not to mention no running backs to step up and have a 2500 yard season), but it’s definitely more possible than I though it was going to be.