The Husker football team opens up Big 12 Conference play with a tough one, as Nebraska hosts fourth-ranked Missouri Saturday night at 8 p.m. at Memorial Stadium.
The Tigers are the defending Big 12 North Division champions and come to town with a 4-0 mark and a ton of talent on both sides of the ball. They are led by 2007 Heisman Trophy finalist Chase Daniel, who has quarterbacked the program to unprecedented heights during the past three seasons.
Missouri is amazing offensively, boasting the nation's second-ranked offense. They average 595 yards and 54 points per game and have been all but unstoppable so far this season. In fact, they have yet to be held to a three-and-out offensively -- in 40 possessions they have scored 22 touchdowns and four field goals. They have punted just five times, turned the ball over five times (four on fumbles), turned the ball over on downs three times and missed one field goal.
Daniel has been outstanding in leading the Missouri offense. At one point this season, he directed them on 15 consecutive scoring drives. He has been named the O'Brien National Quarterback of the Week in back-to-back weeks and broke the school record for passing yards. He is at 9,592 going into the game and could very well eclipse the 10,000-yard mark if he has a good outing Saturday night.
One of his favorite targets is the multi-talented sophomore Jeremy Maclin. He is the conference leader in all-purpose yards and can do damage at wide receiver and in the kick return game. He has already caught 20 passes for 340 yards and three scores and has returned a kick for a touchdown as well. He is certainly one of the top receivers in the country and a good bet to achieve All-American status this year.
Daniel also has an outstanding tight end to work with in senior Chase Coffman, who has stepped in and performed well for graduated All-American Martin Rucker. Coffman has had a pair of 100-yard receiving games already this year and caught 10 balls for 84 yards in Missouri's last game, a 42-21 win over Buffalo.
But Missouri can run the ball as well. Sophomore back Derrick Washington has stepped in and performed quite well for the Tigers, and he's been the go-to guy when Missouri is looking for its first touchdown, having been the first into the end zone in each of the Tigers' first four games.
For all the talk about Missouri's offense, though, their defense is pretty salty as well. They are led by linebacker Sean Weatherspoon, who is quickly distinguishing himself as one of the best linebackers in the conference, if not the nation. He had an amazing 20-tackle effort against Buffalo two weeks ago and was named conference Defensive Player of the Week.
Defensively, the Tigers have done very well against the run, giving up less than 100 yards per game. They have allowed just one rushing touchdown so far this year, one of seven in Div. I to have allowed one or fewer touchdowns via the run.
If there is anything Husker fans can take comfort in with this game, it's the fact that Memorial Stadium has been a house of horrors for the Tigers over the years. This is the 102nd matchup between the two schools overall, and Nebraska holds a 29-13-1 edge over the Tigers in games played at Lincoln. Missouri had won three in a row at one point in the 1970's, including a colossal 35-31 upset in 1978 that killed Nebraska's hopes of playing for a national title. Since then, the Huskers have owned Missouri in Memorial Stadium, winning the last 15 matchups in Lincoln.
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