Red is Power

To be fair, MSU's D has the respect of basically anyone who isn't entirely delusional or batsh#t insane. Excellent reasoning! Well not really. Now anyone who doesn't agree that MSU's D has to have respect is lumped in with delusional or insane people. Still, you've committed a logical fallacy and used a rhetorical device to hammer your point home so it really doesn't mean much. MSU's defense will demand respect if they shut down our rushing offense. We're the highest ranked one they've faced all year so far. Until then, no conclusions can be made except that they have shut down some of the worst offenses in college football in games to this point. Agreed. FWIW, Indiana's rushing offense actually averages more YPC than you (5.36 vs. 5.15) and has two more TDs (23 to 21). Not a big difference. So our offense is similar to Indiana's but not quite as good. That's what you're saying? So, I'll take 24 points and at the same time, I don't think your anemic offense will be able to put up more than 17 on our defense in Lincoln.

Like last year? Good luck. LOL this made my day. Thank you.

Yeah, that's an impressive stat. With the highest ranked rushing offense they've faced ONE top 50 rushing offense in the nation in Indiana...and one top total offense in the nation in Indiana. MSU has utterly dominated the following ranked offenses in the nation: Western Michigan - 111th South Florida - 123rd Youngstown State - FCS No rank Notre Dame - 69th Iowa - 77th Indiana - 8th Purdue - 122nd Illinois - 56th Michigan - 86th That number 8 offense of Indiana is 12th in the nation in passing and 33rd in the nation in rushing. Nebraska is 14th in the nation in rushing and 42nd in the nation in total offense. Yeah it's not impressive so much anymore...they haven't seen a rushing offense like ours. I don't care if they played the seven worst rushing teams in the nation that is still elite run defense and impressive as hell in today's era of college football if you ask me. Our rushing offense managed a whopping 120 yards against Michigan. Our average is a lot better than that, but that's the team we have at the moment and we're going to need to do quite better than that to win Saturday. But how can you call a defense elite when it hasn't faced good competition? On paper, MSU is great but have they really beaten anyone significant? They had an ugly game @ ND. No excuses necessary, they lost plain and simple. If NU studies film on that and also what Indiana did offensively, I think NU will be just fine.

18/22 of the two-deeps was among the sh**ty MSU team last year that held Wisconsin to 0.5 YPC in Camp Randall last year. MSU has also had a top 10 D for the last 3 years. How long do you claim it's a fluke? Yet our injury prone QB last year managed to run for 200+ against your same defense and our team as a whole had 313 rush yds @ 7.8 YPC. You've seen this same physical no huddle attack before and in 2011. We have outgained MSU on the ground every single game since 1995. That will be the big key this Saturday, too. Who ever runs the ball better will win. That is probably my one main concern w/ our defense. If our D from NW/Michigan games shows up, this will be a low scoring slug fest.

I'm not buying into MSU's D. I don't think they have faced quite an offense like ours that is multiple except for maybe Indiana. If this was done against exceptional competition and they dominated Wisconsin or Ohio State then I'd be worried. They haven't been pushed/tested by anyone yet. On the road in Lincoln for them will be tough especially for their QB who has never played against us in our house. I can see our d-line harassing Cook quite a bit. Especially RG44. They haven't seen the kind of speed our defense has.

Something clicked for us in the 2nd half of the NW game, you'd be better served to look at that game and move forward from there through Michigan. Agreed it's the most impressive 2 game jump defensively we've seen in the Pelini era IMO. If we had been playing like that from the beginning of this season, there is no question we'd be 9-0 right now. I agree because there is no way UCLA comes back on us and I don't think Minny would've stood a chance. With a hurt Martinez in the game though I don't know for sure. With Kellogg and Armstrong in there no doubt in my mind we win that game. This is a weird season......................just hope we're hitting our stride when we need to and putting it all together. UCLA had trouble w/ Stanford's D. Granted, I am not proclaiming our D as good as theirs but for arguments sake, there is no way UCLA scores 38 unanswered points against this defense we have seen the past two weeks. What is frustrating is the potential has been there all along.

I hope you mean BCS out of the equation for OU because we still have a lot to play for

Something clicked for us in the 2nd half of the NW game, you'd be better served to look at that game and move forward from there through Michigan. Agreed it's the most impressive 2 game jump defensively we've seen in the Pelini era IMO. If we had been playing like that from the beginning of this season, there is no question we'd be 9-0 right now.

Yup make 'em throw and make 'em throw fast! Their QB is destined to end up in the 2013 graveyard thread.

I really hope Imani Cross has a bigger role in this game if it's going to be low scoring/physical. Wouldn't mind seeing him get carries and two goal line TD's to boot

Same here. For me they still have a lot to prove. Like beating a quality opponent for one. Do they play one this year? NU? After we beat tOSU in CCG?

Nobody is predicting we'll blow out MSU. Didn't you know? Bo Pelini coached teams get better down the stretch in November. We got this.

I remember the one play Cousins threw a costly pick in the 1st qtr to Lance Thorell who ran it 25 something yards into MSU territory which turned into points via all rushing plays TM/Burkhead 7-0 NU. MSU never recovered after that.

I would rather have a team riding high on two consecutive emotional wins w/ solid D performances than a bye week. 2011 Michigan State was a team riding high on two consecutive emotional wins. Didn't turn out well for them. But we are NEBRASKA.

If we limit their running game and throw in some match-up zone, I don't think their QB has the stones to go deep (Devin Gardner didn't/couldn't) he was being chased around the pocket whenever he had the time to go deep while the receivers were blanketed. If the MSU QB does try this, that is where the picks will come. Our secondary really needs to jump their routes when they try to go deep on us and make them pay for it. I'm not afraid of MSU's defense. I equate that to playing poor offensive teams. They almost blew it w/ Indiana who has a pretty spicy offense but god awful defense.

+1. I can recall in 2011 there were many thinking MSU was going to thump us at home. That game ended up being quite the surprise. I still don't think they have faced a team on par as NU. This one should come down to defense, field position and special teams. If we can limit mistakes where they can't capitalize with that porous offense of theirs, we'll win decisively. That was a blind perception brought on by the fact that the week prior they beat Wiscy on the hail mary after Wiscy thumped us. What folks didnt quite see was that Michigan St's offense is so tailored to Bo's wheelhouse, it's like takin candy from a baby. And this year aint no different. IF our defense is dialed in as they were against Michigan, there's no way Michigan St scores more than 10 points with their offense. The only question is whether or not our offense will be able to clear that AND keep their high scoring DEFENSE shut out. It's gonna be an old-fashioned, low scoring bruiser. The way football was meant to be played. That's for damn sure. All we need now is 20's and some freezing drizzle. I'm glad you and I are on the same page. I think it will be tough for them to score more than 10 points in our house. I think our fans will be as loud as they've ever been. The stakes for this game is plain and simple. Win... and the door is still open for Indy. Lose... and that door is shut. When there is something on the line, our team thrives with so much passion and energy it is ridiculous and we witness stout defensive performances along with a physical offense. We need to be physical in this game and run the football. I hope Beck doesn't shy away from the run when it's 2nd & 7 or 3rd & 5. I think we should game plan around TA/Ameer and really hit MSU's D in the mouth with some good old fashioned power football.

I would rather have a team riding high on two consecutive emotional wins w/ solid D performances than a bye week.

+1. I can recall in 2011 there were many thinking MSU was going to thump us at home. That game ended up being quite the surprise. I still don't think they have faced a team on par as NU. This one should come down to defense, field position and special teams. If we can limit mistakes where they can't capitalize with that porous offense of theirs, we'll win decisively.

Same here. Really thought we would see the typical deer in the headlights redshirt frosh on the road type of game but TA showed some serious, serious poise especially in that winning drive. He commanded his presence, showed confidence and methodically and smoothly helped drive us into the end zone FTW.

O ye of little faith. We will beat MSU who will become 0-8 all-time vs NU which will then take precedence over Michigan's 19-1 home record under Brady Hoke I didnt know beating MSU constituted winning out? It does when you're asking for kool-aid w/ regards to a beating MSU thread

I'm not that impressed by MSU. I'm really not. They really have no idea what they're in for. Well, they were here in 2011 with 85,641 in attendance except this year we will have 91,000+ so it'll be louder, right? So, we should handle them easily. MSU's offense is perfect for Bo's defense. The real concern is whether our O will be able to put up points and I really think we can hang 21+ on MSU's defense.

O ye of little faith. We will beat MSU who will become 0-8 all-time vs NU which will then take precedence over Michigan's 19-1 home record under Brady Hoke

You'll have to buy into it like the players have...

Seems to me like the best offense they have seen so far this year is Indiana which also sports one of the worst defense' too. Their SOS is worse than ours. This seems all too much like 2011 matchup when we dominated Sparty 24-3. I'm thinking we will see a similar outcome only this time the Huskers will be able to finish the year unscathed. I think our trend of beating Michigan St will continue. Bo will have their offense figured out it'll be up to our players to "execute" the game plan which they have done so impressively the last two weeks. I think defensively we will be able to do things MSU's offense has not seen that along w/ 90,000+ screaming fans... this isn't the big house where all the noise goes into the sky. Let's make MSU feel the noise. I am leaning towards a win at home. TA throws for one, runs for one. Ameer runs for 120 yards and comes up big in the 4th quarter again to break it open 27-10 final. Turnover free game for NU. What say you?

A lot of posters who were negative in this thread this time after the Minnie game are now lining up behind Bo. It's a great thing but I hope the team does not get ahead of themselves and treats Michigan St the same way they have treated NW & Mich. One game at a time. That is all we can control at this point.