michzoufan

Thanks to everyone for the kind words. I also live in the Kalamazoo area. I don't know of anyone else getting together specifically to watch the game. I'll drop you a PM....

Hey...another Mizzou fan here before the game saturday. Here is my take on the game after watching the Huskers vs. WF and USC, and Mizzou vs. Illinois..... Mizzou D versus Nebraska O: I would have to give the advantage to you on this one. Mizzou's run defense has been pretty porous, particularly in the second half. We have played pretty well in the first half of games but there seems to be a hangover after halftime. I would expect Lucky to have over 100 yards. Mizzou's Defense can run to the ball and fly around, but they have trouble staying in their gaps and getting off of blocks. Sam Keller scares the heck out of me, I think he has been a bit inconsistent, but he surprised me with his strong play against USC. Mizzou has no pass rush and will have to blitz to get pressure, which plays into the short passing game you guys play. I think Mizzou will try to pressure Keller and get him to make mistakes, if he has all day he will pick us apart. Mizzou O versus Nebraska D: I would have to give the advantage to us, we have a guy named Danario Alexander coming back from injury this week, I believe he had a career game in Lincoln last year. We also have the top all-purpose guy in Jeremy Maclin. Throw in Tony Temple , Chase Coffman, and Martin Rucker, and we are pretty stacked. The key for Mizzou is turnovers, if they take care of the ball it might be a long day for your D. Turnovers were the main reason for Missouri losses last year. I would expect Mizzou to run some end-arounds similar to what WF ran with success against you earlier in the year. Special Teams: Probably pretty much even, there might be a slight advantage with Jeremy Maclin returning punts (has 2TD so far). It looks like Adi Kunalic can boom the ball, Jeff Wolfert has been a little inconsistent so far this year. We had a punt blocked by Illinois that was returned for a TD and also a net of 0, but the special teams has been better. Coaching and Intangibles: Playing in Columbia is a big deal, Mizzou plays very well at home. The bye week is also an advantage for us as well. Pinkel does make some dumbfounding decisions at times but I think he also gets a bad rap for certain things as well. The Cosgrove factor plays into our hands, the blackshirt d is not near as good as it was in 2003, and I don't know what Cosgrove was thinking against Brad Smith in 2005. It could be a wash... I could see Mizzou jumping out to a big lead, Nebraska coming back and the game coming down to the last 10 minutes or so, it should be awesome. As an aside note, my sister and brother-in-law just move to Lincoln over the summer (he is a chem prof there now) and they absolutely love it.. Sorry for the long post, I am going to hang around this week and I hope the game is good...