dtbugeater

This is encouraging to see. Looks like the D is on the right path!

Do you all remember when the huskers put a couple games on the web that were not on TV. This would have been around '99-2000. They were not real fancy and did not have a lot of camera angles...but it worked. Why can't we do that with the spring game? What about other games that are not on TV? Is it a big 12 contract thing?

man, that is one very high jump.

What if Callahan was the key to our offense? What if he wasn't a complete offensive moron? Time to think husker fan... Callahan was not a good coach and was a worse fit, but he knew the offense. It is easy to sit here now and say that Watson will be even better, but it is more realistic to think that the offense will not be as good. *ducking out of the way*

I live in St. Louis. I don't get much free stuff, but I have had a lot of good conversations. I also get the head nod when you run into someone else with gear on. It sounds silly, but that head nod feels good--like a real understanding is there without anything being said. Or maybe it just means: I'm happy to run into an intelligent human being instead of one of those Mizzou ass-clowns. One or the other.

try this for sarcasm: very classy husker fan, you are one of the greatest fans on earth.

LSU didn't play that style of defense during the season. They played more zone. This was more or less "new" for the bowl game.

wow, I remember him being good. But that was crazy.

This may be the stupid fan(atic) in me--but is there a chance we could get both? Bo as head coach Turner as Assistant and O.C. I'm not sure how egos would work or if the two got along during the Solich days, but it seems like a good solution to our problem.

I was there two years ago, was mad that we lost but once I got over our beat down. I went out and had as good of a time as I have at any nebraska game including those in lincoln. I thought their fans were really funny and figured I was due for some good natured ribbing. There were a couple a-holes, but no more than I see in lincoln, Columbia, Bolder, etc.

Keller may not be the talent that we were wanting, but he has some real heart. Put yourself in his shoes--he came to Nebraska to prove himself as an NFL type QB. Now the team is falling apart around him and is making it difficult for him to stand out on a national level. This is not what he came here for, and yet he is showing some REAL heart and some REAL class. He has been here for one year and he is more of a husker than this coaching staff and some of the players will ever be. Sure, he may not be making the plays he wants to, but he at least seems to be trying as hard as he can all the time. He is what Nebraska football is all about. Win or lose he is classy and wants to get better. Funny that we get that from a one year transfer. Thanks for "getting it", Sam

Chase Daniel leads the way for Mizzou By Vahe Gregorian ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH 10/02/2007 Chase Daniel sprints Chase Daniel sprints during an afternoon football practice. (Ben Fredman) COLUMBIA, Mo. — Shortly before he leaves the house he shares with two teammates and heads for a 9 a.m. biology lab last Thursday, Chase Daniel roams to his room for a backpack. His tidy lair is adorned with mementos, awards, a computer station and a Nebraska football DVD that reinforce his identity as the exceptional junior quarterback for the University of Missouri. Among the paraphernalia hanging on the walls are a plasma television, posters of Britney Spears and Jessica Simpson and a framed print bearing the slogan "Winners don't wait for chances. They take risks." A keepsake suggests that's no idle prattle: a "First Jump Certificate" for skydiving. The skydiving scoop is mildly disconcerting to MU offensive coordinator and assistant head coach Dave Christensen, who joked that he might jump out of a plane without a parachute if Daniel ever did it again. Then again ... "Anyone who's going to jump out of an airplane has to have a lot of guts," Christensen said, "and he does." VITAL PIECE As Mizzou pursues its first conference title since 1969, no player is more essential than Daniel. The hubbub is at a pinnacle this week as the 17th-ranked Tigers (4-0) prepare to play host to No. 25 Nebraska (4-1) Saturday before a sellout crowd of about 70,000. If the Tigers can beat Nebraska for the third straight time in Columbia and muster a win the following week at No. 10 Oklahoma, Daniel's name may surface in discussion for the Heisman Trophy. Daniel is fifth in the nation in total offense (375 yards a game) and capable of breaking many of the single-game and single-season MU records he set as a sophomore a year ago. He is crucial not only to MU's offense but also to its overall play. "He has the 'it' factor; he walked in here with it," said MU coach Gary Pinkel, who has tutored future NFL quarterbacks such as Chris Chandler and Mark Brunell. "It's contagious. Players feel it on both sides of the ball." Pinkel said that in nearly 30 years, he has coached no player with more compelling leadership skills. Daniel demonstrated that demeanor when he said he remains miffed with himself for missing a play after being knocked woozy against Illinois. To the best of his recollection, it's the only time in his career he had to be attended to on the field. "I'm 225 pounds," the 6-foot Daniel said. "I can absorb hits." Other elements of the right stuff, according to Pinkel: Daniel's ability to cope with pressure and adversity, a boundless work ethic, perfectionism and an innate capacity to make others follow, perhaps encapsulated in the hugs he gives each offensive lineman before every "team" session of practice. "It" also stems from the fact that Daniel has been ingrained in the fundamentals of MU's spread offense since junior high school. His comfort with a system that requires dozens of reads within seconds on virtually every play is reminiscent of Russell Crowe's visions in "A Beautiful Mind." And it's part of the reason Christensen finds himself scheming new plays, say, on a waiter's note pad over dinner with his wife, Susie. "Hell, she wants to help draw 'em," said Christensen, who has taken to calling Mizzou's ever-morphing system the "Space Odyssey" for both its array and his intent to use all space on the field. MU also can be enterprising because, Pinkel insists, Daniel is the most consistently accurate passer he ever has been around. That can mean intentionally cushioning the impending impact by lasering it to the target's backside armpit or near the ground instead of exposing his rib cage. All things considered, Pinkel says, "I'd clone him for the rest of my career if I could." 'HIGH VALUES' As for the original himself, Daniel foremost is the product of deeply devoted parents. His father, Bill, is a Southlake, Texas, businessman whose penchant for detail and urgency to get things done now were absorbed by the son. Daniel's mother, Vickie, is a flight attendant who infused him with self-esteem and what he called "that loving side." "I think I was held a lot as a baby," he said, smiling. All of which has left Daniel quite secure with himself, as well personable, responsible and mannerly — enough so to rustle up scrambled eggs and bacon for a visiting reporter and be concerned about how they came out. (Very good, thanks). Pinkel and others also point to his integrity, and his presence at MU is testament to that. The lifelong University of Texas fan was crushed when the Longhorns snubbed him. He committed to Missouri and stuck with the Tigers even though Texas came sniffing around after his senior season, in which he threw for 4,617 yards and 70 touchdowns, rushed for 1,425 yards and led Southlake Carroll to a state title. "You don't get many people who do that these days," Daniel said, "but I come from a high-values family." EAGLE EYE The clock is winding down and Daniel's first option is covered. Unruffled and without hesitation, he scans through his progressions and again finds no opening. Then, out of the corner of his peripherally conditioned eye, he sees it: someone pulling out of a parking space across the street. He executes a U-turn and swoops into the space, pauses to point out how perfectly the wheels aligned into the spot and arrives in class moments before 9 a.m. With only two classes on this day during a bye week (the other is marketing), the business major has time to return a rented movie ("Next") and eat lunch at Chipotle in downtown Columbia. By 1:30 p.m., Daniel is checking in at MU's gleaming, sprawling new $16 million football facility for film study and conditioning. Nine days before the Tigers will take on the Cornhuskers, the buzz for the game already is palpable. Daniel bumps into Christensen in a hallway, and they immediately launch into brainstorming over the Cornhuskers. That mental preparation will peak the morning of the game, when quarterbacks coach Dave Yost and other MU quarterbacks will enter Daniel's hotel room. With the lights off and eyes closed, each quarterback lying down, the only noise will be Yost slowly reading each of the first 50 plays on MU's script as each quarterback pictures how to proceed against multiple defensive possibilities. Until then, Daniel will watch vast amounts of film on Nebraska, beginning on this day with footage of last season's 34-20 loss in Lincoln. While he says "I'm not a big believer in just critiquing myself all the time," there's plenty of self-analysis at play. Daniel has completed 63.5 percent of his passes at MU (441 of 694), but he vigilantly scrutinizes his technique for false moves: not setting his shoulders, bad footwork, hopping or shooting too finely as he did one on potential touchdown against Nebraska last season. "I tried to aim it; I air-mailed that out of the end zone," he notes. As he watches Nebraska film, though, Daniel is just as intent on what he can learn about the 'Huskers as himself. After reviewing one play perhaps 15 times, he yells, "Coach C, come look at this real quick." Christensen comes in the room, observes what Daniel is pointing out verbally and with a laser pointer and starts drawing on a grease board. "Oh, I like it a lot," Daniel says. "They can't defend that. There's no way." With Daniel believing that, the coaches expect the team to follow. "Our guys," Pinkel said, "would jump off a building for him." A leap of faith that Daniel inspires by example. vgregorian@post-dispatch.com | 314-340-8199