Restore the Aura

[HuskerfaninOkieland]

NE Statepaper

 

Restore The Aura

Commentary: A win at Missouri brings back a sliver of the attitude

by Samuel McKewon

 

October 07, 2009

 

You didn’t think it was going to be easy, did you? When a program declares emotional bankruptcy, like Nebraska’s football team did in 2007, Husker fans can’t just expect the pigskin gods to clear the brush while Bo Pelini and Co. hike back to the top.

 

The breaks NU once got when undefeated seasons were the norm…now turn into 81-yard daggers in your Husker heart. And so it’s a little fitting that Nebraska heads to Missouri for a statement-making game with its share of adversity to overcome. Rotten, rainy weather. A flu bug that’s sidelined running back Roy Helu – and others - for the last two days. A whole day to kill in a Columbia hotel – on a weekday, no less.

 

“I would normally watch (ESPN’s) College Gameday,” tight end Mike McNeill said.

 

(Might I suggest a trio of Maury, Jerry and Steve Wilkos, chased with two of the 13,000 “judge” shows now gracing our airwaves? You’ll learn a lot about paternity tests!)

 

So, no. It’s not going to be easy. It’s going to be, in fact, a pain in the Big Red Patoot. And it’s not just the scholarship numbers, talent and spread offenses that evened the playing field. It’s the expectation that Big 12 teams no longer have of Nebraska. That fear is gone. The Huskers are not, in the eyes of conference foes, the biggest, baddest, smartest, best-coached team on the block. Oh, they’re big, bad, smart and well-coached. But the aura is gone. The hyperbole.

 

Fifteen years ago, that white road jersey alone was worth a field goal or a touchdown. Nebraska came down the tunnel, led by a stately, deliberate gentleman in Tom Osborne, and opposing fans used to crane their necks just to see the horde behind him. They’d pick the biggest of the bunch – Zach Wiegert, Jason Peter, Brendan Stai, Mike Rucker – and give them the once-over. They’d see Nebraska’s latest fast, strong quarterback. For a couple years there, they’d locate No. 1, Lawrence Phillips, who, for all the right and wrong reasons, cut one mean figure.

 

Whatever feeling those opposing fans had – distaste, jealousy, awe, hatred, hope – it was tinged with an acknowledgement, a mental tip of the cap, that men were about to play football. What Osborne assembled, in his later years, was more of a traveling road show, a carnival of strong arms, borderline personality disorders and pumped-up Napoleons, than it was a football team. NU couldn’t field that team today no more than Miami or Florida State or Oklahoma could field their coterie of hustlers, rappers, cokeheads, gamblers and mercenaries.

 

But damn if that spirit of dominance wasn’t woven into the fabric of a brutal game. Pelini likes the word “dominate.” It has a feeling of totality, just about any way you use it.

 

Thursday’s game is about getting some of that back – without the infamy, of course. It’s about walking into a dark club like you’re Sinatra, and somebody owes you three drinks. It’s about opposing quarterbacks hearing footsteps that aren’t quite there, defensive backs giving up the chase a second too soon, and a punt returner signaling for a fair catch out of self-preservation. The stuff mediocre teams do when they sense they’re outmatched. The stuff Nebraska did in 2006 and 2007 when it faced USC. And last year when it faced Oklahoma.

 

Folks, believe it: This translates into wins on every level. Peyton Manning and Tom Brady have thrown off defenses based on their reputation alone. Half of the offenses the Baltimore Ravens face simply retreat into a cave of off-tackle runs and short passes. They want no real part of that Ray Lewis-led nastiness. Right now, there isn’t a pass Drew Brees couldn’t complete. You see it in every drop he makes, every read, every throw.

 

That’s the reputation Nebraska used to have.

 

Now, you don’t earn back that respect, and that fear, back overnight. Missouri’s fan base, like Colorado’s fan base, isn’t going to acknowledge anything out loud. They’d rather turn in their snob card than do something like that. And the Tiger seniors will end their career knowing, regardless of Thursday’s outcome, that they gave better than they got.

 

But, sooner rather than later, NU needs to start sending the message: The interlude is over. Back to the main stage.

 

What better opportunity will there be than Thursday night in Columbia, on ESPN, in front of Lil Red, Mike the Tiger, Erin Andrews, God and everyone?

 

The rotten weather – and you should plan for puddles – will dull both of the offenses a little. Nebraska’s flu bug, whatever the extent, should tie a couple fingers behind the Huskers’ backs, if not the whole hand.

 

It smells a lot like 1994 Kansas State, one of the great games in Husker history, a 17-6 win more about guts, dark hearts and raw desire than any display of skill. It smells, too, like the 1981 Missouri, when sophomore Turner Gill had to deliver a 6-0 win in front of 72,000 bloodthirsty fans with a touchdown in the final minute of the game. Nebraska was only 4-2 at the time, and the win was a turning point in the season, the true beginning of Gill’s journey to greatness.

 

This Missouri team probably isn’t as good as any of the above opponents. The Tigers don’t run the ball very well, and they’re so concerned about giving up the big play that they don’t stop the run very well, either. The one player Nebraska really feared, Jeremy Maclin, is gone. The one player Nebraska couldn’t stop, Chase Coffman, is too. The one player Nebraska couldn’t stand, Chase Daniel, makes three.

 

Last year’s game was about Missouri kicking NU’s shins, hard, as if to say, yeah, we just did that.

 

This year, it’s Nebraska’s turn to stun an angry, raucous, rainy, beer-filled crowd and say, yeah, you did - thanks for playing.

 

If NU can pull it off, forget about the betting lines that predicted it would happen anyway, or even what Missouri does from here. It gets a little Sinatra back in the room.

 

[Vince from ShamWOW]

Nice article.

[husker rob]

good read