Nebraska looking like old-school Big Red-Kalani Simpson
LINCOLN, NEB.
In its first game after having beaten No. 1 Oklahoma, Missouri started in a no-back spread. On the first play, there was pressure. On the third play, Mizzou quarterback Blaine Gabbert threw it to the band. The Tigers punted, then. And that was that.
On Nebraska's first play from scrimmage, Roy Helu Jr. was gone. And the balloons launched. And the place shook. And like that, it was over. That was it. Thank you for coming, drive home safely, have a good night. The rest was mere formality.
Nebraska 31, previously unbeaten Missouri 17.
The only bright note for Missouri was that it took Helu a full 10 seconds to go 66 yards.
It made the time of knockout look just a little better. One minute, 14 seconds; 1:14. Michael Spinks lasted longer.
Helu would later go for 73 yards and another touchdown, giving him three carries for 142 in the first quarter and a 24-0 Nebraska lead. It looked like old school Big Red. Vintage.
Helu would break Nebraska's all-time single-game rushing mark, finishing with 307 yards on 28 carries, 11 a crack. And it was never close.
On the day before Halloween, Missouri was unmasked. Nebraska snatched the scary off the Tigers like it was the end of a Scooby Doo episode.
"It was a huge momentum game," Nebraska corner Prince Amukamara would say.
They acted like it. The Huskers players came off the field whooping. The stadium chanted Helu's name.
Helu left Tigers choking on his vapor trail. But his biggest contribution was in simply giving his defense a lead.
Everyone knows Amukamara, every draftnik’s fave rave. Nowhere in Nebraska's official list of All-America candidates are Lavonte David and DeJon Gomes, defensive slash players who eat up the underneath routes. They make those Wes Welker catches disappear. Nebraska has a handful of players like that.
They close. They close like doors.
On most teams you're lucky to have a pair of great corners who are islands. Nebraska has a whole archipelago.
"In our secondary," Nebraska coach Bo Pelini said understatedly, "we’ve got a lot of options."
"They're great players," Gabbert would say.
They made Gabbert look like he just stood there, in the pocket, and took what came. Of course he did. Nebraska had everybody covered. All he could do was just stand there, shuffling his feet, shuffle, shuffle, shuffle, until the inevitable came.
He was sacked six times, and intercepted once. He completed less than 50 percent. Somehow, he rumbled for 74 slow-motion yards rushing, but Pelini seemed unruffled.
"The scheme this week was definitely right on," Amukamara said.
"I thought the defense played inspired," Pelini said.
The spread only plays to Nebraska's strength. Nebraska's problem has often been sputtering on offense, both this year and last. Missouri again showed what a quick defense can do when it keys on the Nebraska quarterback.
But Helu's speed through creases was the antidote.
"You break a school record for single-game rushing at this place, with all the tradition around here, it's a pretty big deal," Pelini said.
Said Nebraska offensive lineman Keith Williams, it reminded him of the Washington game: "We kept running the same plays over and over. It was like, 'Come on, who’s going to stop us?'"
Missouri looked so emotional in the aftermath of its win the previous week. It was easy to wonder if there was anything left.
"That's an excuse," Missouri coach Gary Pinkel said.
It is, but there might be something to it. Missouri just isn't there yet, as a program. Close maybe. But not close on this night
And whither Nebraska, now? The state (and the national media) is salivating for a return to Big Red dominance, and this looked it. Still, the Huskers have teased already this year, with a win at Washington, followed by going all 12 rounds against FCS would-be tomato can South Dakota State. Then, wunderkind QB Taylor Martinez was Forrest Gump-like against Kansas State, only to be followed by dysfunction in a loss to Texas.
Now it seems Martinez is banged up. He gave way to senior Zac Lee (last year’s starter, who headed into this season third on the depth chart) in the second half. ("He's OK," Pelini said. "He just couldn't push off.")
But you look ahead on the schedule: At Iowa State. Kansas. At Texas A&M. Colorado. See the Huskers losing any of those?
They came off the field whooping.
Said Pelini, “It’s fun to win games like that.”
