ESPY
Starter
You took the words right out of my mouth.My thoughts exactly.Landry Jones threw the ball 60+ times last night. If they try that aginst our secondary it could be a very long night for Landry.
To me, this really comes down to which offense shows up on Saturday for Nebraska. If Jones throws the ball 60ish times and if our defense comes even semi-prepared, I think we will do well against OU's offense. Their offensive line hasn't been playing great this year, Jones is about as inconsistent as my sleep schedule, and their running game is really nothing to brag about this year. They have a great corp of wide receivers, but we probably have the best defensive back field they will see all year.
As far as our offense is concerned, we shouldn't be surprised if we have a low scoring game regardless of who the quarterback is. We need now, arguably more than at any other point this season, for our offensive line to play it's best game of the year. It all starts up front, and if they're knocking guys off the ball like they did against Colorado, I think we should be just fine.
All this said, at least 10 of 12 Big 12 schools will be pulling for Oklahoma to win this game. Colorado probably won't even care to watch it. From Beebe all the way down to his coffee runner, very few if any people associated with the Big 12 offices (including referees) wants the program that is leaving the conference (and almost cost everyone a job) to leave with the trophy. Expect no favors and expect plenty of calls to go against us.
I don't have a great feeling about this game. If this were just a regular conference game on a neutral field, I'd feel pretty good about it. But, given the implications, I'm worried. I think Nebraska has the better team and should win, but I have my reservations over whether or not we will. Our guys just have to play and play smart. They can't control anything else.
We all have confidence the Blackshirts will play a solid game, and rightfully so. This defense is built to stop the Sooner offense (see: NU v OU 2009), and they've hit their stride at just the right time over the last three weeks. No doubt the CCG will be the culmination of our D's efforts.
Unlike the consistently dominant play of the Blackshirts, our offense must come out firing on all cylinders. This is a very inconsistent offensive unit, one that hasn't put together two straight strong outings all season, which is definitely cause for concern since we're just coming off a solid performance vs CU. So, I think it's clear this game depends largely on what offense will show up come Saturday.