Out of the Blog: Missouri

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By CURT McKEEVER / Lincoln Journal Star

You ask the questions at Life in the Red, and we do our best to answer them.

1. Why does it seem this team sometimes plays down to the competition once we get a lead? Why no killer instinct to go for the jugular?

Considering last week’s meltdown in Stillwater, an earlier slippage against Kansas and the fact NU has scored just once in the third quarter of its six Big 12 games, that’s a fair question. But let’s cut the Huskers some slack Saturday.

Leading 27-6, Nebraska took the first possession of the third quarter to the Missouri 38-yard line, and rather than punt on fourth-and-1, attempted a bootleg pass that tight end J.B. Phillips might have scored  on had he not dropped the ball.

“They bit heavily on the isolation and we leaked the backside tight end out away from the wing and we got onto a boot with Zac (Taylor) off an excellent fake,” coach Bill Callahan said. “I really thought that that was the closer.”

2. What was it that allowed our ridiculous third-down conversion rate? I don’t recall seeing so many long and short third downs succeed.

Nebraska’s 11-for-17 success on third downs was its best since going 11-for-16 in the season opener.

“Some of the inside screens were huge payoffs for us,” Callahan said. “They’re a zone-blitzing team and our guys certainly took advantage of the zones that they were shown off the blitz game and off their pressure game, and we made some timely plays. We were fortunate. You’ve got to have a little good fortune on those plays, because they’re hit-and-miss. They’re either (a) big play, or they’re incompletions and you’re punting. That provided a little bit more of the higher conversion percentage.”

3. What players will give us a stronger secondary defense in the coming years? We seem to continue to get beat when the long passes are thrown.

Actually, Nebraska was respectable against the deep ball Saturday. The Huskers were fortunate Chase Daniel overthrew a few long tosses, and got nicked up with shorter or intermediate routes that turned into bigger gains because of questionable tackling.

As for the future of the secondary, don’t discount the efforts of Cortney Grixby, who made a nice breakup in the end zone against Chase Coffman. Zack Bowman also figures to make an immediate difference if he returns next season as the same player he was prior to having reconstructive knee surgery. In addition, Andre Jones, Rickey Thenarse, Corey Young, Bryan Wilson and Major Culbert — all of who are getting a chance to contribute now — return next season.

4. Is 6-foot-4 receiver Maurice Purify a candidate to join the NU basketball team?

Purify, a junior college star in basketball, would love the opportunity, but he said he has not discussed the possibility with any coaches. Jokingly asked if he was worried about losing Purify to Doc Sadler, Husker receivers coach Ted Gilmore said, “No. I’m just worried about getting a win (next week).”