Some people will blame Missouri coach Gary Pinkel's play calling.

Nebraska's Blackshirts, though, believe there's another reason elusive quarterback Brad Smith threw 56 times Saturday.

He couldn't run. 

"We shut it down," Nebraska linebacker Chad Sievers said. "We shut it down. That's the bottom line."

That's right. Smith, the same player who burned Nebraska by running for 123 yards last season, spent more time chucking the ball around Memorial Stadium than he did using his legs.

And the 21 times he did try running, he couldn't escape the Blackshirts. Smith finished with 25 rushing yards.

"That's what we had to do," Sievers said, noting Nebraska followed defensive coordinator Kevin Cosgrove's game plan perfectly in a 24-3 victory.

"We knew coming in … Coach Coz said, ‘Here's the plan, we're going to play two defenses, we've got to stop the run. We stop the run, we stop Brad Smith, we win the game.' "

Two defenses?

"It was a very simplistic game plan," Nebraska coach Bill Callahan said. "It was nothing fancy."

No, but it doesn't have to be when you execute.

"The thing I'm most proud of, they really executed the plan," Cosgrove said. "We told them exactly what was going to happen, and that's what happened, and they did a good job."

Cosgrove talked earlier in the week about the importance of stopping Smith on the run. A mobile quarterback, Smith had run for 410 yards this year — an average of 58 per game. Heightening awareness was the fact Nebraska failed to stop Kansas State quarterback Allen Webb last week, when Webb ran for 147 yards.

"He's always been a runner, and we figured he'd run it more," Cosgrove said of Smith. "Again, our plan was to make sure he didn't beat us with his feet. If he was going to beat us, it was going to have to be with his arm."

Which Smith didn't. He completed just 24 of his 56 attempts for 277 yards. He threw one interception, that caught by Josh Bullocks.

"We put our secondary on some islands today, because with (Smith) being a runner, they always get the extra guy on you," Cosgrove said. "If you don't get another guy in the box, they can outnumber you. We wanted to make sure that didn't happen."

Smith's biggest run was a 24-yard burst in the final minute before halftime. Nebraska sacked him three times and tackled him behind the line of scrimmage several other times for a total of 43 yards lost. Barrett Ruud led the Huskers with 17 tackles, and Nebraska finished with 19 tackles for loss.

With their running game faltering — freshman running backs Marcus Woods and Tony Temple combined for 35 yards on 13 carries — the Tigers "had no choice" but to throw the ball, Carriker said.

He said the Blackshirts ran a new defense — about a third of time — for when Missouri went to the air. Kellen Huston replaced a linebacker as an extra defensive back, like in the nickel package, but the regular defensive line remained in the game.

Carriker said the team didn't even practice the normal nickel package last week until Friday's walkthrough.

"We practiced all week to stop the run," he said.

That, they did.

"We finally listened to Coach Coz," Sievers said. "We listened to his plan, everyone was out there hyped up, ready to roll, and we come up with a ‘W.' That's what happens. You've got to follow the game plan, you've got to have fun."

Reach Brian Rosenthal at 473-7436 or brosenthal@journalstar.com.