BRIAN ROSENTHAL / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Tuesday, October 31, 2006 6:00 pm
Most signs point toward Nebraska being able to run the football against Missouri.
The Huskers average 189.2 rushing yards per game and ran for 211 yards last week against Oklahoma State. Missouri, meanwhile, has allowed its last three opponents —Texas A&M, Kansas State and Oklahoma — to run for 180, 262 and 231 yards, respectively.
Yet Nebraska coach Bill Callahan said statistics can be deceiving.
“We’ll do what we have to do to win,” Callahan said Tuesday at his weekly press conference. “You look at statistics, and they’ll tell you one story, but as a staff, there’s other areas that you look at that you’ve got to be able to exploit.”
Kansas State, a team that mustered only 22 rushing yards against Nebraska, ran 47 times against Missouri in poor weather conditions. Add in a few missed tackles, and Callahan said he didn’t read much into that game.
As for Oklahoma, which totaled its highest rushing total of the season — and that without Adrian Peterson?
“I’ll tell you what, the Sooners had to pound away, I mean really, physically pound away,” Callahan said. “They (the Tigers) don’t give you much. They don’t give you anything. You’ve really got to probe and work hard to find the formation matchups and things of that nature to break out a run.”
Callahan said it’d be “foolhardy” to say Nebraska could be one-dimensional against Missouri, which has the Big 12 Conference’s No. 2 total defense (290.6 yards per game).
“You’re going to have to do whatever it takes,” Callahan said. “It may be play-action, it may be drop-back, it may be sprint-out, it may be screens. Who knows? Who knows where those plays are going to come from? What I do know is we’ve got to make plays, and the playmakers have got to show up and make plays.”
AUSTIN OUT: Senior left guard Greg Austin, who was on crutches after the Oklahoma State game, will be out 2-5 weeks with a knee strain, Callahan said. Austin had an MRI on Monday. Coaches are hopeful Austin can return in time for the Colorado game on the day after Thanksgiving. Andy Christensen, Mike Huff and Jacob Hickman are the most likely replacements for Austin in the meantime, although Callahan said Brett Byford and true freshman Keith Williams are also trained for the position.
MOVING ON: Callahan was none too eager to dissect the Oklahoma State game Tuesday with the media. His general response to questions about the game? Nebraska has to play better, coach better and practice better. Now, on with Missouri. “We could sit here and beat up the Oklahoma State game, but I’ve moved on,” Callahan said. “It’s hard for me to look back right now, because I’m so focused and concentrated on this particular game that it seems like two weeks ago that we played Oklahoma State, in my mind, just because of all the preparation and time we’ve poured into the Missouri game. We just moved on pretty quickly.”
HARD-HITTING TIGERS: Nebraska quarterback Zac Taylor has said that he endured some of the toughest hits of his career in last year’s game at Missouri, when he was sacked four times. Not that he needed a reminder, but Taylor, after watching film, said the Tigers haven’t lost their touch. “They come up and hit you,” he said. “That running back for Oklahoma, he had some good runs, but he got lit up a couple of times, too. They come down, they hit.”
CHASING DANIEL: Callahan heaped his share of praise on Missouri sophomore quarterback Chase Daniel, who ranks second in the Big 12 in total offense (289.8 yards per game), saying Daniel has command of Missouri’s no-huddle system, is a tough competitor and can make plays on the move. Nebraska middle linebacker Corey McKeon echoed those thoughts. “Especially through the air, he’s very effective,” McKeon said. “He knows how to use his weapons. He knows how to find those big tight ends, he knows how to get it to his play-making receivers down the field. That offensive line gives him enough time, he can really hurt people.” McKeon said Daniel reminds him of former Oklahoma quarterback Jason White with his techniques in throwing the football.
MOTIVATION: Taylor predicts this will be one of Nebraska’s better weeks of practice, and that the team’s focus will be sharp. That’s because the Huskers totally understand the importance of Saturday’s game. The winner takes firm control of the Big 12 North race. “We need this game more than ever now,” Taylor said. “We’ve always needed to beat Missouri, but now we know our season’s really on the line here. This is the game where we’re going to have to step up and everybody’s going to have to play their best game of the year. If that doesn’t motivate you, then there’s some problems there.”