Bye-bye Blackshirts
Missouri brings an end to misery vs. Nebraska.
By DAVE MATTER of the Tribune's staff
Published Sunday, October 12, 2003
On what was labeled across the nation as "Separation Saturday," Missouri finally settled its long and ugly divorce.
The Big Red pain in the Tigers’ backside for a quarter of a century was removed with Missouri’s 41-24 victory over Nebraska.
For the first time since Missouri spoiled Nebraska’s national-championship dreams in 1978, the Tigers beat their neighbors to the northwest. As parts of the sellout crowd of 68,349 spilled onto Faurot Field to topple the goal posts, Missouri players celebrated something that had never happened in their lifetimes. MU had lost 24 consecutive games to the Cornhuskers.
"That’s what makes this so special," said linebacker James Kinney, one of many heroes for the Tigers. "This was a win for all the fans that have been waiting for this for 20-something years. And it’s for all the players that played before us."
In beating the previously unbeaten and 10th-ranked Cornhuskers (5-1, 1-1 Big 12), the Tigers (5-1, 1-1) beat a top-10 team for the first time since beating No. 9 Mississippi State in 1981.
Coming two weeks after suffering a demoralizing loss to rival Kansas — a loss that brought heavy criticism down on Gary Pinkel for Missouri’s conservative offensive approach — the Tigers dipped deep into their playbook and played with a fearlessness rarely seen this season.
"We haven’t been playing with our hair on fire all season, and that’s the way I want to play," Pinkel said. "I told my team after losing to Kansas, ‘When you’re ranked and predicted to win, and you lose to the biggest team on your schedule, bullets are going to fly. And they should.’ "
The biggest bullets that flew yesterday were passes thrown by Tigers not named Brad Smith. The preseason All-Big 12 quarterback played perhaps the most complete game of his career — totaling 350 yards of offense — but it was a pass by his backup that gave the Tigers the lead for good.
With 11:21 left in the fourth quarter, and Nebraska leading 24-21, Missouri lined up for a routine, game-tying 34-yard field goal for Mike Matheny. But holder Sonny Riccio, MU’s backup quarterback, took the snap, sprinted to the right and looked for his primary target, Clint Matthews. But Matthews was covered, so Riccio lofted a pass to Victor Sesay in the end zone.
"Once I threw it, I knew it was good," Riccio said.
On a play strikingly similar to Oklahoma’s fake field goal that stunned the Tigers in the same end zone last season, Sesay hauled in the 14-yard TD. And with two more Smith touchdown runs, the Tigers cruised against the 7-point favorite Huskers.
"I told Sonny before the game to keep his arm warm," Pinkel said. "And it worked, so it was a great call."
"We knew it had been so long since we beat Nebraska," Riccio said, "so we just wanted to attack every chance we had."
An MU team that was criticized for rarely throwing deep through its first five games didn’t hesitate attacking the Huskers’ secondary early. The Tigers attempted passes on eight of their first 11 plays from scrimmage.
But after two rare interceptions — his first since last year’s season finale — Smith became Missouri’s most dangerous wide receiver. On a play called "Diamond Throwback Screen" — a play the MU installed after losing to KU and practiced several times last week — the Tigers lined up three receivers in a bunch formation on the right-hand side. Smith sent tailback Damien Nash in motion to the right and threw a lateral to Darius Outlaw behind the wall of blockers on the right. Outlaw fired back, hitting Smith in the left flat with four linemen and half a field of FieldTurf between him the end zone. Smith cruised in for the 47-yard score, giving MU a 14-7 lead with 10:57 left in the second quarter.It was Smith’s first career touchdown catch and the first touchdown pass for Outlaw, who is a former quarterback, since 2001.
With inspired play from a resurgent defense, the Tigers silenced Nebraska’s option offense in the fourth quarter and forced Nebraska quarterback Jammal Lord to do what he does worst: throw deep. First, Kinney sacked Lord on third-and-11, forcing Lord to commit the Huskers’ fourth fumble of the night. Missouri rover Dedrick Harrington scooped up the loose ball on Nebraska’s 9-yard line. Four plays later, Riccio hit Sesay in the end zone on the fake field goal.
After a Nebraska punt, Missouri took a 10-point lead on Smith’s 1-yard bootleg run into the end zone.
After defensive end Zach Ville intercepted a pass and returned it 39 yards, Smith needed just two plays to score his fourth touchdown, a 9-yard draw up the middle.
Smith’s four touchdowns — three running, one receiving — tied an MU single-game record held by four former Tigers.
Smith’s night didn’t start out so great. On MU’s first possession, he overthrew Sean Coffey and was intercepted by free safety Josh Bullocks. Following a 6-yard touchdown run by Zack Abron and a fumbled Nebraska kickoff return, Smith threw his second interception, tossing an intended screen to linebacker Demorrio Williams.
But as the fourth quarter began, Smith and the Missouri offense picked apart the nation’s No. 1 defense. On the first play of the fourth quarter, Smith turned a third-and-4 quarterback keeper into a 39-yard sprint to the end zone.
He finished with 123 rushing yards, completed 13 of 27 passes for 180 yards and added the 47-yard catch.
Missouri plays at No. 1 Oklahoma next week, but after a gutsy and historic performance in front of a packed Memorial Stadium, the Tigers savored something that hasn’t happened in 25 years.
"We talked all week about just letting go," center A.J. Ricker said. "It’s amazing how much better you can play when you just let go and attack."
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When you finally come to, this will still be documented
By JOE WALLJASPER Tribune sports editor
Published Sunday, October 12, 2003
I’m going to take this nice and slow because, chances are, your eyes are bloodshot and your head is pounding. It’s possible that your car is overturned and smoldering on Ninth Street.
But trust me, what you might more or less remember about last night really happened. The Missouri football team beat Nebraska 41-24.
Twenty-five years after their last victory over the Cornhuskers, the Tigers took out their frustrations with a vengeance.
"I’ve been a little bit disappointed in our team all year," Missouri Coach Gary Pinkel said. "It just seemed like we weren’t playing on all cylinders. They were trying hard, but it just seemed that players were more concerned about making mistakes than playing good."
Pinkel’s standard facial expression on the sideline is the grimace of a man who could stand a larger pair of briefs. He is, by admission, someone who abhors turnovers and penalties. And throughout most of the first half of the season, his team had played mistake-free but robotic football.
The restrained Tigers played well enough to win the first four games but bottomed out in a 35-14 loss to Kansas two weeks ago. Even Brad Smith, who as a freshman was a creative genius with the ball in his hands, had become an ordinary player, dinking short passes and struggling to find running room.
Something had to change. It changed last night against the 10th-ranked Cornhuskers.
Missouri threw caution to the wind and threw the ball downfield. Smith caught a 47-yard touchdown pass from wide receiver Darius Outlaw. The Tigers ran a reverse on a kickoff return. And then came the mother of all gutsy calls, the one that unquestionably required Pinkel to go up a few sizes on his underwear.
Trailing 24-21 in the fourth quarter, facing a fourth-and-goal from the 14-yard line, it was an obvious field goal situation. But just as Oklahoma Coach Bob Stoops did to Missouri last year, Pinkel elected to call a fake. On a play designed by tight ends coach Bruce Walker, holder Sonny Riccio rolled right and lofted a perfect pass over Nebraska defender T.J. Hollowell and into the hands of tight end Victor Sesay in the end zone.
Sold-out Faurot Field went bonkers, and the Tigers smelled blood. They added two more touchdowns before the goal posts came down and the party started in earnest.
"We hadn’t beaten them in 25 years," Pinkel said. "We were going to be aggressive in everything we did."
There was plenty of history made. It was Missouri’s first victory over a top-10 team since 1981 and the first over a ranked team since 1997.
The heroes were numerous. Smith gashed the top-ranked defense in the nation for 123 rushing yards, 47 receiving yards and 180 passing yards. He scored four touchdowns. The Missouri offensive line, which included first-time starter Steven Sanchez at tackle, got the better of the Nebraska defensive front. Sean Coffey caught three passes for 59 yards, including a huge third-down grab in the fourth quarter on which he used every bit of his 6-foot-5 frame. And linebacker James Kinney was all over, recovering a fumble and forcing another on a sack.
Most notable, though, was the passion the Tigers showed. Football was fun again.
"I told them a week and a half ago, when we started preparing for this, ‘When is Missouri going to start winning some big games around here?’ " Pinkel said. "There’s a lot of fans out there that this meant an awful lot to, and I’m just happy my players and staff could get it done."
Hope you enjoyed it, Missouri fans. Let’s do it again sometime before 2028.
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Cornhuskers drop the ball
Missouri takes advantage of five Nebraska turnovers.
By DAVE MATTER of the Tribune’s staff
Published Sunday, October 12, 2003
Missouri fans were hoping to avoid the rain showers that were predicted for Columbia last night, but a steady rain that began to fall just after kickoff might have benefited the Tigers early.
Slippery footballs could have been Nebraska’s excuse for its early case of fumbleitis in last night’s 41-24 Missouri win. But when the clouds cleared, the Huskers’ problems didn’t.
Just minutes after setting a Big 12 career record for return yards, Nebraska’s Josh Davis probably wanted to find a poncho and hide. With his 26-yard kickoff return to start the game, Davis passed Colorado’s Ben Kelly to become the conference’s career leader in return yards.
But on his next chance, as the raindrops continued to fall, Davis cost the Cornhuskers their early lead when he fumbled a punt deep in Missouri territory. After a third-down stop by Nebraska’s defense, Brock Harvey sailed a 53-yard punt to Davis inside the 5-yard line, and the usually sure-handed I-back let the ball slip through his hands. James Kinney came up with the recovery.
Much like the Tigers’ first touchdown of the season against Illinois, Missouri needed just 6 yards for its first score, getting a 6-yard run by Zack Abron to tie the Huskers at 7.
Following the touchdown, disaster struck Nebraska’s special teams again. This time it was wide receiver Jake O’Holleran who mishandled Mike Matheny’s kickoff. Nino Williams scooped up the ball for his first of two recoveries in the half.
Nebraska came into the game having fumbled 15 times through five games, and the slippery hands continued in the second quarter. A promising drive was stalled at MU’s 12-yard line when I-back David Horne fumbled after a decent gain up the middle. Kinney forced the turnover, and Williams picked up his second recovery.
In the fourth quarter, quarterback Jammal Lord was sacked by Kinney and fumbled to Dedrick Harrington to set up Missouri’s go-ahead touchdown.
Davis gave the Tigers good field position again on the next drive, fumbling a toss deep into Missouri territory.
● STREAK SNAPPED: Dating back to last season, Missouri’s Brad Smith had attempted 140 passes without an interception. Then he faced the Big 12’s turnover kings and promptly threw two picks in the first half.
On Missouri’s opening drive, on second-and-9, Smith was pressured by Nebraska defensive end Trevor Johnson and overthrew Sean Coffey over the middle. Free safety Josh Bullocks, who led the nation with five interceptions coming into the game, easily caught Smith’s high pass.
Three possessions later, Smith threw his second interception, when outside linebacker Demorrio Williams stepped in front of Darius Outlaw and hauled in the attempted screen.
● HARDLY HARVEY: After a inconsistent start to the season, punter Brock Harvey was demoted to backup status during the week leading up to last night’s game. But it was Harvey that kicked MU’s first four punts, not Todd Gohsler.
That changed after Missouri’s first series of the second half when Harvey’s fourth punt of the game went just 18 yards. On Missouri’s next series, Gohsler made his first punt of the season and pinned the Huskers to their own 3-yard line with a 40-yarder that bounced out of bounds near the goal line. On his next chance, Gohsler shanked the ball for a 25-yarder that gave Nebraska the ball on its 33 yard line.
● HUSKERS HEALED: Three Nebraska starters missed last week’s game against Troy State with injuries: offensive guard Jake Anderson, nose tackle Ryan Bingham and strong safety Philip Bland. Also, center Josh Sewell left the game with a leg injury and was considered questionable to for last night’s game.
Sewell and Anderson were both in the starting lineup but not Bland. Daniel Bullocks, twin brother of starting free safety Josh Bullocks, started in place of Bland.
● NEW-LOOK LINEUP: As expected, Gary Pinkel shook up his starting lineup, including two new starters on defense. Freshman Xzavie Jackson, who broke his foot during the preseason and missed MU’s first four games, started at defensive end for Brian Smith. Jackson made the first tackle of the game, stopping Davis after a 3-yard run.
A.J. Kincade, a sophomore cornerback, made his third career start and first this season, replacing Calvin Washington. Kincade made a key third-down tackle in the first quarter but later limped off the field and was replaced by Washington.
For the Missouri offense, strong tackle Steve Sanchez made his first career start, replacing two-year starter Scott Paffrath.
Freshman wide receiver Brad Ekwerekwu didn’t start but played significantly. He took a reverse from Tyrone Roberson on a kickoff late in the third quarter and returned it 31 yards.
● NEXT UP: It doesn’t get any easier for the Tigers, who play at No. 1 Oklahoma (6-0, 2-0 Big 12) Saturday in Norman, Okla. The Sooners destroyed Texas 65-13 yesterday in Dallas and have won eight straight games dating back to last season. The Big 12 will announce the game’s kickoff time and TV availability today.
Oklahoma has won 14 of the last 15 meetings with Missouri, including the last two: a 37-0 pounding at OU in 1999 and a 31-24 thriller in Columbia last fall. Missouri’s last win against OU came in 1998 - 20-6 in Columbia - during John Blake’s final year before he was replaced by Bob Stoops. Stoops has a 49-9 record in five seasons, including a national championship in 2000.
The Tigers haven’t won at OU since 1966, a streak of 15 straight losses in Norman.
The Sooners are led by quarterback Jason White, who’s an early Heisman Trophy frontrunner after returning from two injury-shortened seasons.
Defensively, the Sooners are loaded with their usual list of All-Americans, including defensive tackle Tommie Harris, linebacker Teddy Lehman and defensive backs Derrick Strait and Brandon Everage.
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Mizzou-Nebraska Redux: 2003 (Part Three)
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Mizzou-Nebraska Redux: 2003 (Part Two)
Twenty-five years and counting
MU’s last victory over Huskers has become pleasant memory.
“I’ll gladly trade every single yard in for just one more touchdown. That’s really all I have to say. That’s it. That’s it. That’s all there is to it. We got beat.” — Nebraska running back Rick Berns after Missouri’s 35-31 win in Lincoln, Neb., on Nov. 18, 1978
By DAVE MATTER of the Tribune’s staff
Published Saturday, October 11, 2003
Nebraska senior running back Rick Berns sat at his locker inside Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Neb., and sobbed. On the final day of the regular season, he had just become Nebraska’s all-time leading rusher with 255 yards against Missouri — the most any player had ever totaled against the Tigers. He never had a game that started so promising end so terribly.
Berns’ first carry went for 82 yards, giving Nebraska a touchdown just 18 seconds into the game.
His last carry went for minus-1 yard, all but sealing Missouri’s third straight win in Lincoln. When Tom Sorley’s fourth-down pass fell incomplete, the Tigers had officially spoiled the Cornhuskers’ national-championship dreams, winning 35-31.
“They just beat us,” Berns said afterward. “I really can’t say anything else. Missouri just gave a super effort.”
His tears represent the last wept in sadness by a Cornhusker after playing Missouri. Twenty-five years later, the Tigers are still seeking their first win over Nebraska since that November afternoon.
As Warren Powers, the architect of that day’s upset, and several of his former Missouri players reunite today at Memorial Stadium, the Tigers will attempt another stab at breaking the skid. Since Missouri’s last win against the Cornhuskers, the Tigers have had five head coaches: Powers (1-6 against NU), Woody Widenhofer (0-4), Bob Stull (0-5), Larry Smith (0-7) and Gary Pinkel (0-2). Nebraska, meanwhile, has won three national championships.
A quarter of a century after beating Nebraska, his alma mater and the program he helped coach for eight seasons, Powers can hardly believe the drought continues.
“The rivalry between Missouri and Nebraska, even in Nebraska’s heyday, was always huge,” Powers said this week from his home in Chesterfield. “When I was at Nebraska and we played Missouri, you knew you were in for a dogfight. … I didn’t think it would never happen again.”
Phil Bradley, Missouri’s quarterback that day, would never have thought 25 years would pass before the Tigers beat Nebraska again.
“If you look back at history, that was the” third “straight time that Missouri had beaten Nebraska in Lincoln,” Bradley said. “Just looking at that alone, you would have thought we would have done it again.”
Bradley talks about the 1978 season, Powers’ first at Missouri, as one that could have been for the Tigers. After beating No. 5 Notre Dame in the opener, Missouri started 2-2, with the losses coming against No. 1 Alabama and No. 1 Oklahoma. MU won its next three games, but a shot at the Big Eight title was lost with back-to-back losses against Colorado and Oklahoma State. Sitting at 5-4, a promising season seemed lost.
“We blew a 27-7 lead against Colorado well into the third quarter, and we played poorly at Stillwater,” Bradley said. “Obviously, looking back, if we don’t let those games get away, we probably would have won the Big Eight Conference. But it is what it is.”
For Missouri to earn its first bowl invitation since 1973, the Tigers knew they had to beat Nebraska on the road — just like they had done in ’68, ’74 and ’76.
“We had blown two games earlier in the year,” Powers said. “But we screwed that up, so we knew to get to a bowl game, we had to win.”
Nebraska, meanwhile, came into the regular-season finale ranked No. 2 with a 9-1 record. Tom Osborne’s Cornhuskers had just beaten Oklahoma and seemed poised for an Orange Bowl berth against Penn State to determine the national champion.
“Normally during the Big Eight season, Oklahoma and Nebraska played the last game of the year,” Bradley said. “For whatever reason, we got Nebraska after they had played Oklahoma. And by beating them, we ended up costing them the national championship.”
But it didn’t look so promising from the start on a day when the wind chill was close to zero. Berns took a pitch from Sorley and sped around left tackle for 82 yards. Just 18 seconds had ticked off the clock.
“When Berns ran right by us on the sidelines, I said, ‘Holy cow!’ I knew how tough it can get against Nebraska,” said Powers, who was a Nebraska assistant from 1969-76. “But we settled down, did our things and kept our poise.”
The Tigers came right back with James Wilder’s 9-yard touchdown run. Later in the first quarter, a woeful Missouri punt — some things never change — gave Nebraska prime field position, and Sorley soon hit Junior Miller with a 2-yard touchdown pass.
A goal-line stand by the Tigers forced Nebraska to settle for a Billy Todd field goal in the second quarter, giving the Huskers a 17-7 lead. With six minutes left in the half, Bradley hit Kellen Winslow for a 14-yard touchdown, cutting Nebraska’s lead to 17-14.
Berns opened the second half with his second touchdown — a 2-yard run on fourth-and-goal. Behind the trinity of Bradley, Winslow and Wilder, the Tigers answered again.
Wilder broke off a 20-yard run, followed by back-to-back 16-yard passes from Bradley to Winslow. On first-and-goal from the 1, Wilder scored his second of four touchdowns.
Then the Tigers’ defensive hero, linebacker Chris Garlich, struck a devastating blow. He picked off Sorley in Nebraska territory, setting up Wilder’s 4-yard touchdown run that gave MU its first lead at 28-24.
Garlich earned Big Eight defensive-player-of-the-week-honors for his 21-tackle effort. Coming into the game, Garlich was livid at his exclusion from the All-Big Eight team.
“I was a little fired up,” he told the Tribune that day. “We had a couple of letdowns and a couple of bad games. And that damn Big Eight team came out. I don’t think I’m the fifth-best linebacker in the Big Eight. So I felt like I had to prove something.”
Garlich proved his point later in the game.
After Wilder’s third touchdown, Nebraska struck again. Backup quarterback Tim Hager scored on a 4-yard keeper to retake the lead 31-28.
A botched MU handoff gave Nebraska the ball, but with 5:59 left in the fourth quarter, the Tigers took over with a chance to regain the lead. Starting at their own 26, the Tigers used a mix of Wilder runs and Bradley passes to march toward the end zone. Bradley hit Winslow for a 33-yard gain down to Nebraska’s 15. Wilder did the rest, needing two plays to score his fourth touchdown. He memorably bowled over a Nebraska linebacker on his way to the end zone on a 7-yard score.
Then came Garlich’s moment. With two minutes left, the Huskers entered Missouri territory but faced a crucial third-and-3. Sorley handed off to Berns, who was quickly smashed by Garlich for a loss of a yard. Sorley’s fourth-down pass sailed over Tim Smith.
“If we didn’t stop them, we just couldn’t come back to Columbia,” defensive end Wendell Ray said. “It would have been a disgrace to our defense. There were no ifs about it. We had to stop them.”
Wilder finished with 181 rushing yards and was named the Big Eight offensive player of the week. Winslow was equally fantastic, catching six passes for 132 yards.
The Huskers still earned a trip to the Orange Bowl, where they lost to Oklahoma in a rematch. Nebraska finished the season ranked No. 8.
Missouri came back to Columbia with three bowl invitations to choose from. The Tigers picked the Liberty Bowl, where they beat LSU 20-15. Powers’ teams went on to play in four more bowl games. But never again would they beat Nebraska.
The Tigers came close, losing by 10 points or less in five of the next seven meetings. Then came the late ’80s and ’90s when Nebraska poundings became more customary.
“The rivalry’s probably still there, but it was really big back then,” Powers said. “It was always a very physical, emotional game. You always knew when it was Nebraska week. You had a little zip in your practices. It was the same way with Kansas. It wasn’t like you were playing Colorado or someone else. It was always something really special.”
Tonight, Powers, along with several of his former players will be honored during the first half, while MU will be either continuing its misery or recapturing the magic of ’78.
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Failure is not an option
Tigers focus on stopping NU pet play.
By JOE WALLJASPER Tribune sports editor
Published Saturday, October 11, 2003
Missouri defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus has an unorthodox pick as the All-Big 12 Conference tailback — Nebraska quarterback Jammal Lord.
“He could start for anybody in the conference at tailback,” Eberflus said. “He’s a really good runner. He’s a strong guy.”
Lord’s critics would suggest that he not only runs like a tailback, he throws like one, too. True, Lord presides over the only passing game ranked lower than Missouri’s in the Big 12, but he’s been good enough to lead Nebraska to a 5-0 start and a No. 10 national ranking.
Although there was much preseason talk about the Cornhuskers opening up the offense a bit under new offensive coordinator Barney Cotton, it hasn’t worked out that way. They rank sixth nationally in rushing (241 per game) and 114th in passing (111 per game).
“They’re pretty consistent with what they’ve done in the past — the power game, some one-back, the counter zone where they fake to the back and the quarterback keeps it,” Missouri Coach Gary Pinkel said. “Everybody does a little bit of that. They run the option well.”
Last year, Lord gained 1,412 yards rushing — including 98 against MU — but he isn’t on that fast a pace this season with 340 yards. He has plenty of help in the backfield, however, with I-back Josh Davis (417 yards) and bruising fullback Judd Davies.
“They’re going to bring you smash-mouth football for 60 minutes,” MU outside safety Dedrick Harrington said. “It’s going to be a heck of a dogfight.”
But Nebraska presents more than a physical challenge. The offense may be old-fashioned, but it puts pressure on defenses to play assignment football — or else. The most obvious example is the option play.
“The big thing in the option is you have to have people on their assignments,” Missouri outside safety Jason Simpson said. “You can’t have one guy miss their assignment and then the other ones try to make up for him.”
Simpson said Missouri usually assigns a defensive end or linebacker to the quarterback, an outside safety to cover both the quarterback and then the pitchman and the free safety to the pitchman. But that can vary depending on the offensive formation and defensive call.
“You’ve got to change who has what on the option, and you’ve got to mix it up on how fast you want him to pitch the ball,” Eberflus said. “You’ve got to mix up your responsibilities, because if you stay in the same defense all the time and say, ‘This guy has pitch and this guy has quarterback,’ they’ll scheme you and crack the guy who has whoever, and then they’re off and running.”
The Tigers saw some option against Middle Tennessee State and Kansas — Pinkel said MU defended it poorly against the Blue Raiders and well against the Jayhawks — but those teams don’t compare to Nebraska in option football proficiency.
The option is only part of the Cornhuskers’ running attack, though. Lord is also dangerous on quarterback draws.
“They spread defenses out, kind of like Middle Tennessee did to us,” Simpson said. “They had an open set. We had one linebacker out wide, then you’d have our Mike” linebacker “in the middle and I was back. So essentially we had five people in the box, which isn’t enough to stop the run when you have a lead blocker, too. What Nebraska likes to do is fake it to the running back, and the quarterback takes it up the middle on a draw.”
Although it hasn’t really been the case this season, the play-action pass has traditionally been a valuable weapon that takes advantage of defenses overeager about stopping the run.
“Fake the option down the line, pull the ball back and a receiver that was” crack blocking “takes off,” Eberflus said. “You’ve got to read your keys.”
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Tigers grow weary of losing streak vs. Nebraska
By DAVE MATTER of the Tribune’s staff
Published Saturday, October 11, 2003
Reminded for the umpteenth time that it’s been 25 years since his Missouri Tigers have beaten Nebraska, Darius Outlaw shook his head and groaned.
"When you think about it, that really sucks," Outlaw said earlier this week. "It’s been sooo long. It would be so great to win this game."
Those sentiments have been repeated in Columbia every year since Tom Sorley’s fourth-down pass sailed incomplete on Nov. 18, 1978 - the last time the Tigers beat the Cornhuskers in this once evenly matched rivalry. Before Missouri’s 35-31 win in ’78, Nebraska held just a 37-32-3 advantage in the all-time series.
Since then, of course, there have been a few nailbiters, several blowouts, but always the same Big Red result.
Both coaches agreed past results will be irrelevant in tonight’s 97th meeting between unranked Missouri (4-1, 0-1 Big 12) and No. 10 Nebraska (5-0, 1-0).
"We’re not looking at anything that’s happened in the past," Nebraska’s Frank Solich said. "None of that stuff in the past will be a positive or negative when we line up. It’ll just be something that’s by the wayside."
Said Missouri’s Gary Pinkel: "I’ve only been here two years. That’s as far as I go back."
This was supposed to be the year Nebraska bottomed out, suffering from its archaic offense and too few athletes on defense. Solich gutted half his coaching staff after last season’s 7-7 finish, a move seen by many as a last-ditch effort to save his job.
Instead, Nebraska has cruised to a 5-0 start behind a smothering defense that’s ranked No. 1 nationally and an option running attack that’s been good enough so far. Some Cornhuskers are already talking about representing the North Division in the Big 12 championship game.
"I think the Big 12 North can be ours if we focus on each game and don’t get ahead of ourselves," linebacker T.J. Hollowell said. "We don’t want to look too far down the road, because if we do that, we’ll lose focus and things may not play out like we want them to."
Missouri, meanwhile, was supposed to ride All-Big 12 quarterback Brad Smith to a 5-0 start, challenge Nebraska in a much-anticipated October showdown and possibly supplant the Huskers as North Division contenders. But the Tigers were spanked at Kansas two weeks ago and face an imposing three-game stretch against Nebraska, No. 1 Oklahoma and Texas Tech.
But a season gone astray at Kansas could be salvaged with a victory tonight.
"That hurt," losing to Kansas, Outlaw said. "It hurt a lot."
Said center A.J. Ricker: "We didn’t play very well last week, obviously. It was pretty sad. But we can’t play any worse. We got that out of the way, hopefully."
To break its quarter century of misery, Missouri must revive an offense that collapsed at KU and hasn’t been nearly as prolific as it was last season. The Tigers’ passing game has been powerless at times, requiring the addition of Brad Ekwerekwu, a true freshman wide receiver who wasn’t expected to be needed this season.
"We’ve got the capability to beat any team we play," receiver Thomson Omboga said. "It’s just a matter of going out and doing it. I don’t see no team that can stop our passing offense, even though we really haven’t showed that much yet."
"Last year, I saw how they played" Oklahoma "at their place," Nebraska linebacker Demorrio Williams said. "It’s going to be pretty hostile - really, really rough."
The Tigers face a Nebraska offense that’s averaging a league-best 241 rushing yards per game, led by I-back Josh Davis and quarterback Jammal Lord. For the Huskers, some faces are new, but the offensive formula is the same.
"The thing that stands out about Nebraska’s offense is they know that you know what they’re going to do," Missouri safety David Overstreet said. "And they don’t care if you know or not. They’re going to line up and run it down your throat and try to smash you into the ground. That’s just them. They’re confident."
And with a 24-game winning streak over Missouri, who wouldn’t be?
Monday, October 1, 2007
Mizzou-Nebraska Redux: 2003 (Part One)
MU faces defensive standouts
Huskers, Sooners are nation’s best.
By Dave Matter of the Tribune’s staff
Published Monday, October 6, 2003
Coming off a miserable game at Kansas - probably the worst of his young career - Missouri quarterback Brad Smith gets to face the nation’s top two ranked defenses in the next two weeks.
First comes the nation’s best, Nebraska, at 6 p.m. on Saturday.
The 10th-ranked Cornhuskers (5-0, 1-0 Big 12) are yielding just 218 yards per game - 27 yards fewer than Oklahoma, the nation’s No. 2 defense, which Missouri plays Oct. 18.
Under first-year coordinator Bo Pelini, Nebraska’s defense has forced 19 turnovers, four more than it forced all last season. The Huskers rank in the nation’s top 10 in both passing and running defense.
Oh yeah, and Missouri (4-1, 0-1) hasn’t beaten Nebraska since 1978, five years before Smith was born.
Those lofty rankings - plus Smith’s woeful day against the Jayhawks - haven’t shaken the sophomore quarterback, MU Coach Gary Pinkel said.
"He’s just dying to play again," Pinkel said during today’s Big 12 coaches’ teleconference. "He shakes things off pretty good. He’s done that since he’s been here."
Against Kansas, Smith produced less than 100 yards of total offense for the first time in his career, passing for just 62 and running for 33. The Missouri offensive staff has spent the last two weeks reviewing film and devising ways to revive an offense that has struggled to consistently move the ball.
Smith has completed 66.9 percent of his passes, but Missouri still ranks 11th in the Big 12 in passing offense, averaging less than 6 yards per attempt.
"We’re just not getting the plays, the perimeter plays, and we’re just not executing at the level we need to," Pinkel said. "We’re not even close. I think we don’t ever just look at the players and say, ‘We have to play better.’ Certainly we have to, but we have to coach better."
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Revitalized Tigers say they’re ready for ’Huskers
By DAVE MATTER of the Tribune’s staff
Published Tuesday, October 7, 2003
Giving their first interviews since suffering the first loss of the season, the Missouri football players barely resembled the deflated Tigers that slogged out of the Kansas locker room 10 days ago. Maybe that’s because a sellout crowd and No. 10 Nebraska and its 24-game winning streak against Missouri are coming to Memorial Stadium for a nationally televised game Saturday night.
The Tigers (4-1, 0-1 Big 12) returned to practice last week with a vigor not seen all season.
"Intense, very intense," free safety David Overstreet said of Missouri’s mood this week. "The week of practice during the bye week, every day it was like we were playing Pop Warner football. We were just out there having fun. We were screaming on the sidelines, just happy to be back on the field. We were just trying to get things together, and we’ve got it, man."
"Everyone is more enthused and getting excited about playing again," cornerback Michael Harden said. "I feel very good about this team this week. I’m seeing more energy this week than … probably since I’ve been here."
Missouri’s players enjoyed a few days off early last week, and most agreed the postgame blues had waned by last Tuesday.
"It takes a couple days," offensive tackle Scott Paffrath said. "They don’t want us to dwell on it too long, but when you lose, it sucks. It’s hard to get back out there. You just have to focus on what you’re doing wrong and move on."
"Certainly, I think with a bye, you hold on to it a little bit more," MU Coach Gary Pinkel said. "There’s a certain point, which I’m trying to mature as a 51-year-old, that you let something go. Any wasted thoughts or if you’re thinking about the past has absolutely nothing to do with making you better. You’ve got to evaluate and go on, and I think our players have done that."
For the offense, the Tigers have suffered miserably passing the ball. Quarterback Brad Smith owns one of the nation’s best completion percentages (66.9), but Missouri is averaging a measly 163 passing yards per game. Only 13 teams are producing fewer.
While acknowledging the coaching staff needs to improve its play-calling, Pinkel vowed against making a major overhaul.
"When you have problems, you just keep working through them," he said. "You analyze everything you’re doing, and you try to make it better. You try to keep it positive, which we are, I think. Eventually, you’ve just got to start making some plays and making the whole thing work.
"I’ve been here before. I don’t like being here, but the big thing is to solve the problem."
"Coach Pinkel doesn’t change," wide receiver Darius Outlaw said. "We go week in, week out doing the same things we do. We just put in different plays, and now we just have to execute them."
● HEALTHY RETURN: The offense should get a boost with the return of tight end J.D. McCoy, who missed the Kansas game with a sprained knee suffered against Middle Tennessee State the previous week. It marked the first time the senior missed a game in his four-year career.
"It was terrible," McCoy said. "I felt so helpless losing to KU. But I’m just glad to be back this week."
McCoy started running for the first time Friday and returned to practice Sunday. He said he fully expects to be in the lineup Saturday.
McCoy already has set career highs for receptions (eight), receiving yards (89) and touchdown catches (two).
"I’ll definitely play," he said.
● HURT HUSKERS: The Cornhuskers (5-0, 1-0) have had their own injury problems. Strong safety Philip Bland, nose tackle Ryan Bingham and offensive guard Jake Andersen missed Saturday’s 30-0 win over Troy State. Nebraska Coach Frank Solich hasn’t disclosed the severity of the injuries, but Bingham was spotted on the sidelines Saturday on crutches. Bland and Andersen were injured the previous week against Southern Mississippi. Solich has said he expects all three to return Saturday.
● TAKEAWAY TALK: Saturday’s 97th meeting between Missouri and Nebraska pits the nation’s least charitable offense against one of the stingiest defenses. Missouri’s two turnovers - two lost fumbles against Eastern Illinois - are the fewest committed by any team in the nation. Only two other Division I-A teams have not thrown an interception, Syracuse and Texas.
The Cornhuskers, meanwhile, have forced 19 turnovers through five games, the third-best mark in the nation. The Blackshirt defense forced five turnovers against both Oklahoma State and Southern Mississippi and four against Troy State.
"Certainly," Pinkel said, "those numbers might represent the Nebraska of old."
Nebraska linebacker Barrett Ruud has tied the school season record with three fumble recoveries, a record he now shares with his father, Tom Ruud, who played at Nebraska in the 1970s. Free safety Josh Bullocks leads the nation with five interceptions, already surpassing Nebraska’s team leader from last season, who had four interceptions.
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Blackshirts return to dominating ways
Huskers’ top-ranked defense invades Missouri.
By DAVE MATTER of the Tribune’s staff
Published Friday, October 10, 2003
Lifelong Nebraska fan Barrett Ruud describes last season as "the worst year I’ve ever been through." Ruud not only witnessed Nebraska’s defense crumble, he experienced it.
The third-generation Cornhusker started all 14 games at middle linebacker last season. The vaunted Blackshirt defense dipped from mediocre to just plain bad as Nebraska finished 7-7 - its first nonwinning season in 40 years.
Defensive coordinator Craig Bohl was fired and replaced by Bo Pelini, a 36-year-old journeyman NFL assistant with no previous ties to Nebraska. Pelini delivered a clear message to the Cornhuskers.
"He had a pretty simple approach," said Ruud, a Lincoln, Neb., native whose dad, two uncles and great-grandfather played for Nebraska. "He told us it was a clean slate. Nothing that happened before mattered. There were no starters, and he told us we had to play harder than ever. We thought we were playing pretty hard, but you don’t really know how hard you’re capable of playing until you really push yourself."
Presto! The low-key Pelini has the Blackshirts ripping through offenses like Montecore, the 600-pound tiger that attacked one half of Siegfried and Roy last week.
The 10th-ranked Cornhuskers (5-0, 1-0 Big 12) enter tomorrow night’s game at Missouri (4-1, 0-1) with the nation’s top-ranked defense. Pelini has produced such a dramatic turnaround in Lincoln, he’s already being mentioned as a head-coaching candidate for a few teams in 2004.
"This doesn’t really surprise me," Ruud said of the Blackshirts’ success. "We were a decent defense last year - we just didn’t show it in some big games. We’ve always had good athletes. We’re just developing better technique and gaining more experience. We’re learning how to play better, and that makes a big difference."
With virtually the same defensive personnel from a year ago, the Huskers are allowing just 218.6 yards and 7.6 points per game, compared to 361.9 and 23.9 last season, respectively.
Nebraska has forced 19 turnovers after totaling just 21 last season. Last week’s 30-0 win over Troy State was Nebraska’s first shutout in three years.
What’s the difference? Pelini installed more zone coverages and dropped Nebraska’s traditional man defense.
The system has produced a star in weakside linebacker Demorrio Williams, who lines up at defensive end on third-down passing situations.
In a league stocked with stars at outside linebacker - Texas’ Derrick Johnson, Kansas State’s Josh Buhl and Oklahoma’s Teddy Lehman - Williams (6-foot-1, 215 pounds) has arguably been the Big 12 defensive player of the year through the first third of the season. He leads the Huskers in tackles (42), has forced and recovered two fumbles and has 5½ sacks.
"Whoa, that’s like having a safety at linebacker," Oklahoma State offensive guard Sam Mayes said after Nebraska’s season-opening 17-7 win over OSU. "He was in the backfield all the time."
His unusual speed explains why Missouri has used a wide receiver to mimic Williams on the scout team this week.
"If you really want to know," Utah State quarterback Travis Cox said after losing 31-7 to Nebraska last month, "I can still feel him. … I’ve never played against anyone like him before."
For all the progress the Blackshirts have made, they’ve been feasting on some of the nation’s worst offenses: Penn State (81st nationally in total offense), Utah State (104th), Southern Mississippi (108th) and Troy State (110th).
"I try not to read much in the newspapers or on the Internet," Ruud said. "But when I do, you still see some people that say we’re overrated. It seems like there’s always people that want to see Nebraska fall. But that’s good, I guess. It’s only motivation."
Tomorrow, Nebraska faces one of the few offenses it contained last season. The Huskers held Missouri to just 220 yards in a 24-13 win. In quarterback Brad Smith’s first Big 12 road game, he totaled just 157 yards of offense against the Blackshirts, almost half his season average.
"We pursued very well in that game, for whatever reason," Nebraska Coach Frank Solich said. "We matched up well in the schemes. We were able to keep Brad from breaking the long runs out of the one-back counter game that he was so successful at. We’ve got different schemes now, and they’ll definitely try to take advantage of what we’re doing."
"Their system works really well with the players they’ve got," Missouri offensive tackle Scott Paffrath said. "And they’ve got great athletes on defense. When you have guys as good as they have, I think you can plug in any system and it’ll do well. We’ll just try to counter what they’re going to do."
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Mizzou-Nebraska Redux: 1997 (Part Four)
November 10, 1997
It has been so long since the Missouri Tigers were nationally ranked, the last time they were included in the poll it was called the Top 20.
That was 1983 when Missouri was rated No. 19 for one week in late November, but lost to Kansas to fall out of the poll.
Yesterday, the Tigers (6-4) marked their return by entering the AP poll at No. 25 after their 45-38 overtime loss to unbeaten Nebraska.
“That's good. You salvage something out of a loss and very rarely do you see a 6-4 team being ranked,” MU coach Larry Smith said. “I don't know if that was a sentimental vote or what, but I think that's good for our players.”
Missouri, one of five Big 12 teams in the Top 25, is the only ranked team with four losses. But three of the MU defeats have come against top 10 teams.
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Game of the century
Have we ever seen a better one?
I've watched football in MU stadiums for 45 years, and, without doubt, Saturday's game between our Tigers and the Huskers of Nebraska was the best.
How could a football game anywhere, any time, be any better?
It could not have been closer. Nebraska tied the game with no time on the clock and went on to win in overtime. There were few penalties and few errors on either team. Despite growing tension and excitement on the field, good sportsmanship prevailed. Every time one team would get ahead, the other would come raging back. It was like a heavyweight bout in which both fighters keep slugging right to the end.
Nobody really lost that game Saturday.
What a scene at Faurot Field! More than 65,000 people jammed the stadium. Everyone stood up almost the entire time. The continual level of excitement was unbelievable.
It's hard to overestimate the boost this game gave Missouri's football program and coach Larry Smith. It would have been even better if the Tigers had done the impossible by winning, but this kind of loss is hardly less impressive. Our players and coaches could not have made us more proud.
What a confidence builder for the young men. These players know they can beat any team in the nation on a given day, a far cry from the defeatist attitude they and their ancestors had developed over the past 10 years. This moment represents about as conclusive a turnaround as a sports program can have.
I know, it's only a football game, not the most momentous happening in the world that day, nor even in Columbia, where surely issues of life or death were played out. But we should be glad a mere entertainment event can transform us. Football Saturday permeates the whole community. Anyone, everyone, can join in. We can get back to the heavy stuff tomorrow.
We haven't seen a football weekend like this for 20 years. If our team remains competitive, the infection will live again, but at what level?
Football mania is a disease we thought had disappeared, but it only turned out to be dormant. We went crazy again in an instant. Most citizens hereabouts -- and the managers of Harpo's -- hope our fits of temporary insanity become chronic again.
But we're a fickle lot. No doubt, we'll expect too much. We'll be ready to snarl and hiss the first time our team seems to let us down. When that negative urge moves us, let's remember Saturday.
HJW III
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November 10, 1997
If you were at Faurot Field, if you own a television, if you subscribe to a newspaper, you already know what happened.
So who we are basically ruling out here are Mir astronauts and those currently holed up in militia compounds.
The rest of us can expect to be reminded that Nebraska went and ruined a perfectly good upset of the decade. Scott Frost to Shevin Wiggins, to Wiggins' foot, to ... oh, you know the rest. How could you not?
The task for the 25th-ranked Missouri Tigers (6-4 overall, 4-3 Big 12) is to somehow put Saturday's 45-38 loss to the undefeated Cornhuskers behind and mount enough emotion to dispose of Baylor (2-7, 1-5) in the regular season finale at Faurot Field.
It will be the mother of anticlimaxes, and that naturally worries MU coach Larry Smith.
“Players put everything on the field. There's nothing left in the team in that locker room,” Smith said after the loss. “It's total devastation. Our biggest job now is to bounce back.”
The Tigers were not in the mood for talk of moral victories Saturday evening. They had come too close to the real thing.
“It would have just meant the world to win this game,” MU tailback Brock Olivo said. “We're not going to look back and say, `Well, we played a good game. It's a moral victory.' We're looking for the real victory now. I don't believe in moral victories any more.”
That's a sign that these Tigers aren't the cuddly Tigers of the last 13 years. But a bit of perspective please.
Nebraska, the best football team in the nation in the 1990s, needed a fluke play to beat the Tigers. This is the same Nebraska program that routinely swoops down into Missouri every winter and snatches whichever high school players it thinks it can use. Native Missourians Grant Wistrom, Mike Rucker, Steve Warren -- all of them in Nebraska's defensive two-deep chart – and promising running back Dan Alexander are examples.
How many of the current Tigers were wanted by Nebraska? Corby Jones, recent NU transfer David Webber and maybe a handful of others were deemed worthy of a scholarship offer.
Missouri proved on Saturday that its band of slightly irregulars and factory seconds could play with the best. Sports fans across the country noticed. How could they not?
“I think we have some respectability back,” Smith said. “We still have a game, maybe two left. The bottom line is what do we do with where we are. I don't think there's any Missouri fan or player that's ashamed of that game. But it will still be in the record books as a loss, so that's certainly no reprieve or any consolation.
“The big thing is you take that kind of effort and keep that kind of spirit, we can win a lot of football games and have a lot of fun.”
By JOE WALLJASPER
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November 10, 1997
After years of waiting for the right moment to pull off the win that would change the direction of a struggling football program, it was a loss that vaulted Missouri into national prominence.
Every football fan in the nation outside of Nebraska left the television set Saturday evening feeling some of the anguish in the Missouri locker room.
It wasn't just losing the moment of glory that comes with a heavy underdog upsetting a No. 1-ranked team, it was the way it was stripped away. With a game-tying Nebraska touchdown coming on a play that would rank among the top five bizarre plays in college football history, spirits sank with the Tigers.
More important than the compassion was the respect Missouri had earned. “Anyone who was watching, they know this team is for real,” quarterback Corby Jones said.
The final score was Nebraska 45, Missouri 38, but the Huskers' reward for victory was a drop of two places from No. 1 to No. 3 in the Top 25. The Tigers, meanwhile, jumped into the last spot in the Top 25 for the first time since 1983.
Head coach Larry Smith has steadfastly refused to be concerned about the value of any national ranking, choosing to emphasize the final ranking “because that's the only one that matters.”
But in order to be there at the end you have to be in position to get there. For Missouri, the only team in the Top 25 with four losses -- three have come against top 10 teams -- being ranked puts it in prime position.
Consider that a win in the season finale against Baylor will keep Missouri in the Top 25 until the bowl games.
Then Missouri is one game away from finishing in the Top 25 at the season's end.
Talk about a quality loss. After a few stinkers in previous television appearances this season, Missouri sent a message that couldn't be overlooked.
The more the Tigers believed in themselves, the more others started to feel the same way. For most of Saturday's game, Missouri hardly looked like the outclassed foe. The only time Missouri showed it was unfamiliar with the situation was on a third-down play late in the game.
The Tigers tried a freeze play, hoping for Nebraska to make a mistake, rather than powering for a first down that would have won the game. Other than that, the Tigers were cool and confident.
A representative of the Alamo Bowl came to Columbia thinking the team was a long shot for the San Antonio postseason game, but left thinking the Tigers would be a hot commodity.
The crowd of 66,846 not only jogged the memories of days gone by at Missouri, but it also put the athletic department's accountants on an overtime schedule. A few more crowds like that and there will be an impact in the department budget.
“Attendance of that size could be the difference between an under-funded program becoming well-funded or at least even funded with the rest of the conference,” Missouri athletic director Joe Castiglione said. “Big crowds at football games can do a lot of things.”
Missouri players, overwhelmed by the crowd support, pleaded for the fans to return.
“I hope they don't throw in the towel and give up,” senior captain Brock Olivo said. “I hope they come back, we've got a lot more to get done.”
By Thursday of this week, Missouri players will begin to understand why this is all so important. Despair and disappointment still clouds their thinking.
“There was a time when just scoring on Nebraska would have been fun,” Olivo said. “If you're not ticked off, shoot, you don't belong here.”
Naturally. The opportunity to play the nation's top-ranked team doesn't occur every year. To be leading the No. 1 team in the final minute happens even less frequently.
For that, Missouri players lamented letting a once-in-a-lifetime moment slip away. Reddened eyes was part of the postgame uniform and it wasn't because of the air in the locker room.
Many of the nation's football fans suffered with them.
By KENT HEITHOLT
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November 11, 1997
Missouri lost its game against Nebraska on Saturday but won a recruiting battle with the Cornhuskers the following day.
Justin Bland, a 6-foot-6, 300-pound offensive lineman from Chillicothe, who had narrowed his college choices to Missouri and Nebraska, committed to the Tigers on Sunday night.
He said MU's gutsy effort in a 45-38 overtime loss to Nebraska had “a little bit to do with my decision, but not really. I pretty much had my mind made up. I've always liked Missouri. They're my home state. And of course everybody around here wanted me to go to Missouri.”
Bland is the latest in a pipeline of small-town northern Missouri offensive linemen that has produced current Tigers Mike Morris and Todd Niemeyer of Brookfield, Cliff Smith of Chillicothe and Chris Ryan of Milan.
Bland is considered one of the elite offensive line prospects in the nation by Chicago-based recruiting expert Tom Lemming. He has been timed at 5.1 seconds in the 40-yard dash and was an all-state selection in football and basketball last year.
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November 11, 1997
You wanted it. Now you've got it.
A winning football team. A nationally ranked football team. And crowds of more than 50,000 that fill the hotels, restaurants and roadways of Columbia.
Suddenly late arrivals to the game have no place to park and may be out of luck on their seats. The word “wait” is back in your vocabulary.
It's the price of progress. You waited 13 years, what's a few more minutes.
Hearnes Center executive director Tim Hickman, who supervises the concession sales at Faurot Field, said his people experienced no major catastrophes when 66,846 showed up for the Nebraska game Saturday. He was more than grateful for the recent improvements in Memorial Stadium.
“We have some new features and we had some games to work out the kinks, so I thought things went smoothly,” Hickman said. “But when you have 66,000 there's always going to be a crowd.”
Assistant athletic director Gene McArtor, who is in charge of game management, said the most commonly heard problems involved traffic control and seating arrangements in the general admission section.
McArtor said additional stadium security and ushers were added because of the large crowd. More public safety officers were involved on the public thoroughfares to help move the heavy traffic.
A major complaint was the decision to eliminate of turn lanes off Providence Road to South Hearnes Drive for the first time this season. Many unsuspecting drivers were caught in a time-consuming jam when highway patrol officers closed off the turn lanes.
McArtor said Missouri officials were surprised to hear about the difficulty and had not authorized the plan.
“I can't figure out why that happened,” he said.
Heavy traffic after the game was a problem, but McArtor said the exciting game had something to do with that. “Nobody left until the very end and then everyone tried to leave at once.”
Every Monday after football games, McArtor meets with key support people in administrating the stadium. No real dilemmas arose even though the school hasn't dealt with this volume of fans in 13 years.
“We always have a debriefing to see what problems are there and what we can do to cure those problems,” McArtor said. “That's what we want to do.”
One such problem occured in the south end zone when holders of Family Pack tickets found seating at a premium because much of the end zone had been sold as reserved seats. At previous games, fans could spread out in the end zone, but this time there was no room and the latecomers were in a pinch.
“That was something we had to resolve,” McArtor said.
The $12 million improvements in the stadium turned out to be a profitable blessing Saturday. Expanded concession stands enabled fans to be served quicker. The ability to produce food on site eased the stress on the distribution process.
By KENT HEITHOLT
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November 11, 1997
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) -- The miracle catch wasn't such a miracle after all.
Nebraska's Shevin Wiggins admitted he was trying to keep the football in play by kicking it during the Cornhuskers' 45-38 win at Missouri last weekend.
Teammate Matt Davison made the 12-yard catch of the deflection as time expired Saturday to tie the game at 38 and force overtime.
“I looked down and saw the Missouri guy about the catch it and I just wanted to keep it alive,” Wiggins said. “I ended up kicking it as I was trying to pull it in.”
Frank Gaines, technical advisor to Big 12 football officials, said it's illegal for a receiver to intentionally strike a loose ball with the knee, lower leg or foot.
The penalty is 15 yards and loss of down. In that case, the Cornhuskers would have faced a fourth-down play from the 27-yard line -- if there was any time left.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Mizzou-Nebraska Redux: 1997 (Part Three)
November 9, 1997
What can you say when the greatest victory in your school's history is ripped from your grasp by a fluke play, a lucky bounce, an immaculate reception?
What can you say when you're on the wrong end of a miracle?
“One stinkin' play,” is what Missouri coach Larry Smith said.
No. 1 Nebraska escaped with a 45-38 overtime victory over Missouri yesterday. It might have been the greatest game ever played on Faurot Field, but the Tigers (6-4 overall, 4-3 Big 12) will remember the sourness of the final play of regulation.
“We wanted to shock the world tonight,” MU guard Craig Heimburger said. “But the end of that game shocked us. The thing is we should have won that game. That's all there is to it.”
With the final seconds ticking away, the Cornhuskers (9-0, 6-0) had the ball on Missouri's 12-yard line trailing 38-31. Scott Frost threw a pass to Shevin Wiggins on the goal line, but MU safety Julian Jones knocked the ball free. As Wiggins fell to his back, he kicked the ball out of Harold Piersey's fingertips and it fluttered into the end zone.
Cutting in from the left side of the end zone, Nebraska's Matt Davison dove headlong and snatched the ball just before it hit the turf.
“It was floating like a punt, kind of end over end,” Davison, a freshman, said in reference to the sixth catch of his college career. “It seemed like forever for the ball to get there.”
In the confusion that ensued, MU fans in the north end zone stormed the field, some of them actually climbing on the goal posts to celebrate what they thought was a Missouri victory. They were shooed off the field in time for Kris Brown to send the game into overtime with his extra point.
Although the Tigers were 3-0 in overtime games in the past two seasons, they couldn't recover from the shocking finish to regulation. Frost scored on a 12-yard run to begin the overtime, and Missouri managed only 3 yards on its drive.
On first down, MU quarterback Corby Jones passed up a chance to scramble and threw an incomplete pass. He gained 3 yards on an option keeper on second down. Tight end Jake Stueve let a sure first-down reception slip through his hands on third down. On MU's last chance, Jones was sacked by Grant Wistrom and Mike Rucker -- two native Missourians -- to end the game.
The Missouri portion of the sellout crowd of 66,846 was stunned. The sizable Nebraska portion was euphoric, storming the field to rejoice with the team.
“I'm very proud of our players,” Nebraska coach Tom Osborne said. “They showed a lot of poise. It was kind of one of those days where somebody was going to win at the end. We're very fortunate to have won it.”
For the Tigers, a glorious feeling was replaced with emptiness.
“We fought our asses off and came up short,” MU fullback Ron Janes said. “It hurts so bad. We could have had it, should have had it.”
There is no denying that Missouri, which entered the game as a 29-point underdog, made a statement. The Tigers matched every Nebraska score with one of their own, and as the afternoon turned to evening, they had their fans believing that the impossible was possible.
Facing the No. 3 defense in the nation, Jones completed 12 of 20 passes for 233 yards and three touchdowns. He rushed 21 times for 60 yards -- stats that would have been much higher if not for five sacks -- and scored a touchdown.
For Nebraska, Ahman Green carried 30 times for 189 yards and a touchdown. Frost rushed 23 times for 141 yards and four touchdowns and completed 11 of 24 passes for 175 yards and two interceptions.
No more than seven points separated the teams at any point.
Executing its play-action passing game to perfection, MU took a 24-21 lead into halftime. The Tigers scored first on an efficient 78-yard drive, with Brock Olivo diving into the end zone for a 1-yard touchdown. Later Jones hit Torey Coleman with an 18-yard TD pass and connected on a 34-yard scoring strike to Olivo. Scott Knickman kicked a 39-yard field goal.
Meanwhile, Nebraska was chewing up the Missouri defense with its powerful running game, which produced 353 rushing yards. But two Frost mistakes late in the first half hurt the Huskers. Frost threw an interception to MU cornerback Shad Criss and fumbled a shotgun snap in the waning seconds that cost Nebraska a field goal attempt.
Nebraska snuck back into the lead at 28-24 with 3:00 left in the third period, but Missouri responded with Devin West's 62-yard kickoff return. Jones took advantage of the field position and scored on a 6-yard run.
The Huskers tied the game on a Brown field goal with 10:50 left in the game. Missouri answered again after Piersey intercepted a Frost pass and returned it to the Nebraska 30. Jones hit H-back Eddie Brooks in the right side of the end zone with a 15-yard touchdown pass with 4:38 to go.
“We had them, and we just didn't give them the knockout blow,” Jones said.
Missouri could have put the game away with just over a minute left in regulation, but on a third-and-3 play, Jones was stopped on the option. Jason Smith's punt put the Huskers 67 yards from the end zone with only 1:02 left, but that was just enough time for a miracle.
“It's heart-breaking man,” said Olivo, who had 11 carries for 42 yards and two receptions for 45 yards. “To have everything go so well and then a fluke thing like that happens. There's nothing you can do about it.”
Osborne was grateful as he greeted Smith at midfield afterward.
“He said, `We got lucky,' “ Smith said. “He's right, they did.”
By JOE WALLJASPER
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November 9, 1997
Jubilation turned to disbelief in a heartbeat yesterday at Faurot Field, when what appeared to be a Missouri win over No. 1-ranked Nebraska turned into a fluke play that led to victory for the Cornhuskers.
The mob that charged the field believing the Tigers had held on to win were driven back to their seats only to watch Nebraska prevail in overtime 45-38. The Tigers were robbed of the victory, and the goal-post snatchers were robbed of their prey.
“I really thought we could win this game,” said Suzie Stallings of Marshall. “We almost did, then the officials gave it away. I swear that ball hit the ground.”
Some fans compared the implausible play to Colorado's infamous “fifth-down” play in 1990, when victory was snatched from the Tigers by a controversial touchdown call on an extra down. Nebraska's unbelievable catch even occurred at the same spot on the field.
One Nebraska fan attributed the miraculous catch to divine intervention on the part of the Cornhusker's revered former coach.
“Bob Devaney was looking over us on that reception,” said Kyle Moyer, who sported a hat with a flashing neon N.
Although the Tigers were technically defeated, the fans were not.
“This loss is not hard to take,” said state Rep. Chuck Graham, D-Ashland. “The team fought their hearts out against a team that was bigger, faster and stronger. I'm proud of our guys.”
Marie Liggett of Columbia saw the game as a moral victory, if not a win.
“See how subdued all the Nebraska fans are around here?” she asked. “They know they've been in a cat fight. We gained some respect with this game.”
Tom VanGoethem, had lofty visions of the future up until the last second. “I saw oranges, and then they went away,” he said. “I think you'll be seeing a lot more people in the stands next year, though. This was really a shot in the arm.”
That winning feeling might be gripping a new generation at MU. Freshman David Salkover said the game ensures the team a bowl bid.
“It's an awesome way to start my freshman year,” Salkover said. “This is beautiful -- this is the way it should always be.”
As homemade signs around the field said, “You gotta believe.”
After the game, many Cornhuskers and Tigers swarmed downtown to relive the afternoon. Shakespeare's was thick with red, gold, beer and pizza.
“We were very scared,” said Kody Hagedorn of Omaha, Neb. “I was praying to the football god, and he answered my prayers. But my hat's off to the Tigers. They played an awesome game.”
Hagedorn said he had been to more than 30 Nebraska games and has never seen them lose. “If you're born and raised in Nebraska, that's the only thing we've got to get excited about. It's tradition,” he said.
Matt Strayhorn of St. Louis called the game the “highest of the highs and lowest of the lows.”
“I thought they were going to win,” he said of Missouri. “They ran for the goal posts, and it was all for nothing. But for us to be even going into overtime and even have a chance to win was amazing.”
Lee Tuveson of St. Louis agreed. “Who would have ever expected we would have done this well against the No. 1 team?” he said. “The atmosphere was tremendous. I can't remember a more exciting game.”
It was worth the several-hour drive, said Krista Keith of Lincoln, who drove with friends from “Big Red country.”
“We wanted to see a good game, but we didn't want it that good,” she said. “If we'd lost, we'd have been in mourning.”
By JANICE WINTERS AND ALIA BEARD
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November 9, 1997
The Nebraska defense is used to giving up 38 points, but it usually does so over the course of a month, not a day.
In Missouri's 45-38 overtime loss to the Cornhuskers yesterday, the Tigers did what many observers thought was impossible -- they marched up and down the field against the No. 3 defense in the country.
Guided by the nifty passing and running of Corby Jones, who completed 12 of 20 passes for 233 yards and three touchdowns and scrambled out of sure sacks numerous times, Missouri pushed Nebraska to the brink of an upset.
“What we did out there was the same thing we had been doing all year,” MU coach Larry Smith said. “Our passing game, we didn't change anything there. It just came down to Corby Jones making plays.”
In the previous three weeks, the Nebraska defense had given up seven points, and that meager total was provided by a garbage-time touchdown by Oklahoma against the Cornhusker reserves.
Missouri matched that total on its first drive -- the kind of 12-play, 78-yard affair that isn't supposed to be possible against the Cornhuskers. It was omen of things to come.
“Playing against a team like this with a defense like this, we were going into it saying: `Jeez, we know we can move the ball, but we've got to prove it to ourselves right off,' “ Jones said. “That's what we did.”
The Tigers, who pounded Colorado into submission with a bruising running game last week, knew it was unwise to go nose to nose with Nebraska. So in the first half, Jones made big plays through the air with touchdown passes to Torey Coleman and Brock Olivo. Jones took advantage of the aggressive Nebraska pass rush by scrambling out of jams.
The virtues of Missouri's balanced offense were apparent. Last year the one-dimensional Tigers were held to 52 yards on the ground and got smoked by the Huskers 51-7. Not so yesterday.
“We never did stop them very well,” NU coach Tom Osborne said. “They have a great offense that we knew would be tough to stop. They can be very explosive.”
In the second half, the Tigers began to wear down the Cornhuskers and turned more to the running game. MU finished with 153 yards on the ground, led by Jones with 60 and Olivo with 42.
Unfortunately for Missouri, Nebraska's defense stiffened when it counted. The Cornhuskers stopped Jones on option play on third-and-3 with less than two minutes remaining in the game. If MU converted, it could have run out the clock.
And on a fourth-and-7 in overtime, Grant Wistrom and Mike Rucker sandwiched Jones for a sack to end the game.
“We did all that we could, and they did all they could,” Olivo said. “They just happened to score last.”
---
November 9, 1997
Joel Makovicka.
It's a name you won't hear much about in the reviews of Nebraska's 45-38 overtime squeaker over Missouri.
For the past three weeks Makovicka, a powerful fullback, has been devastating to Nebraska's opponents, ripping through the defenses that were already preoccupied with stopping quarterback Scott Frost and running back Ahman Green. Yesterday he was invisible, gaining just 24 yards.
Credit the Missouri defense.
“Coach Ricky Hunley wanted us to key on the guard and the fullback because he was the guy who can get away and break one at any time,” said linebacker Al Sterling.
“We did that pretty well.”
By taking Makovicka out of the offense, Missouri forced Nebraska to alter its offensive plan, causing some adjustments for Frost.
The Tigers' defense didn't exactly halt the nation's top-ranked offense. Nebraska cleared its total offense average by a few yards, racking up 528 yards -- 353 yards rushing, but the Tigers did enough to make the Huskers earn it the hard way. That was almost good enough for an upset.
Frost ran for four touchdowns and Green gained 189 yards, but even with those totals, it took a passing rampage in the final minute for Nebraska to avert an upset.
Compared to years past when Nebraska took the field against the Tigers and dictated everything, this was a change.
“We told them at halftime, we had them right where we wanted them,” head coach Larry Smith said.
Where they had them was behind and pressing. Nebraska strayed from its grind-it-out mode and started making mistakes.
The Tigers' defense forced three turnovers and turned away the Huskers three times when they moved into the red zone.
Late in the first half, Nebraska moved into Missouri territory hoping to expand on a 21-17 lead. The Huskers tore up big chunks on the ground, but mysteriously opted to pass on first down at the 36.
Frost's overthrown pass was picked off by Shad Criss and returned to Nebraska territory. On the next play, Missouri scored to take the lead.
After an 11-yard punt set up the Huskers at the MU 40 in the final minute of the half, the MU defense forced Frost into some time-consuming plays that failed to produce even a field goal attempt.
“They were supposed to come in and grind us up,” said Sterling, “but we can play with them and we showed you're not going to come in and run over Missouri.”
The big plays by the MU defense proved to be critical for the Tigers' surge into the lead.
An interception by Harold Piersey, his fourth in three games, set up Missouri's touchdown to go ahead 38-31 with four minutes left in the game. A fumble recovery by Steve Erickson, who replaced an injured Brian Cracraft, also stopped a Nebraska drive early in the second half.
The injuries and fatigue factor also played a role as Missouri coaches made defensive adjustments that moved nose tackle Donnell Jones to an outside spot. He recorded a career-high 13 tackles.
But when it came time to force the biggest stop of all, the Tigers defense couldn't come up with the sack or turnover as Frost drove the team 67 yards -- all on passes -- to tie the score on the last play of regulation.
“We played a little bit off during the drive,” said cornerback Shad Criss. “You win some and you lose some.”
By KENT HEITHOLT
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Mizzou-Nebraska Redux: 1997 (Part Two)
Feel the rage build up inside you...embrace it...
November 9, 1997
The game will go down in history as one of Missouri's finest, despite the fact it was a loss.
The Tigers gave the No. 1-ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers all they could handle yesterday in a nail-biting 45-38 shootout before a sellout crowd of 66,846, Missouri's largest since 1984.
“College football doesn't get any better than this,” Tigers coach Larry Smith said. “It was two warriors out there banging away at each other.”
All the breaks seemed to be going Missouri's way until the final seconds of regulation, which had the Tigers ahead 38-31. But with seven seconds to go, Husker quarterback Scott Frost passed to Shevin Wiggins, who had the ball knocked out of his hands. Missouri's Harold Piersey looked ready to intercept, but Wiggins accidentally kicked the ball into the air on his way down and teammate Matt Davison caught it at the last moment. An extra point sent the game into overtime.
Missouri had been 3-0 in overtime the last two seasons, including a 51-50 triple-overtime victory over Oklahoma State earlier this year, but could not keep Frost out of the end zone. Missouri's final attempt to score fell short.
Most of the crowd was standing at the finish. Alumni pointed to the game as a return to the power teams of old.
“This is the best game since the K-State-MU game in '69,” said Vern Garton of Nevada, Mo. “And I've seen 'em all since '64. This is like the old time games.”
“Forget whose team you were rooting for,” said MU alumnus Mard Waltham. “It's the best game I've ever seen, and I've seen all the home games from 1969 to 1982, and several since then.”
---
November 9, 1997
Cars were lined up and down Providence Road, some tucked into the tightest of crevices just to have a parking space.
The sidewalks were filled with people. Tailgate parties were in abundance. Tickets actually sold for more than face value.
Traffic officers, normally innocent bystanders, were having to work for their overtime. Fans driving to the game had to sit and wait.
Not many of the 66,846 in the stands will remember, but this is the way it used to be at Memorial Stadium on football Saturdays.
Out on the field, the Missouri Tigers were playing top-ranked Nebraska head-to-head, taking shots and dishing them out. There would be no second-half collapses, no giving up when things got bleak.
MU coach Larry Smith called it college football at its finest. Sportscasters on college football shows called it the game of the year.
Hardly anyone would remember that this used to happen a lot in Columbia. A freak play at the end of regulation set up Nebraska's 45-38 overtime win to keep the unbeaten record intact. It was so freaky that thousands of Missouri fans rushed onto the field to tear down the goal posts only to be chased away by officials who informed them that Missouri had not won the game.
Even the automatic irrigation system succumbed to the tension and starting dispensing water with two minutes left in the game.
But the way Missouri team handled the vaunted Big Red Machine through the first 59 minutes of the game may have taken away the Huskers' No. 1 ranking.
Those who were within earshot of Faurot Field yesterday did a little time traveling. Former Missouri football players who have made a habit of staying away while the program floundered through a decade and a half of losing showed up yesterday, sensing that the day of atonement was near. It was one play away.
It is the heart-breaking loss that will go down in the record books. It is the loss that made the players shed tears on the field. It is the loss that kept this from being the most glorious night in modern Missouri football history.
But it was also a game that is likely to go down as one of the best of an era -- win or lose. If the Missouri program has a rebirth, this is the game that will be remembered as the moment of arrival. This was the day when Missouri, a five-touchdown underdog, shook off its well-documented flaws and showed a national TV audience that it belonged in the picture.
“I've never cried after a football game,” said linebacker Al Sterling, “but I did this time. It hurts bad.
“We came out to play them and we played their way and went right at them. If this doesn't send a message then they need to get the Pony Express to deliver it. Missouri is back and we're for real.”
Believe it.
When was the last time a top-ranked team's fans stood on Faurot Field and cheered after a victory over Missouri while the band blared the school fight song?
When did Missouri players come out of a losing game against the No. 1 team in the nation and say, “We should have won.”?
“I'm just disgusted,” said fullback Ron Janes. “We came this far, we might as well go ahead and win the game.”
Those are signs of the transformation and reasons for the painful emotional outpouring in the locker room.
“There's a lot of grief in there,” head coach Larry Smith said.
It was earlier in the week when Smith asked his team if it really believed it could win against Nebraska. To a man, the team answered yes.
“To come that close to your goal and not get it makes it extra tough to swallow,” defensive tackle Steve Erickson said. “You know a lot of teams go out and just hope that they can hang with a team, but we believed we could win.”
That's how it used to be at Missouri.
By KENT HEITHOLT
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November 9, 1997
The “Immaculate Reception” it wasn't, but Nebraska wide receiver Matt Davison's remarkable touchdown catch at the end of regulation drew countless comparisons to Franco Harris' fabled grab.
Davison caught a tipped pass in the end zone with no time remaining in regulation that enabled No. 1 Nebraska to tie yesterday's game against Missouri at 38 and send it into overtime.
Propelled by that play, the Huskers scored on their opening overtime possession and stopped Missouri on four straight plays to earn a 45-38 victory and keep their national title hopes alive.
“I've seen that play on ESPN a few times,” Davison said of Harris' catch of a tipped pass against the Oakland Raiders in the 1972 playoffs that pushed the Pittsburgh Steelers to a 13-7 victory. “That was an unbelievable play. This was minor.”
There was nothing minor about this catch.
Nebraska had the ball on its own 33-yard line with 1:02 to play trailing 38-31. The situation forced the Huskers, who rushed for 353 yards, to rely on the passing of quarterback Scott Frost, who had completed just 6 of 14 passes for 118 yards and two interceptions.
It left all the Huskers a little uneasy.
“We're down seven points with 50 seconds left, yes, there was a lot of doubt,” Frost said.
Three key receptions by Kenny Cheatum, two of which went for first downs, put Nebraska in position to erase that doubt. Cheatum's third reception gave the Huskers the ball on the Missouri 12 with 14 seconds to play.
Following two incompletions, Nebraska called a double slant pattern with Shevin Wiggins and Cheatum lined up on the right side. Frost hit Wiggins at the goal line, but MU safety Julian Jones knocked the ball loose as Wiggins tried to fall into the end zone.
The ball bounced off Wiggins' leg as he fell backward, narrowly out of the reach of MU safety Harold Piersey, and floated into the end zone.
“All I saw was the brown thing bouncing around,” Frost said.
Davison, who had lined up on the left side, was running a crossing pattern into the middle of the end zone. That put him in position to dive for the loose ball and narrowly get his hands beneath it for the catch.
Missouri players, meanwhile, insisted the ball had touched the ground.
“The ball hit the ground. It bounced. I know it bounced,” MU linebacker Al Sterling insisted. “You could see it hit the ground. It hit the grass.”
Davison realized the call could have gone either way, depending solely on the official's view of the play.
“I guess it was just a few inches off the ground,” said Davison, a freshman who has six career receptions. “I was just hoping they were going to call it a catch. It was close enough that I think the officials had to make a good call to see that I really caught it.
“There was no doubt in mind that I caught it. I just wanted to see the call before I got all excited about because it was real close to the ground.”
Nebraska coach Tom Osborne knew it was close to being ruled an incompletion, but he fully expected a break to finally go the Huskers' way.
The breaks had consistently gone against the Huskers, with a tipped pass being intercepted by Piersey and an Ahman Green fumble being recovered along the sideline by MU lineman Steve Erickson.
“We had some bad breaks and some good breaks,” Osborne said. “Luckily, our good breaks came at the end.”
By MATT SCHUCKMAN
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November 9, 1997
The kings of overtime were knocked from their thrown.
Missouri, which entered yesterday's game with a 3-0 record in overtime games, had an extra period to forget yesterday in a 45-38 loss to Nebraska.
Perhaps still smarting from Nebraska's game-tying score at the end of regulation, Missouri allowed the Huskers to score in the three plays on their OT possession. Scott Frost leapt over MU tacklers at the goal line to score on a 12-yard run.
But Missouri had a chance to answer, and it had never not scored a touchdown in an overtime possession.
“I was shocked when we didn't score,” MU tailback Brock Olivo said.
On Missouri's first play, offensive coordinator Jerry Berndt went to his pet play-action pass play -- the one in which the fullback and tailback sneak out of the backfield to the left side. Missouri used the play in the second quarter and Olivo scored on a 34-yard reception. Last year in the first overtime against Baylor, Olivo scored a 25-yard touchdown on the play.
“It always works,” Olivo said. “Give them credit, they did a good job defending it.”
Olivo was covered, and Jones tried to force the ball to fullback Ron Janes, but the pass sailded out of bounds.
“I think I could have run for at least 6 or 7 on the first play,” Jones said. “I threw it to Ron Janes. It got all jumbled up, and I didn't know if he was going to keep running or stop.”
On third down, tight end Jake Stueve let a sure first-down reception slip through his hands, and Jones was sacked on fourth down.
SACK ATTACK:It was the biggest play the Nebraska defense had faced all day, and the Huskers turned to two native Missourians to make something happen.
Senior right end Grant Wistrom, a native of Webb City, and junior left end Mike Rucker, a St. Joseph native, combined to sack Missouri quarterback Corby Jones for a 6-yard loss on fourth and 7 in overtime, helping secure the Huskers' 45-38 victory.
“Jones was making some scramble plays all day,” said Rucker, who had three sacks and four total tackles for losses. “It was very important that we got back there and got him before he scrambled.”
Making the critical play in his home state against a school that had recruited him made the victory all the sweeter for Rucker.
“I was glad to make an impact in front of family and friends,” he said.
WAS IT OR WASN'T IT:It was the play of the year in college football, but some Missouri players weren't so sure it was legitimate.
On the final play of regulation, Nebraska tied the game when a pass bounced off the foot of intended receiver Shevin Wiggins and was snared by a diving Matt Davison. Although replays seemed to show Davison made the catch, MU linebacker Al Sterling was convinced the ball hit the ground.
“It wasn't a touchdown, I'm sorry to say,” Sterling said. “I'm standing 2 yards from the ball and our whole team was right there. We all called it. We're not just saying that because we don't want them to win. We're saying that because it's the truth.”
MU cornerback Wade Perkins agreed.
“I thought I saw it hit the ground and come up,” Perkins said.
EXTRA POINTS:MU senior defensive tackle Brian Cracraft broke his leg in the first half.... Before Missouri's game with Iowa State, a computer error led the Faurot Field sprinklers to run throughout the night, making for a soggy field. Yesterday the sprinklers in the south end zone started up while Missouri was on its final drive of regulation.
By JOE WALLJASPER
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Mizzou-Nebraska Redux: 1997
I figured it would be fun (and a bit painful) to scroll through the two most memorable MU-NU affairs in recent memory in the run-up to next Saturday. First up (of course): 1997. I’ll post a couple articles a day.
NOVEMBER 8, 1997
In September, Corby Jones was advised in the Missouri student paper that he should consider switching positions -- to water boy.
In September, Scott Frost was booed by his fellow Nebraska students when he struggled in a home game against Central Florida.
It's November now, and in the opinion of many observers, the best two quarterbacks in the Big 12 Conference will be wearing No. 7 on Faurot Field today when Jones' Tigers (6-3 overall, 4-2 Big 12) play host to Frost's Cornhuskers (8-0, 5-0) in a 2:30 p.m. game.
“I think you're going to see the two top candidates on the field,” said MU coach Larry Smith when asked who he considered the Big 12's best quarterback. “I think we do” have the best one, “but I think you're going to see the other one.”
You could argue all day about which one is better. You could argue all day about what the criteria for the argument should be.
Statistics?
Jones leads the Big 12 in total yards with an average of 229 yards per game. Frost is seventh with an average of 171 yards. But Jones has more carries and passing attempts than Frost, who rarely plays all four quarters because the Cornhuskers usually rout their opponents.
Jones has been the more effective passer with an efficiency rating of 133.9 compared to 118.3 for Frost. But Frost has averaged 6.1 yards per carry to Jones' 4.8.
Leadership?
Frost has guided his team to a flawless record. After hearing the boos the previous week, he responded with a terrific game at Washington on Sept. 20. He scored on runs of 34 and 30 yards as Nebraska, which was an underdog for the first time in four years, beat the Huskies 27-14. That was NU's closest game of the year.
Jones has led his team to its first winning season since 1983. He began the season with subpar outings against Eastern Michigan and Kansas, but has turned it around, especially in the passing game. With the Tigers trailing 37-30 with less than two minutes to play at Oklahoma State, Jones led an 80-yard touchdown drive to tie the game, which MU won in overtime.
So who is better?
“You really think I'm going to answer that question?” Jones said with a smile. “I hope you really don't believe that.”
Father's sons
This question of which quarterback is better could have been answered by no less an authority than Tom Osborne if Jones had accepted Nebraska's scholarship offer after his senior season at Hickman High School in 1994.
Jones had narrowed his choices to Missouri, Illinois and Nebraska when NU quarterbacks coach Turner Gill, who had coached with MU assistant Curtis Jones at Southern Methodist, told Corby where he was headed.
“Turner basically told me that I wasn't interested,” Jones said last year. “He said, `Look, if you want to come, we've got a scholarship for you. Coach Osborne wants you, and we want you here, but I don't see you leaving your dad.' “
Gill was right, Jones belonged with his father at Missouri.
In his third year, Jones has rejuvenated an underachieving program with his superb play and is an ideal front man for the team. He is charismatic and articulate, cooperates with the media win or lose and moves comfortably in the spotlight that accompanies the big man on campus.
Frost also followed in his father's footsteps, although he took a round-about route.
Larry Frost played halfback for the Cornhuskers from 1967-69, and his wife, Carol, is a former NU track athlete who won a gold medal in the discus at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. But when Scott graduated from Wood River, Neb., High School, he chose to go his own way and attend Stanford and play for Bill Walsh.
“I wanted to try something different,” Frost said. “I wanted to get a chance to play in that offense. Stanford offered a great education. I got caught up in the fact it was out on the West Coast and was kind of new and exciting. It was something I just wanted to try.”
Frost spent his time as a backup quarterback and safety, and the Cardinal struggled. Walsh left, and Frost decided to do the same, transferring to Nebraska.
After sitting out a year, Frost took over last year for a team that was coming off consecutive national championships. He didn't do badly, completing 104 of 200 passes for 1,440 yards with 13 touchdowns and three interceptions. He also rushed for 438 yards.
But the Huskers lost two games, including a 37-27 defeat to Texas in the Big 12 championship game that cost NU a shot at its third straight national title. That's not good enough by Nebraska standards.
Breakthrough seasons
Frost wasn't the only guy with something to prove this year.
Jones grew weary of his reputation as a running quarterback last year. In obvious passing situations, Smith turned to Kent Skornia to lead the Tigers until Jones finally wrestled away the full-time job in November. He led MU to back-to-back victories over Baylor and Kansas to end the year and then went to work in the off-season.
He worked almost daily on his passing skills with his receivers. The results have been dramatic. Jones has completed 85 of 164 passes for 1,360 yards and nine touchdowns.
“I think last year everybody knew Corby could make the plays in the run game and they weren't real confident in him making a lot of plays --they saw him make a few but not a lot of plays -- that scored points consistently,” Smith said. “I think that's what he's brought to the table this season.
“He is a threat deep for touchdowns, short, intermediate, third-down situations, first-down situations. That's helped him become a more of a complete quarterback.”
With a far superior supporting cast, Frost's progress is a little harder to gauge. With running backs Ahman Green and Joel Makovicka chewing up yards, Frost hasn't had to carry the burden of an offense the way Jones has. But he simply hasn't made any mistakes.
“He directs our offense really well,” Osborne said. “He's a knowledgeable guy who really handles the option game well and he's a very effective thrower when you call on him. So his stats may not benefit him, but in terms of value and contribution and moving the football, he's done a great job and is probably one of the top quarterbacks in the country in terms of effectiveness.”
Today Jones will be asked to do the unreasonable, beat No. 1 Nebraska almost single-handedly. He is one of the few Tigers with the athletic ability to make big plays against the Cornhuskers. MU needs a whole lot of big plays.
Frost doesn't face that kind of burden. The Cornhuskers would be heavily favored with Grant Wistrom at quarterback. But Frost knows his judgment will be delayed. His legacy will be shaped by whether he can lead Nebraska to the national title.
“The end of this season will have a lot to do with how people remember me and this senior class,” Frost said. “If we can somehow go back and win another one, people will remember nothing but good things. If we don't, it's hard to tell. It's unfortunate that everything you do comes down to a game or two, but I guess that's life.”
By JOE WALLJASPER
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NOVEMBER 8, 1997
Football used to set this town on fire.
In the 1970s, battalions of state troopers on game days used to funnel one-way streams of traffic toward Faurot Field; students used to camp for days in tent villages in front of the ticket booth to procure the best seats for the season; and downtown streets were blocked off to accommodate the throng of fans who hopped from bar to bar.
Last night at Harpo's, the undisputed “Keeper of the Flame” of Tiger football, fans gathered on the eve of Missouri's game against No. 1-ranked Nebraska to savor the possibilities of this season and to relive the past.
“Every game was an all-day party,” MU alumnus Mark Bumgarner said of the winning seasons so long ago. “You got a date and never questioned where we were going to go.”
His friend Jerry Carlson agreed. “It was more than a football game -- it was an event.”
Today, the ashes of 15 years of losing seasons cover the blazing glory of MU football teams past. Many alumni hope the 65,000 bellowing fans expected at Memorial Stadium this afternoon will breath new life into the flickering flame.
They are also hoping for a repeat performance of the 1978 game, when MU stunned the Cornhuskers, then No. 2, by defeating them 35-31 on their home field. James Wilder strong-armed a Nebraska tackler on the 3-yard line to score the winning touchdown.
“I remember watching him throw that guy off and dive into the end zone to win that game,” said alumnus Jim Stark. “He was a man among boys.”
A large contingent of Nebraska fans also gathered at Harpo's last night, a welcome sight to owner Randy Harper. “Nebraska fans are the best in the Big 12 Conference,” Harper said. “All the businesses look forward to them coming to Columbia every other year.”
Harper estimates a crowd as large as today's can give a $6 million boost to Columbia businesses, from florists to filling stations.
Larry Fuller, an MU alumnus who lived in Lincoln, Neb., during the 1970s, said Nebraska fans are not only the best in the Big 12, “they're the best in the whole world.”
At a party at Fuller's home last night for a large contingent of MU and Nebraska fans, MU alumnus Chuck Hatley said he's looking forward to seeing every seat full for the first time in a decade. “Even if we lose, to be there with 65,000 fans is exciting -- it makes you hungry to go back.”
Hatley said recent graduates have no memory of those football traditions, which burned out while some of them were still in grade school.
“Alums all the way into their early 30s have never seen a winning season,” he said.
Realistically, most fans don't think MU can beat Nebraska today, but as one person said, “Stranger things have happened.”
In the 1970s, the Tigers were giant killers -- a team that could topple any opponent regardless of rank or record.
Many thought back to 1976, when MU fans, buoyed by MU's 22-21 victory at No. 2 Ohio State, stormed Faurot Field in the dark and leveled the goal posts. As tradition warrants, they delivered the severed limbs to the sacrificial altar of Harpo's.
One anonymous alum said, “If we win tomorrow, the goal posts are least of our problems -- the Columns could come down.”
By JANICE WINTERS
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NOVEMBER 8, 1997
Colorado coach Rick Neuheisel couldn't believe his eyes. The uniforms belonged to Missouri, but the offense was Nebraska, or at least Cornhusker Light.
The Tigers were cranking out 15-play, 80-yard, 71/2-minute drives, and Colorado was helpless to stop them in a 41-31 MU victory. An athletic quarterback ran the option and threw the occasional play-action pass, bullish fullbacks landed body blows to the belly of the defense and hard-running tailbacks chipped away 6 yards at a time.
Neuheisel wasn't the only one to notice Missouri has patterned its offense after the Big Red Machine. While NU quarterback Scott Frost sat in a Waco, Texas, hotel room waiting for his team's night game against Baylor, he caught some of the Missouri-Oklahoma State game on television and saw plenty of familiar sights.
“I recognized a lot of plays that we run that they run too,” Frost said. “Maybe some of the blocking schemes are different, and I'm sure we have plays they don't run and they have plays we don't run, but as far as the basic theory of an offense and style of play, I think they're pretty close to the same thing.”
The catch is that Nebraska's offense never has to play against Nebraska's defense in a game. Missouri's offense does today in a 2:30 p.m. game at Faurot Field.
MU's current scoring average of 32 points is the highest since the 1969 Orange Bowl team averaged 33.2. In the last three games, the Tigers have averaged 43 points. But Missouri (6-3 overall, 4-2 Big 12) hasn't faced a defense like Nebraska (8-0, 5-0).
“Their defense, you look at tape, and you grind and grind and grind on the tape and try to find something you can make go consistently,” Missouri coach Larry Smith said. “The biggest thing is they've been using the same scheme now for four years.
“They've put in a few little wrinkles, but for the most part it comes down to on defense they've got great athletes, great quickness and speed at every position.”
The Cornhuskers are ranked No. 3 in the nation in total defense and No. 4 in rushing defense. They have given up only seven points in the last three games.
“The things we can't do, No. 1, is turn the ball over, and No. 2, we can't have negative plays,” MU offensive coordinator Jerry Berndt said. “They're whole team thrives on turnovers and negative plays.”
Berndt said that Nebraska's scheme forces opposing offensive lines into a series of one-on-one blocks. Any weak link on the O-line gets exploited all day because it's hard to give him any help.
If Missouri's inside running game is going to work, Tiger guards Mike Morris and Craig Heimburger and center Rob Riti will have to win head-to-head matchups with All-American defensive tackle Jason Peter and the 310-pound Jason Wiltz.
Missouri had absolutely no luck getting around the corner with the option game against Nebraska last year, and Corby Jones was knocked out of the game after taking several vicious shots. The Cornhuskers haven't gotten any slower since then, and senior defensive end Grant Wistrom is the playing the best football of his career.
The All-American from Webb City forced three fumbles, recovered one and made two sacks in a 69-7 victory over Oklahoma last week. He might be the most disruptive defensive player in the nation.
To move the ball on such a defense, Missouri will probably have to place its faith in the passing and scrambling of Jones. The junior quarterback has averaged 205 yards passing and 63 yards rushing in the last three games.
Texas was able to beat the Huskers 37-27 last year by letting the mobile James Brown buy himself time to pick apart the Nebraska secondary.
“Texas made some big plays last year, and that's one thing we have to do,” Berndt said. “If you're going to beat them, you have to make some big plays. You're not going to have 17-play drives against this football team. They don't allow you to do that. That doesn't mean we can't, but you don't have many of those.”
By JOE WALLJASPER
