Tiger by the Tail

Everything we need to know about Saturday night's Nebraska-Missouri game is right there on paper. The Cornhuskers' offense is good, Missouri's is better. Nebraska's defense is bad, the Tigers' is worse. Everyone will be drunk because, when left to their own devices all day, college football fans can't help but drink themselves stupid. Almost everyone is picking Missouri to win their third straight game at home in this series.

Luckily for Nebraska, this doesn't appear to be a paper game. In fact, the Cornhuskers might just have every off-field advantage.

Both teams come in to this game doing a bit of ghost hunting. The Pinkle-era Tigers have been haunted by hot starts and horrific finishes. When poised to take the pole position in the division, Missouri has too often ended up passed out in the back of the Big 12 bandwagon.

Meanwhile on the other sideline, the shadow of Nebraska's last great team will be as cold and dark as ever 10-years after The Catch. (I'm certain they won't show that play at all during the telecast.) Every missed tackle, blown coverage, and gaping hole thus far in 2007 makes the past decade feel like a lifetime in Husker hearts across the country.

A little more than a month ago this game was supposed to decide the North. Now it's just the next chapter in what's been a very strange book thus far. While a Nebraska win won't come anywhere close to deciding the division, it just might tell you everything you need to know about the 2007 Cornhuskers.

This is a guts game. Each team looks capable of exploiting the other in some facet of the game but only one squad can claim the following:

--Nebraska, despite the 4-1 record, has been the disappointment here. They are the team with the real time questions to answer, the team that's already seen adversity, the team with a little more to prove. If Missouri wins then they took care of business. If Nebraska wins they sent a message. (Should probably note here that "messages" in College Football 2.0 have the longevity of a two-line e-mail.)

--Nebraska has done a good job of keeping Missouri bulletin boards clean. The Tigers, however, have been more than honest in the days leading up to the game. I can respect that. I can also call it a dumb decision. If the Cornhuskers aren't motivated for this game it's hopeless.

--Missouri fans hate Nebraska and, remember, everyone will be drunker than a wino on Wednesday. The game starts at 8:15 pm! It's going to be like Caligula in Columbia. Look, if you can't get up to face fans that absolutely hate your guts then there's something seriously wrong. My fondest memory of the glory days was demoralizing people. (For the record, I just made up that wino/Wednesday line. It is officially not colloquial. It would be foolish to think Wednesdays are any different for a wino than any other day. It's not like they get paid that day...or ever.)

--For all of the above reasons, Bill Callahan has to do very little on the rah-rah front. It's mostly been done for him. If you see yet another flat Nebraska team on Saturday you have my permission to be very concerned.

Does any of this mean that Nebraska will win on Saturday? No, but there is every reason to believe they have a very good chance.

The past two weeks have been no-win games for the Cornhuskers, now the roles are nearly reversed and how Nebraska responds could say everything in 07.