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COLUMBIA, Mo. — As we wait for the torrential rains and football to begin, one final word on the Missouri and Nebraska programs and who's trying to catch whom.
You judge programs over time. A program doesn't arrive in one week, because it might depart again the next. Excellence in college football is a consistency thing. Can you sustain? For how long?
You also judge programs by standards. For those who would say Missouri has passed Nebraska in the sport of football, please consider this scenario: take last year's seasons and flip the names.
Say the Huskers beat Missouri on the road. They lose to Oklahoma State, more decisively than the final five-point spread. They lose at Texas, 56-31. They lose to Kansas at Arrowhead Stadium. And Oklahoma runs them out of the Big 12 championship game, 62-21. They are 9-4 and fall to the Alamo Bowl to play Northwestern.
The conquering heroes would come home to a chorus of indifference. A lot of Nebraskans would call that season inadequate. The margin of defeats would raise red flags. Frank Solich got fired after a year similar to that.
At Missouri, meanwhile, Pinkel received a contract extension that made him one of the highest-paid coaches in the country.
What does it all mean? Only that Missouri is still trying to get to where Nebraska was, and Nebraska is trying to get to where Missouri is now — but the Huskers don't want to stop there.
Which brings us to the stakes on the grill in tonight's Big 12 opener on ESPN.
This one's all about position, proof and pride.
The winner tonight takes a giant step toward the Big 12 North title. But that's all. Don't start making reservations for a $20 pizza at the Jerry Jones Dome in early December. There's still an obstacle course through the South — and Kansas — left to negotiate. But, clearly, the winner has more margin for error than the loser.
An aside: For Nebraska, though this game is on “national TV,'' don't go overboard putting NU's national identity on this one. It's not. There is one game left on NU's schedule that can drop the Huskers back on the national radar, and that's against Oklahoma, with or without Sam Bradford. If Miami had beaten Missouri last week, would people be falling all over themselves to say the “Hurricanes are back?'' No. But they beat a wounded OU team, so that's the image.
There's some mental baggage for the winner and loser. Missouri has spent years trying to reach Nebraska and has fallen short in some bizarre, painful ways. The Tigers want to maintain an edge over the Huskers as long as possible. The Tigers also want to prove they are here to stay. They can do both with a win tonight.
Nebraska's not used to looking up at Mizzou. If the Huskers are ever going to “get back,'' then winning the North is a start, and the road to the North title these days goes through Faurot Field. Also, these big road games are the kinds of games Nebraska used to take great delight — and pride — in winning. These sorts of games used to define Nebraska football.
A win tonight and Nebraska is that much closer to that goal. Another loss to Mizzou and it seems further away.
Pride. There's as much at stake in the stands as on the field and on the sidelines tonight. This is a rivalry that is about to bust at the seams. And if this game is as good as some of us experts think it will be, then tonight — and the future of this series — is going to be a lot of fun.
This game has a lot of different angles, but it says here it will be decided by the pride of the Nebraska defensive front.
A year ago, NU's D-line wasn't ready for this task. A year ago, Bo Pelini didn't know what he had up front. The front four wasn't progressing to Pelini's liking after the first month. So, given the chore of stopping Chase Daniel and Co., Pelini offered up a wrinkle — a gimmick front, if you will — with three down men and a fourth tackle or end moving around like a linebacker, supposedly surprising Daniel and keeping him off-balance.
One 52-17 spanking later, Pelini admitted his mistake. He put some trust in his front four, offensive coordinator Shawn Watson started playing to his strengths, and off they went. Pelini later said he didn't know how good the front four was going to be, or he wouldn't have done that.
Tonight, finally, is about progress, especially on the Nebraska side. How much progress has Pelini's program made since last year? Since Virginia Tech?
“I was still searching at that point last year,'' Pelini said. “I think we're just better overall right now. But how much better? We'll find out.''
Contact the writer:
444-1025, tom.shatel@owh.com
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