Zac Lee postgame press conference:

COLUMBIA, Mo. — Maybe you heard. It rained here Thursday night.

And the main color around Faurot Field was yellow … rain-poncho yellow.

Driving rains that started late Wednesday and didn't let up until late in the game were more of a factor than most could have anticipated.

In a bit of foreshadowing, Nebraska players had trouble fielding punts and catching passes in pregame warmups. Rains seemed to pick up midway through the first half and again at halftime, creating large puddles around the sidelines.

Yet judging from the weather radar, it could have been worse. It looked as if the heaviest rains went just south.

Tigers like water

Both teams could talk as much as they wanted about handling the conditions, but some seemed to actually embrace it.

A large group of Missouri players came out for the start of pregame warmups in tight white cutoff shirts. The Tigers didn't seemed fazed by the driving rain.

Neither did the Mizzou student section, which came out in large numbers more than 80 minutes before kickoff. A group even went shirtless in the 50-degree night, painting their chests to spell out “Nebraska has Larry the Cable Guy and still can't Git-R-Done,” with a few Tiger paws sprinkled in.

A few were also prepared to float, wearing yellow flotation devices around their waists.

And as if things weren't wild already, a power outage on campus nearby cut electricity to the lights and scoreboards for a time before kickoff. A backup generator helped power the stadium's lights, but the public address system, audio and main scoreboard weren't restored.

That meant no fancy entrance for the home team, other than the Tigers' trademark cannon blast. By halftime, many of the lights near the stadium were glowing again.

Missouri players and students actually seemed to get more fired up at the sight of a dark stadium. A group of players warming up when the stadium went dark huddled up, bounced around and fueled a crowd looking for any reason to celebrate.

Nice jammies

There were Husker fans throughout Faurot Field, and then there was Thomas Bolte.

The UNL student, decked out in a full-body red pajama outfit, laughed when asked if the get-up was waterproof.

“Not a chance,” he said.

Bolte said he had a blue poncho with him, but said he didn't plan on putting it on.

“Got to support the Big Red,” Bolte said.

Should sell tickets

Bolte wasn't the only one making the most of a messy situation. A group of creative fans turned a hill on one side of the stadium into their own slip and slide.

Somehow, equipped with a long piece of plastic, they slid down the hill before officials put a stop to it.

Got your ride

Apparently not everyone has forgotten. An NU fan sitting near the tunnel where some of the players came out made sure to let Missouri quarterback Blaine Gabbert know what he thought of him trading in his Nebraska commitment to go to Missouri.

“We got your ride home,” the Husker backer said, pointing to an ambulance.

Suh or 'Spoon?

After a late second-quarter stop by Nebraska tackle Ndamukong Suh, a small stadium screen spelling out the play-by-play read “Zou tackle for Nebraska.”

It wasn't the only time Husker fans must have been scratching their heads when it came to Suh. Tiger fans give starting linebacker Sean Weatherspoon the same treatment that is regularly heard from those in red.

Cries of “Spooooooooon” were prominent throughout the night, much like the “Suuuuuuuuuh” chants heard around Memorial Stadium.

— Nick Rubek

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