Shatel: Tech could be trap in the afterglow of win over Mizzou

If it’s Saturday morning, then I must be staying at home with the H1N1 virus (or “Ndamukong Flu’’ as I like to call it), and wondering:

• Is Texas Tech going to be Nebraska’s toughest game of the year? Given the circumstances and timing, definitely. Playing at Virginia Tech and then at Missouri in the rain was no day at the beach, literally. But this one has all the markings of one of those stinking trap games that drive coaches to an early paranoia.

Why? At Tech and Mizzou, Nebraska at least had something to prove. There was a chip-on-the-shoulder effect. The last week the team has been hearing about winning the Big 12 North, Ndamukong Suh has been smothered with national attention and the Rex Burkhead injury brings a running-on-eggshells effect to the offense.

Now here comes Captain Mike Leach and his band of devil-may-care scalawags. Take them lightly, or take your foot off the pedal, and they’ll make you walk the plank.

This will be a test of Bo Pelini’s single-focus preaching. I think Nebraska will be focused. I also think we’re in for a wild day.

• Who is the real Zac Lee? Is he the smooth operator who sliced up three Sun Belt defenses? Or the wobbly quarterback who misfired so often at Virginia Tech and Missouri?

Wobbly? Well, Lee did keep his poise at Mizzou, stepping up with a nice deep ball to Niles Paul to loosen NU’s poncho. His second touchdown toss should have been picked off, but it didn’t lack confidence. His third touchdown pass happened because of Lee’s own patience in letting the play develop.

So he hung in there at Mizzou. But he’s got a lot to prove today, at home, where he’s been really good in front of 80,000 of his closest friends, or really good against Sun Belt teams.

Lee is going to have to stand tall and make plays against a BCS-level defense, but it won’t be raining and he’ll be wearing red. This is a key midterm test for his first year.

• Will Pelini have Cody Green warm up again if Lee struggles?

• How will offensive coordinator Shawn Watson react? Not so much to the criticism; if he’s got thin skin, he’s in the wrong job at the wrong address.

But moreover, to the situation. A year ago, Watson adjusted what he was doing to fit his personnel. He had veteran playmakers at quarterback and receiver, and eventually he got Roy Helu in the act, too. The offense flowed through them. It saved the day from mid-October on.

This year’s different. Is Watson still trying to find those playmakers?

His most reliable stars are Helu and tight end Mike McNeill, yet they didn’t carry the load until late at big game Missouri. Watson doesn’t have perfect-fit Joe Ganz to run his short-route offense. Lee doesn’t have that touch yet. Then again, with one Big 12 running back on the roster, do you hitch the offense up to Helu and an offensive line that can’t be trusted?

• Can the offensive line be trusted? Show us something, lads.

• Does the defense carry the season this time around? It could. There’s some wicked chemistry brewing here, with veterans playing like kids and kids playing like veterans. They’ll need to do some heavy lifting this afternoon and, once again, do it with a lot of four-man pressure and not a lot of blitzing. Pirate Mike will gladly make you pay for that, too.

• Will Suh get caught up in the hype and have a bad day? I don’t think we even need to answer this one.

• Who is Steve Sheffield, and should you be afraid? Yes. Memorial Stadium’s little shop of horrors has swallowed many a young gun. But Leach’s program is a different bird. These people don’t care where they are or who they’re playing. You can almost see a twinkle in Leach’s eyes in his comments about Sheffield. I don’t think the kid will fold. Quite the opposite; I think he’ll come out firing. I think there are going to have to be a few coverage sacks.

• What will the Big 12 North standings look like tonight? The NU, KU and MU games are anything but sure bets. Kansas should win at Boulder, but who knows what happens when Tyler Hansen meets that Jayhawk defense?

And while Oklahoma State should handle Missouri, the Cowboys’ defense wasn’t exactly stout at Texas A&M. MU has a chance in a shootout game, especially sans Dez Bryant.

• How can I get a Husker Burger delivered to my house?

I don’t know how I caught the H1N1 thing, other than the fact I have three kids and the thing is blowing around eastern Nebraska’s schoolyards. Somebody asked me what this felt like. I said, “Like Ndamukong Suh body-slammed me in the rain.’’ So now I call it “Ndamukong Flu’’ for short, though there’s nothing short about it.

What it means, regrettably, is that I’ll miss my first Nebraska game today since 1991. All streaks are meant to be broken, but I’ve become fond of this one, in a Ripkenesque sort of way. I’ll still watch the game on TV and write about it from the comfort of my house, a luxury Cal Ripken never had.

Contact the writer:

444-1025, tom.shatel@owh.com

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