Jared Crick said last week that he and Ndamukong Suh engage in a friendly competition for statistics.

Reporters kind of laughed it off. Did anyone actually expect Crick to win?

But after Saturday's historic performance, Crick has 8.5 sacks to Suh's five. They're dead even in tackles for loss (13) and tackles overall (49).

Crick's emergence creates a conundrum for offensive coordinators. It's one thing to game-plan for one all-Big 12-caliber tackle. But you can't double-team two of them.

Expect centers to continue helping on Suh, as Baylor's did much of Saturday. But if the opposition has a weakness at guard, Crick will exploit it.

Defensive coaching has clearly improved since Bo and Carl Pelini took over the Blackshirts two years ago.

But Pelini's staff teaches no position better than defensive tackle.

If I'm a 300-pound high school senior going through the recruiting process this fall, Suh's dominance would cause me to check into Nebraska.

But Crick's rapid development — he had two career tackles entering 2009 — might prompt me to jump on the first plane for Lincoln.

Short-yardage woes

Marcel Jones' beautiful block on third-and-1 in the first quarter sprung Dontrayevous Robinson for 23 yards.

At that point, the Huskers were 2-for-2 rushing on third-and-short.

After that play, NU had third-and-2 yards or less three times. All three times Nebraska lost yardage on a third-down rushing play.

Cody Green's job is going to be difficult the next few weeks. But if Nebraska can't get a yard on third-and-1, Green's job may be impossible.

Containing the spread

Nebraska continues to show dramatic improvement from 2008 in defending spread offenses.

Its dominant defensive line is the chief reason — Bo Pelini doesn't need to blitz with Suh and Crick pressuring the quarterback.

But don't discount Nebraska's tackling in the secondary. The Huskers rarely allow considerable yards after the catch.

Now, if they could just break up deep balls and hold onto interceptions.

Tear down this wall

What a disastrous day for Baylor special teams.

A punt blocked for a touchdown. A critical missed 24-yard field goal. A useless 22-yard pooch punt by the starting quarterback.

The block was most damaging. I do not understand the virtue of spread punt formations like Baylor's.

Instead of packing blockers tightly along the line of scrimmage and forcing rushers to the flank, Baylor essentially formed two walls. The first wall features five or six blockers split a few feet apart at the line of scrimmage.

The second wall — two or three more blockers — awaits halfway between the snapper and the punter.

The problem: Nebraska's rushers had a full head of steam when they hit the second pack.

So when 215-pound Eric Martin slammed into a flat-footed 265-pound blocker, the bigger man, Baylor's Sam Sledge, went backward and deflected the punt. NU freshman Justin Blatchford fielded the ball and scored the game's first TD.

Too rough?

Two very questionable personal foul calls against Nebraska: Dejon Gomes was flagged for tagging Nick Florence in the first quarter.

Then Suh slammed Florence to the turf in the fourth quarter.

“This is tackle football, isn't it?” Versus play-by-play man Ron Thulin said. “Just curious.”

Their chances

Handicapping Big 12 North teams' chances of playing in Dallas on Dec. 5:

Ÿ Kansas State (3-2): Kansas, Missouri, at Nebraska. 32 percent.

Ÿ Nebraska (2-2): Oklahoma, at Kansas, Kansas State, at Colorado. 30 percent.

Ÿ Missouri (1-3): Baylor, at Kansas State, Iowa State, vs. Kansas. 20 percent.

Ÿ Iowa State (2-3): Oklahoma State, Colorado, at Missouri. 10 percent.

Ÿ Kansas (1-3): at Kansas State, Nebraska, at Texas, vs. Missouri. 5 percent.

Ÿ Colorado (1-3): Texas A&M, at Iowa State, at Oklahoma State, Nebraska. 3 percent.

Contact the writer:

679-9899, dirk.chatelain@owh.com

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