Premium ContentClick on Premium Content on the Featured navigation bar for information.
For those who think one play can't change the direction of an entire football season, flash back with me to a rainy night last October in Missouri.
Nebraska defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh's near dismemberment of Missouri quarterback Blaine Gabbert on a first-quarter sack did just that.
The high ankle sprain Gabbert suffered not only allowed the Huskers to hang around and rally in the fourth quarter to win 27-12, it messed up MU's offense enough to knock the Tigers out of the Big 12 North Division race.
Missouri's next two games were against No. 16 Oklahoma State and No. 3 Texas. Without a healthy Gabbert, the Tigers had little chance, and lost both.
That 0-3 start in Big 12 play helped Nebraska, even after back-to-back home losses to Texas Tech and Iowa State, keep control of the North race.
To this day, Gabbert said in a recent interview, he doesn't care to watch the video of the Suh slam.
“It looks pretty bad,'' he said.
For one of the rare times, Gabbert talked about getting corkscrewed into the ground by the AP national player of the year.
“It was kind of a half roll right,'' he said. “The defensive end came up high, and I under-stepped him. I saw him (Suh) running back behind me, so I tried to duck. He grabbed the back of my jersey, and we got tangled up.''
The first viewing of replays of the hit had broken leg written all over them.
“Initially, I didn't know what was going on,'' Gabbert said. “I felt something, but my leg was still there. So I was good to go.''
Not quite. Gabbert's ankle sprain meant he wasn't the same the rest of the year.
“I couldn't do what I wanted,'' he said. “I couldn't run or get outside the pocket and make plays.''
Gabbert played every meaningful snap the rest of the season, even though some suggested he should have taken a game or two off to try to heal. That would have left the quarterbacking in the hands of two rookies.
“I gave our team the best chance to win,'' he said. “Whatever I had to do to get on the field, I was going to do.
“I wanted to play. I was going to play. There was no question whether I was or not.''
Gabbert may have been mostly functional, but it was apparent he wore down during games. Starting with the Nebraska contest, the Tigers went five straight weeks without scoring a second-half touchdown.
He finished the season with 24 touchdown passes, nine interceptions and a completion rate of 58.9 percent.
Now, Gabbert is 100 percent and has resumed normal workouts. His body fat is down from 16 percent to 12 percent, and he has maintained 240 pounds on his 6-foot-5 frame.
“It felt good to be healthy in the spring,'' he said. “I regained my confidence. I could do things that I couldn't do in the last half of last season.''
That was noticeable to ESPN draft analyst Todd McShay, who has the junior from suburban St. Louis listed fourth among his Top 10 draft-eligible quarterbacks. (The first three are Jake Locker, Washington; Andrew Luck, Stanford; and Ryan Mallett, Arkansas.)
Wrote McShay: “No quarterback exceeded expectations more during our preseason film study than Gabbert. He will need time to adjust to the pro-style system, but appears to have the football intelligence and accuracy, in addition to the prototypical arm strength, to make a living in the NFL.''
A lot was dumped on Gabbert's shoulders last season as he took over for record-setting Chase Daniel. Even more is expected now, which he welcomes.
“I want the team on my shoulders,'' Gabbert said. “I'm not here to hand the ball off 40 times and try not to lose a game. I'm here to throw the ball and put up points and win games.''
Most prognosticators already have awarded the Big 12 North title to Nebraska. Even if Gabbert gets Missouri's offense rolling, the Tiger defense appears to have too many holes to plug. And there was that brutal 35-13 loss to Navy in the Texas Bowl.
Go ahead and think that, Gabbert says.
“We know we can win at a high level,'' he said. “Last year, we definitely could have won more games than we did, but some bad things happened.
“It left a sour taste in our mouth, and it put a chip on our shoulder this season to prove something.''
Just a reminder, Husker fans, that Oct. 16 (Texas) isn't the only big game in Lincoln this season. The Oct. 30 Tiger tussle should be fun, too.
Contact the writer:
444-1024, lee.barfknecht@owh.com
Copyright ©2012 Omaha World-Herald®. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, displayed or redistributed for any purpose without permission from the Omaha World-Herald.
