Getting Ready For Blaine Gabbert

If you notice I never called for blitzing but the d-line will need to at least hurry Gabbert throughout the game(make him leave the pocket early) and while Gabbert’s deep ball numbers may not be that bad if you watch enough tape on him you can see he has not mastered the deep ball yet. I know he does not throw it that often which is why the Huskers need to take away the underneath routes and force him to do something he does not normally do

201 to Kendall Hunter (who is, granted, one of the best backs in the big 12) and 283 yards through the air. OC Yost has come up with game plans to deal with what defenses do to them. sure, go ahead and key in on TJ Moe and Egnew. Gabbert will find Kemp and Jackson. That’s what aTm and OU tried to do, and look how they fared. Yes your secondary is better than OU’s, but we’re better than OSU, who ran roughshod on you guys

Maybe you mean Egnew.

OU pretty successfully took away routes to Moe and Egnew, and Jerrell Jackson burned them deep and often.

Shutting down Moe and Egnew only opens up Kemp and Jackson. This means Nebraska’s third and fourth cover guys best be on their toes. While I haven’t seen any Husker games this year, from what I’ve read I expect that they should do a better job of coverage in this regard than OU. Will it will be enough to derail the Mizzou air attack? If the Black shirts can pressure Gabbert, it would sure help.

Nebraska seems to be back to its usual dominating self after its uninspiring start. T-Magic is simply incredible. Missouri has to stay in its lanes to at least contain him, Helu, Burkehead, and whatever “unknown” who Mizzou has made look like a Heisman candidate in years past. This year’s defense seems to have a better chance than previously, but Finch’s performance for OU gives me pause. I would not be one to say stop T-Magic and you stop NU. I would be greatly disappointed if they weren’t too deep and strong for that.

After its uninspiring start, Mizzou seems to have more depth, both in the trenches and at WR & RB than in the past. More parts seem to be interchangeable for them. It was enough for OU. Whether its enough for NU is problematic. As a Tiger fan, I hope this trend of depth continues.

Nebraska has shown a passing game to go with its potent rushing attack. Mizzou has more balance and depth than usual without a “star” player (other than Gabbert, though Franklin practices and plays well) to key on. As usual with two good teams, it will come down to turnovers, winning the battles in the trenches and preventing the seven-yard gain from becoming a twenty-yard one. I don’t know that ball control will be a big issue because both teams have the ability to strike very quickly. Both teams seem to be getting better with each game.

As a long-time Mizzou fan (going back to Big Six days) I’ll miss the Huskers. When we began to get even with you guys under Pinkel, it restored some credibility. This Saturday should be a barn-burner. I’ll say Mizzou wins by less than 7, but then again I always was a homer…. Here’s to a great game and no injuries. Cheers!

they think will get people to listen/call-in/generate interest for their show.

On the Gabbert de-commitment issue. I’ve seen a good number of articles on it.. It’s just drama talk as you said.

sure was stout against Iowa State and UCLA.

As a tiger fan I like to think all of these things too. But Gabbert and his receivers have also had issues with playing dropsies a bunch this season, and though things have gone VERY well the last 2 games, these are also small sample sizes, so let’s not get too cocky.

Nebraska doesn’t have Suh anymore, and the early season claims to have a D five times better than last years haven’t exaclty panned out… but they’ve still got as much talent as any game we’ve played this year, and in different places than some of those other teams, and it’s very hard to predict how that will play out in an actual game situation. Also we surprised OU by doing some very different things to them than we have in the past, but those are all on tape now, so does Yost have more tricks up his sleeve, or do the Pelini’s have more tricks up theirs?

I’m guessing it’s going to come down to the linesmen a lot. Nebraska’s secondary is so good that deep receivers are going to need more time to have a chance at separation, and if we don’t have holes opened up for our runners, none of them are power types who will carry 300 pound guys with them (Moore’s one play to the contrary). If Nebraska doesn’t have to respect the run game, then they can sell out more on shutting down Moe and Egnew (like OU did) and not pay nearly such a price for it.

So how will Nebraska’s line hold up? Who knows, but they’re clearly better than OU’s, so it’ll be interesting all right.

For a fair and well-reasoned response.

I think the reason fans here have had little patience with Mizzou posters so far is the fact we’ve gone through this routine every. single. week. for the past year and a half.

“Oh, you think your defense is good? You think you’ve shut down so-and-so? You haven’t seen Tyrod Taylor/Danario Alexander/Colt McCoy/Nick Foles/Jake Locker/Daniel Thomas/D.J. Monroe!!”

And then Nebraska goes out and shuts said never-before-seen phenom down. (Oklahoma State last week was an exception, though Nebraska fans were fully acknowledging before the game it’d be a real challenge stopping the Hunter/Blackmon train, and we put up 51 anyway, so it didn’t end up mattering much.)

Against that backdrop, you can understand why Nebraska fans get frustrated with yet another opponent coming in, saying we’ve never seen anything like them, and whatever plans we might have to stop them are going to be fruitless.

That said, it’s clear that Missouri’s offense is quite good, and I appreciate the factchecking on a team you obviously know a lot better than we do.

I’d think that College Station is probably as difficult a place to play as any in the country. Hence, the “12th man.” When Mizzou played in College Station we had the crowd out of it by halftime, but there were 80,000+ roaring to start the game and it didn’t seem to matter at all.

Fair point, but Mizzou has traveled pretty well in the last few years. I don’t think this winds up as a major factor.