Tonight's battle between No. 24 Missouri and No. 21 Nebraska features no shortage of intrigue off the field. Nebraska is trying to seek its first win in Columbia since 2001. Last season, Nebraska was embarrassed 52-17 by the Tigers in Lincoln.
Will revenge will be a factor this time around?
Missouri is 4-0 against one of the softest schedules in the country. Look at the Tigers schedule so far:
Illinois, Bowling Green, Nevada and Furman.
Now the Tigers welcome a Nebraska team that lost by a point at No. 5 Virginia Tech, and has destroyed three Sun Belt teams in Florida Atlantic (49-3), Arkansas State (38-9), and Louisiana-Lafayette (55-0).
Nebraska leads the nation in scoring defense, but the Blackshirts will be tested against a Missouri offense that ranks 16th in the country.
The Missouri Tigers were expected to experience a huge dropoff after losing several players to the NFL last season.
Heisman finalist Chase Daniel led the offense for three years and broke every passing record in school history during his time there. When you lose a quarterback of his caliber, you are supposed to have a transition period until you find the next one.
Not this year for Missouri. In fact, many are saying that new quarterback Blaine Gabbert is even better than Daniel and he’s only a sophomore. So far all he’s done is throw for 1161 yards, 11 touchdowns, and no interceptions through four games.
Nebraska has a good quarterback already in place with Zac Lee. He's completing 65 percent of his passes with seven touchdowns.
Adding balance to the Huskers 19th-ranked offense is running back Roy Helu, who has 464 rushing yards with five scores and a 6.4 yards-per-carry average.Strength against strength is a theme to go with in this one, with Missouri's high-powered offense against Nebraska's shut-down defense.
But it could be Nebraska's own potent offense that is the difference in this one.
Interesting note: Blaine Gabbert was the number one pro-style quarterback coming out of high school and committed to Nebraska. Then at the last minute he changed his commitment to Missouri and never looked back. The Huskers might be a little bitter over the decision.
Prediction: Nebraska 24 Missouri 20
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