10 Reasons to Believe Nebraska Will Avenge 2009 Loss to Texas

Pictured here is Texas Head Coach Mack Brown holding the the Big 12 Championship trophy in victorious fashion after last year's Big 12 Championship game.

It was a game many Husker fans and Texas fans will likely never forget.

One second.

A single second on an incomplete pass by the legendary Colt McCoy proved to the be difference after an official's review.

It is that official's review that has created such an ironic finish to one of the greatest Big 12 Championship games that has ever been played.

That single second that was put back on the clock has been debated and argued for the last 8 months. Was it the right call? The debate will likely wage on for years.

This article, however, isn't about whether that call was right or wrong. This article is about what will happen in 2010 after one of the most memorable games of the 2009 season and what is sure to be one of the most anticipated games of the 2010 season.

This article is also about why the Huskers will avenge that defeat.

Texas Offensive Line

In the 2009 Big 12 Championship game, the Huskers absolutely dominated the undermanned Texas offensive line.

During the game, the Huskers sacked Colt McCoy nine times and held the Longhorns to 18 total yards rushing.

Now we roll forward to the 2010 season, and Texas is only bringing back two starters from the offensive line that wasn't good enough to keep Colt McCoy off of his back for much of the game.

While Nebraska does lose Ndamukong Suh, they also bring back Jared Crick, Pierre Allen, Cameron Meredith, and a host of others up front. While the Huskers will undoubtedly miss the talents of Suh, Texas isn't quite loaded on the offensive line, either.

Also, with Texas supposedly changing its offense to be more run-oriented, the Huskers' front four will definitely have an advantage.

Texas in 2006 After the Loss of Vince Young

In 2005, the man pictured here, Vince Young, led the Texas Longhorns to one of the more memorable seasons in the last decade culminating in a last-minute drive to beat the mighty USC Trojans in the BCS National Championship game.

What happened in 2006?

The Longhorns, while still extremely successful, had some growing pains with redshirt freshman QB Colt McCoy at the helm and dropped games at home to Ohio State, at Kansas State, and against rival Texas A&M at home.

While Texas did win at Nebraska that year, they needed a late-game fumble to score the game-winning field goal to escape with a 22-20 victory over a much more modest Husker team than the one they'll face in Lincoln this year.

In that game, McCoy threw for a paltry 220 yards against the 79th-ranked Husker pass defense. It is extremely unlikey that sophomore Garret Gilbert will be playing against such a Husker defense in 2010 as the one Colt faced in 2006.

Texas Offensive Change

There is little doubt that Garret Gilbert is a fantastic talent. In his only meaningful play in the season last year for the Longhorns, he nearly brought them back against Alabama in the National Championship game after four-year starter Colt McCoy went down with an injury.

However, Garret Gilbert is a much different QB than Colt McCoy or Vince Young. He is a true drop back, stay in the pocket, throwing QB.

The change in offense for Texas this year is no longer a rumor; it is going to happen. The Longhorns are going to run the football more and will run more offense with Gilbert under center than 'Horns fans have seen in the past seven years.

Any type of offensive change is tough, and when breaking in a new QB and a ton of other starters around him, it only gets tougher. While the 'Horns should have a better than average offense, don't look for them to rank in the top 20 this year: They didn't last year with Colt McCoy at the helm.

NFL Draft : Texas Lost Six Players within the First Four Rounds

Pictured here is All-American DB Earl Thomas in last year's NFL Scouting Combine. He was selected as the 14th overall pick in last year's NFL draft.

While Colt McCoy and Jordan Shipley received much of the hype from last year's Texas team, it was Thomas, Sergio Kindle, and LaMarr Houston from the defense who were drafted before them.

Make no mistake about it: Texas had a helluva defense last year. They also lost MLB Roderick Muckleroy to the NFL as well.

While Texas has seven starters back on the defensive side of the ball, they lost what is likely their four biggest impact players from that same defense.

With All-Big 12 DT Jared Crick taking over the reins for Suh, Texas doesn't exactly have an answer for the four defensive players they lost to the NFL last season. In the previous decade, Texas has never had six players drafted to the NFL in the first four rounds of the NFL draft.

Returning Starters and Lettermen

Pictured here is All-American CB Aaron Williams not making a tackle against Trent Richardson from Alabama in last year's National Championship game.

With 12 starters returning for the Longhorns, Aaron Williams and Curtis Brown highlight the list; however, Nebraska's 59 returning lettermen top the conference, and their 16 returning starters and are only second to Texas A&M, Colorado, and Missouri who all have 16 starters returning in 2010.

Texas, on the other hand, brings back only 46 lettermen. The Huskers also hold the advantage of projected senior starters over Texas, 12-10, giving the Huskers a decided experience advantage.

Aaron Williams/Curtis Brown vs. Prince Amukumara/Alfonzo Dennard

Cornerback is the position that supposedly separates Texas from everybody else in the nation.

No doubt that Aaron Williams and Curtis Brown are legit, but Prince Amukumara—seen here breaking up a pass in last year's Big 12 Championship game—and Alfonzo Dennard aren't exactly chopped liver either.

There may not be a better CB duo in the entire nation than these two that are listed. Thus, if this is Texas' biggest thing coming back in 2010, and it isn't much better, if at all, than what Nebraska has, then what is their biggest advantage over Nebraska?

It definitely won't be CB play. Even the great Phil Steele has Texas and Nebraska as his two top DB crews in the entire country.

Colt McCoy and Jordan Shipley

That's right, Texas fans: That is Colt McCoy in a Cleveland Browns uniform.

It is easy to argue that Colt McCoy was easily one of the greatest QBs in the history of the Big 12. Heck, not many kids start at Texas as a redshirt freshman, much less QB.

Couple that with the underappreciated Jordan Shipley, and Texas has lost the greatest QB/WR combo in the history of Texas football.

The former roommates connected for 3,191 yards and 33 touchdowns during their combined careers at Texas. It would be hard to argue that any two players were as connected to one another during their collegiate careers.

That kind of stuff just doesn't happen all that often, and for Colt and Jordan, it was pretty special.

Now what happens without the ultimate chemistry between quarterback and receiver? How do you replace that?

Garrett Gilbert

He was electric in last year's BCS National Championship game.

In fact, if Malcolm Williams hadn't dropped that incredible stripe thrown by Gilbert in the fourth quarter, they would have taken the lead.

But that was last year, right?

Garrett was simply thrown into the storm. He was expected to fail. And the Texas staff let him do so miserably in the first half of the National Championship game because they had no backup plan if Colt were to go down.

In the 2nd half, he showed some of his pocket presence and arm that have Texas fans simply giddy about his talents.

But the fact remains: Gilbert didn't wake up that day knowing he would take the full tilt of the BCS Championshp game. While that game showed he had some talent, it also exposed that he has a ton to learn as well.

Just ask Dustin Johnson what it is like to go to bed one day a hero, and wake up the next looking like you had never played the game before—and that kid was supposedly unflappable as a 27-year-old.

Garret is unbelievably talented. But even the great Vince Young and Colt McCoy had their struggles in big games before they made it happen in their junior and senior years.

Bo Pelini

Do you really want to have yourselves an immobile and young QB against this guy?

The only Kryponite for Bo has been mobile QBs. With Garret Gilbert, as a true sophomore sitting back in the pocket against a veteran-coached defense from Nebraska, I'm really not liking Gilbert's chances.

With Texas looking to start running the ball more next year, it will be a nice surprise for Bo and Co. to see a QB under center who can do nothing more than hand off to a RB or drop back in the pocket.

As already mentioned, the O-line isn't going to be all that great, and the Huskers should be able to create pressure with just their front four just like they did last year against Texas.

Throw in the blitzing possibilities with two lockdown corners and an unproven QB, WR, and TE crew from Texas, and we could be looking at complete shutdown from the Texas offense.

Lincoln, NE

There aren't many more special places in college football than Lincoln on a game day.

Bring in a team that just beat us 13-12 the year before for the Big 12 Championship, and you already have some fuel added to a fire that won't end.

Throw in the Huskers leaving the Big 12 and Texas being the supposed savior of the Big 12, and you have yourselves a straight up Hatfield vs. McCoys-type hatred brewing.

Texas came into the Big 12 with a big stick. They whipped that stick for a long time.

Nebraska was the baddest team in the country when the Big 12 started back in 1996. Texas was one of two teams that took the Huskers down to keep the mighty Huskers away from winning five straight national titles.

No love lost here.

Needless to say, the crowd in Lincoln will be electric. I've been to many games in Lincoln, and this one could surpass them all.

The 'Horns have ruled my beloved Huskers over the last decade, but as they say, the buck stops here.

And rightfully so.

Nebraska 24, Texas 20