Nebraska-Missouri: Huskers' Explosive First Quarter Fuels 31-17 Win

Ramblin' Roy got the ball.

Then he was gone.

What?  Where the heck did "Ramblin' Roy" come from?  I have no idea, I think I just made it up, but that's not the point.

Senior Nebraska running back Roy Helu Jr. got a rare 28-carry game (he had 12 carries or less in each of the Huskers' previous six games), and turned it into a 307 yard, 3 touchdown performance, a breathtaking display of Helu's explosiveness when he is healthy.

Each one of his three touchdown runs was 53 yards or longer.  We saw flashes of this explosiveness in 2008, but it was largely absent, with the exception of games against Virginia Tech, Oklahoma, and Kansas, in 2009, because of nagging injuries.

Lucky for Roy, the Huskers found some kind of gem in a kid named Taylor Martinez, who got all the attention from Missouri until leaving the game at halftime with an ankle injury.

As a side note, the performance took a huge chunk out of Martinez's lead in rushing yardage for the team.  While Martinez creeped from 870 to 886, Helu skyrocketed from 500 to 807.

The game-breaking ability of Mr. Martinez has drawn ample attention from opposing defenses, giving the running backs more opportunities to create some big plays of their own.  In addition, the increased carries given to Martinez and sophomore swiss-army knife Rex Burkhead have lightened Helu's workload, which has allowed him to stay healthy throughout this season.

But let's give credit where it's due—the unsung heroes of the game were the offensive linemen, who opened up gaping holes for Helu on all three of his big touchdowns, and consistently opened holes all game that kept the offense chugging along after the 24-point first quarter cushion was achieved.

At times, especially in the second quarter, the offense sputtered, making Husker fans nervous.  Martinez again showed his freshman side, trying to force plays and do too much by himself.

He'll get better about that as he matures.

In the meantime, the coaches wisely inserted steady senior Zac Lee to manage the offense and bleed clock, and the performance by the Blackshirts, highlighted by an exciting, momentum-shifting goal line stand, was able to slow down a potent Tiger attack enough to notch arguably the biggest win for the Huskers since 2001.

On with the report.

Offense

Grade - B+

The Huskers racked up 31 points against a Tiger defense that had allowed only 13 points per game coming into this contest, so why the relatively low grade?

First, the offense was somewhat sporadic, going backwards most of the second quarter and the beginning of the third quarter after being unstoppable in the first quarter.  As Nebraska' starting quarterback, Martinez needs to develop a little bit of consistency and realize that he cannot do everything by himself.

Martinez actually looked better passing than running today, with over 100 yards in just the first half, including a very nice touchdown to a wide open (again!) Kyler Reed.  For some reason, No. 25 just knows how to sneak behind a secondary.

Helu, on the other hand, well, he looked pretty darn good running.  The coaches clearly went with the hot hand in this game, no disrespect to Burkhead.  In his limited action, Burkhead also played hard and got tough yards, as always.

But today was Helu's day.  He's become known for impressive performances in big games, and this was certainly the most impressive performance of his career in what was also the most important game of  his career.  His impressive combination of vision, speed, and agility was unparalleled on the day.

Zac Lee stepped in for an injured Martinez and performed admirably, running a fairly effective zone read game, managing the offense, and letting Roy do the rest.  Kudos to the senior quarterback, who really deserved to get some playing time.

The offensive line (with the exception of that pesky second quarter) dominated the day, and heralded defensive end Aldon Smith was largely kept in check.  Awesome day from the big boys.

The most important aspect of this game for the offense was the proof that it can, in fact, move the ball against a top defense.  What a day for the Husker offense.

Defense

Grade - A

Well, Crick and company finally decided to start dominating.  It was about time.

The defensive line played lights out, getting a fantastic amount of pressure on Missouri quarterback Blaine Gabbert for much of the day and sacking him six times.

Although Gabbert still had quite a few rushing yards, the type of defense Pelini installed for this game (which I'll get to in just a minute) often left running lanes open for the junior.  The Big 12 zebras also missed a few holding calls, among other things.  Big surprise, right?

The defining moment for this defense was a late third quarter goal line stand, which started at the one-yard line for Missouri and ended in a 23-yard field goal.  The big stop electrified the crowd and gave Nebraska a ton of defensive momentum, which was evident throughout the rest of the game.

Overall, the defensive line played great against a very good offensive line, getting penetration on a lot of plays and forcing Gabbert to scramble around helplessly, looking for open receivers, who were blanketed by a stifling secondary.

Speaking of the secondary, what a day it was for these guys.  Lockdown corner Prince Amukamara and do-it-all safety Dejon Gomes each had impressive performances.  Gomes picked off an early pass from Gabbert and had a couple crushing hits, while Amukamara almost had a pick six in the second half and broke up several passes. 

Like glue on paper, Amukamara stuck to his man play after play, and I don't remember seeing a single pass caught against him.

On the other side, an early head injury to stud corner Alfonzo Dennard forced freshman Ciante Evans to enter the game, who played incredibly well for such a young kid.  While the coaches wisely put Amukamara in most of the one-on-one situations, Evans had two impressive break-ups of long passes with absolutely no help over the top.  This kid looks special.

Evans wasn't the only back-up who got a lot of action.  Safeties Austin Cassidy and Courtney Osborne, who had barely played in the last six games, were on the field most of the game, and each played very well also.  This game gave me a lot of promise as to where the defense, especially the secondary, will be in 2011.

The Pelini brothers devised a genius defensive plan for this game, with constantly moving defensive linemen, defensive ends even dropping back into coverage at times, confusing Gabbert and the Missouri offensive line.  The secondary and linebackers were also constantly on the move, mirroring the Missouri receivers.  Stud linebacker Lavonte David even split out as a cornerback on a few plays.

The only thing I noticed about the scheme that I didn't like was the gaping space over the middle of the field, which Missouri exploited on a few plays with passes from Gabbert to receiver T.J. Moe for big chunks of yardage.  But at least for today, the advantages outweighed the shortcomings.

Special Teams

Grade - B+

The only reason this grade is not an A is because of a blocked field goal that would have made the score 34-17, and thus much more comfortable at the time.  All-world senior kicker Alex Henery's first miss of the season was not his fault, and he added a 41-yarder in the first quarter.  Henery also had a couple booming punts and pinned Missouri inside the 20 once or twice.

Another unsung hero of this game was kickoff specialist Adi Kunalic, who boomed kickoff after kickoff through the back of the end zone, preventing Missouri from any chance for a big return, which was crucial on a day where the Huskers were without their suspended special teams star Eric Martin.

Hey Beebe, I bet you didn't see that coming.

Conclusion

As I had written before, this was a huge statement game for the departing Huskers, and they certainly came through with a huge performance.  In knocking off the first top-10 opponent since 2001, the Huskers get to keep the Missouri-Nebraska Bell. 

Now, Nebraska holds the tie-breaker over the next best team in the North, and they control their own destiny.  If they can get through this last stretch of games without overlooking anybody, they have a clear shot at facing, presumably, the Oklahoma Sooners in the Big 12 Title. 

A couple weeks ago, I wrote that the next two games, at OSU and vs. Missouri, would define Nebraska's season.  The Huskers responded with two resounding wins.

Now, the question remains: can the Huskers handle success?  The first batch of that stuff this year resulted in an ugly home loss to Texas.  If Nebraska can win out, it's fairly safe to say they have arrived.

If not, they've still got a lot of work to do.

It starts next week at Iowa State, who is not as talented as Nebraska but has shown a knack for the upset, knocking off both Texas Tech and Texas this year.  The Cyclones turned 8 Husker turnovers into a two-point win in Lincoln last year.

You responded strongly to failure, Nebraska.  Now, how will you handle your second batch of success?

Food for Thought

For the second week in a row, the Texas Longhorns have dropped a game to a supposedly inferior conference opponent at home.  Who still thinks Nebraska didn't give them the game?

The Miami Hurricanes get knocked off by Virginia, giving the 'Canes, a preseason dark horse National Championship contender, their third loss of the season.  Group Miami and Texas together in the "underacheivers" category.

The Oklahoma State Cowboys rebounded this week with a win at Kansas State, but the 24-14 defensive battle highlighted the absence of star receiver Justin Blackmon, who screwed himself over with a DUI after the Nebraska game.  Kendall Hunter still impressed, pounding out 142 yards rushing.

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish dropped yet another close game this season, this time a 28-27 upset loss at the hands of Tulsa.  All this after one of their students was tragically killed in a freak accident during practice last week.  Poor Irish.

Michigan State finally got beat.  Just as I thought.  The Spartans were ripe for the picking.  Still, I'm a little surprised at how dominating was the fashion in which the Iowa Hawkeyes went about it, crushing State 37-6.  The Spartans must've been drained.

After seeing Auburn's and Oregon's shootout wins, if the two stay undefeated and meet in the BCS Championship, it could result in a record-setting score.  Personally, I think Auburn will get knocked off by Alabama next week.