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| Roy Helu Jr. rushed for a school record 307 yards in Nebraska's 31-17 defeat of the Missouri Tigers |
The Tigers were coming off an emotional victory at home against the then number one Oklahoma Sooners and a win against Nebraska would've cemented Missouri as a legitimate BCS contender.
Unfortunately, the Tigers laid an egg and got drummed by Nebraska 31-17 in Lincoln, Nebraska.
"No one likes to lose," Missouri coach Gary Pinkel said. "We've got to coach better. We lost all of our timeouts in the third quarter. Shoot, are you kidding me? That starts with me. It's our first loss of the year. It's very difficult for all of us. We're battlers and competitors. We'll get up tomorrow, lessons learned, and move on."
Not only was the coaching bad for the Tigers, but the defense was atrocious, specifically the run defense. Nebraska's Roy Helu Jr. rushed the ball 28 times for 307 yards, including touchdown runs of 66, 73, and 53 yards, setting a Nebraska single game rushing record.
The Tigers were unable to limit the big play and thus lost control of not only their BCS and Big 12 title hopes
Good teams limit their exposure to the big play. They also punch the ball in from 1st and goal on the 1 yard line, which the Tigers were unable to do in the 4th quarter, halting a comeback attempt.
Missouri deserved to lose this game. Gary Pinkel and the Tigers should re-evaluate their status, as this loss to Nebraska was truly embarrassing. Maybe learn a couple of things from this experience.
For example, Nebraska spent much of the day with three defensive lineman and 5 or 6 defensive back in the game. Where was the running attack that we saw against Oklahoma, when the Tigers rushed the ball 39 times for 178 yards. Against the Cornhuskers, Missouri only handed the ball off to running backs 12 times.
The loss puts the Tigers at 7-1 and ranked 14th in the AP poll. Nebraska is also 7-1 and is ranked 9th headed into next week.
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