[Husker] Saturday's matchup

[Skylar Dodds]

Hello Husker Fans,

  OK,  We've got to figure this out.  Who's going to win Saturday...

  NU's offense is clearly better than OUs.  OU averages just 5 yards
  more rushing per game, but come up almost 70 yards short passing per
  game.  NU is in the Top 20 nation wide in all 5 major offensive
  categories while OU is only in the Top 20 in rushing.

  On defense, OU ranks in the top 20 in every category except Pass
  defense (they're 27th) and is the top 1 or 2 in the Big XII in each
  of those categories.   NU is not in the top 20 in any of those, but
  comes in at a decent 30th in scoring defense (vs OU 18th).

  NU holds the turnover margin at +.33 vs OU's -.33.  NU is clearly
  better in the red zone with a stunning 96% scoring in Big XII play
  (23 of 24 with the only miss coming last week on BJax's fumble and
  20 touchdowns.  WOW!)

  Not sure how it's calculated, but NU has played the tougher
  schedule (39th nationally vs OU's 68th nationally) per the NCAA.

  So it's offense vs defense.  NU's balanced attack vs OU's power
  attack.

  Pro OU: NU has struggled this year against a good defensive line to
  really get the running game going.  Taylor was sacked 9 times last
  year vs OU (although these are 2 totally different teams).

  Pro NU: NU has played very well in adverse weather this year.  A
  couple preseason game blowouts and a snowy game vs UT.  NU's much
  maligned passing defense has not been great, but they are fairly
  good in pass efficiency (37th / 4th Big XII) meaning they give up a
  lot of yardage but not a high percentage.  Also NU's scoring D is
  pretty good, further supporting Cos's "bend-don't-break" philosophy.

  Result:  If NU can get OU to turn the ball over (OU ranks DEAD LAST
  in the NCAA for fumbles lost at 21 vs NU with 14) and play smart
  overall, I think they will win.

  NU 28 - OU 23

  OU moves the ball well, but fails to get in the endzone much (2 TDs
  and 3 FGs). Taylor throws 3 TDs, BJax runs for 105 on 28 carries
  with a TD and Marlon Lucky catches a screen pass for a TD later in
  the game.

  Do we even need to play the game now?

-- 
Go Skers,
 Skylar                            mailto:Sklarbodds at cox.net