[Husker] Interesting Stats before Saturday

[Scott R Lawson]

I have compiled some Callahan-era stats going into the Missouri game, which I feel is the most important game to date in the Callahan era, for several reasons,  the most obvious being if NU wins this game they will be in the driver's seat for the North title. (I hope these are accurate, I spent the last hour looking them up!)
 
Under Callahan, Nebraska has an overall record of 19-13. This includes...
 
13-5 in Lincoln
2-4 in the month of November
6-5 after a loss (7-5 if you count the first game of 2005, a win over Maine but in a different season than the two losses)
0-2 after two losses in a row
1-1 against Missouri
1-1 in Lincoln during the month of November
8-5 against teams in the Big 12 North
6-1 against teams in the Big 12 North in Lincoln
17-9 against teams unranked at the time of the game
12-3 against unranked teams in Lincoln
 
What does this all mean? I have absolutely no idea, but a couple of things stick out after looking at this to me. The 0-2 after 2 losses in a row does not bode well this week obviously, nor does the 2-4 record in th emonth of November. However, I am encouraged by the 6-1 record against teams in the North at home, as well as the 12-3 record against unranked teams at home (although most of the so called "patsies" NU has played were home games). Oddly, the last two losses to Missouri (both in Columbia) were by identical 41-24 margins.
 
It appears Nebraska displays some 'Jekyll & Hyde' characteristics under Callahan- that is, at home they play much better than on the road, which I suppose is common in the college game, but even more encouraging is how well they have played at home against the North division, with the only loss to Colorado in Callahan's first season, 26-20. Of course, the numbers away from Lincoln can be downright 'spooky' (pun intended today on Halloween) but thankfully this game is at home.
 
I'd like to say this game will be won by the team that makes the fewest mistakes, but that is an old tired cliche that is WAY overused. However, I feel this week it will matter, as Missouri is probably the third best team Nebraska will face (or hs faced) this season. We have seen the kicking game affect college games many times this year, including in Husker games (Congdon, despite the hype, is not where he needs to be yet) so I am hoping it does not come down to a special teams battle or a field position battle, especially with NU's short kickoffs- someone mentioned on the list earlier this week that perhaps NU coaches deliberately have Congdon land kickoffs on the 10 at an angle to dictate the return, but I am highly skeptical of that assumption. At any rate, Nebraska will need to score big points this week, and not rely on field goals, which seems to be a thorn in the side of this type of offense- red zone scoring is much more difficult with the style of offense Nebraska now runs because the short field does not allow the offense to spread the field as effectively.
 
All in all, I obviously WANT the Huskers to win, but I think this will be as difficult a game as Callahan has seen yet at NU, and the home crowd will really have to try and help the cause- if Missouri's offense has trouble with the crowd noise, Nebraska's chances will go way up, probably as much as a touchdown.
 
My prediction, based largely on the numbers above and the fact that I know next to nothing about Missouri this season, would have to be something like 27-20 in favor of the Huskers, based on the home field advantage. If this game were in Columbia, I feel the Huskers would get routed (but not Texas Tech style).
 
GBR,
 
Scott in NY