[Husker] Couple of things heading into next week....

[Dick Karre]

Andy's post piqued my curiosity, so I did some digging on the relative 
red zone performance of NU and Mizzou.

NU has been in the red zone 24 times and has scored on 19 of those 
occasions (79%); Mizzou is 31 of 35 (89%). But that isn't the whole 
story: NU has scored 15 red zone TDs and kicked 4 FGs for a total of 117 
points (I counted every TD as 7 pts; I'm not obsessive enough to look 
for XP misses or double XPs), an average of 4.9 points per red zone 
visit. Mizzou has scored 20 TDs and kicked 11 FGs, for a total of 173 
points, an average of 4.9 points. So offensive red zone performance is, 
to my way of thinking, very comparable.

On the defensive side, the differential is striking and potentially as 
dire as Andy suggests. NU's opponents are 18-21 (11 TDs, 7 FGs). That's 
98 points, an average of 4.7 points per trip. Mizzou has been freakishly 
good: its opponents are 11-21 (7 TDs and 4 FGs). That's only 61 points, 
an average of 2.9 points per trip.

Now the good news: NU has scored 15 TDs (and 4 FGs) in the red zone, but 
another 20 TDs (and 5 FGs) have come from outside the red zone. By 
comparison, only 9 of Mizzou's 29 TDs (and 2 FGs) have come from outside 
the red zone.

-- 
Dick Karre
dkarre at comcast.net