Texas - preview Oklahoma State

Post view: TEX—preview OSU

Don’t know about you but I’m still not quite over the Texas game. So much was right there on Terrance Nunn’s fingertips. If he holds onto the football, the Huskers win, the town goes goofy, recruits commit, donors write checks, national pundits change their tune, the BCS is in the headlights, yadda, yadda, yadda. But no. Didn’t happen. It was a bummer deluxo.

Let me amend that. Didn’t happen this time. It will happen. Maybe sooner than everybody thinks.

In the big picture of rebuilding Husker football back to the future, things look just fine. The Huskers did not play their best game, but took the heavyweight champ into the 15th round. Texas is very, very good. It takes a very, very, very good team and effort to beat them. Nebraska didn’t play it’s best but gave a Rocky Balboa-type effort. The Huskers showed great pride, resiliency, talent, creativity and confidence all day long. When things looked bleakest (until the last 2 minutes), the Huskers were at their best. That should not go away. That should be part of the DNA strain for good around here. To have the game in the hands of any Husker player (Nunn or otherwise) is a good thing. To have it against Texas means you can beat anybody anywhere. Maybe Texas the first Saturday in December in KC?

But to get there, the Huskers will have pack that intangible quality up and take it with them this week to Stillwater, Oklahoma. The Cowboys are an oddity. Great offense. Excellent Athletes. Shaky defense. Shaky confidence. They are down at KU by 17 but rally to spank the Jayhawks. They lose their starting QB Bobby Reid to a first period injury at home to Texas A/M get a sterling performance out of back up Zac Robinson but botch two extra points and lose.

Offensively, the Cowboys are pretty good. Reid is the top rated passer in the league (his health is a question mark—collar bone hit) and WR Adarius Bauman is as good as anybody the Huskers have seen this year. But on Defense, the Cowboys shoot blanks (at least have). So Taylor and company should move the ball by land and by air with relative ease.

The close call vs. Texas can do two things for the Huskers: Inspire similar performances which will deliver the Big Red the North division title; or discourage the troops and distract them such that they are ripe for late autumn swoon. I’m going with the former.

GBR