More photos » by Dave Weaver - AP

An Iowa State coach thanks Zac Lee for his gifts.

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Whatever consternation Texas fans have for Nebraska's defense, you can take that and multiply it by... well, zero, and apply it to Nebraska's offense.  Perhaps that is a bit over the top, but it's no secret that Nebraska's success this year has been mostly due to their solid D.  Even with the hiccup against Texas A&M, the burnt orange faithful is confident that the Horns will eat up Nebraska's paltry attempts to score.

Is this confidence valid?  As I did for the defense, I'll list some of the offense's generic stats:

Scoring offense (72nd):  25.6 ppg
Rushing offense (67th):  1769 total yards, 4.12 ypc, 18 TD
Passing offense (93rd):  59.9 comp%, 2248 total yards, 7 ypa, 15 TD, 9 Int
Total offense (93rd):  334.8 yards per game, 5.4 yards per play

I'm not a big stats guy, but the difference between their defensive statistics and their offensive statistics is rather obvious.  Nebraska has a legit top 20 defense, and Husker fans would argue top 10 or top 5.  You can make the case that their offense isn't even in the top half of college football.

As for their special teams, here are the numbers:

Punt returns (37th):  10.95 average, 2 TD
Kickoff returns (38th):  23.00 average
Punting (38th):  41.98 yards per punt, 5.5 average return
Kicking (1st):  68.32 yards per kick, 26 touchbacks, 19.78 yards per return (23rd)
Field goals (32nd):  16/20

I'll primarily talk about their offense and finish up with a brief discussion of their special teams.

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It's been difficult to find time to watch film on Nebraska, but I've watched a little, particularly the Oklahoma game, to get a better idea of the team we're facing in just two days.  Since nobody is concerned about their offense, it is prudent to start with their defense and see where they can cause us problems.

Here are some of NU's general defensive stats, via cfbstats.com:

Rushing defense (14th):  1213 yards, 2.98 ypc, 6 TD
Passing defense (25th):  2274, 5.4 ypa, 7 TD
Scoring defense (3rd):  11.1 ppg
Total defense (11th):  290.6 yards per game, 4.2 yards per play
Sacks (12th):  33 total, 2.75 per game
TFL:  (38th):  74
Int:  (13th):  16

Stats like these don't tell everything and can even be deceiving, but a quick look at this list shows at the very least, Nebraska has a competent defense, certainly more so than most of the teams we have faced so far.  I don't think this unit is quite as good as OU's squad overall (nor ours), but they are definitely in the top 3.

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More photos » by Dave Weaver - AP

I think we may have to see this guy sometime soon.

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With a Nebraska win and a Colorado loss, the North race cleared up instantly and is now exclusively down to Kansas State and Nebraska.  The other four teams cannot reach five conference wins any longer, and with the Wildcats and Cornhuskers set to play one another, one of them will end up with at least five themselves.  End of drama.  Too bad; I was cheering for Nebraska to lose too just for the sake of North chaos.

Kansas State received a bit of a whipping from Mizzou, but Colorado's loss made that largely meaningless, while Nebraska's win gave them a half-game lead over K-State.  Meaning:  The division will be decided by the game in Lincoln this Saturday, and it will be a good idea to keep an eye on this while you're watching the Horns pummel the free-falling Jayhawks.  Both teams can still win the division outright if Nebraska either wins out or loses out, but the head-to-head tiebreaker pretty much makes Nebraska's last game irrelevant.

It is an interesting matchup between two run-first, defensively-minded teams.  Neither team can pass the ball well and rely heavily on running the ball, and neither offense is particularly good.  K-State has a weak pass defense but it remains to be seen if Zac Lee can do anything about that.  Watching the Husker offense can be very painful, but I like them this game because of their superior defense, which will surely challenge K-State's one-dimensional and very unimpressive offense (an offense that failed to score a touchdown on Missouri last Saturday).  Expect field goals, turnovers, punting, and heavy doses of Daniel Thomas and Roy Helu Jr.  I wouldn't expect long touchdown drives; if either team is going to score touchdowns, I'd predict big plays from special teams or turnovers setting those scores up.

See you in Dallas, Nebraska.  At least, so I think.

More photos » by Jeff Roberson - AP

The Big 12 North is messy.

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With the team's major hurdles out of the way and a clear path to the Big 12 championship game, it is time to start thinking about who our North division opponent will be.  Call it "looking ahead" if you will; I'll just call it confidence.

Unfortunately, it is not a particularly easy task right now trying to figure out the North.  Whether you think the North is better than people give them credit for or just really, really bad, there isn't a lot separating each team; no team has been completely eliminated yet.  Here are the current standings for the Big 12 North:

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More photos » by Sue Ogrocki - AP

"We need to score one more to get this margin under 30! Wait, does it matter?"

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What do I do when I'm bored?  Other than play Street Fighter II on my Super Nintendo emulator (your nerd jokes can't hurt me, I'm proud of it), I think about the Horns, the BCS, and football in general.  I read what I can, write a few things, and even re-watch games, much to the detriment of my fall studies.  Because I retain the status as a contributing author, I will subject the community to more of my thoughts before PB pulls the plug on my ramblings.

Speaking of Street Fighter II, I must say that it is pretty satisfying to whip the opponent without getting touched to earn a "Perfect" from the announcer (or a "flawless victory" from you Mortal Kombat losers).  "Perfect" means you totally destroyed the other fighter, and your reward is a mountain of bonus points.  In fact, the more health you have and the more time you have left when you win a round, the more total points you get.  Thus, if a player were to go undefeated in all 12 matches and win quickly and impressively, he can expect to be high in the score rankings, as opposed to some lucky bozo who had to go to Round 3 in every match and squeak by while getting bloodied up.  It doesn't matter if Player 2 was undefeated too; Player 1 won with dominance, and therefore, he has a better score and is the better Street Fighter player.  Sounds perfectly logical, right?

In yo face, Guile.

But wait, says Player 2.  He played on Hard difficulty, while Player 1 played on Medium.  The fact that Player 1 dominated Medium difficulty is much less impressive than him navigating Hard difficulty without a loss.  As they argue, a third player enters and says triumphantly that while he lost one close match, the fact that he played on Hardest difficulty and finished the game means he's the superior player.  Player 2 balks at this and says that there is no material difference between Hard and Hardest, while Player 1 shouts that it doesn't matter what difficulty he played on:  He lost!  The three players bicker endlessly before bedtime, at which time they quietly wonder why they don't have girlfriends.

Where am I going with this?  Well, I'm sure I don't need to tell you that this hypothetical nerd debate sounds frighteningly similar to common BCS arguments that rage among fans and pundits.  Arguably, no other topic is as controversial as the dreaded phrase "style points," an ambiguous term that is related to strength of schedule, margin of victory, offensive statistics, and almost anything else fans want to include.  College football fans will generally agree that teams need to play well against both good and bad competition to warrant consideration among the nation's best, but they disagree mightily on what constitutes "playing well."  The addition of "objective" computers really hasn't helped ease these debates, and they've arguably made them worse.

Among the many factors people consider, I want to focus on the issue of margin of victory (although that naturally is tied to strength of schedule), a controversial metric used to attempt to separate teams high in the rankings of the BCS.  I'll discuss the utility of margin of victory (henceforth MoV), its flaws, and then I'll propose some tentative, general ideas on how it can possibly be added back into the computers in reasonable way.  This is just a thought exercise, as I do not expect any such changes to the BCS, but it is something fun to think about.

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When watching NFL Live yesterday, Trey Wingo was going through the highlights and was complimentary towards Vince.  Merrill Hoge, the idiot clown that he is, clearly was displeased that the Titans won with VY starting, sarcastically noting that the reason the Titans ran so much, and so well, was because Vince was in (implying that the Titans didn't trust him to throw).  It is also worth mentioning that when Wingo noted that even Hoge would have to compliment Vince's touchdown throw, Hoge remained silent, while Dilfer agreed that it was a great throw.

This post, however, is not about Hoge per se, whom we all know is a moron regardless of how you feel about VY.  This post is about the running game and some people's, including Hoge, inability to see the positive impact Vince Young has had, and can potentially have, for Tennessee's ground attack.

Vince Young critics commonly disparage his winning record by pointing out that the Titans are a run-first team with a very unimaginative offensive philosophy (for good or for ill).  In other words, Young is "hidden" from the gameplan because he is a liability and the Titans avoid using him by simply running the ball, and running it again.  What they fail to see is that Vince Young's very presence has a positive effect on the run game, and if used more effectively by Fisher, can be even more so.

This attitude can be seen in many people's reaction to the Titans' win over the Jags.  Even those in the national media were trying to minimize Vince Young's effect on the game because Tennessee ran for over 300 yards; basically, any quarterback can win a game when their team rushes for 300 yards, right?  What this fails to notice is that Vince Young was one of the reasons why the running game was successful on Sunday.  Consider Chris Johnson's two long touchdown runs:

1.  On third and 6, Young sidesteps the pressure and finds Kenny Britt for a big third down completion.  Shortly after, Chris Johnson runs for a 54 yard touchdown.  With another quarterback, like Collins, this is a sack and that run never happens.

2.  As noted by me on the live game thread and Superhorn's post, Johnson's 89 yard touchdown run was influenced by Young's presence as a runner, causing several Jacksonville defenders to pause for a split second.  While Johnson obviously deserves the majority of the credit for this play, there's nothing controversial about pointing out that the defenders' hesitation aided his cause.

With Collins in, that 54 yard touchdown doesn't happen and the 89 yarder might have just gone for the first down, and who knows what would have happened then.  That's 143 yards rushing and two touchdowns that Young's mobility helped produce.  It is way, way too simplistic to look at the box score stats and think, "Well, Chris Johnson exploded for 228 yards, so even Collins would have won that game too."

Back in 2006, when his critics said the same things, they failed to realize that the Titans' average rushing output more than doubled when Vince Young took over the starting job.  While the college game is different, all of Texas' runningbacks enjoyed a healthy boost in their YPC when they were playing with Vince, and it's not like Travis Henry did anything after leaving Tennessee (granted, a lot of that had to do with his off-field stupidity).

I don't think Vince Young will ever be a QB like Manning and throw for bunches of yards and touchdowns.  He will still make his mistakes, and I actually expect somewhere around the neighborhood of ten interceptions on his part before season's end.  However, Fisher would do well to expand his thinking and take full advantage of what Vince can open up in the run game.  I often call Fisher the Jim Tressel of the NFL; a successful coach who unfortunately has an outdated offensive philosophy (I encourage you to read Chris Brown's evisceration of Jim Tressel's poor use of Terrelle Pryor against USC).  If he's willing to take more advantage of Vince's mobility, such as using the read option and getting Vince outside on boots, Young can make that Tennessee rushing attack even more dangerous.

And what does a better rushing attack give you?  Well, it can also help make your defense look better; that was one of the few things Hoge said right on Sunday when talking about the New York Giants, saying that they needed to get back on track with Jacobs and the run game to help out their defense.

I've discussed the NFL's false sense of "pure football" and their close-mindedness regarding different offenses before, which is another topic altogether.  Even given that, Fisher would be foolish to avoid the read option as a viable play in certain circumstances.

The Titans are not finishing better than 6-10 in my estimation (sorry), but if there's a silver lining, it's the opportunity to create a coherent offense that accentuates VY's influence on the run game.

More photos » by Sue Ogrocki - AP

"Good luck trying to beat me next year, too."

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Not much to say here, is there?  We avoided the early hole and ended the game in the first half.  The defense more than doubled Zac Robinson's interception total, even if Chykie probably should have knocked his INT down, Jordan Shipley easily won the battle with Perrish Cox, and Colt McCoy was efficient and effective.  The fact that we throttled the best offense we'll probably see until the bowl season was quite encouraging.

The Pokes still have an mathematical shot at the Big 12 South title, but I doubt they are seriously considering that possibility.  The Houston loss is now very costly; a one-loss Okie State would have been a good candidate for a BCS at-large berth, but even if they win out (and I'm inclined to think they'll lose to Oklahoma anyway), it is unlikely they're getting a BCS selection.  Next year, they can say goodbye to some key players and it's back to obscurity.

For those curious about their losses next year, here's a list of key players moving on:

Offense:

LT - Russell Okung
WR - Dez Bryant (already gone)
QB - Zac Robinson
RT - Brady Bond
C - Andrew Lewis
LG - Noah Franklin
RB - Beau Johnson
RB - Keith Toston

Defense:

CB - Perrish Cox
S - Lucien Antoine
LB - Donald Booker
LB - Patrick Lavine
LB - Andre Sexton
DT - Derek Burton
DT - Swanson Miller
DE - Jeremiah Price
CB - Terrance Anderson

Contributing returners

Offense:

RB - Kendall Hunter
WR - Hubert Anyiam
WR - Dameron Fooks
WR - Josh Cooper
TE - Wilson Youman
RG - Lane Taylor

Honorable mention:  RB Jeremy Smith

Defense:

DE - Ugo Chinasa
DE - Richetti Jones
DT - Shane Jarka
LB - Orie Lemon (injured this year)
S - Victor Johnson
S - Markelle Martin

And.... that's about it

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More photos » by Sue Ogrocki - AP

Zac Robinson will be the most dangerous QB we've faced this year.

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When I was keeping up with the Texas Tech-Texas A&M game through ESPN Gamecast, I could not believe what I was seeing.  It was very similar to the feeling when I was watching UTEP run over the Houston Cougars.  It made little sense, and I was mixed between shock and laughter.  But before I laughed too hard, my memory hearkened back to the end of the disappointing 2007 season, when we watched our defense get gashed for over 200 yards through the air in the first half and nearly 400 in the game by... Stephen McGee.  Stephen.  Freaking.  McGee.  Thinking back on my years as a fan, that may have been the most furious I've been at the defense.  Ever.  I was throwing things at the TV, yelling throughout the house, and thinking dark thoughts about what I'd do if I saw Akina or MacDuff (remember that guy?).  I'm not a guy who likes to jump on the "Fire Coach ____" bandwagon, but that game was the final straw in a slew of poor performances, and after that I wanted Akina demoted and MacDuff gone.  Please.  Anyone else but them.  Mack Brown thought so too, and in comes Will Muschamp.  And boy, this has turned out to be one of the best moves in Mack Brown's tenure.

Muschamp isn't perfect and not above criticism, but the guy has delivered, and fans can already see the change in attitude and demeanor the defense has undergone in two seasons.  Now is his chance to deliver again when we face probably the most balanced offense we'll see this year.  Heck, that might extend to the bowl season as well, because it's not like other top teams have been lighting up the scoreboard.

The big story going into the game is the status of both Dez Bryant and Kendall Hunter.  Bryant, as you all know, will not play this game or for the rest of the season.  Hunter is expected to return but in a limited capacity.  These are no small losses for OSU, but at the least they were lost early in the season and OSU has had time to adjust.  Even so, the Pokes will present the stiffest challenge to our defense to date, and I'll list why:

1. Offensive Line:  This is not a dominating unit and they've had their problems in the interior with their new guards, but it will be the strongest line we've seen.  They returned three starters with significant experience including left tackle Russell Okung, who will present an interesting matchup against our ends.  Behind them, the running game has moved relatively smoothly along and Zac Robinson has only be sacked four times.
2. Running back depth:  I'm not discounting the loss of Hunter, but Keith Toston and Beau Johnson have shown to be capable runners in his place.  They are not as talented as the duo from Oklahoma, but their line is better and they are very capable of picking up chunks of yards when given the chance.
3. Zac Robinson:  This year in the Big 12, we've faced Cody Hawkins (yawn), Taylor Potts (first year starter and who is done at Tech), a not-quite ready Sam Bradford for a handful of plays, Landry Jones (RS freshman), and a gimpy Blaine Gabbert (also first year starter).  Clearly, Robinson will be the most dangerous QB this defense has faced all year, a three year starter with decent mobility, an underrated arm, and some scrappiness.  Robinson is quietly leading the Big 12 in passing efficiency.

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After our game against Missouri on Saturday, I've been vacillating between "Oklahoma State is much better than the national media is giving them credit for" and "Oklahoma State is just a good team that has no impressive wins over anyone of note."  What is it?  After going through their games against Texas A&M, Missouri, and Baylor the last few weeks, I'm still not entirely sure.  The Aggies got waxed by K-State of all teams and then turned around and ran over Texas Tech in Lubbock.  Gabbert's bum ankle sabotaged Mizzou.  The Baylor game was just boring because, well, the Bears aren't any good, and it was difficult to get much out of that.  Before that, the Pokes beat a Georgia team that turned out to be very flawed and dropped to a Houston team that shockingly got whipped by UTEP.   The toughest stretch of OSU's season begins this Saturday, while ours will end.

It is worth noting that if not for an incredibly lucky tipped ball for a Houston touchdown, Oklahoma State is undefeated and somewhere in the Top Ten mess between #4 and #10.  If I had to take a wild guess, they would be behind the Hawkeyes at #5 in the BCS, and the hype for this game would be multiplied tenfold.  Of course, that would not be entirely fair to Houston, who shredded Okie State's defense and made the plays to win.  Again, what are they?  Top ten team disguised in Grandma's clothes or superficially scary team?

This...

...or this?

Either way, the OSU game is a big one for Texas, but it is an interesting question nonetheless.  With that in mind, I want to discuss what we can expect to see this weekend, and I'll start with their defense.  I'll focus primarily on the Missouri game, a big night game for the Pokes and arguably against the best offense they've seen this year except Houston's.

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More photos » by Sue Ogrocki - AP

"I'm a man. I'm 125."

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Now that OU's season is currently in the dumps, it is high time for their neighbors in Stillwater to finally get some attention.  I thought Oklahoma State would start receiving some talk after starting conference play, but not even a night game against Missouri accomplished that.  Nonetheless, the Pokes have just one loss and currently stand at #15 in the BCS rankings, ahead of the team that beat them (Houston) but behind two-loss Virginia Tech.  Shrug.  I guess Houston can't complain since they got spanked by UTEP of all teams.

The Pokes started conference play with a relatively sloppy win over Texas A&M and a solid dismantling of Missouri last Saturday night.  For both contests, they were without Kendall Hunter and, of course, Dez Bryant, who has yet to hear anything back from the NCAA.  I'll summarize the games below.

Against Texas A&M:  Bullets

Some may argue that this game is meaningless because the Aggies deserve consideration with the likes of Rice after that incredible flop against K-State.  Perhaps so.  To be fair, though, as much as I dislike the Ags, I'd categorize that as more of a meltdown than an actual display of their abilities; not even A&M is that bad.  A&M actually kept this game fairly close throughout, trading scores with the Pokes until OSU finally pulled ahead by 11.  The Aggies scored again to cut the deficit to five but never got the ball back.

Bullets, because I'm lazy:

• Keith Toston had a strong day, gaining 130 yards on 26 carries.  However, Okie State as a whole only averaged 3.5 yards per carry during the game, although Johnson did score twice. 
• The Pokes continue to be heavily penalized, being flagged 11 times against A&M for a whopping 118 yards.  They are averaging an NCAA worst 9.8 penalties per game.
• Zac Robinson didn't have mind-blowing stats but he was efficient, throwing two scores and no interceptions.
• Okie State was able to create some big plays without Dez Bryant.  Robinson had passes for 51, 40, 32, and 27 yards and averaged almost 20 yards per completion.
• Oklahoma State generated four sacks while not allowing Robinson to get dropped for one.
• Jerrod Johnson was only 22-42 but had three touchdown passes, while Nunchuku... I mean Nwachukwu had 8 receptions for 142 yards.

This was a game Okie State arguably should have won more by; penalties and defensive mistakes kept the Aggies in the game.  The Pokes did a good job applying pressure to Johnson and largely won the battle at the line on both sides of the ball.  Offensively, it was encouraging for Pokes fans to see multiple 25+ yard completions in the absence of Bryant, although A&M's defense isn't exactly very good.  Defensively, they often did a poor job containing Johnson and he was able to create some big plays in the passing game.  However, A&M did not have much success running the ball, and after Okie State went up by two scores there wasn't really any doubt they'd win the game.

Mizzou after the jump...

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