Colorado @ Nebraska preview
Memorial Stadium
Last Meeting ( Nov 27, 2009 ) Nebraska 28, Colorado 20
Two rivals face off in their final Big 12 Conference game when Nebraska hosts Colorado on Friday at Memorial Stadium.
The Cornhuskers will join the Big Ten next year while the Buffs head to the Pac-10. But this game is more than the end of a conference rivalry. Both teams’ seasons hinge on the outcome.
Nebraska (9-2, 5-2 Big 12) suffered only its second loss of the season last week at Texas A&M 9-6. The game was train wreck for Nebraska, which lost starting quarterback Taylor Martinez in the first half when he re-injured his sprained right ankle. Martinez would return but was largely ineffective.
Meanwhile, Nebraska killed itself through sloppy play and penalties. The Huskers were called for 14 more penalties than the Aggies - an eye-popping disparity that had coach Bo Pelini losing his mind at points of the game.
For the Buffaloes, losing their minds would have been a welcome change to the type of losing they were doing a few short weeks ago. They had lost five of six conference games and their coach, Dan Hawkins, who was fired following a loss to Kansas. Things started to turn around since.
After interim coach and longtime assistant Brian Cabral took over, the Buffaloes (5-6, 2-5) rolled off two straight wins.
Suddenly, quarterback Cody Hawkins started playing mistake-free football. The former coach’s son has thrown six touchdowns and no interceptions since his dad left the team.
Multi-dimensional running back Rodney Stewart has also started to shine. The junior piled up nearly 250 total yards of offense against Kansas State last week. He even threw a 23-yard touchdown pass against the Wildcats.
But that was Kansas State. This is Nebraska. And for all their offensive woes, the Blackshirts are playing their best football of the season.
The Huskers held a resurgent Texas A&M offense to six points. That’s after the Aggies had hung 33 on Oklahoma and 42 on Baylor in the previous two weeks. And that’s despite an offense that kept giving the ball back to Texas A&M and a rash of penalties that kept extending drives.
Pelini has already apologized for his behavior last week. Aside from the referees, he was caught on camera dressing down Martinez on national television. But no amount of screaming is going to make Martinez healthy or keep Nebraska from getting penalized 16 times.
The winner on Friday will have plenty to celebrate. A win by the Huskers nudges them ahead of Missouri as Big 12 North champion. If Colorado comes out on top, it would return head as a bowl-eligible team.