Football focuses on big game

By Mike Bushnell

Published Oct. 5, 2007

For the first time since 1976, No. 17 Missouri will face the No. 25 Nebraska Cornhuskers as the higher-ranked team. Even though the Tigers beat Nebraska at home the last two meetings, some players who were around for the 2005 victory said there's a different attitude going into the game as a seven-point favorite.

"It's a big change for us from two years ago," senior wide receiver Will Franklin said. "This is a chance to prove we're a good team."

Coach Gary Pinkel said the rankings don't matter to him.

"I don't look at the rankings anyway," he said. "We have two good football teams. That's all I know."

For senior cornerback Darnell Terrell, the key will be to play like they have nothing to lose.

"We have to play like the underdog," he said. "If we get cocky, it'll be hard for us."

Senior defensive lineman Lorenzo Williams said the team has to stick with the strategies that got it where it is.

"We can't look at it as, 'We have to win, we're the favorite,' although we do need to win," he said.

But other players said they're not trying to get a big head and instead stay aware that it has been a long time since the Tigers were predicted to win a big game on national television.

Senior tight end Martin Rucker said the team's players can't psych themselves out and get too excited.

"We can't get too hyped," he said. "It's only one game. We have to win them all."

This game will also mark the first match-up since 1998 that both teams are ranked. The Tigers lost the 1998 game 20-13 in Lincoln, Neb.

Because of the 1998 loss, Saturday's game has garnered national attention, but junior quarterback Chase Daniel said Missouri was squarely focused on the game.

"It's a lot of outside influences making it a huge game," he said. "We don't look at it that way."

But with the game on national television in prime time, Franklin said there is pressure on the Tigers to make the university proud.

"There's going to be a lot of people who normally don't watch Mizzou games that will be watching this one," he said. "I feel pressure. We want to show what Mizzou football is all about and make the school look good."

Despite Missouri's long history of losing to the Huskers - the team won only 34 of the 100 contests all time - some players said it's the most recent two wins at home that's important.

"We've had luck with them the last two times, and we do use that as a way to say, 'let's do it again,'" Rucker said.