By Wendell Barnhouse | wendell@big12sports.com
Big 12 Sports.com Correspondent
COLUMBIA, Mo. - Here's the question: Is Nebraska back?
The answer: Ask Missouri.
The 22nd Cornhuskers have been answering the "back" question ever since a promising 2008 season. They didn't provide compelling evidence to answer the big picture question but for one rainy night, Nebraska staged a championship-worthy comeback.
The Huskers (4-1, 1-0) exploded for 27 points and matched the biggest fourth-quarter comeback in school history to stun the 18th-ranked Tigers, 27-12, Thursday night. The victory in the Big 12 Conference opener for both teams gives Nebraska a tiebreaker edge over No. 18 Mizzou (4-1, 0-1) in what figures to be a tight North Division race.
"It's a great start to the Big 12 race and it means a little more because it's the Big 12 North," Nebraska defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh said. "It's not exactly the way we wanted to win it but we did."
Nebraska is a point and a pass (the only touchdown pass allowed by the Huskers this season) from being ranked in the top 10. The Black Shirts might still be in storage but the Huskers held the Missouri offense to 10 points (two came on a safety) and 225 total yards.
But any "Nebraska's back" talk is falling on deaf ears if the listener is coach Bo Pelini.
"I don't get into all that," he said. "This game is just part of the process, part of where we are. It's on to the next game."
Suh, who plays like a force of nature, made a huge interception on a night when the elements were a factor. And junior quarterback Zac Lee overcame a shaky start to throw three touchdown passes in a 3:22 span in the fourth quarter. After totaling just 154 yards in total offense through three quarters, Nebraska had 154 in the final 15 minutes.
Trailing 9-0 at halftime, Pelini's message was clear: "We will not walk out of here without a win. We never let the game get away from us and we gave ourselves an opportunity to make a couple of plays."
That opportunity presented itself in the fourth quarter. In the span of 10 plays, Nebraska scored three touchdowns and forced two turnovers.
"This shows we're a bunch of competitors," said Lee, who finished 14-of-33 for 158 yards. "We're gonna compete to the very, very end. To come in here, in this situation, and pull out a win says a lot about our character. It was an ugly win but it's a win."
Ugly started to turn beautiful for Nebraska on a third-and-eight play early in the fourth quarter. Lee found Niles Paul open on a deep post for a 56-yard touchdown that pulled the Huskers to within 12-7 ... but made them feel like they had taken the lead.
"We caught 'em in a good coverage," Lee said. "The safety came up on the short hook route and we got the post deep over the top. It worked out pretty well. That play really sparked us and got us in a rhythm."
On Missouri's next offensive play, Suh stayed at the line of scrimmage and intercepted Blaine Gabbert's pass at the Tigers' 18. That set up Lee's pass to Paul for a touchdown and a 13-12 lead (a two-point attempt failed).
Three Mizzou plays later and Gabbert was picked again; after 164 passes without an interception, the sophomore had two on consecutive attempts. The Huskers capitalized when Lee stood in a collapsing pocket and somehow floated a pass to tight end Mike McNeill who scored to make it 20-12. In 3:22 Nebraska went from trailing by 12 to leading by eight.
Game-winning and/or game-turning plays can come any time but rarely do you see so many occur in such a short period of time. You might call it a deluge. That's the best way to describe the game conditions. A crowd of 65,826 - mostly dressed in yellow ponchos - proved the axiom that once you're soaking wet, you can't get any wetter.
The rain put a damper on what was expected to be an offensive display. Neither team could get a grip - literally and figuratively. There were seven fumbles and the moisture seemed to seep into both teams' helmets - they combined for 20 penalties.
Missouri will lament the fact that as Nebraska's offense sputtered for three quarters it wasn't able to seal the deal.
"There were a lot of opportunities the first three quarters," Missouri coach Gary Pinkel said. "If we had done a better job of executing on both sides of the ball, it might not have gotten like that in the fourth. This is a tough loss."
An offensive pass interference penalty derailed the Tigers' first possession and they committed holding penalties on two other first quarter possessions.
The Tigers' only touchdown required overcoming a penalty. After Carl Gettis returned a punt 27 yards to the Nebraska 29, a personal foul moved Missouri back to the 44. A 38-yard completion from Gabbert to Jared Perry gave Missouri first and goal from the six but the Tigers need a gutsy fourth-and-goal call and Gabbert run to take a 9-0 halftime lead.
In the third quarter, a Lee fumble gave Missouri the ball at the Nebraska 29 but the possession resulted in a missed 43-yard field goal. Another Gettis punt return (16 yards) and a Nebraska face mask gave the Tigers a first down at the Huskers 13 but a Missouri holding call ultimately led to a 33-yard Grant Ressel field goal and a 12-0 lead.
All those points left on the field would up costing the Tigers and turned a bad night worse for the Show Me state. . First the beloved St. Louis Cardinals let a ninth-inning lead slip away to lose to Los Angeles and then the Tigers melted away in the fourth quarter.
"If we want to dominate the Big 12, then we need to go into people's houses and win," Suh said.
About an hour before the game, a power outage killed the stadium lights. Five hours later, the Huskers turned out the lights in Missouri's house.