Zach Potter often jokes he isn't sure what goes on at tailgating parties before football games.
Whatever it is, the defensive lineman said, it sure fired up Missouri's home crowd last season before a late-night kickoff.
Nebraska's game in Columbia, Mo., in 2007 was one Cornhusker players would rather forget. Many have said they don't recall the specifics of NU's 41-6 loss last year, the one that began a five-game losing skid and was the impetus for an offseason shakeup of the coaching staff.
Still, Potter said, the team remembers enough.
"We went down there and didn't perform to the way that we would have liked to perform," Potter said. "So I guess you could say we have unfinished business. But it's just another game on our schedule that just has a little bit more hype being (they're) having such a good year this year and being such a good team."
No. 4 Missouri visits Nebraska this weekend with few personnel changes compared to last season. This time, however, the Huskers have the home field advantage and a touch of extra motivation from their unpleasant experience in Columbia.
Beyond the agony of a big loss to a Big 12 Conference rival on national television was how Tiger fans received the visitors in 2007.
NU offensive lineman Matt Slauson said earlier this year he heard tales of MU fans urinating in cups and hurling at their Big Red counterparts. Armando Murillo, one of NU's starting cornerbacks, recalled some fans blanketing him and other players with expletives.
Not the best way to spend an evening, Murillo said.
Nebraska safety Larry Asante isn't planning on missing Saturday's game either. The junior returned to practice Wednesday after a rough weekend against Virginia Tech and will start against the Tigers.
"When we played Missouri last year, the fans were so disrespectful," Asante said last month. "When we were walking in the tunnel, they were up, and they were trying to pour beer on us.
"I haven't forgotten about that, and I won't forget about it until we see their boys out here on the field."
Like last season, Saturday's game will begin after 8 p.m. and be televised nationally by ESPN. Hopefully, Potter said, that means Nebraska fans will provide the electric atmosphere Missouri did - but without the bad behavior.
Of course, good fans or not, the Huskers still have to play well on the field if NU is to keep MU winless in Lincoln since 1978. Last year, with the Huskers trailing 34-6 early in the final quarter, the Tigers faced fourth and goal at the Nebraska 10-yard line.
Missouri executed a fake field goal, which accounted for the even more lopsided final margin.
"The game's not over until it's over," Potter said. "It bothered a lot of people, but they just kept playing their game. It just happened to be our bad luck that it was against us."
Fellow lineman Ndamukong Suh views the "horrible, horrible game" as incentive to perform better this time.
The Tigers are a rival, he said, and in his experience, they've always given the Huskers a rough go of it, top-10 ranking or not.
Still, he said, he's confident in Nebraska's new defense this season under first-year Coach Bo Pelini. Suh isn't expecting a repeat of 2007, when the Tigers rolled up 606 total yards of offense and MU quarterback Chase Daniel threw for 401 yards and two scores.
After that game, Daniel called Nebraska's defense "high school stuff," observing how the Huskers refused to adjust their approach as the game wore on.
Suh said Daniel is entitled to his opinion. The lineman just doesn't care about it.
"I don't think we'll have to make any adjustments," Suh said. "I think our defense is sound. From what I've seen and what we've installed so far, I love it."
evanbland@dailynebraskan.com
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