COLUMBIA, Mo. - If the Nebraska football team were on the stock market, now would be a good time to sell.
Saturday's 41-6 shellacking at the hands of Missouri may have solidified the Cornhuskers' status as a middle-of-the-pack team in the Big 12 Conference. They certainly didn't look like a team that will contend for a Big 12 North Division title, and voters in the polls took notice.
Nebraska dropped out of both major polls and now sits near the bottom of the "others receiving votes" category along with teams like Connecticut, Maryland, Wyoming and Mississippi State.
And that blowout home loss to Southern California on Sept. 15 isn't looking so justifiable either, after the Trojans lost Saturday to unranked Stanford in Los Angeles.
But that setback to USC seemed like a long time ago. Saturday's game at Faurot Field was a chance for the Huskers to redeem themselves against another top-25 team.
Unfortunately for Nebraska, Missouri just looked better in every phase of the game.
Nebraska was plagued by dropped passes, missed tackles, ill-timed penalties and much more. Missouri, meanwhile, scored at will and completely shut down what has become Nebraska's one-dimensional passing West Coast offense.
Missouri racked up 606 yards to Nebraska's 297, with only 74 of those Husker yards coming in the running game.
"I can't explain it right now," NU Coach Bill Callahan said. "It was not our standard of football, obviously."
What, then, is Nebraska's standard of football?
The only games the Huskers have dominated this season (Nevada and Iowa State) came against teams with losing records.
And Ball State (3-3), which was one missed field goal away from beating the Huskers in Memorial Stadium on Sept. 22, was handled 58-38 by Central Michigan at home on Saturday.
Nebraska's standard of play has been more comparable to Ball State and Wake Forest than it has been to USC and Missouri.
In the latter two games, which were billed as chances for the Huskers to make a statement on the national stage, the Huskers crumbled.
Saturday's game was especially puzzling. Missouri and Nebraska entered the contest as supposedly even-matched teams with high-powered offenses and suspect defenses.
The shootout, though, turned into a blowout.
"It's a little bit embarrassing, I guess you could say," NU senior linebacker Lance Brandenburgh said. "No one wants to lose 41-6, or whatever the score was. There's always tomorrow. We've got a lot of season left, so we've got to just correct the things we need to correct and get better."
Indeed, the Huskers still have time to get better.
Six games are left on the regular-season schedule, and it's possible this team could still salvage some respect from fans and critics alike.
But one thing is clear: The honeymoon period on the 2007 season is over.
Fans are getting restless, blowout losses on national television are getting embarrassing and the same excuses week after week about "lack of execution" are getting tiresome.
For those reasons, now would be a good time to sell that imaginary Husker stock.
BEN GOULDSMITH IS A SENIOR NEWS-EDITORIAL MAJOR. REACH HIM AT BENGOULDSMITH@DAILYNEBRASKAN.COM.
