 "Photo: DN File Photo")
If statistics are even somewhat accurate indicators of a team's performance, expect Saturday's game between Nebraska and Missouri to be a high-scoring affair.
On paper, both teams go into the matchup with offenses that look much more efficient than their defensive counterparts.
A shootout, then, would not be out of the question - and that is just fine with NU senior quarterback Sam Keller.
"If it comes down to it and that's the way the game takes shape, then I'm all for it," Keller said. "I like scoring and I like throwing touchdowns."
Keller has averaged 299.4 passing yards per game to rank fourth in the Big 12 Conference, while Missouri quarterback Chase Daniel is second on the list with 327.8 yards a contest.
The Cornhuskers' and Tigers' offenses both rank in the top eight in the league in scoring, passing and rushing, while both defenses rank in the bottom five in points allowed, rushing defense and passing defense.
Still, NU Coach Bill Callahan was hesitant to say Saturday's tilt will be an offensive extravaganza.
"I don't know how it's going to turn out. Who knows?" Callahan said. "A lot of times you think that's how it will unfold because statistically when you look at each team, you say to yourself this is the way it's going to be.
"Sometimes the games may not unfold like that. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't."
The last two times the Huskers have traveled to Columbia, Mo., the Tigers had no problem putting up points. Missouri won by an identical score of 41-24 in both 2005 and 2003 at Faurot Field.
In the most recent meeting in Columbia in 2005, the Tigers collected 523 total offensive yards to the Huskers' 279, though both teams had different quarterbacks and a host of other players who are no longer in the programs.
Last season in Lincoln, the Huskers outgained Missouri by 56 yards in a 34-20 win.
But this season Nebraska must go on the road and deal with a Tiger crowd known for its raucous behavior and ability to disrupt opponents' offenses. It probably doesn't help that the game is scheduled to start at 8:15 p.m.
NU senior center Brett Byford said it would benefit the Huskers to gain an early lead, which could negate the crowd's effect.
"If we're dominating, it's not going to be that loud anyway," Byford said. "The key is just going out early and executing. If we take care of that, usually it kind of calms down, but if they get control of the game it's kind of tough."
In Nebraska's only road game this season, a 20-17 win over Wake Forest in Winston-Salem, N.C., a crowd of 32,483, many of them Husker fans, didn't create many problems for NU's offense.
This weekend's expected sellout crowd of about 70,000 presents a much different test, and Byford said the Huskers have practiced using a silent count before the snap to prepare for it. Besides practicing the silent count, which NU didn't use against Wake Forest, crowd noise from loudspeakers has been piped into practices throughout the week.
Those gimmicks were implemented to give Nebraska's offense the best possible chance of succeeding in a hostile environment, but whether the game turns into the offensive shootout many fans are expecting remains to be seen.
"When it comes down to it, it's a grass field just like the one we got here," Keller said. "You just block out all the rest of the stuff that's going on and focus on the game plan and the guys that you go down there with."
BENGOULDSMITH@DAILYNEBRASKAN.COM
is a member of the 
