After an historic win against Nebraska, Gary Pinkel was most worried about his team's punting unit.
That's because No. 4 Missouri didn't kick the ball away even one time during its 52-17 demolition of the Cornhuskers at Memorial Stadium.
Out of 10 possessions, the Tigers connected on seven touchdowns and one field goal. The only Mizzou miscues came on a missed 59-yard field goal attempt in the final seconds of the first half and a turnover on downs in the final minutes of a fourth-quarter blowout.
"That's hard to believe," Pinkel said. "We're going to have to work extra at it in practice because it's not reality."
The Tigers converted seven of nine third-down attempts and racked up 462 yards of total offense. Quarterback Chase Daniel added to his Heisman trophy aspirations by completing 18 of 23 passes for 253 yards and three touchdowns.
The senior said he was happy to help quiet the large Nebraska crowd - and the talk of Missouri not winning in Lincoln since 1978.
"I couldn't be more proud of everyone that was involved in this," Daniel said. "And it goes a lot deeper than us. And we realize that. It goes to all the heartbreak that Missouri fans have had against Cornhuskers for the last 30 years, especially at home."
The night got off to a good start for the visitors. Daniel hit speedy wide receiver Jeremy Maclin over the middle of the field, then watched the sophomore race down the left sideline for a 58-yard touchdown run in the opening minute.
After Nebraska responded with a touchdown of its own, the team that couldn't win in Lincoln quickly put an end to any doubt that it would happen again.
"I'm surely proud of our football team," said Missouri coach Gary Pinkel. "This win was just not about this 2008 team; this was about 30 years of a lot of different fans around the country and the world and Mizzou fans and certainly ex-players."
The Tigers took down a host of other streaks as well. The win snapped Nebraska's 30-year run of winning its conference opener, and continued MU's trend of scoring a touchdown on every opening drive this season.
Aside from the spectacular play of Daniel and Maclin, running back Derrick Washington led the Tigers with 139 rushing yards and two scores. Missouri's top defensive unit - which had been criticized as the team's biggest weakness - held the Huskers to 79 rushing yards and 10 points overall.
After the game, MU players said Nebraska provided them with more than enough motivational material to prove their point.
Maclin said the comment that pumped him up most was from Huskers who said they wanted to dominate his offense.
"The fact that they were going to try to shut us out stuck out," Maclin said. "That's kind of a kick in the face."
Daniel said the players heard "everything" the Huskers said during the week. Adding to the insult, he said, was a Nebraska player who spit on him while he was coming out before pregame warm-ups.
"That's bush league," Daniel said. "I've never gotten that before; that's just blatant disrespect."
The senior added that Nebraska was "definitely one of the dirtiest teams I've ever played." He said he took a few late hits, but kept coming back and finding his receivers.
Despite all the "blatant disrespect," Daniel added that he was as excited and focused to play a game as he had been in a long time - particularly coming off a bye week.
"You got to settle it on the field," Daniel said, "and I think we more than did that."
evanbland@dailynebraskan.com
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