Nebraska has been able to dwell on last season's 52-17 laugher against Missouri for just less than a year now.
If the Huskers do what most are expecting them to do against a young and inexperienced Mizzou team, this can only represent a ticking time bomb.
After Nebraska's 55-0 blowout of Louisiana-Lafayette last weekend, tight end Mike McNeill tried to bite his tongue when asked about facing the Tigers.
"I'm looking forward to it," McNeill said. "Obviously, it's a big game. It's still a ways away, so I don't want to get too anxious too early."
Too late.
The Cornhuskers have been the joke of the Big 12 Conference North Division for the last few years, mainly because they can't figure out how to beat the Tigers or Kansas at home – something they need to do at both venues this year if they even want to sniff a December conference championship game in Dallas, Texas.
Nebraska coach Bo Pelini doesn't like to be the butt of any football jokes, either. His response after NU's game with Mizzou last season was far from pleasant.
"I'm not used to losing – I'm not used to getting beat soundly," Pelini said after the loss. "Yes, damn right, I'm embarrassed. I apologize to the team, I apologize to the state of Nebraska. I was hired to do a job, and I didn't do that job tonight."
Pelini hasn't had to act like that recently, but the Thursday night primetime game with the Tigers on ESPN will only remind him of that embarrassment until he and his team do something to change it.
Nebraska rightfully should be 4-0 and potentially a top-10 team – just look at No. 6 Virginia Tech – but this team isn't about what should or would have happened.
Instead, the No. 23 Huskers, who will probably be ranked higher next week, will have something to prove.
Missouri is ranked one spot higher than NU in the USA Today poll, and just outside the top 25 in the AP poll, which could potentially give the Huskers yet another chance to beat a ranked opponent.
Nebraska is better than its ranking, and Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer would attest to that.
Last weekend, he led the Hokies to a shocking 31-7 rout of then-No. 9 Miami, but the week before, VT had to score in the final minute to escape with a 16-15 Hokie win over Nebraska.
"I think you give Nebraska credit," Beamer said. "People thought I was blowing smoke when I said they were back. That is a tough way for those guys to lose, but I really believe they are back on course and are going to be a factor in the Big 12."
Time will tell if Beamer's words are more than just coach talk, but time has been narrowed down to just eight days. If the Huskers can do anything that resembles what Mizzou did to them last season, hopes will really soar. Nothing against the Sun Belt Conference, but Nebraska could probably win that conference title with its backups.
It's the Big 12 title that Nebraska is concerned about, and there are real thoughts in that locker room that they can win it – and there should be.
As long as NU stops shooting itself in the foot with mistakes and penalties, the Huskers have a legitimate chance to win any game they play in the rest of the season, including the Nov. 7 matchup with Oklahoma.
The powder-puff games are over, and linebacker Phillip Dillard really said it best.
"Everybody is zero-zero," Dillard said. "We are going to take it one game at a time, go week by week and try to go undefeated."
Spencer Schubert is a senior broadcasting and news-editorial major. Reach him at spencerschubert@dailynebraskan.com
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