So you're saying there's a chance...

Who knew the key to Missouri’s Big XII title hopes might be Brian Cabral?  After a loss to Texas Tech left the Tigers 3-and-2 in league play, any chance to play in the conference championship game looked dead and gone.  But entering the final week of the regular season, Missouri fans are quoting Lloyd Christmas:  “So you’re saying there’s a chance…”

Mizzou has won back-to-back games over Kansas State and Iowa State in the last two weeks.  Meanwhile, Nebraska tripped up (or was tripped by a mean-spirited officiating crew and Dan Beebe’s explicit instructions to “Huck the Fuskers” if you believe what’s coming out of Lincoln over the last 24 hours) against Texas A&M, losing 9-6 to the Aggies on Saturday night and missing a chance to wrap up a spot in the title game before galloping off to the Big Ten.

The Tigers and Huskers now sit atop the North with the same record, 5-and-2 in league play.  Since Nebraska waxed Missouri 31-17 earlier this season, if the two finish with the same record, Nebraska goes to the title game.  Missouri not only has to beat Kansas on Saturday, but also needs Nebraska to lose to Colorado on Friday in Lincoln to get the bid.

And, again, two weeks ago, anyone who had watched even a snap of Big XII football would have laughed at the notion.  The same day the Tigers lost in Lubbock, the Buffaloes were busy coughing up a four-touchdown lead to Kansas in the fourth quarter.  This was a Jayhawk team who had scored 35 points ONCE ALL SEASON (against New Mexico State).  But they did it in just one quarter against Colorado and beat the Buffs 52-45.

That quarter inspired Colorado to do what everyone knew it was going to do anyway and fire Dan Hawkins.  The Hawk flew out of Boulder leaving behind a team that was winless in the Big 12 and hadn’t looked overly competitive against anyone.

Enter Cabral, who had been the Buffs’ inside linebackers coach for the first nine games of the year.  In his first two games, he has beaten IowaState 34-14 and KansasState 44-36.  An offense led by Cody Hawkins has put up 78 points in two weeks after scoring just 104 under Dan Hawkins in the first five league games (including the 45 inLawrence).

And, suddenly, the Buffs enter their final game of the regular season not only with a pulse, but playing to become bowl eligible.

Meanwhile in Lincoln, all hell has broken loose.  After a game in which the Huskers were flagged for 16 penalties and A&M drew only two whistles, Nebraska coach Bo Pelini (who managed the nearly impossible in picking up an unsportsmanlike penalty himself) told the media, “They scored nine, but we held them to six,” in reference to a roughing the passer call that led to the Aggies’ game-winning field goal.  During the few moments in College Station Pelini wasn’t raging against the officials, his anger was directed at his own players, including an in-your-face rant to injured quarterback Taylor Martinez during which Pelini appeared to have compared Martinez (rather unfavorably) to a kitten.

In the 36 hours since the end of the game, rumors have run rampant across the Internet that Martinez was leaving Nebraska (appears to be false), that Pelini and his brother Carl (who is alleged to have broken the video camera of a member of the Aggie press corps) would be suspended (again, this appears not to be based in reality) and that the state of Nebraska would adopt Creighton basketball as its official state sports team (okay, I just made that one up).

Now, none of what is being rumored may be true.  But the bottom line is, it’s chaos in the land of the corn.  No one knows if Martinez is healthy enough to play.  No one knows if he wants to play (it has been reported that Martinez skipped a mandatory team meeting on Sunday).  The only thing we know for sure is that without an effective Taylor Martinez, the Nebraska offense hasn’t been very good, putting up just 26 total points in games against Kansas and A&M.

And so, the Buffs travel to Lincoln for the final Big 12 game for both teams, carrying hope and momentum.  They haven’t exactly laid down in their last few trips to Memorial Stadium, going 2-and-2.  The Buffs have lost just two games to the Huskers by more than nine points since 2002.

And if CU can pull the upset, Missouri will kick off Saturday at 11:30 at Arrowhead Stadium knowing that a win over the league’s worst team (that title has gone back to the Jayhawks with Colorado’s modest winning streak) will put them back in the Big XII title game for the third time in four years.

Who had that as a possibility three weeks ago.


Gabe DeArmond is the publisher of PowerMizzou.com, the Missouri site on the Rivals.com network.  You can read his daily coverage of the Tigers online at http://missouri.rivals.com.