We're back again - and remember - anybody who guesses score right on the button wins a throwback poster - offense or defense - your choice.

Last week, Gassman came quite close to Nebraska's odd-looking 27-12 victory with a 25-13 prediction. Who makes the grade this week? Post and let's find out!

Also: Give us your offensive and defensive MVPs for the game!

Have at it Husker fans and check out our prediction podcast for our take right before the game! We have a...surprising prediction. Is it in favor of NU? Find out!

See also: Inside The Air Raid Offense!

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Join Husker Locker today - it's free!

The Husker media machine kicked into full gear this week. Nebraska's football team uneasily wore the crown.

You could sense the strain in some of the answers after a 27-12 win over Missouri. Here was NU, after the biggest program triumph in some time, getting peppered with questions about last year's Texas Tech game, handling success, the offensive playcalling, replacing Rex Burkhead, defending spread offenses, you name it. You could almost see the frustration churning inside players and coaches: Wait – didn't we win last week? Didn't we complete the best fourth-quarter rally in Husker history? Did everyone forget that?

Yes, yes and most certainly not. But here's the thing: With each big win head coach Bo Pelini collects, fans and writers can see the shoreline a little more clearly. With a beaten-up, overrated Big 12 out there for the taking in 2009, the vibe is now distinctly “carpe diem.” Thus, the armor chinks become more glaring with each ratchet-turn of expectation.

Nebraskans express hope with worry. It's the natural tendency, the bedrock of our modesty and insecurity. It couldn't really be this good this fast, could it? It just might. If the Huskers can hurdle one Mike Leach, that is.

On to the five keys:

Aggression: Nebraska returns to its home field, in front of a crowd ready to explode with chants of “We're back!” There ought to be enough energy in the joint to kick start three offensive lines, much less one. Needs to be, too. If the Huskers intend to score a first round knockdown, much less a first round knockout, they'll need every bit of anger, muscle and toughness the offensive line can muster. Running backs can only plow through holes that exist, after all.

“We need to play faster, we need to play more physical, and we need to execute better,” offensive line coach Barney Cotton said. We'll take that and a side of peanut cole slaw.

Turnovers: A typical, fallback key of any big game, but, in the case of NU v. Tech, it matters because the Red Raiders – specifically Taylor Potts – have struggled keeping the ball on the team with the right colored jersey. Tech is 99th in turnover margin – rare for a Big 12 school still in the early stages of conference play – at -.67 per game. Nebraska's 15th overall. Big advantage, right there, to the Huskers.

How does NU force them? In the secondary, breaking on poorly-thrown balls without giving up the farm elsewhere.

Pick up “Sticks:” Walk-on quarterback Steven “Sticks” Sheffield has enjoyed a nice couple of weeks, but those were minor rehearsals compared to Saturday. Sheffield can light as many fires as he wishes and scramble all over the house looking to wear out his own legs. But the kid's probably going to have to throw for three bills and two touches to give Tech a fighting chance.

As skinny and untested as Sheffield is, Nebraska needs to make a maniacal effort to pressure the living daylights out him. If Leach wants to install Potts into the game, hey – so be it. The more musical chairs Leach runs, the deeper the hole his team will dig.

Carter vs. Suh: Texas Tech has a quick rhythm passing game and wide linemen splits, and thus feels like it's fairly impervious to any consistent pass rush, even one led by Ndamukong Suh. So the Red Raiders will likely match guard Brandon Carter – the deposed captain who paints his face as if he's going to death metal concert, or readying for a night of carousing with Kym from “Rachel Getting Married” – against Suh, one on one.

Well, OK. It worked to some extent in 2008. But this ain't 2008.

“(Carter) is a really good lineman,” defensive coordinator Carl Pelini said. “They're a man protection team, but they've got five and we've got four rushing. It's the same way every week. We just try to do our thing.”

Pelini's right, of course, but interior pass blocking, against a player of Suh's caliber, is no trip to Cleveland. Can Suh and his mates force the Red Raiders to keep a running back in to block?

Resist the pirate spirit: Nebraska needs to be smart on Saturday not to let Leach's wild gambles rub off on Bo Pelini. When Leach goes for it on fourth down...NU better stuff it. If he tries a trick play, gets cute with his punt formation, or tries to go 80 yards in 38 seconds, you'll have a distinct example of Leach attempting to bait his opponent into bizarre situations. If Nebraska can keep its poker face while the Red Raiders flop about like a fish on dry land, it'll gain one or two extra possessions at least. Tech, which lives or dies by the number and efficiency of plays run, would in be the same spot it was last year. Except Nebraska's defense is more equipped to shut down TTU.

See also: Chalk Talk: Inside the Air Raid Offense and Guess The Score! NU vs. Tech! and Recruiting: All Dressed Up with No Position?

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Count on Mike Leach to artificially add a little intrigue to Nebraska’s Saturday matchup with Texas Tech.

The Red Raiders’ coach won’t be naming his starting quarterback for the 2:30 p.m. game during the week. Instead, Leach sardonically said, expect the “excitement and drama” of a “gametime decision” between junior Taylor Potts and sophomore Steven “Sticks” Sheffield, who spelled Potts in a 66-14 rout of Kansas State by throwing for 490 yards and seven touchdowns in his first career start. He won Big 12 Player of the Week for his effort.

Potts, who earned the starting job last spring, clearly suffered a concussion in the second quarter of Tech’s win over New Mexico, although Leach denies Potts is injured at all.

“I’m not into the whole injury thing,” Leach said.

Sheffield, a walk-on, earned his nickname “the day he walked in the door,” Leach said, because of his slight frame. Sheffield is 6-foot-4, 175 pounds. Think of former NU quarterback Beau Davis – only skinnier.

“He’s among the most coachable guys I’ve had,” Leach said. “He just continually gets better, but has been focused in on improving what he does. And then he brings kind of a natural spirit to things. He’s a real grinder when it comes to details.”

Potts is the sturdier of the two, possessing one of the stronger arms in the Big 12. He played well prior to the concussion, throwing for 420 yards in a loss to Texas, and 456 in a 55-10 win over Rice. Sheffield, meanwhile, is more mobile.

“They’re both good football players,” head coach Bo Pelini. “But we’re going to defend their offense. They’re just one cog in the offense. They’re very multiple in what they do. They run it well. They throw it well.”

See also: 5 Secrets to Leach's Success

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Husker Locker will be counting down and breaking down each of the teams in the conference. We hope you view this series as more interesting, comprehensive and definitive than what you may find elsewhere. Where we can make strong takes – we will.

We rank the teams 12 to 1 in overall strength. Then we’ll provide for you the North/South breakdown – and the preseason All Big 12 team, as well.

Enjoy!

Today: Texas Tech

Coach: Mike Leach
2008 Record: 11-2

What’s Changed Since 2008: Leach and Red Raider brass settled their differences and agreed to a long-term contract; Tech lost record setting quarterback Graham Harrell and wide receiver Michael Crabtree, and also lost the two best defensive backs in recent program history in Darcel McBath and Daniel Charbonnet. The two top pass rushers, too, in McKinner Dixon (who simply left Tech after falling into Leach’s doghouse) and Brandon Williams.

2009 Non-Conference Schedule:The usual buffet of non-major conference teams, but a trip to Houston, in front what should be a decent home crowd, will be a test. Don’t be surprised if Houston is a slight favorite. The Cougars might have the better team. Otherwise, it’s home games against Rice, New Mexico and North Dakota, all of which will be routs.

2009 Conference Schedule: The Red Raiders foolishly agreed to move a game at Texas up to Sept. 19; that’s an invitation to slaughter for a defense that won’t even have its sea legs. Two more difficult road trips to Nebraska and Oklahoma State. Tech hosts Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas A&M and Kansas State, while playing Baylor in the JerryDome in Arlington.

Offense: Air Raid/Spread

Coordinator: Leach, essentially. Year after year, this offense works in all but a few games. Defenses are now so fearful of the short crossing and flat patterns that Leach likes to run that downfield routes, especially for running backs, have opened up. Tech became much more vertical in 2007 and 2008 with Crabtree drawing double teams, and guys like Edward Britton and Tremain Swindoll zooming through the deep seam. The question now, of course, is whether Tech most go back to the short stuff now that Crabtree has left for the NFL.

Strength: The running game, if you can believe it. Returning starter Baron Batch, and redshirt freshman Harrison Jeffers should be the best 1-2 punch Leach has had in his tenure at Tech. The line is huge and reasonably experienced. The receivers are still pretty good, despite the absence of Crabtree. Detron Lewis and Edward Britton. We do not expect the offense to experience much drop off. Maybe in that early game vs. Texas; not much otherwise.

Weakness: New quarterback Taylor Potts is the biggest, strongest of all the Leach quarterbacks. He also has a beard and long hair, looking like a lawman out of the 1970s. But traditional size and strength doesn’t make a great Leach quarterback. Intelligence, and the ability to hit receivers running short routes in stride, does. It’s going to take Potts a month to really find the rhythm, and, by then, Tech may have two losses.

Defense: 4-3

Coordinator: Ruffin McNeill, who took over midway through 2007 and has amped up the pressure and tenacity of the front four. That said, Tech’s pass defense last year wasn’t anything special – even with two all-league safeties.

Strength: Tech returns all three starters at linebacker, and all three were reasonably productive, active players in 2008. It’s a place to start.

Weakness: Two new safeties and, essentially, a brand new defensive line (senior nose tackle Rajon Henley returns after injury) doesn’t bode well for Tech’s pass defense. Look for teams to test the Red Raiders deep, and often.

Special Teams Not great. Punter Jonathan LaCour has been suspended for the first month and kicker Donnie Carona might as well be, considering he went 4-9 in field goals last year. Tech turned to a guy out of the stands halfway through last season, if that tells you anything. The return game is OK. It’s not like Wes Welker is back there or anything.

Intangibles: Jones Stadium works some kind of magic at night, as it’s become a difficult place for the best teams in the Big 12 South to play. During the day, though, it’s perfectly ordinary. Weird, huh?

And Leach himself is an intangible. He’s a good coach, a gambling coach, a coach who plays the “Moneyball” percentages better than most, if you will. But once or twice each year, it backfires spectacularly on him. Last year’s 65-21 loss was a poster child for what happens when Leach rolls craps again and again. His approach invariably wins Tech more games than the talent level in Lubbock has any right to win. But that same approach makes an undefeated season almost impossible to achieve.

Best-Case Scenario: 10-2, with losses to Texas and Oklahoma State, and upset wins over Oklahoma and Nebraska. Could happen.

Worst-Case Scenario: Potts can’t continue the string of Tech QB magic, the defense can’t defend the pass, and Tech falls to 6-6 or 5-7. It’s highly possible, especially if the Red Raiders drop games to cagey Houston and upstart Baylor.

Our Take: 8-4, with a thrilling loss to Houston, and losses in every other true road game.

See other Big 12 Breakdowns: No. 12 ISU, No. 11 A&M, No. 10 CU, No. 9 BU, No. 8 KU, No. 7 KSU, No. 6 Texas Tech
Agree? Disagree? Tell us about it.

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In light of Bo Pelini’s new contract at Nebraska, we decided to review the coveted coaching jobs in the Big 12 Conference and determine, top to bottom, which job was hardest and which was easiest.

We decided to eschew “best” and “worst” in part because that debate automatically thrusts Oklahoma, Texas and Nebraska to the top of the list and schools like Baylor and Iowa State to the bottom, based on sheer tradition.

Rather, we decided to take a bold stab at figuring out which jobs – perks and warts combined – were the kind coaches could tackle with enthusiasm and effort, and which jobs needed, shall we say, a bit more than that. Like a few a well-placed prayers to the pigskin karma saints.

Our list goes from easiest to hardest, and takes into account five categories:

Recruiting Base/Interest
Administrative/Booster Support
Media/Fan Expectation
Chance of “Success”
An “X” factor

Today, we run down we deem to be the six easiest jobs in the Big 12. Tomorrow, the sixth toughest.

And as we count them down, know this: None of them are what you’d call “easy.” All take 60-hour workweeks, strength, smarts, stamina and personality.

One other thing…the list partially takes into account who’s coaching the program, which, in the case of Kansas State’s Bill Snyder, frankly, makes the job easier than it would have been for Snyder’s predecessor, Ron Prince, or whoever follows Snyder.

On with the countdown!

No. 12 KANSAS

Head Coach: Mark Mangino. Compensation: $2.3 millon per year, with tons of performance bonuses. Mangino gets five grand just for beating Nebraska, for example. For every game televised on ESPN that KU wins, Mangino scores ten grand.

Recruiting Base: KU has direct access to the best talent in Kansas City and Wichita, along with reasonable access to the second-tier prospects in Oklahoma. The Jayhawk State is also home to many of the Midwest’s best junior college football programs. Mangino still plucks his share of players out of Texas – that’s one of the secrets to his success – but there are more home-grown kids to choose from, too.

Administrative/Booster Support: For football, it’s better than ever, after KU finished a $33 million football complex in 2008. Basketball will always be king in Lawrence, but football is being embraced like never before.

Media/Fan Expectation: Tempered by the hulking monolith that is the basketball program, KU football is expected to compete for the Big 12 North trophy and beat its rivals, Missouri and Kansas State. Beyond that? Gravy. At least a quarter of the Big 12 programs would like a national title in the next decade. If that doesn’t happen at Kansas, nobody is losing sleep over it.

Chance of “Success”: Mangino has upped the ante and created his own success story. Still – “success” at KU is defined by eight, nine wins a year, a solid bowl game, and win over Mizzou. Would many Kansas fans have considered 2008 a “down” year? Following 2007, yes, it was. Overall? It was quite good by historical Jayhawks standards.

X Factor: Kansas football is not, and never will be, the flagship sports program in Lawrence. Outside of possibly Iowa State, it’d be hard to claim that about anywhere else right now.

No. 11 OKLAHOMA

Head Coach: Bob Stoops Compensation: Around $6 million. This includes a $3 million lump sum Stoops received recently for his tenth anniversary as OU coach and bonuses he earned last year.

Recruiting Base: It’s national, really, but Oklahoma does most of its damage at home and in Texas, routinely plucking great players from both states. Some years, OU outperforms Texas for coveted players in the Lone Star State. Stoops is a good recruiter, sure, but he resides in and near the land of milk and honey, too.

Administrative/Booster Support: Very strong. Stoops has the full support of the old guard (guys like Barry Switzer) and his athletic director, Joe Castiglione, is a proactive standout in his field. As far as facilities go, we’ll take Nebraska’s swank spread of OU’s ten-year-old digs, but the Sooners want for very little. Stoops has all the tradition, support and booster bucks he wants. He’s created a lot of success, yes. He’s also been given a lot to create it with.

Media/Fan Expectation: They’re high. Very high. But they’re not lunatic high, like they are at certain SEC programs, and the fans aren’t fickle, like they are at Texas. Sooner fans want to win. Stoops does win. But he’s not required to be a messiah (again: see the SEC).

Chance of “Success:” OU has every advantage in this regard. It’s one of the great programs, and has been since Bud Wilkinson. There’s talent. There’s tradition. There’s reasonably warm weather for recruiting purposes.

“X” Factor: Stoops’ recent run of losses in bowl games makes fan groan a little. Not that they want him to go anywhere.

No. 10 TEXAS

Head Coach: Mack Brown Compensation: Around $3 million.

Recruiting Base: None better. The best talent in the state of Texas. And most of them are rounded up by the end of spring football. UT’s recruiting budget must be equal to the military budget of Albania.

Administrative/Booster Support: Some would call DeLoss Dodds the nation’s most powerful athletic director. He’s sure one of them. In defense of Brown, he’s done a really good job winning back his share of boosters after the long, dark period after Darryl Royal retired. Then again, it was Brown’s predecessor, John Mackovic, who got the unpleasant job of bluntly telling those boosters UT’s facilities were woefully out of date. Brown walked into a better situation than Mackovic left when he was fired.

Media/Fan Expectation: We know some Texas fans, and, outside of rubbing OU’s nose in it, the goals are sometimes fuzzy. UT will cherish Vince Young and the national title he won for the Longhorns for the next century. But do they blame Brown for the one loss that blemished an otherwise terrific 2008? Success doesn’t always bring out the fans anyway, as witnessed by the occasional empty seats in UT’s stadium.

Chance of “Success”: Right up there with OU. Texas has all the advantages. At this point, any number of coaches – say, Will Muschamp – could be plugged into that job and coast on fumes for five years.

“X” Factor: The University of Texas has more beautiful women on its campus than any other in America, in one of the nation’s best college towns. It helps.

No. 9 KANSAS STATE

Head Coach: Bill Snyder Compensation: 1.85 million

Recruiting Base: The same as Kansas, except that Snyder leans much more heavily on the JUCOs.

Administrative/Booster Support: Basically, Snyder will get the “Joe Gibbs” treatment. He’s already performed “The Miracle in Manhattan” and if he carves out a modicum of success, any setbacks will just be blamed on Ron Prince’s three years at KSU. Snyder runs that town, and he’ll make darn sure the Wildcats schedule three or four wins per year.

Fan/Media Expectations: A respectable program. Coaches who don’t have to run stadium stairs.

Chance of “Success”: Pretty good, if 7-5 is the standard, and we don’t really see Kansas State doing much better than that in whatever time Snyder chooses to put into this second act.

“X” Factor: Snyder will need one year, and maybe two, to clean up the mess Prince left behind. And he won’t have Stoops and Mangino to help him do it.

No. 8 TEXAS A&M

Head coach: Mike Sherman Compensation: $1.8 million

Recruiting base: The central/southern part Texas seems pretty sweet to us. The Aggies make a killing in NASA country (that’s Houston). A&M probably draws a little too much talent from a 100-mile radius, for that matter.

Administrative/Booster Support: Aggies are plenty competitive, and will spend top dollar to win in almost every sport. Athletic director Bill Byrne is no less competitive, even if his zeal in the past, including at Nebraska, was for non-revenue sports that could inch him closer to a Sears Directors Trophy. Still – at A&M, excellence is the standard. Another season like 2008, and Sherman might be gone very soon.

Fan/Media Expectation: For a solid decade, A&M was the premier program in Texas. Getting there again is a top priority, and it’s not completely out of the question, either. The Longhorns are due for a dry spell. Oklahoma, on other hand…we don’t see the Sooners going anywhere. The fans at A&M are terrific. The closest to Nebraska fans, in fact.

Chance of “Success”: Ten wins, a Big 12 South crown and bragging rights over UT are a lot to ask for right now. Maybe a little too much to ask. But the Aggies are committed, support is entrenched, and the area talent is rich. This is fertile ground for winning. Sherman has no excuses, really, because Dennis Franchione didn’t exactly run the program into the ground.

“X” Factor: A&M is making the painful transition from option zone read to West Coast Offense with a former NFL coach. Ask Nebraska how well that turned out.

No. 7 TEXAS TECH

Head Coach: Mike Leach Compensation: $2.3 million

Recruiting Base: Leach has made inroads into central and the Texas Panhandle to go along with the football-rich region of West Texas.

Booster/Administrative Support: It’s no great secret that Leach and his athletic director aren’t great chums. But Leach won the war of public opinion in a recent contract dispute, and let’s just say wasn’t the proletariat that turned the tide, but the Tech bourgeoisie. The Red Raiders just finished a $84 million renovation to Jones Stadium.

Media/Fan Expectation: Leach seems to win eight every year – 11 in 2008 – and fans don’t seem too riled up if he can’t win the big games, which he rarely does. He’s brought more publicity to Lubbock than anyone since Buddy Holly. Yeah, even more than Bob Knight.They love the big pirate-lovin lug.

Chance of “Success:” Every four years or so, Tech might be able to climb that national title mountain like it did in 2008. Otherwise, since fans seem content with nine wins and a fun offense each year – and the Wes Welkers and Michael Crabtrees of the world are still willing to enroll – chances are pretty good, we’d say.

“X” Factor: Leach makes this job easier for himself, because Leach is Texas Tech. We pity, really, the coach who must follow him.

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So Texas Tech's Mike Leach stays in West Texas. Good news for the league, kinda bad news for the Big 12 South, and great news for Leach himself, who managed to sidestep his athletic director, Gerald Myers, to negotiate directly with the chancellor of the university.

Leach got the contract he more or less wanted, he won in the court of public opinion, and best of all, he got to stay where he's able to maximize his success. Some folks want to scrounge around in the belly button of this imbroglio - the behind-the-scene machinations, whether Myers will now be shown the door, the role agents did or did not play in this deal - but the bottom line is this: Leach has a good template for the right program, and college football fans should always embrace that.

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And now, Texas Tech's coach might be ridin his, uh, eye-patch wearin horse right out of town, should the Texas Tech Board of Regents choose to fire him after the coach turned down the athletic department's latest offer.

Officially, this seems to be coming down the money Leach will be paid were he fired. Tech wants to pay Leach $300,000 for each year of his contract, while Leach wants 40% of his remaining salary. As if, in this economy, a guy like Leach can't handle $300,000 for the one year he'd be out of coaching before jumping back in the fray. As if. Leach lived out of his proverbial car for years before he landed at Kentucky. Of course he could handle that money.

No, this is about something larger - a coach who feels like, given all the success he's brought to Lubbock, he ought to be able to dictate the terms. And an athletic department that senses - quite correctly - that Leach is looking to flee the West Texas coop for a state (and a program) where he's the lead dog, and not Mack Brown and/or Bob Stoops.

Just you watch: Both sides will lose, but the bigger loser will be Leach. Texas Tech is his spot; it's where he belongs. It's where he's had success. It's where the spread offense is played all over the state by more than half of the most prepared, most overcoached teams in high school football. Do you realize, in Texas, that some of the best teams have 16-20 coaches. That it's a breeding ground for college and professional guys looking to learn the game? That there are minds in Texas more refined and on the cutting edge than those in the NFL? Leach has the best possible recruiting situation imaginable: Guys who grew up running this stuff. His program is only going to get stronger, not weaker.

If Leach had moved to Tennessee or Auburn, he presumes that he'd have the same success. But it isn't the same. Those fan bases have the fiercest feelings about two things in life: The flavor of their barbecue sauce and the brand of football their teams play. You can't roll into Knoxville with a KC-style barbecue joint and expect it to compete to the thin, vinegar-based sauces of that region. It doesn't work. People have expectations. And people with money - namely, boosters - expect those expectations to be filled.

Auburn is flatly courting disaster right now by trying to implement the Tulsa/Gus Malzahn spread, which will turn off the War Eagle types that have equated Auburn football to a strong ground game. Just watch that program over the next five years. You'll see. It's part of why, for all his success, Terry Bowden was always viewed with a doubting eye.

But Texas Tech's identity - the pirate crap, the wild, wide open spread offense - is precisely what Leach made it. He's got it good there. Really good. Why he'd want to change is beyond us. The lesson: This is what happens when you get 15 minutes of fame.

Check out the rest of today's news so far...

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