At times, the Missouri-Nebraska series has produced great football.

Sure, the Tigers haven't beaten Nebraska since 1978. But for pure eye candy it sometimes has been a football voyeur's dream over the years.

• Missouri handed both Bob Devaney (1962) and Tom Osborne (1973) their first losses at Nebraska.
• That last Tiger victory featured future NFL stars Kellen Winslow and James Wilder pulling out a 35-31 victory in Lincoln.
• Nebraska survived its first-ever overtime game in 1997, a 45-38 victory in Columbia. That was the famous "Flea Kicker" game in which receiver Matt Davison caught the game-tying pass tipped off teammate Shevin Wiggins as regulation time expired.
• Two years ago, Missouri quarterback Corby Jones overthrew an open John Dausman in the end zone late in the fourth quarter. Nebraska survived to win 20-13.

The teams meet for the 94th time on Saturday, with No. 1 Nebraska a 32-point favorite at home. The Huskers enter a dead period in their schedule where they aren't expected to be challenged by Missouri, Iowa State, Texas Tech or Baylor. The next serious game for Nebraska looks like Oct. 28 at Oklahoma.

Missouri is sliding, having lost its last five road games by a combined 237-9. In the Larry Smith era, the Tigers are 1-24 against ranked teams.

"The whole team is excited," Missouri quarterback Kirk Farmer said. "We're ready to go out there and see if we can hang with them. We feel like we have a chance and we'll convince you all on Saturday."

Last season it had one of its best chances to end the streak. Talent seemingly was brimming as the Tigers were coming off two straight bowl seasons. Three hours later there was another reminder of who was in charge. Nebraska won 40-10.

Seems like an imperfect matchup -- a team in turmoil against perhaps the nation's best team. All Husker coach Frank Solich can do is look for the perfect game during this period of walkovers. There are concerns at Nebraska about the special teams and defense but those are minor points.

Eric Crouch had a breakout game as a passer Saturday against Iowa, throwing five touchdowns in 10 completions.

"It's not only the coaching staff and myself, but the players feel confident in the passing game," Solich said. "It's amazing how one game can make a big difference in that regard. It was obvious to all of us, prior to that game, that we were not throwing the ball."

Crouch was held out of practice Tuesday. Solich said there is "a little concern" about an injury he would not specify. Still, Crouch's name is beginning to appear on some Heisman lists. The junior quarterback leads the country in a new NCAA statistic "Points Responsible For," averaging 24 points a game.

Crouch has six rushing touchdowns and six passing touchdowns. The 12 touchdowns have produced 72 points. Divide that by Nebraska's three games and you have the perfect stat for the Huskers' quarterback.

But the only real stat for a Huskers' quarterback is 1, as in No. 1. He's got that going for him this season, and can finish off the first month of the season with that stat intact by leading Nebraska to victory again Saturday.

Once around the Midwest via SportsLine.com's exclusive team reports:

Words to live by

Northwestern coach Randy Walker has done a good job with the Wildcats this season, who are 3-1 and coming off a monumental 47-44 upset of Wisconsin. But he might want to stay away from the press conferences.

While attempting to wax poetic about the long season that lies ahead for the Wildcats, Walker evoked the haunting refrains of Kenny Rogers.

"The thing I've always thought about football," Walker said with a deadpan stare, "it's kind of like that song. You gotta know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em. And you don't count your money while you're sitting at the table. You wait 'til the dealing's done."

Then Walker realized the magnitude of Northwestern's football coach quoting from "The Gambler" -- and couldn't help breaking into a big smile.

"I know that's not a very good analogy at this school," Walker said while 20 media members roared. "But we're going to wait 'til the dealing's done. There's a lot of football left in this season."

Speaking of gambling...

Kansas coach Terry Allen surprised even his own players when he revealed he'd spent last week preparing for Oklahoma.

Never mind that the Jayhawks played Southern Illinois, not the Sooners, last Saturday.

How's that for coaching honesty?

"He didn't tell us we were practicing for Oklahoma," KU senior running back David Winbush told the Kansas City Star. "We got away with a win, so it was a good strategy by Coach Allen."

Because getting a win over No. 14 Oklahoma this week will be far more difficult than their 42-0 victory over Southern Illinois, Allen started preparing early, getting his defense ready for the Sooners' pass-oriented offense and putting in new plays on offense.

"You don't want to overlook anybody," Allen said. "We ran a little bit of a calculated risk with this game and last week in practice, but it paid off."

Cyclones 3-0 -- again

Iowa State's 3-0 start this year is different from the 3-0 start of a year ago.

Last year the Cyclones and their fans were downright giddy.

This year they know there's a lot more business to take care of before there's cause for celebration.

It was a good lesson for all us coaches and players,'' coach Dan McCarney said. "We've been there before now. We learned some hard lessons last year. The nucleus of that team returns, and we continually talk about doing the things we need to do so we can have better results in our conference.''

The Cyclones will be seeking their first 4-0 start since 1980 when they travel to Waco, Texas, to face Baylor this week.

Noteworthy

• Michigan enters the Wisconsin game this weekend with a chance to become the second program in college football history and the first in Division I-A to claim 800 victories. Yale hit 800 wins two weekends ago. The Wolverines are 799-260-36 since establishing football as a varsity sport in 1879.
• Poll voters continue to be unimpressed with Kansas State's perennially soft non-conference schedule. Those voters dropped the Wildcats one place in the Associated Press poll to No. 5 just one day after Kansas State crushed North Texas 55-10. They were leapfrogged by Virginia Tech.
• Oklahoma quarterback Josh Heupel moved into first place on the school's career touchdown pass list when he tossed the 36th and 37th of his career in the Sooners' 42-14 victory over Rice. Heupel and the Sooners have scored 40 or more points in all three games this season.
• Poor, poor Colorado. Already 0-3 thanks to a tough non-conference schedule, the Buffaloes open Big 12 play against No. 5 Kansas State -- followed by Texas A&M and Texas. Can you say oh-and-six?