FanHouse NdamukongSuh

Depending on who is debating, the Heisman Trophy is awarded to either the best college football player in the country or the one who simply means the most to his team.

Whichever side of the coin you fall on, you have to come back to Nebraska senior defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh. Certainly playing in the trenches of the defensive line isn't the sexiest place to find the nation's most preeminent player.

Watching Suh defy double- and triple-teams the last two seasons has been every bit as exciting as a running back spinning out of the arms of several tacklers or a receiver blazing past the secondary or a quarterback dodging tacklers until he spots a receiver downfield for a critical touchdown.

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The resemblance to the old Blackshirt defense is there, but make no mistake -- this isn't your father's Nebraska Cornhuskers.

Still, in this current cycle where parity and mediocrity have met to transform the mightiest of college football programs into mere mortals, these Cornhuskers are good enough to be part of the Big 12 North championship conversation. Seriously, these very Cornhuskers who a few weeks seemed down after dropping back-to-back home games against Texas Tech and ... gasp ... Iowa State could actually fulfill the preseason prophecy of the Big 12 media by winning the North.

It's not like Texas and Oklahoma ever needed a reason to make their annual Red River Rivalry game in Dallas any more intense.

The tradition of the two programs, the bordering states and the fight for superiority in fertile recruiting ground of Texas use to be enough. Who knew this early season game would take on so much more meaning when both teams joined the Big 12 in 1996?

This game has become about so much more than school pride and bragging rights, as one of these two teams has won the South each of the last 10 years, and it has sometimes set the stage for the national championship picture.

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- The rain is coming down hard here at Faurot Field and the Missouri Tigers and their spread attack, this can't be in good.

It's the exact opposite for Nebraska and running back Roy Helu, Jr., who should benefit from the soggy conditions. The 21st-ranked Cornhuskers are much more adept at running the football and playing solid defense, two attributes that swing tonight's Big 12 North matchup with No.24 Missouri heavily in their favor.

Mizzou sophomore quarterback Blaine Gabbert leads the Big 12 in passing efficiency after throwing 11 touchdowns and no interceptions in the Tigers first four games this season. But it will be hard to put the ball in the air with a lot of effectiveness with the rain coming down hard.

Follow Terrance Harris' liveblog after the jump.

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At last, the road to the top seems awfully clear for the Nebraska Cornhuskers.

How far they still have to go will be determined, at least in part, Saturday when the Cornhuskers travel to Blacksburg, Va., to take on the 13th-ranked Hokies, Nebraska's first real test of the season.

Just don't expect Nebraska coach Bo Pelini to admit that his team's first BCS opponent of the season will be a gauge for how close the Cornhuskers are to returning to their dominant former selves.

"Every week is a measuring stick," Pelini said this week. "We have to measure ourselves according to where we want to be and how we're executing. It's the way it is. You have to measure yourself every day. Are you improving every day? Are you getting better every day? Are you competing to be the best every day? You have to make improvement and this week is just the next step."

It's one thing to be mentioned in the same breath as some of the Nebraska Cornhuskers' great defensive linemen of the past.

Grant Wistrom. Rich Glover. Larry Jacobson. Neil Smith. Danny Noona. Kenny Walker. Jason Peter.

It's another thing altogether to leapfrog your name ahead of all of them. Yet that's position senior defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh finds himself in going into his final season in Lincoln.

Could he be? Will he be?

The 2010 NFL draft is still 51 weeks away, and yes, a whole lot will change during the 2009 college football season. But millions of us are obsessed with the NFL draft, so with the 2009 draft now behind us, let's take a very early look ahead at potential No. 1 overall pick Sam Bradford of Oklahoma, as well as the other top players in the Class of 2010.

FanHouse gathers around the TV to bring you insights from Bowl Season '08.

Onyx? Anthracite? Obsidian? Nothingness? Whatever they come up with, Nebraska needs to find a color beyond black and give its defense shirts in that color. After spotting Clemson an 11-point lead, Bo Pelini's Cornhuskers got huge help from their defense in the second half while the offense almost came to life.

Joe Ganz hit on two touchdowns early in the third quarter to pull within four points, but the Huskers couldn't find the end zone again. It didn't matter. The Nebraska defense had things so clogged up in the second half they could have been sponsored by Imodium. Dabo Swinney's crew couldn't even get into field goal range until it was too late to do them any good.

A lot of Blackshirts contributed to the win, but two in particular stood out. Defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh's name came up about every other play, with the other half of the plays being made by his linemate Ty Steinkuhler. The real game-ending play, however, came from sophomore cornerback Eric Hagg, who dropped Clemson quarterback Cullen Harper for a 16-yard loss on 2nd and goal with about two minutes left. Wayne Larrivee didn't broadcast this game, but he would've told you that was the dagger.