I was watching the Oklahoma game off and on. I haven't had the time to sit down and watch it in depth. What I don't remember seeing is a bunch of blitzing, I am sure there was more than I saw, but the goal appeared to be to make OU drive the length of the field and sit in a zone look. I think we gave up in the range of 3-5 plays of over 20 yards and none over 25 yards. Not awesome, but not horrible either.
I guess I see the defense playing a little more bend but don't break simply because the offense isn't operating at a high rate of speed either.
I think Nebraska can slow down Walker and the running game. I think OU has better athletes at WR and TE than Michigan St does. Michigan St is not going to spread you out with 4 and 5 WR sets like OU did, so there will be more guys closer to the LOS for the defense. I believe that Nebraska has an edge in the offensive passing game vs the MSU defense and with Betts, Manning Toure and possibly Martin, there is probably more difference makers than what Miami had at WR and I like our TE much better than I like Mallory and Arrojo at Miami.
The other thing that is overlooked, by a lot of people, is that the Michigan St - Miami games was 24-17 with 8 minutes to go after Miami kicked a FG. At that point Miami already had 3 turnovers and were still in the game. Then Michigan St scored on an 8 play drive where Miami gave up a 24 yard run the QB Thorne on 3rd and 6 where they were in man coverage, Michigan St converted a 4th and 1 at the Miami 40, then on the next play, a 39 pass play to Nailor, again in man coverage with a single high safety. I just don't expect Nebraska to play a whole lot of cover 1.
I believe this is a winnable game if there aren't unforced penalties and we don't lose the turnover margin by more than 1.