Nebraska's Randy Gregory Hopes He Can Take Out Scheelhaase

I know that Nathan Scheelhaase has a lot on his mind heading into Saturday's Big Ten opener against Nebraska, but here's something else he may want to take special note of.

Nebraska defensive end Randy Gregory is hoping to knock Scheelhaase out of the game. He told the Omaha World Herald as much.

"If I get a clean shot on him, maybe I can take him out," Gregory said. "Maybe I shouldn't say that. But I always think about things like that, but in the back of my mind I have to remember: He's a mobile quarterback."

Gregory's right. Maybe he shouldn't say things like that publicly, but to be honest with you, I'm not upset that he did. He's a defensive end. Getting that shot on a quarterback is what a defensive end dreams of, so it's not exactly a shock to hear one expressing his desire to knock a quarterback out of the game.

And protecting Scheelhaase against this Nebraska defense will be key for the Illini. The good news is that Nebraska has a sack rate of 3.64% so far this season, which is actually lower than Illinois' 4.17% (the Illini offensive line has a sacks allowed rate of 4.95% this season). And we all know how non-existent the Illini pass rush has been so far this year.

Randy Gregory only has 0.5 sacks for the Cornhuskers this season, and Avery Moss actually leads the team with 2.5.

So if Gregory is actually going to make good on his "threat" than he's going to have to play a lot better than he has been.

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