Since rptgwb thinks doing work for the Dallas Morning News takes precedent over a blog (the nerve!), I'm filling in on GB&I this week...let's go through it as I watch Jamaal Charles fall just short of setting the national 'rushing yards in a quarter' record...

Good

7-1.  It was a letdown game by all means, but 7-1 is 7-1, and we control our own destiny once again.

Chase Daniel.  Fifteen straight completions is never a bad thing.

Two-minute drill.  Or should I say, 15-second drill.  Gotta love our ability to score at the end of the first half, no matter how much time is left on the clock.

Running backs.  Temple, Jackson, and Washington combined for 16 carries, 82 yards (and 2 catches, 16 yards).  Any time our RB's average 5+ yards per carry, I like our chances.  They phased Temple back in slowly, and they got away with it because Jimmy Jackson continues to impress.

Bad

Pig Brown.  Obviously the list has to start here.  When your defensive catalyst goes down before contact, and when he tries to get up and falls back down like he was shot, and when your backup QB sees him on the sideline and kneels down to pray for 30-45 seconds...yeah, you know he's done for the year.  And as ZouDave just had to point out, it's the second straight year we've lost our defensive catalyst to a freak injury in the 8th game of the season, at home, in an overall easy win that made us 7-1 on the season (and yes, it was 14 points, but it was never in doubt).  I've been high on Del Howard for a while, and now it's time for a) Howard and Jason Garrett to fill Pig's shoes play-wise, and b) Lorenzo Williams, or Sean Weatherspoon, or William Moore, or somebody to fill his shoes leadership-wise.  This was Pig's defense, and lots of people have to step up.  I think they can, but he played the 'safety valve' role so well this year, and there's no question that our defense is some degree worse now.

Crowd.  Apparently our defense has the same energy level as the crowd around it.  Not a problem against NU or Tech at home, and not a problem against OU on the road, but it's a problem when your fanbase decides to take a week off and your defense follows suit.  53,386 is HORRID.  I don't care if Iowa State sucks.  It's a late-October conference game, and Mizzou still has the world to play for this year...and we drew 10K less than last week.

Time of Possession.  Iowa State played a dangerous game today...constantly relying on getting 5.5 yards on 3rd-and-5 and never ever ever trying to get big chunks of yards at once.  I can remember one attempted deep ball, and one moderate-to-deep ball broken up by Del Howard, and that's about it.  Alexander Robinson busted a couple nice runs on super-short-yardage downs, and power to him for that, but the gameplan was dink, dunk, screen, screen, screen.  It was like they weren't even trying to win in the second half, they were just trying to keep it close.  No matter what, though, Mizzou's D was unable to get them off the field, and they wore down after a while.  They outgained us by 23 yards--it took them 22 extra plays to do it, but they did it, and power to them.  ISU's definitely limited-but-improving, and they played well today.  Our D did not...on 3rd downs, at least.

Indifferent

Will Franklin and Chase Coffman.  Not in the gameplan today, apparently.  Weren't needed, but were really nowhere to be found.  Chase was on the bench quite a bit, especially early, and we were baselessly speculating that he might have some minor injury.  Franklin was still noticeable with his blocking a few times, but...yeah, let's just say that it's not every day that Jason Ray has more catches than Franklin and Coffman combined.  And by 'not every day', I mean 'inconceivable'.

Recruiting.  No, Blaine Gabbert did not commit today (though I guess Kip Edwards did).  And with the pathetic crowd on hand (not to mention the mediocre performance), we were joking that Bryce Givens was probably asking Gabbert what the big deal was about Mizzou.  I highly doubt that's the case, but this certainly wasn't the best weekend for any big recruits to be on hand.

That's good enough for now...thoughts from the gallery on this one?