Well, as predicted perhaps by some as they were walking out of Faurot at about 10:30 p.m. (give or take when your crush of people finally cleared), the sun did in fact rise on Sunday...and again this morning.  The podcast does tend to put my thoughts on the game out there in front of this piece, but I still have some other thoughts to get out there, along with the weekly recap which saw the Volleyball team play pretty well but come up empty and the soccer team look to move to the top of the conference.  How did it all go?  Let's find out.

Football:

As I (just) stated, not much left for me to put out there on football.  Quite the opportunity for the Tigers this coming weekend (one which I will not get to see thanks to a wedding reception) to reassert themselves in the national picture against the #1 Longhorns.  In the mean time, I suppose all that is left to say is that this team had not learned or knew or faced everything like perhaps some (or many) of us thought.  Cue the "Redemption Song" I guess :-)

A couple of things on the "experience" of this past Saturday.  First off, what a picture perfect day for tailgating and enjoying the fall season.  Games on the radio, great food and drink, great friends and just a wonderful way to spend a day.  Hell, even after the game it was still quite bearable to be outside to wait for the insane traffic to clear.  However, one thing which has annoyed me to no end so far was how Jeff Wolfert was completely ignored by the Athletic Department upon his breaking a pretty damn important record

That there would be no announcement in a sold-out stadium about how a walk-on former diver had broken the all-time scoring record, previously held by another great in Brad Smith, is difficult for me to swallow.  It robbed Wolfert of the recognition he so richly deserved and even if it is done at the next game, the game and time and moment has come and gone and it will look nothing more like an attempt to cover the mistake.  Shame on you Athletic Department...you typically do better than that with matters like this and you completely dropped the ball on honoring someone who has been one of the most important players on this team for the past three seasons.

Volleyball:

Honestly, the team did not play all that poorly this past week....however, they just had to go against two ranked teams.  They started on Wednesday evening at k-State and eventually fell to the Wildcats 3-1.  The Tigers came out very strong on the #16 rated Cats and took the first set from them 25-23.  They would go on to lose the next three sets in a row by a total of 8 points (25-22, 25-23, 25-22) in about the closest way possible.  Team hit .222 for the game, and was led by Catie Wilson who had 12 kills on .385 hitting.  She was joined in double figures by Wendy Wang and Amanda Hantouli with 10 kills each.  Julianna Klein just missed with nine kills (Megan Wilson had nine as well), but also had a team-high (tied with Caitlyn Vann) 19 digs.

The team returned home Sunday afternoon in front of over 3.000 to take on the #2 Huskers, once again on Fox Sports Midwest.  The Tigers came out very strong again (and as they typically do against NU at home, but ended up falling in straight sets 25-20, 25-21, 25-18.  On the match, the Tigers hit only .165, but did hit .324 in that first set.  The team was led by Julianna Klein who had 16 kills on .256 hitting, and she was the only Tiger in double digits.  Four Tigers were in double figures in digs, paced by 14 from freshman Annie Lopez.  The block continues to be a weak-point for this team, as they only combined for three team blocks, with no solo blocks.

Coming up this week...BORDER SHOWDOWN POINTS ARE ON THE LINE!!  The Tigers will once again be on Fox Sports this coming Wednesday as they take on kU at home on Wednesday.  kU is 2-5 in conference play, the same as the Tigers, and 8-8 on the season (the Tigers are 8-9).  This weekend, or Friday to be exact, the Tigers will then travel down to Austin to take on the 12-2 Longhorns.  It does not seem to get any easier for the squad desparately in need of some wins.

Soccer:

The Tigers traveled down to Oklahoma this past weekend for two matches against their Sooner State conference mates. Friday night found the Tigers in Norman taking on the Sooners, and beating them quickly 2-0.  Sophomore Alysha Bonnick got on the board early for Mizzou, scoring her 5th goal of the season in the 8th minute off  an assist from junior Meghan Pfeiffer.  The Tigers would not rest for long before putting up their second tally, the 4th goal of the season from junior Michelle Collins in the 12th minute, and that would be that.  Tasha Dittamore would earn another shutout and the Tigers came away with their 4th conference win and 9th overall.

Sunday saw them in a much tougher match-up, this time in Stillwater against the Cowgirls.  Mizzou would once again come flying out of the gate, as Bonnick would notch her 6th tally of the season from junior Kristin Andrighetto in the 13th minute.  The Tigers would score again even quicker this time, in just over two minutes later as Andrighetto would add her 6th, with the assist coming from Collins to make the score 2-0.  That would hold through the rest of the 1st half and into the 2nd before Okie State would break on the board in the 55th minute.  Making it 2-1, the Tigers tried to hang on, but Okie State was dominating the action and would tie the game in the 71st minute.  The game would move to OT and not last much longer past that, as about a minute and a half in, the Cowgirls would end it and send the Tigers home the owner of a very disappointing 3-2 OT loss, their 2nd such conference road loss of the season (the other coming against NU, they also fell in OT to Illinois in out of conference action)

A strange weekend coming up for the ladies, as they go back outside the conference one last time to take on Francis Marion.  Yes...that is the name of a school...look it up.  That match will be Friday night in Columbia.  Sunday will see the ladies travel down to College Station to take on conference powerhouse aTm, who is 4-0-1 in Big XII action (Mizzou is 4-2).  That match is the last road game the Tigers will have, as their final three matches will all be home affairs in a strange scheduling quirk.

Softball:

The softball team finished their fall season, which is done a little different than the baseball team, who simply scrimmages against themselves.  The ladies are able to take on other squads, and the Tigers looked to many local JUCO's for some experience.  Last week the ladies took games 7-0 against Jefferson County CC and 4-2 against Crowder CC, and this week squared off against Three Rivers CC and Johnson County CC.  They took the first game against Three Rivers 7-0, as frosh Chelsea Thomas K'ed six in four innings while allowing only one hit.  Jana Hainey pitched the final three frames and gave up only one additional hit.  The Tigers had only five hits and three RBI's on the day, but sophomore Marla Schweisberger had two of those hits and one of those RBI's on the day.  The win moved the Tigers to 5-0 in fall action.

The final game of their short season, against JoCo CC would find the Tigers finishing the fall on a pretty high note, taking care of JCCC 22-0.  Chelsea Thomas proved her use at the dish in this game with a grand slam, and fellow frosh Kristin Nottlemann went the first four innings and gave up only one hit.  Stacy Delaney, the senior who will be the starter most of this season, came on to strike out six in the last few innings.  The Tigers finished the fall going 6-0 and outscoring their opponents by a combined score of 69-2.  The fall gave Thomas and Nottlemann some important time to start working which could certainly help this season, but more importantly as the Tigers continue to build their program down the road.

Men's Golf:

The Tigers were in action early last week in Illinois at the Windon Memorial, where they would take 8th place (though in front of Colorado who was the only other Big XII team in the tournament).  Senior Peter Malnati continued his torrid fall by carding another top-10 finish with a three round Even.  Senior Ryne Fisher would also finish in the top-30 with a +6, and sophomore Will Hogan would finish two back of that.  Rounding out the team would be sophomores Chris Johnson and Will Harrold with +21 and +22 respectively.

Up next for the golfers will be the Austin Peay Intercollegiate on Oct. 20th and 21st.  The team will also be in action in the East Tennessee Intercollegiate later that same week to round out their fall schedule.

Women's Golf:

A somewhat uncharacteristict fair outing by junior Julia Potter lead the Tigers this past week to a 6th place finish down in Lubbock at the McHaney/Morehead Invitational.  They placed 5th of the 7 Big XII schools involved in the action, but Potter's opening round 83 (her other two rounds were 77 and 71 by comparison) did not allow the Tigers to get off to a great start.  She did (obviously) come back to finish 13th in the tournament, and was joined by senior Chelsea Schreiwer with a matching finish.  Junior Michelle Morgan found 18th two shots back, while freshman Hannah Lovelock and sophomore Lindsay Haupt completed the team scoring.  Madison Marcolla also participated in the tournament, but her score was not counted towards the team.

Coming up next for the ladies will be a trip down to Las Cruces, NM the next three days at the Price's Give 'Em Five Intercollegiate.  That will be followed by a trip out to Vegas Baby Vegas at the end of the month to complete their fall schedule.

Random Thoughts:

• Good for you Atlanta Falcons...fun to see them winning some games with a young team and Matt Ryan....who I did not think would be nearly this good...especially this fast.
• And how bad would it have sucked if Richie Incognito's ridiculous penalty at the end of the game had cost them their first win.  Good thing Brown bailed them out.
• I dont know that it was terribly pretty, but nice to see the Jets just take care of business against a team they should beat.  Also nice to see Thomas Jones scoring some TD's after the season he suffered through last year.
• With two 2-1 wins to start the season, Marty Brodeur is now at 540 wins, 11 back of Patrick Roy
• However, it would not surprise me for him to go for the record at home in the beautiful new Prudential Center (AKA: The Rock) and for the game not to be sold out.  No idea what it is about (local) Devil fans...but they just do not show up to much.  The home opener was not a sell-out.
• Great finishes all over the NFL this weekend, loved the finish in Arizona.
• Getting interesting in Happy Valley.  The Lions need to really exorcise the demon which has been Michigan this coming week before a big showdown in a couple of weeks in Columbus.