mixed feelings
by Wooderson on Dec 5, 2008 3:29 PM CST
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Print(Promoted to the front page because it is, after all, Front Page Friday.)
after last week's terd at arrowhead, this week I've been trying to figure out how I feel about this year's team. i generally stay pretty positive and avoid the urge to cliff-jump, but that crap was hard to take.
i had originally planned to go to the game as part of my annual pilgrimage across kansas from colorado, but my cousin's high school team was playing in the state final in st louis so we went there instead. i'm glad now since i would've been plenty mad in kc and my cousin's team won. good choice even if it did add 4+ hours of driving thru 'wintry mix' to our trip.
going into last week, i had the feeling that we would come out flat and ku would be jacked up. so the close game didn't really surprise me, but i didn't think we would actually lose. while i'm always optimistic that mu will play well, the lack of defensive awareness on this squad is extremely frustrating. too many times this year, we've had the opportunity to make a play at a crucial moment and had it backfire. willy mo dropping an easy int last week is a good example. for the most part they do a good job against the run and *at times* can generate a decent pass rush. it would be nice if every now and then one of our blitzers wasn't swallowed up by the scrum and actually touched the qb. the defensive backfield has looked sketchy all year, like 4 individuals instead of a team. i don't necessarily think its scheme problem, but there are definitely some communication and responsibility issues with that group, which ultimately falls on the coaches.
offensively, i guess there's not a whole lot to bitch about, but daniel is a bit squirrelly back there sometimes. i think he has a tendency to let the really good teams get in his head at times. i would love to see us run the ball more (especially on 2nd down) as i'm a big fan of washington. the one thing that drives me nuts is throwing to the deep sidelines on 3rd down. i actually do like most of the screens we run, because the usually work and set up the deep ball.
i tried to keep my expectations for this season under control for the most part, probably to keep from being too devastated when things don't work out. i doubted that we could beat texas and wouldn't have been surprised to lose another (maybe illinois or nebraska or osu). so 10-2/11-1 was what i was looking for. 9-3 and losing to ku is definitely a disappointment. however, being one of 2 teams with the opportunity to be big 12 champs is pretty flipping cool if you ask me. based on my expectations before last season, we are doing wonderfully and i should just shut my stupid pie-hole with the complaining. its not hard to remember how crappy we were for so long.
anyway, nothing earth shattering here. just thought i would share some of the thoughts i've had this week. i hope we can win tomorrow, but even if we don't i'll still be proud of our team and coaches for even getting there.
ps- i know i shouldn't do this, but i'm actually starting to care about the bball team again. they have at least moved past the unwatchable stage and are now fairly entertaining and easy to cheer for.
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Dude, I was there 88-92...
end of the Woodybone Era and start of the Stull Era. Those were dark days. As fans we don’t have much to complain about. Next year when Chase Daniel is gone, we may take a step back toward the competition in the Big 12 North, but if we’re honest about where our program is we’d have to say we’re on the right track.
We’re just on the outside of the small set of elite teams in college football, looking in. But we’re also probably only a handful of recruits from getting into that group. At the same time, we’re not nearly so far ahead of the various floatsam and jetsam of college football that we—as fans—can take anything for granted. 9-3 is a disappointment, but in my opinion still every bit as good as Texas Tech. That’s hardly an indictment of where the program is going. The only thing that truly went wrong this year is that our secondary never gelled, for whatever reason. Sometimes it just doesn’t happen, and just as often there’s no real explanation. We’re frustrated as fans because we are still in brand new territory for this program. We kinda think progress is linear—we should be a little better than last year. Of course the truth is that progress comes in fits and starts. (Think about the disappointing losses OU teams have suffered over Stoops’s career.)
As fans, we’re a bit like Uma Thurman in Kill Bill, Vol. 2. When she goes to kill Lucy Lu. Lu’s character, surrounded by dozens of her Crazy 88s gang, says to Thurman, “You didn’t really think you’d just waltz in here and kill me that easy” (or something like that). Thurman goes, “You know, for a minute—I kinda did.” Silly rabbit.
You, and I’m sure all of us, realize intellectually that you don’t just turn around a moribund program and then it’s all shits and giggles into the BCS. But it’s something else entirely to live through the process of building a very good program—the envy of a lot of schools—and still having to take your medicine along the way.
We’ll most likely be taking some medicine against OU on Saturday, but my hope is that we continue to set ourselves up for getting to that next stage.
And yeah… I wish we’d ask Chase Daniel to do less by running the ball with Derrick Washington, particularly in the absence of a 100% Chase Coffman to move the chains.
"Those who fear disorder more than injustice inevitably produce more of both." -- Rev. William Coffin
yeah...except that was Kill BIll Vol 1....not 2
"Write a wise saying and your name will live forever." - Anonymous
Rock M Nation
oops
"Those who fear disorder more than injustice inevitably produce more of both." -- Rev. William Coffin
I, too, suffered during the 88-92 era
I attended Missouri from 88 until graduation in 92. I remember very well when Bob Stull came to town and we all thought Keifer would bring Mizzou a bowl game. I remember in ‘91 when Mizzou started 3-2-1 only to collapse at the end. And I watched from afar as Stull was removed and Smith came in, had two hopeful seasons with Corby under center, only to fade back to obscurity as Mizzou always had since Warren Powers was shown the door.
Pinkel has done a wonderful job of resurrecting this program into what it is today. Perhaps 2009 will be a dip, but maybe it’ll be a jump to greater things? (Remember, Tennessee won the national title in 1998, the year AFTER Peyton Manning left Knoxville with a kid by the name of Tee Martin taking the snaps). I remain blindly optimistic that we’ve yet to see the best from this program, even with Chase Daniel leaving – after all, I’m a Missouri Tiger fan.
"Wherever you go, there you are" - Buckaroo Bonzai
Were you at the 5th down game?
I’ll NEVER forget that. EVER.
Fans literally chased the officials off the field.
"Those who fear disorder more than injustice inevitably produce more of both." -- Rev. William Coffin
“At the same time, we’re not nearly so far ahead of the various floatsam and jetsam of college football that we—as fans—can take anything for granted.”
—-
I meant “we—as fans—CAN’T take anything for granted.”
"Those who fear disorder more than injustice inevitably produce more of both." -- Rev. William Coffin
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