Mizzou Links, 8-19-08

Then there is Gary Pinkel.

In his eight years as head coach, Big 12 watchers have seen Pinkel do more than his share of overcoaching and bonehead decision-making.

But it’s time to give him some credit. While covering 15 Missouri games in the past four seasons, I’ve seen him learn from his mistakes — often the hard way, but at least he wasn’t too stubborn to take heed.

Pinkel has listened more to his assistant coaches. He has lightened up with his players. And on game day, he seems to have come closer to hitting his stride with sound play-calling and fewer “what the heck was that” moves.

Temple was quietly a big part of that offense

Yes. In November. He was hurt in October, and his backups produced at roughly the same level that he would have. I likened Temple to the way a boxer tries to end a round strong to steal the round. Temple was fabulous in November and beyond, solid in October, and decent in September. If we can have somebody who produces at a solid level all year, our offense will be just as well off.

Their schedule is a bit soft (I’d be embarrassed if that were Tulane’s ooc slate, let alone an aspiring national power)

We play two bowl teams, one at a neutral site. We have what is being considered one of the top 4-5 non-conference games in the country to start the season. Granted, it’s not the typical Colorado non-con slate, but let’s not overstate things here.

if your honest, a key reason they’re in the top ten in the major polls as much as anything

Correct. It has nothing to do with their 12 wins last year, which included wins over two BCS bowl teams (both on neutral sites) and complete dismantlings of teams like Texas Tech (we beat them by 31 at home, but they’re “somewhere in the mix” with us in the conference) and Colorado (we beat them by 45 in Boulder, where they had just beaten OU and lost to KU by only 5). We played the team who beat glorious LSU, and we beat them by 31. In games not involving BCS bowl teams (Illinois, KU, OU), we won by an average of 43.4 to 18.5…while everybody else in the country was losing to those types of teams, we never took a week off. We return a Heisman finalist at QB. We return a preseason All-American at WR and a preseason All-American at TE. We return a majority of our starting OL’s. We return 10 starters off of a defense that, while maybe not as good as LSU’s or Ohio State’s, is easily in the Top 3 of the second-best conference in the country. We return an All-American kick/punt returner. We return a kicker who has never missed a kick in Big 12 play in two years.

But we’re just ranked high because of our weak schedule that only includes three Top 20 opponents (and a fourth if we win the North).

I mean no disrespect, I just wanted to hear your justification. This is the beauty of the BlogPoll: accountability.

The number one answer for Missouri’s poor showing vis-à-vis everyone else is, candidly, probably I’m ignorant of Mizzou true power!

I’m not sure if that’s supposed to come off as sarcasm, but if I remember correctly, I didn’t go over to your site to incite anything, I’m just interested in hearing an opinion that, at this point in time, is an extreme outlier.

Re: Temple’s departure, I echo everything The Boy said before me. Temple was an outstanding back when he forced himself to be. Everything coming out of the Missouri program indicates that the Tigers could very well be better without Temple. We’re not ignorant as to say Temple’s contributions won’t be missed, but I think the average Mizzou fan is far from worried about the position.

The defense is simply pedestrian when compared to potential Top Ten peers.

I’ll allow this based on the numbers, even though defensive statistics in the Big 12 are more inflated than Mangino. But, let me note this: You drop Mizzou from the Top 10 partially based on its “pedestrian” defense, but you still justify Texas Tech at No. 8?

Their schedule is a bit soft

Team A plays Illinois, SE Missouri St., Nevada, and Buffalo. Team B plays Eastern Washington, Nevada, SMU, and Massachusetts. Team A is Missouri, your No. 19 team. Team B is Texas Tech, your No. 8 team.

[The soft schedule is] a key reason they’re in the top ten in the major polls as much as anything- and BlogPoll asks us to discount that.

Yes, but the BlogPoll directions also specifically ask the voters to discount the schedule, not just how it affects the AP voting. If you think Missouri is legitimately the 19th best team in the country, that’s fine, just as long as you’re not punishing Mizzou for what you call a weak schedule. A weak schedule that includes teams that you ranked as 10th, 14th and 15th best in the entire country. If you want to call a spade a spade and just come out and say you’re punishing us for not being in the SEC, then go ahead and say it. The only way Missouri will get to prove itself against pro-SEC people is to show up, much like they did on New Years last year when all of those people were back on the road to the Southeast with 12 minutes left in the Cotton Bowl. You know, the Cotton Bowl where Mizzou embarrassed the team that 39 days earlier defeated the future National Champions*, the champions of the omnipotent, omnipresent superpower conference selected by God and his people SEC.