Mizzou Links, 10-14-09

Mizzou-OSU Links!

• Post-Dispatch: Mizzou feels depleted OSU is still formidable opponent

  Mizzou (4-1 overall, 0-1 Big 12) might face a less-daunting task than it first would have appeared when it plays at 8:15 p.m. Saturday at Oklahoma State (4-1, 1-0) — where the Tigers have won on their last four visits.
  
  But MU, of course, has matters of its own to resolve, from resuscitating a running game averaging 3.6 yards a carry to adding insulation to a defense that gave up 27 points in the fourth quarter in last week's 27-12 collapse against Nebraska.
  
  And OSU, which put the first dent in then-No. 4 MU's 2008 ambitions with a 28-23 win in Columbia, hardly is caving in — whether or not it gets reinforcements this week.

• The Missourian: Oklahoma State prepares for Missouri
• The Trib: Blaine Gabbert looks likely to play at Oklahoma State
• Tulsa World: Know The Foe: Missouri Tigers
• Palestra.net: Mizzou Learns Lessons From First Loss

Other Mizzou Football Links!

• Inside STL (Gabe Dearmond): Expectations interfering with rational thought

  Six weeks ago, if you'd asked any rational Tiger fan what he hoped this season would bring, eight wins would probably have made most of them pretty happy. Beat the teams you should beat, maybe pull an upset along the way, get to a solid bowl game and bring back just about the entire team for another big run in 2010 and 2011.
  
  Then the opening game happened.
  
  ...
  
  And suddenly, it seems eight wins would not be good enough. Oh, don't get me wrong, most Tiger fans now seem to think eight wins is the ceiling. To hear most of them talk (or read them type) it would be a wonder if Mizzou managed simply to gain a yard on the ground or win another game—ever.
  
  
  I don't write this to insult fans, though I'm sure it will come off this way. But how short are our memories?

• KC Star: Andrew Gachkar, Trey Hobson look out for each other at MU
• PowerMizzou: Tuesday's Top Tigers
• PowerMizzou: Top Ten Targets
• Inside Missouri Football: Dan Hoch, the Walking Calculator
• Inside Missouri Football: Chase Daniel Visits Columbia

Big 12 Links!

• Big 12 Sports.com: Big 12 Announces Bowl Agreements

  Bowl Game	Opponent
  Tostitos Fiesta and/or BCS National Championship Game
  AT&T Cotton	SEC
  Valero Alamo	Pac-10
  Insight	Big Ten
  Pacific Life Holiday	Pac-10
  Texas	Big Ten
  New York Yankees	Big East

• Dr. Saturday: Bradford's back, but how much of the Sooners' offensive sizzle does he bring with him?
  Palestra.net: Sam Bradford Returns, OU Gets Ready for Texas
  Daily Oklahoman: Bob Stoops favors occasional home-and-home for OU-Texas
  Crimson and Cream Machine: Can Dejuan Miller Lead Oklahoma's Receivers Against Texas
• Rock Chalk Talk: Kansas vs Colorado Team Analysis
  Topeka Capital-Journal: KU 'disappointed' in fans
  Denver Post: CU's Tyler Hansen reacts to possibly sharing playing time
• Double-T Nation: Matchups :: Nebraska Cornhuskers Edition
  Lincoln Journal-Star (Life in the Red): Suh pub picks up
• Topeka Capital-Journal: K-State QB shuffle continues
• Waco Tribune: No wiggle room as Baylor football faces must-win at Iowa State

Other Mizzou Links!

• MU Basketball
  Mizzourah: JYD Hits Beale Street
• MU Soccer
  MUtigers.com: Tasha Dittamore wins Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week
• MU Volleyball
  We Are Mizzou: Mizzou Volleyball "Can the Huskers" Food Drive
  The Missourian: Heart transplant enables longtime MU volleyball fan to give back (READ THIS STORY)
  

  Dodd began attending MU women’s volleyball matches in the 1980s and said she wasn’t prepared to stop because her heart was failing.

  "I’d start getting ready at 8 o’clock that morning," Dodd said. "It would take me the whole day to get my shoes on and get dressed. A person does not believe we can be in that situation. We shouldn’t take anything for granted because that could be us in the situation."

  Even though she watched from a wheelchair and had an oxygen mask over her mouth, as soon as a match started, Dodd turned into the same hollering fan she had always been.

  "I remember even us as players looking up at her like, ‘She needs to sit down,’ because it scared us," senior middle blocker Amanda Hantouli said. "We were just like, ‘Nellie, please don’t do anything stupid.'"

Anybody who has attended a single Mizzou volleyball game this decade will recognize Nellie--when The Beef ran a bus trip to the Women's Sweet Sixteen in 2001 (oh my god, that was eight years ago...UGH), she went on the trip despite the fact that she was obviously struggling.  I sometimes see her when I'm getting coffee at work, and she looks better every single time I see her, which is fantastic.  She is as true a Mizzou fan as there could ever be, and I'm really glad somebody wrote a story about her.

Other!

Finally...I'm not going to lie...I would eat this.