A Few Thoughts to Close out the 2009 Football Season
by dcrockett17 on Jan 1, 2010 3:55 PM CST
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I have gotten over the Texas Bowl loss to college football's equivalent of Dick Bennett's 1990s Wisconsin-Green Bay teams more quickly than I anticipated. Clearly, this was not the Fighting Pinkels' finest hour but this bowl game was the difference between a solid retool-on-the-fly season and a we-don't-rebuild-we-reload season. I'll take the former and like it. An 8 win season was exactly what I predicted.
I'm sure (?) Bill will have more on this game so I won't sweat the details other than to say coaching decisions aside, we brought our B game. It wasn't good enough. Instead of reliving it, I'd rather offer a few thoughts on next season.
Things that get me excited:
1. Blaine Gabbert. This just in from the Bryan Burwell School of the Obvious, Blaine Gabbert is already pretty good. Wow, I have to keep reminding myself when this kid does something wrong that he was a first year starter. I already expect so much from him. As well as he played overall, he played in peaks and valleys--from series-to-series and game-to-game. This is precisely what we should expect from a first year starter. So, not surprisingly, in his first bowl game against one of the nation's most unorthodox teams he was a bit rusty from the layoff, a bit flustered by environment, and hella indecisive. Again, I have to keep reminding myself that this should NOT have surprised me. That says a lot about what he has a chance to accomplish in a Tiger uniform.
2. Aldon Smith. Mmmm... yeah. Just think about what this kid can accomplish at Missouri. He has all off-season to work on a countermove.
3. The Defense. Yes. The defense. Most of the two-deep will return. We asked for notable improvement over last year and we got it. We took a clear step forward this season, especially against the run, as frustrating as it was to watch us bend to the point of breaking at times. Spoon will be missed, but the LB corps remains in good hands. The secondary has the talent to be good. Not many secondaries so young defend the pass well. The kids just need to play together longer. We also need to remember that this was coach Stec's first year. He will continue to put his stamp on this defense, but I have to say I hope it comes with schemes to create more disruption and negative offensive plays.
Things that trouble me:
1. Kickoff coverage. Sometimes kickoff coverage varies from season to season. Not at Missouri. It has been a consistent blind spot of the coaching staff. Although the staff has been phenomenal at finding and coaching up placekickers but has not found anyone who can consistently kick the ball into the end zone. Additionally, I wonder if Missouri perhaps privileges downfield speed too much over tackling ability.
2. The offensive line. Who would have thought coming into this season that the offensive line would be so up and down--even downright terrible at times? It played better as the season progressed, especially keeping Gabs upright. However, the line struggled mightily against the blitz--lowlighted by Navy's unprecedented success on blitzes. The only anticipated personnel loss is Kurtis Gregory. Gregory made second team all-conference In a not-very-good year for guards, but I think he is replaceable. The offensive line should be a strength heading into next season, but it should have been really good this season but wasn't. If this season proves anything it is that sometimes offensive lines don't gel the way you think they should. As a consequence I have no idea what to expect going forward.
3. The running backs. Where were the explosive plays? D Wash was solid but looked like a guy coming off a knee injury. Outside a few drives here and there, most notably against KU and KSU, the first guy almost always brought him down or slowed him. Moore was good at times but wildly inconsistent. When healthy, Gabs was arguably Mizzou's most effective runner. The running game was modestly successful, but it just should have been better. Everyone is back. Missouri's running game should be among the best in the Big 12. I really cannot point to anything schematic to explain why it wasn't. Just like with the offensive line, as a consequence I have no idea what to expect going forward.
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positives and opportunities for me
Blaine Gabbert and his progression has to be considered a positive. Hell, I think the bowl game will motivate him just that much more in the off-season considering how he performed at times in the bowl game. I think a healthy off-season will see him making better decisions and working on getting through all of his progressions
I think our depth at WR has to be considered a positive, but it is a bit of a double-edged sword.
The level of athleticism continues to increase with each recruiting class, and that should continue. Also, the press of a top-20 recruiting class will continue to bolster the coaches’ efforts in that regard.
We have a lot of experience returning on the offense as it pertains to the running game. However, I think the competition could be interesting as to who gets what amount of carries.
Opportunities for me will be increasing the level of athleticism ON THE FIELD, and especially on the defense. We continue to get better athletes, but that side of the ball trailed the offense by a decent amount this season and in season’s past.
The maturation/emergence of the WR’s. We saw flashes this year to open and close the season from Wes Kemp. We see good work from J. Jackson, especially towards the end of the season. We even saw some playing time for Rolandis Woodland by the end of the year. But who is going to become our go-to and who is going to fill out the WR corps? Will we see a re-emergence of Andrew Jones from what was expected out of him to start the 2009 season? TJ Moe…how will he be used? Jaleel Clark/L Washington/K Stricker all red-shirted…who is ready to step up? And the newbies, who among them will be field ready?
The lines…yes…I have some concerns on the lines. I have less of a concern on the offensive line since we have a lot of starts and playing time returning. However, this unit needs to step up its game and the consistency with which they play. On the defense, I am concerned about everyone not named Aldon Smith. Jacquies disappeared to me at times this year. And what are we going to get out of our DL’s in the middle? Some solid performers in there would certainly open the line up to getting better pressure on the QB, which is something our defense was really lacking at times and what made our secondary look as bad as perceived.
Next year is also going to be a tough year for the coaches I believe. For a reason I have yet to comprehend, the level of entitlement of some Mizzou fans has risen to where some I saw were seriously calling for the head of Pinkel after this past bowl game. Needless to say, 8 wins NEXT year is likely to cause that line of thinking to become more and more common (and perhaps valid).
"Write a wise saying and your name will live forever." - Anonymous
Rock M Nation
I've said all year
that I think this is a rebuilding year and we should have high expectations for 2010 and 2011. I think in the long term, losing in this manner will motivate this team in the off-season and grind this axe all season next year. I think GP takes some time with Yost and shows uses it as a teaching experience within the coaching staff.
Regarding individual positions, I don’t think it’s fair to the top rated class in this history of rating classes to judge what they’ll do before they even put on pads. I think we’ll get a real good idea where the leadership is going to come from in spring drills.
I expected somewhere between 6 and 9 wins this year and that’s what I got…I understood from the beginning that we had 1) a sophomore quarterback with all the expectations in the world and expecting him to live up to the standards of Brad Smith and Chase Daniel 2) a smaller Senior class that meant that they had been at Mizzou during some great years, but it meant that the bulk of the team were underclassmen. 3) the first year of this “new era” at Mizzou…after the 2008 season we had to replace: Daniel, Maclin, Coffman, Wolfert, Hood and a host of other fantastic Seniors, Dave Christensen and Matt Eberflus, the end of the Aaron O’Neal memories, end of handshakes after touchdowns….the 2009 team was about creating a new identity and building upon this for future years.
I think alot of people began to have outlandish expectations following an easy win against Illinois. I think that had it been a clear night instead of a monsoon against Nebraska, we might have won that game and end up with a great record.
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