Certainly the most interesting article from the last 24 hours is this Trib link about the Mizzou secondary's communication issues during the KU game.

Sophomore cornerback Carl Gettis recalled a number of instances against KU where one or two players missed the defensive play call from the sideline and teammates. Other times, said cornerback Castine Bridges, the wrong play was signaled.

"For some reason, we slacked off," said Bridges, who suffered a season-ending torn medial colateral ligament in the game. "Some guys were playing the wrong calls. Some guys were calling Cover 2 instead of Cover 3."

Jackson wondered if some players were too caught up in the rivalry’s intensity to persistently concentrate on the game’s mental side.

"For a couple of plays, we would be communicating, and then after that, I’d look at" safety Justin "Garrett and he wasn’t even looking at me," Jackson said. "So everyone was really just trying to make sure they were doing their job. It’s against Kansas. A lot of emotions are flying. We were just really wanting to win, and it was hard to focus in on the call each different play."

How did that work out?

"It seemed like every time we didn’t get a call, that’s when a big play came," he said. "We’re going to have to do a better job."

The good news, of course, is that the two people in the article who seemed to be the most together were a sophomore (Gettis) and a freshman (Jackson), but...yeah, might want to get that hammered out.  I hear OU's, uhh, not too bad at passing the ball.

OU Links!

• KC Star: Oklahoma provides a head game for Missouri
• KC Star: Maclin's return game in spotlight
• Post-Dispatch: Maclin ready to expose Oklahoma's weakness on kick return defense
• Dave Matter: Writer's Block (a Q&A with Jake Trotter of the Daily Oklahoman)
• PowerMizzou: Three Keys to a Tiger victory (First key on the list: score a lot.  You know, that's just crazy enough to work...)
• Tulsa World: Sooners' success speaks for itself
• The Missourian: MU football hopes to overcome history, #4 Oklahoma
• The Missourian: Tigers push optimistic message for Oklahoma game
• Daily Oklahoman: Bradford to have 8am surgery following title game
  
• Daily Oklahoman: Bob Stoops' Big 12 championship history
  
• Daily Oklahoman: Will Tigers have any advantage?

Also regarding the OU game...the Missourian mentions one reason for Mizzou hope: 2003 KANSAS STATE!!!!!!!  Just know where you heard that first.

Nothing earth-shattering in this article, but the P-D has a nice summary of the Big 12 Championship's history of upsets...

Also nothing earth-shattering here, but...man, I'm going to miss the "Isn't Chase Coffman amazing?" articles.  We've only got a month left with him...

Finally, there aren't a lot of new names or anything, but check out Mizzou's status with a lot of recruits in this week's Chamber...

...we can add another Winter tradition to the list: Mizzou tight ends getting screwed over by the Big 12 coaches.

That's right, the Coaches' All-Big 12 awards have been announced.

1st-Team Mizzou players

WR Jeremy Maclin
DL Ziggy Hood
LB Sean Weatherspoon
DB William Moore (unanimous)
PK Jeff Wolfert

2nd-Team Mizzou players

RB Derrick Washington
TE Chase Coffman
OL Kurtis Gregory
DL Stryker Sulak

Honorable Mention

QB Chase Daniel
WR Tommy Saunders
OL Tim Barnes
OL Colin Brown
DL Jaron Baston
LB Brock Christopher
DB Castine Bridges (?)
DB Justin Garrett (??)
KR/PR Jeremy Maclin

I realize it's hard to complain too much--a few years ago, it was amazing to see a handful of second-teamers in Mizzou uniforms, much less nine on the 1st- and 2nd-team--and I realize that Jermaine Gresham is by all means a helluva tight end, but...come on.  Not only is Chase Coffman the best tight end in the conference, he's the best tight end I've ever seen.

Then again, this tells you everything you need to know about the validity of these stupid exercises:

* Justin Garrett = honorable mention all-conference
* Carl Gettis = not

Good god, what a waste of time.  Sorry I even acknowledged this with a post.

34 wins and counting (most ever for a 4-year span at Mizzou, and they're not done yet).

A 12-win season (first ever).

A New Year's Day bowl (first one since four months after Woodstock...the original Woodstock).

A Heisman finalist (first one since before there was a big Heisman ceremony).

A Top 5 finish (the first since…1960, I think?)

This senior class is, quite simply, the greatest senior class to ever play for Missouri.  And because of that, I'd like to take a moment to thank each senior.

--

Van Alexander – for coming back from 116 injuries.

Mack Breed – for sticking it out all five years…and for having an awesome name.

Castine Bridges – for that one-handed, spinning INT in last year's Kansas game.

Colin Brown – for walking on and kicking butt.

Adam Casey and Zach Milligan – for sacrificing a few years for free.

Tommy Chavis – for being extremely underrated.  And for stuffing James Johnson on 4th down in 2006.

Brock Christopher – for intercepting Robert Griffin.

Chase Coffman – for, naturally, thrusting the nunchuk upward.  Oh yeah, and for being the greatest tight end I've ever seen.

Chase Daniel – for simply being the greatest QB in Mizzou History.

Justin Garrett – for hitting really hard (ask Dez Bryant just how hard).

Earl Goldsmith – for scratching out every single yard possible.  And for being named Earl.

Ziggy Hood – for making sure we didn't miss Lorenzo Williams too much.  And for being named Ziggy.

Jimmy Jackson – for being the best bowling ball since Zack Abron.  And for being the "kid from Caruthersville."

Ryan Madison – for starting so long without any fanfare whatsoever.

William Moore – for intercepting Todd Reesing…and Graham Harrell...and Casey Dick...and Eddie McGee...and just about every other QB on the schedule in 2007.  And for driving that awesome car.

Chase Patton – for being the ultimate team player.

Steve Redmond – for sticking around after such a tough setback (injury in senior year).

Tommy Saunders – for being Tommy Saunders.  For bleeding, sweating and crying black and gold.  And for having that awesome hair.

Stryer Sulak – for making sure we didn't miss Brian Smith too much.  And, you guessed it, for being named Stryker.

Jeff Wolfert – for simply being the most accurate kicker of all-time.

And finally...

Aaron O'Neal – for being the driving spirit behind this program's turnaround.  If only you'd been around to see it.

1 - In preparation of the most emotional Senior Day EVER at Mizzou, what is your favorite unsung moment (i.e. not just "beating Kansas at Arrowhead", but something not everybody thinks or talks about) involving this year's Mizzou senior class?  Doug, if you want you can just say "Chase Daniel eating boogers."

2 - If NU beats Kansas and Missouri beats KSU and ISU, the North title is Missouri's before Armageddon at Arrowhead II even takes place.  How likely is this?

3 - Quick: one reason Missouri fans should be scared of the KSU game.

4 - Big 12 picks!

* Kansas State at Missouri
* Kansas at Nebraska
* Oklahoma State at Texas Tech
* Oklahoma at Texas A&M
* Baylor at Texas
* Iowa State at Colorado

5 - Finally, who will be Kansas State's head coach in 2009?

Continue reading this post »

So as I was entering play-by-play data yesterday, I had an extra spring in my step.  I was very curious what the BTBS data would say about this game...how it would explain the whole "outgained them, broke even on turnovers...still lost at home" thing.  Well...now I'm wishing I hadn't looked at this...wishing I had just skipped right over the BTBS piece this week.  Mizzou dominated in almost every statistical category except one: Passing Downs.  You know that whole concept of "leverage" that I've been pushing recently?  If you haven't hopped on board the Leverage train yet, you might want to do so now, as Leverage cost Mizzou an undefeated record.

• So Missouri outgained OSU in terms of yards and EqPts...
• They split in turnover margin...
• They out-leveraged them (in terms of how many Passing Downs they forced)...
• They won the field-position battle...
• They dominated the OSU O-line in terms of line yards (OSU was averaging over 3.6 line yards per carry)...
• They didn't miss their season S&P average by much...
• They held OSU to what was by far their lowest S&P of the season...
• And they lost.  Because they were absolutely horrific on Passing Downs.
• There were 6 turnovers in the game, and almost all of them were relatively huge.  Mizzou's were worth 4.68 points (Danario trips and falls), 5.89 points (Daniel bombs it to nobody in particular), and 4.37 points (Lavine steps in front of Maclin).  OSU's were worth 6.13 points (Baston recovers fumble at end of half), 3.66 points (Bridges INT) and 4.28 points (Moore sticks Bryant, Gettis recovers).  Any one of those doesn't happen, and the result is probably significantly different.
• Finally, I can't say enough about how well OSU tackled.  They were fast, and they didn't miss.  That was the biggest reason they held Mizzou to 0.40 Points Per Play.

More analysis after the jump.

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Alright, a few OSU links, and then we wash our hands of this game.

• The Trib: Hell on horseback
• The Trib: Tigers, experts never saw this loss coming
• PowerMizzou: Sunday Grade Card
• KC Star: MU, Daniel can still regroup and reach their goals

And as always, Dave Matter empties the notebook...

Missouri’s defense gave up three big plays, but the D didn’t lose this game. MU held Oklahoma State to 130 yards and 24 points below its season averages, made some clutch stops in the second half, forced two takeaways and put the ball in Daniel’s hands to deliver the comeback. Nose tackle Jaron Baston followed up his first sack last week with a strong game in the trenches; Castine Bridges and Carl Gettis came up with a few big plays; and William Moore, Hardy Ricks and Sean Weatherspoon made some timely tackles. Simply put, the standard for which defenses should be judged in the Big 12 has changed over the last few years, and the Tigers’ D did enough to win Saturday’s game.

And now...moving on...to Texas links!

• KC Star: Daniel, McCoy have had role reversal heading into matchup
• Austin American-Statesman: Missouri has golden opportunity against UT
• Austin American-Statesman: He may be Horns' 'other' coordinator, but Davis is working magic
• Dallas Morning News: Plenty of work remains for No. 1 Texas

Football recruiting news: a couple of JUCO defenders visited Mizzou this weekend and came away quite impressed.  One (Joshua Tatum) was a big-time recruit out of high school--signed with USC--and has offers from some major programs.  The other (Jarrell Harrison) appears to be a comple and total sleeper recruit--signed with UNLV out of high school.  Meanwhile, the Post-Dispatch tells us that Texas is where the talent is.  Good to know.

Finally, just in case you thought this weekend's crappiness was limited to football...Mizzou Volleyball played alright but got swept at home by Nebraska yesterday (more from the Missourian), and Mizzou Soccer lost to Oklahoma State in OT (more from the Missourian).  Good times.

I forgot today was Wednesday (it's been that kind of week), but ZouDave came through with Roundtable questions.  Hoooorraaaaaay, ZouDave!

1 - On a scale of 1-14, with 1 being "not even a little" and 14 being "Jenna Haze on Ecstasy", how bad does Mediacom's service suck in the Columbia area?

2 - Which was it, a bad game from Mizzou or a good game from Buffalo?

3 - Now that your team's non-conference schedule is complete (see what I did there, Doug?), what are you most happy about? What are you most concerned with?

4 - It's a bye week. What will you be doing on Saturday in place of watching your favorite team?

5 - Big 12 picks!

Colorado at Florida State
Louisiana-Lafayette at Kansas State
Virginia Tech at Nebraska
TCU at Oklahoma
Troy at Oklahoma State
Army at Texas A&M

Continue reading this post »

We're trying out a couple of new figures today...please try to contain your excitement...

* Field Position % = an attempt to get at the field position battle.  This basically says that there were a total of 74 plays run in opponents' field position, and Mizzou ran 63.5% of them (47) to Buffalo's 36.5% (27).

** Leverage % = the % of a team's total plays that were Non-Passing Downs.  Mizzou ran 74 total plays, and 61 of them were Non-Passing Downs.  61/74 = 82.4%.  The higher the number, the better an offense was at staying out of Passing Downs and awkward situations.

So what do these numbers tell us?  Basically the same thing that our eyes did--that Mizzou statistically dominated, but Buffalo was good at a) holding onto the ball (75 plays was more than I thought they ran...especially considering how generally unsuccessful they were) and b) ripping the ball out of Mizzou's hands.  Kenji Jackson's game-ending INT helped Mizzou in the Turnover Points Margin, but in the end turnovers kept the Fightin' Turner Gills in the game.

One thing our eyes may not have seen was just how unsuccessful Buffalo was at running the ball.  They had some success with the toss sweeps at times, but let's just say that anytime Mizzou allows a 0.400 S&P on the ground, I'll take it.  Buffalo was just good enough at passing to move the chains, but their lack of big-play potential (sans the one long TD on the double-move) killed them.  To beat Mizzou you have to a) force turnovers and b) put up as many easy points as possible.  Buffalo succeeded at (a), but not at (b), and that's why they still lost by 21.

One more thing: a 67.6% success rate is just sick.  To date, Mizzou's been both efficient and explosive.  Buffalo tackled wonderfully, and that limited Mizzou's explosiveness (even Mizzou's biggest gain--the bomb to Tommy Saunders--was shorter than it could have been because of good tackling), but they could do nothing to Mizzou's efficiency.  Efficiency was why Tim Tebow ran away with the Heisman last year, and it's why Chase Daniel is threatening to do the same (though granted, we're only one-third through the regular season).

Continue reading this post »

It's Thursday, so you know what that means...BTBS Day!!  At some point in the season, I'll be able to start using 2008 '+' numbers, but the +'s need quite a decent sample size to be even remotely accurate, so for now I'm still going with the "2007 #'s + adjustments" method.

Mizzou-Nevada Projections

Mizzou Rushing

• 2007 Mizzou Rushing Offense EqPts+: 178.77
• Nevada Rushing Defense EqPts/Gm: 10.78
• Projection #1: 19.27
• Nevada Rushing Defense EqPts+: 132.50
• 2007 Mizzou Rushing Offense EqPts/Gm: 16.21
• Projection #2: 12.23

Avg Projected Mizzou Rushing Output: 15.75

Adjusted for 2008: 19.00 (Washington > Temple in my eyes, and if Nevada sells out to stop the pass, look out.)

Mizzou Passing

• 2007 Mizzou Passing Offense EqPts+: 149.55
  
• Nevada Passing Defense EqPts/Gm: 11.41
• Projection #1: 17.06
  
• Nevada Passing Defense EqPts+: 126.17
• 2007 Mizzou Passing Offense EqPts/Gm: 18.40
• Projection #2: 14.58
  

Avg Projected Mizzou Passing Output: 15.82

Adjusted for 2008: 19.00 (Mizzou's offense is harder to stop than Texas Tech because of both the running game and the use of tight ends.  Tech may have a Jeremy Maclin equivalent--okay, better--in Michael Crabtree, but they don't have a Chase Coffman equivalent.)

Nevada Rushing

• Nevada Rushing Offense EqPts+: 133.67
• 2007 Mizzou Rushing Defense EqPts/Gm: 8.29
• Projection #1: 11.08
• 2007 Mizzou Rushing Defense EqPts+: 151.97
• Nevada Rushing Offense EqPts/Gm: 14.49
• Projection #2: 9.53
  

Projected Nevada Rushing Output: 10.31

Adjusted for 2008: 7.00 (So far, Mizzou's been sturdy against the run, and combined with the loss of Luke Lippincott, UNR should find it hard to move the ball on the ground.)

Nevada Passing

• Nevada Passing Offense EqPts+: 126.17
• 2007 Mizzou Passing Defense EqPts/Gm: 12.14
• Projection #1: 15.32
• 2007 Mizzou Passing Defense EqPts+: 141.07
• Nevada Passing Offense EqPts/Gm: 12.58
• Projection #2: 8.92

Projected Nevada Passing Output: 12.12

Adjusted for 2008: 14.00 (Nevada's passing game is inconsistent, but pretty decent at the deep ball.  Until Mizzou slows down a passing game, we have to give the edge to the opponent here.)

--

Projected EqPts Score: Missouri 38, Nevada 21

Home Field Adjustment (+~3 for home, -~3 for road): Missouri 41, Nevada 17

Continue reading this post »

We're back with Week Two of the Postgame Podcast.  This time with twice the content!  Listen to rptgwb, The Beef, Uribe Auction, and me talk about Mizzou's take-the-foot-off-the-gas-25-minutes-in 52-3 win over SEMO!