On a day that featured two teams expected to get in an old-fashioned shootout, the Tigers took care of business at home, "mauling" (via ESPN) Cap'n Mike Leach and his Pirates Red Raiders, 41-10. Game recaps can be found here and here.
It was a long day for the Heisman hopefuls...
With the Tigers still in control of their Big 12 North destiny, there are many handshakes to be passed around in this week's rendition of Good, Bad, and Indifferent.
Click "Full Story" for Good, Bad, and Indifferent
GOOD:
-- Jimmy "JJ" Jackson: JJ did not finish with the most rushing yards (that honor belonged to Derrick Washington, who had a solid day), but his vision and commitment to hitting the holes was exactly what Missouri needed against a Texas Tech defense full of holes. His three touchdown day should make the post-Temple future look that much brighter.
-- Chase "Y-Button" Coffman: On a rather quiet day for Missouri pass catchers, Coffman came up big both as a receiver and as a blocker. (Nickname note: Coffman's commitment to hurdling EVERY defender leads us to call him "Y-Button," the Xbox button used to hurdle)
-- Martin "T-Ruck" Rucker: Everything listed above (minus the Y-Button remarks) applies to Rucker as well, even though the "MotherRucker" formation was not at its best (my apologies to MizzouRobot).
-- The ENTIRE Mizzou defense: Just because they continue to amaze in conference play, I'm going to go ahead and break it down...
-- D-Line: Chavis, Sulak, Hood, Williams and Gaines played well against a large Tech offensive line. The rush kept Graham Harrell off-balance, and the large amount of stunting was an outstanding way to try to exploit that large but somewhat slow O-line. And for the second-straight year against Tech, a Mizzou D-lineman returned a Harrell pick for a touchdown, setting the tone for another dominating Tiger victory.
-- Linebacker Corps: Weatherspoon, Christopher, and Alexander played a large role in holding Tech to negative rushing yards, and, more importantly, did an excellent job in coverage and in pursuit, wrapping up Tech receivers and making sure the YAC yardage remained low.
-- Pig Brown's defense: Our beloved Pig finished with 14 tackles, two break-ups, a pick, and several thunderous hits on Red Raider wideouts.
-- Coaching: The defensive scheme was outstanding, the offensive playcalling took what the Tech defense was giving, and the players seemed confident and motivated entering the game. The defensive blitzing put hands in passing lanes and bodies towards Harrell. The offense felt no need to force the pass, especially in the second half. And the fake punt call on the first drive set the tone for the rest of the game. And compared to some of the calls Leach made on the other sideline, Pinkel is looking golden right now.
BAD
-- Kickoff coverage: Adam Crossett was not bad kicking off, but the coverage unit continues to be suspect. Edward Britton was a block shy of some HUGE returns on several occasions. The team got away with it today, but players like K-State's Jordy Nelson may not be as forgiving.
-- Pig Brown's offense: 3 of Tech's ten points had no business being on the board. Pig had visions of another touchdown return (a la Illinois game) and failed to protect the football, coughing up an intercepted pass to Danny Amendola for a Tech first down, giving the Red Raiders the chance for Alex Trlica to put three on the board towards the end of the first half.
-- The wave: Allow me to direct you to http://www.rockmnation.com/story/200... diary, which I think sums it up...
INDIFFERENT
-- Chase Daniel: Chase wasn't great by any stretch of the imagination, but luckily, he didn't have to be. His stats (14-19, 210 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT) were indicative of a rather slow passing day and were helped by the late 57-yard touchdown pass to Jeremy Maclin. At times, Daniel looked indecisive (although that's somewhat to be expected against a Cover-4), and the interception in the endzone could have hurt far worse than it did. But Daniel did what he had to do to get his team the win.
-- Crowd: Starting to realize the Nebraska-game atmosphere was just lightning in a bottle...
So, what do you say, members of Rock M Nation, or, for that matter, Double T Nation? Feel free to add your thoughts below or in your own diary on the right.