Chase Daniel on Saturday's attendance:
"It’s a great home field advantage. I love our stadium. I love playing there. But we need people to come out. We want people to come out. We’re ranked so high. Come out. You don’t see us very often. Come out. Come out. Come out. COME OUT!"
This isn't really news, but as always, College Football News is Mizzou's biggest fan, placing them at #4 in the country. All those years of backing Mizzou have finally begun to pay off for CFN...
Fran is being bought out...no he isn't...yes he is...no he isn't. "To be evaluated at the end of the season." As Mike Dearmond reports, there's a wee bit of uncertainty in the air in College Station. And in case you're interested, our ATM SBN counterpart, the 12th Manchild, posted a "state of the Aggies" report early this morning.
Tuesday means Media Day Quotes! From Tommy Chavis:
"I kept on going on and off the field finally realizing that I wasn't that tired. This was huge because the last couple weeks, the third down [defense] has not been that good. I usually get about eighty plays a game, and this one was about forty-five. I felt fresh the whole night like I had been in a scrimmage."
And from Gary Pinkel:
Once we got to November, we were where we wanted to be for the most part, we lost a close game to Oklahoma, but this is fun. This is exciting stuff to be able to prepare like this and have this opportunity...They've really accepted the challenge. I've got to give credit to the seniors. They're the one who got the ball rolling on this thing and their vision of what they wanted to accomplish their final season here at Missouri."
Speaking of that senior class, here's your official release for the MU-ATM game. Mizzou's senior class can finish with the most Mizzou wins in a four-year period, but they have to win out--as in, beat ATM, KSU, KU, OU, and win the bowl game--to do it. Something to shoot for, I guess.
Tuesday also means Like Father, Unlike Son! (Well, technically that's a Monday thing, but you know what I mean.)
Dave Matter reports on how the Big 12 is easily the most dominant team in the BCS at the moment. And in the "COME OUT!" link above, Matter discusses how Texas might ruin KU and MU's good times if they finish 10-2 and butt their way into BCS talk. I wouldn't be too pleased by that. Either way, it appears a January bowl is certainly within reach, but...I was talking to a buddy of mine yesterday, and it's funny how quickly we've gone from "How awesome would the Cotton Bowl be???" to "How much would the Cotton Bowl suck???" It happened in about a millisecond.
Looks like back-to-back 11:30 kickoffs for the Tigers.
I love the quote at the end of this "Mizzou Defense steps it up" article:
"I've always said to them that you can't cheat the game," Eberflus said. "However much they invest into this game is exactly what they're going to get out of it. If you put your heart and soul into it, you're going to see the fruits of your labor."
And your obligatory non-football link...
Despite limping home at the end of the regular season, Mizzou Soccer is rolling in the awards this morning. Bryan Blitz = Big 12 Coach of the Year. Alysha Bonnick = Rookie of the Year. Kristin Andrighetto = 1st-team All-Conference. A boatload of Tigers made the second-team and all-rookie team.