Who: No. 11 Missouri Tigers (5-1, 1-1) at No. 1 Texas Longhorns (6-0, 2-0)
Where: Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium (Capacity 94,113)
When: 7:00 p.m. CDT
Line: Texas by 5.0
VS. |
Radio: Tiger Radio Network (Mike "To The House" Kelly, John Kadlec, Chris Gervino)
TV: ABC HD (Brent Musberger, Kirk Herbstreit, Lisa Salters)
Weather: Hourly Forecast
Online trackers: CSTV, ESPN
Texas Online: Burnt Orange Nation
Make Rock M Nation your base of operations tonight and weigh in with your predictions, questions, worries, bold statements and observations by signing up for a free account. Before the season began, this date was circled as the game that would likely define the Tigers' season. After last week's disappointment, that statement rings even truer. Does Texas live up to its No. 1 ranking, or can the Tigers vault themselves back into the national picture with a road win in Austin?
Fight Tigers... Rock, Flag and Eagle!
Today's preparation music comes to you via the greatness of Van Halen:
"Dont wanna wait til tomorrow,
Why put it off another day?
One more walk through problems,
Built up, and stand in our way.
One step ahead, one step behind me,
Now you gotta run to get even.
Make future plans, dont dream about yesterday, hey,
C'mon, turn, turn this thing around
Right now"
MU-UT LIVE BLOG
6:59 - Bad news, everybody. In the past, our most dominating road efforts have coincided with kitchen disasters in the Boy household. No such luck tonight. The chili and cheddar biscuits went flawlessly. So we've got one more handicap through which we must persevere.
7:00 - Hello, Brent Musburger!!! It's on!!
7:02 - "#11 Missouri Tigers". Ugh. It hasn't been that long, but I've really enjoyed having only the single digit by our name for the last 8-9 games or so.
7:03 - Nothing says football like Kenny Chesney and Joe Walsh. Uh huh.
7:07 - I've been bouncing back and forth between "WE'RE GONNA BEAT 'EM" and "I don't have a good feeling about this" by the second. I was actually almost getting cocky about the whole season until right before kickoff last week. This team needs to build back the cockiness in me.
7:12 - This is why I could never be a big-time football coach. I wouldn't be able to come up with anything as cheesy as Mack Brown's "Bury the OU gameball" gesture.
7:13 - Brent apparently hasn't paid attention to Mizzou in the last two years. He's making a big deal out of Mizzou winning the toss and taking the ball. Um, we've done that for over two straight years now...
7:14 - Kickoff! Jeremy Maclin busts loose for 40+ yards on the return. Good.
7:15 - Roy Miller runs over Ryan Madison and blows Maclin up on a reverse. Bad.
7:15 - Is "Calls Chase Daniel 'Chase Daniels'" officially part of the Musberger drinking game now? If so, DRINK.
7:16 - Three and out for Mizzou. Awesome.
7:17 - Jeff Wolfert with a rugby kick that bounces OVER the punt returners head and is downed at the five. Nice. Special teams are our friend so far.
7:17 - Mizzou going for a big hit early, but Chris Ogbonnaya is too patient for that. Nice gain gets UT out near the 20.
7:18 - Two plays, two short (and successful) passes for UT. This is how they beat OU (more or less).
7:20 - Third-and-2 for UT from their 38. First big defensive play of the game, but...you're supposed to convert a 3rd-and-2.
7:20 - And they convert by about two inches.
7:21 - Another 3rd down, but it's 3rd-and-1. We're giving up too much on first downs.
7:22 - And they convert by about two inches. At the current rate, this drive is going to go 95 yards on about 30 plays.
7:23 - Late hit on Brian Coulter. Why's he on the field exactly?
7:24 - Nice run for Vondrell McGee, and Texas is about to complete their 95-yard driive.
7:24 - TD, Texas. 7-0. You know what? I'm okay with this so far. We'll catch up with their dinky-dunk stuff. When they go deep once they think they've lulled us to sleep--that's what concerns me. And how our offensive line plays concerns me more.
7:29 - Texas avoids Maclin on the kickoff, and Earl Goldsmith, wearing #25, calls fair catch. Okay. He could have at least gotten 5-7 yards, but I guess that doesn't make much difference. Another TV timeout? Really?
7:31 - First down pass dropped by Jared Perry. Come the hell on, guys.
7:32 - Third-and-5 for Mizzou. We're halfway through Q1, and we've already reached a HUGE play. And Maclin comes through with a nice gain. Whew.
7:33 - Texas blitzes, and Daniel dumps to Maclin for 4. That's fine.
7:34 - False start on Colin Brown. Sigh. COME THE HELL ON, GUYS.
7:35 - Third-and-10 for Mizzou, and the pocket collapses quickly on Chase. Sigh again. It appears last year's problems have made the offense tight. Gonna be a long night if that doesn't change.
7:35 - Lefty rugby punt by Jake Harry, and it works too. Without special teams, we'd already be down 21-0. And we may still be soon enough.
7:38 - Derek Jeter and Roger Clemens are on Texas' sideline right now. If that's not enough to convince the Sports God to let Mizzou win, I don't know what is.
7:39 - Third-and-6 for Texas from their 22. First manageable third down for Mizzou. Would behoove the defense to cut this drive off now.
7:40 - Mizzou with a RIDICULOUSLY STUPID blitz, and McCoy with a quick pass for 40 yards. I was screaming "NOOOO" before the ball was even snapped.
7:41 - Timeout, Texas. Punts and TV timeouts are the only thing keeping us in this game.
7:43 - Tommy Chavis with a nice pass deflection, and we almost had a pick six. Instead, it's 3rd-and-7 for UT. DON'T BLITZ 17 GUYS FROM THE RIGHT SIDE THIS TIME.
7:44 - First down.
7:45 - Touchdown. Oy. 14-0.
7:47 - Another pooch kickoff. One guy calls for fair catch, but another guy catches it and tries to run with it. Guess that's not allowed.
7:47 - No gain for Derrick Washington, and it's already third down. I can't even work up the energy to say this is a huge play, but...yeah...
7:48 - First down, Maclin. That guy's good. Nevermind. Pass interference on Chase Coffman for tripping over a guy. What a freaking terrible call. I am so pissed off right now. That was ridiculous. A guy jumps in your way while you're running a route, and you get called for a penalty? If you didn't really see what happened, maybe you shouldn't be throwing a flag, huh? Is there a single good ref in the Big 12?
7:50 - Mizzou to punt. So pissed right now. They're up 14-0. They don't need the B.S. home cooking.
7:55 - Third-and-1 for UT from the MU 34 after a punt and a quick nine yards on 1st down. Again, too many damn yards on 1st down.
7:56 - First down.
7:57 - Ziggy Hood blows up the middle of the UT line, and Colt is sacked. First truly good defensive play for Mizzou. 2nd-and-20 at the MU 40.
7:57 - Third-and-12. Needless to say, Mizzou cannot allow a conversion here.
7:57 - Wow. TD, Malcom Williams (who?). That was great defense too. We had it double-covered, and Williams just outjumped both guys. They earned that one. 21-0.
8:02 - Wow. Chase Daniel just telegraphed a pass and almost got it pick-sixed. The entire team is in a massive funk.
8:03 - Another deflection, and I'm wondering when I should stop doing the play-by-play. This could be the last play. 3rd-and-10.
8:04 - Sack. And I'm done. See you when there's another TD.
8:09 - 28-0. That didn't take long.
8:11 - Our new reference point: 2003 K-State. They had national title aspirations, lived through a midseason losing streak and embarrassing loss (theirs was a tight loss to a bad team--Marshall), and came back to win the North and upset an unbeatable team in the Big 12 title game. I will now cram this narrative down the throat of every person near me.
8:17 - This is like talking to the pitcher during a no-hitter, but Mizzou's actually mounting a drive here. Jimmy Jackson showing some senior leadership and running hard.
8:19 - It's a Jerrell Jackson sighting! Mizzou to the UT 8.
8:20 - SWEET JESUS. GIVE US A GODDAMN CALL! IF IT’S PASS INTERFERENCE ON COFFMAN WHEN SOMEBODY JUMPS IN FRONT OF HIM, IT’S PASS INTERFERENCE ON THE DEFENSE WHEN SOMEBODY TRIPS COFFMAN.
8:21 - TD, Danario Alexander on 4th down, but I'm pretty sure he stepped out of bounds. It was very, very close, but I'm sure it will get overturned. Actually, even if he were clearly inbounds, I'm sure it would get overturned. I'm that bitter.
8:23 - Overturned. Yup.
8:28 - Sigh. Colt McCoy is stripped in the backfield, but it bounces right back into his hands, and he finds an open receiver. It's bad enough to get so badly outplayed, but do they have to get every call and every bounce too?
8:29 - 35-0. Bad play + bad bounces + bad calls + UT in an unbelievable groove = blowout. The next 30 minutes of this game are completely and totally about us finding a rhythm with which to play the next five games. We're going to be one game out of the Big 12 North lead, but we have no confidence, no swagger, no nothing.
8:32 - 2003 KANSAS STATE. 2003 KANSAS STATE. 2003 KANSAS STATE. 2003 KANSAS STATE. 2003 KANSAS STATE. 2003 KANSAS STATE. 2003 KANSAS STATE. 2003 KANSAS STATE. 2003 KANSAS STATE. 2003 KANSAS STATE. 2003 KANSAS STATE. 2003 KANSAS STATE. 2003 KANSAS STATE. 2003 KANSAS STATE. 2003 KANSAS STATE. 2003 KANSAS STATE. 2003 KANSAS STATE. 2003 KANSAS STATE. 2003 KANSAS STATE. 2003 KANSAS STATE. 2003 KANSAS STATE. 2003 KANSAS STATE. 2003 KANSAS STATE. 2003 KANSAS STATE
8:35 - Huh. I took a long pee and fixed myself a drink, and now Mizzou's kicking a FG with 0:01 left? Okay.
8:36 - Wolfert's FG is good, and it's 35-3 at half. Guess that's better than 35-0. And it's going to be huge when Chase Daniel turns into Frank Reich in the second half. That's right, I said it.
8:55 - Second half about to start. Alright, let's think as rationally as possible about this. There were two goals heading into this season: National Title, Big 12 Title. The first goal is clearly shot. But the second one is still very much within reach. The Big 12 North right now looks shittier than we thought it did two weeks ago, and we're one game out of the lead. The most important thing in the world right now is for Mizzou to get pissed off, find wherever they misplaced their swagger almost exactly seven days ago, and beat the everliving shit out of Colorado next Saturday. That can happen whether or not Mizzou plays well in the second half, but I'd say it's at least 1% more likely with a nice effort here, so let's see what happens.
8:59 - Okay, two big plays by the Mizzou defense, and it's 3rd-and-17 for Texas. Apparently Mizzou thought the game had a 9pm kickoff.
9:00 - Texas to punt! WOOHOO!!!!
9:03 - Holy crap! A pass interference call on Texas! First penalty of the night on Texas.
9:04 - Third-and-7 for Mizzou from the UT 37. Complete to Coffman. I'm pretty sure I'm going to look at the box score tonight and be shocked when I see that Coffman had like 23 catches for 200 yards or something.
9:06 - TD, Derrick Washington. Yup. We thought the game started at 9pm. Go for two! Or not. 35-10.
9:11 - Another nice hit on the kickoff. Mizzou has come to play now...which I guess is better than never. Sort of. And it's assured that this game is going to last until about 1am.
9:13 - I'll say this much: UT's receivers have much better hands than I thought they did. They've made a lot of catches with a Mizzou DB's arms entangled with theirs. And UT's driving again. It was a nice 5 minutes though.
9:16 - Stryker Sulak with a nice pass deflection to force a 3rd-and-7 at Mizzou's 21. But McCoy zips a nice pass in, and it's first-and-goal.
9:17 - I disagree, Kirk. You don't "have to enjoy this, whether you're a Texas fan or not." You really don't.
9:18 - TD, Colt. 42-10. I guess the transitive property does indeed apply here. If they scored 45 points on OU's defense, then they naturally should have been expected to score about 55-60 against ours.
9:21 - 2003 KANSAS STATE. 2003 KANSAS STATE. 2003 KANSAS STATE. 2003 KANSAS STATE. 2003 KANSAS STATE. 2003 KANSAS STATE. 2003 KANSAS STATE. 2003 KANSAS STATE.
9:22 - Really? Another pooch kick? You're up by 32! Really? Another TV timeout? Nobody's still watching this anyway...
9:26 - Really? Texas' defenders are whining because they wanted offensive pass interference on Chase Coffman? Cry me a river.
9:28 - TD, Chase Coffman. I'm serious. He's going to end up with 23 catches. 42-17.
9:32 - Oh goodie, Tommy Chavis is limping off the field.
9:34 - On to the 4th quarter. WE'RE WINNING THE SECOND HALF. 2003 KANSAS STATE. 2003 KANSAS STATE. 2003 KANSAS STATE. 2003 KANSAS STATE. 2003 KANSAS STATE. 2003 KANSAS STATE
9:37 - I was going to point out how much this was resembling the 2006 Nebraska game, but then I looked it up and realized that we lost to Iowa State the next week. So this is NOTHING like the 2006 Nebraska game. Not even 1%.
9:39 - So we just stopped the game for about a minute to not review a call. That's a new one.
9:40 - Texas to punt! FRANK REICH!!!!!!1!! Or not.
9:43 - After a holding penalty backs them up, Chase Daniel avoids a safety in the endzone and throws it away...to a wide open Texas DB. Ryan Madison got absolutely ROASTED by Brian Orakpo. I mean, abused. Torched. Defeated. Conquered. Vanquished. Whipped. Slaughtered. Demolished. Clobbered.
9:47 - TD, Texas. 49-17. Texas ties up the second half score. It was nice while it lasted.
9:54 - Huh. Jeremy Maclin just tried to break a tackle, and the UT defender almost slapped the figure-four on him.
9:55 - And just because...
9:56 - Coffman with another catch. Somehow that's only 10 catches for 100 yards. Could have sworn it was more. Still time to get to 23.
9:56 - TD, Jared Perry. 49-24. WE'RE WINNING THE SECOND HALF AGAIN!!! 2003 KANSAS STATE!!!! 2003 KANSAS STATE!!!! 2003 KANSAS STATE!!!! 2003 KANSAS STATE!!!
10:02 - Are you kidding me? Colt McCoy went 29-for-32? God. And I mean...the Mizzou defense wasn't good tonight, but we still tried a large variety of things against him, and he had the answer for each one of them.
10:06 - Wow. John Chiles completes a bomb to Dan Buckner for a TD. Not sure why they were throwing deep, but whatever. I guess some of our starters are still in, so it's fair game. 56-24.
10:10 - Brent, no matter how many times you tell me Life On Mars is a great cop show, I'm not going to believe you. So please just stop.
10:11 - THRUST NUNCHUK UPWARD. WOW. I mean, a) I don’t know why he’s still in the game, and b) it was wasted in a blowout, but that was the best nunchuk thrust ever.
10:12 - TD, Chase Daniel. I think. Yup, TD. 56-31. A massive scrum broke out in the endzone afterward, which was kind of fun. It might not look too good that we're getting feisty while getting blown out, but you know what? Whatever it takes to get the attitude back. Now get the rest of the starters out before someone gets hurt.
10:13 - Best ref call ever: "Off-setting personal fouls. Both teams. Try."
10:17 - Getting VERY chippy out there. Almost as chippy as the RMN open thread when politics came up. Seriously, get the starters out of there.
10:21 - Justin Garrett comes up gimpy. GET THE STARTERS OUT OF THERE.
10:21 - Ballgame. This was fun. Yup. Fun. That's the word.