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Mizzou Links, 10-20-11

By Bill Connelly

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Now would be a good time for E.J. Gaines to have a career day.
Now would be a good time for E.J. Gaines to have a career day.

Lots of good stuff today. With a big football game, conference realignment, and now the beginning of basketball season (and a basketball commit) to discuss, we are not lacking for topics.

Mizzou Football Links

My BTBS preview will come at some point today, but below, Dave Matter touches on the most important stat of the game. OSU has been, at times, gashed by the run. And they have yet to face as successful a run game as Missouri's. If Mizzou can dictate the style and tempo of the game, they will give themselves a very good shot. (And if E.J. Gaines and the Mizzou secondary turn into All-Americans, that won't hurt either.)

  • OSU
    The Trib (Dave Matter): Behind the Numbers: Cowboy Up

    Cowboys rush defense
    OSU is 80th nationally against the run, nothing special, especially when you factor all those sacks into the numbers. The Cowboys last four opponents have gone over 150 rushing yards and averaged 228 yards on the ground. Tulsa's Ja'Terian Douglas ran for 173 yards and 14.4 per carry against OSU, and teammate Trey Watts added 159 yards. Texas A&M didn't run much against the Cowboys, but tailback Christine Michael averaged more than 10 yards per carry in limited action. Texas freshman Malcolm Brown had his most productive game against OSU, picking up 135 yards and two TDs while averaging 7.1 yards per carry.

    Young's defense has been more vulnerable against the run on the road, giving up 252.7 yards per game and 5.6 per carry, compared to 100.7 and 3.0 at home. … Opponents average 5.1 yards per carry against OSU on first down and 5.8 in the third quarter, their best quarter split against the Cowboys. … OSU has already given up 11 runs of 20 yards or more, after allowing only 10 all of last season.

  • We Can Only Hope That OSU Is Looking Past Mizzou As Badly As The Daily Oklahoman Is
    Daily Oklahoman: A Bedlam so big it needs a nickname
    Daily Oklahoman: Ranking the most-hyped Bedlam games in history
  • QB No. 1
    SB Nation (Kansas City): Missouri Tigers Progress Report: Quarterback James Franklin On Track For Greatness
  • This Guy Better Have A Great Game
    The Trib: E.J. Gaines eager for challenge of Cowboys
  • Yep, Good Stuff
    Wall Street Journal: What's the Dirtiest College Football Rivalry?
  • Mailbags
    PowerMizzou: 2011 Tiger Mailbag
  • Recruiting
    PowerMizzou: Ifedi ready for playoff push
  • In Case You Didn't See This Play, It's Michael Egnew's Most Rucker-esque Run
    We Are Mizzou: Offensive Play of the Week

Other Football Links

MIZZOUEXPANSIONAPALOOZA™ 2011

Of course, when I finish my BTBS preview, I'm going to be nervous about hitting the Publish button because I will fear that the moment I do, there will be some sort of announcement from the Curators about the SEC. From what I've read, my guess is we don't hear anything from them until this evening at the latest ... so I guess that means I should finish BTBS this morning, huh?

  • Curator Watch
    KC Star: No action yet on realignment as MU curators begin meeting in KC
    The Missourian: UM Curators likely to discuss next step in conference realignment
    Post-Dispatch: MU vote regarding SEC expected soon
  • Mizzou Is Probably Leaving Soon ... Should They?
    The Trib (Commentary): SEC is wrong for Missouri
    Omaha World-Herald (Tom Shatel)    : M-I-Z, S-E-C, Y-E-S

    I’m a son of the Big Eight Conference. Grew up in KC. I was raised on the Big Eight Holiday tournament, then post-season shindig starting in 1977. I saw Kim Anderson and Jim Kennedy fly over the press table against KU, saw Stan Ray take down K-State, Derrick Chievous and Lee Coward take on everyone. That tournament, in that town, is one of the great events in college sports. I’ve never been to the Big East shindig at MSG, but I can’t see how it could be better, more passionate, more electric than when the sparks that fly when MU-KSU-KU get together.

    Mizzou heads south and that tourney changes, even if it stays. All of MU’s old Big Eight rivalries/series are gone. Probably even with Kansas, the border war that goes back to the Civil War. All that history is history. I don’t take it lightly. I understand the significance. [...]

    1. If you turn it down, you’re betting your future that the Big 12 stays together. What has recent history taught us? Texas and Oklahoma hold the league together. Texas will do whatever is best for Texas. So will OU. You can’t trust Texas. And now you can’t trust Oklahoma. Just last month, OU was gone. Leaving. If the Pac-12 had bit its lip on the Longhorn Network, there would be no Big 12 today. The Pac-12′s last-minute stonewall doesn’t change that. Things could change in a year, three years. It happens. OU could leave again. So could Texas. [...]

    That’s my opinion. But if you’re Missouri, do you really trust your future on Texas and Oklahoma saying they’re staying put?

    Answer: If KU, K-State or Iowa State could leave, they’d do it.

    Post-Dispatch: Mizzou's sports spending is small compared to most SEC schools

    The $53.2 million Mizzou spent on sports in 2009-10 — the most recent time frame available — would have ranked 10th in the SEC. Although athletics director Mike Alden said in June that the budget is now close to $65 million, that would place Mizzou 11th in the SEC after factoring in Texas A&M, which will be moving from the Big 12 to the SEC next season.

    "They would be going from a conference where they're competitive financially to a conference where they're in the lower half, without question,'' said Dan Kuester, a Missouri alum who teaches sports economics at Kansas State. "Does the rising tide lift all ships over time? This realignment stuff is so recent that it's hard to say what's definitely going to happen. It's not going to be immediate. Some schools have built-in advantages." [...]

    Although Mizzou is one of just 22 Football Bowl Subdivision schools whose athletics department is in the black, the opportunity for a growing revenue stream is important.

    "I don't think it's that much different than the pros," said Phil Miller, a Missouri alum and expert on sports economics at the University of Minnesota-Mankato. "You've got to somehow bring in the best players and best coaches. You need nice facilities and coaches who can get them ready for the NFL. And all that stuff takes money."

    Post-Dispatch: Financial fit?
  • Because I'm Not Sure Where Else To Put This...
    The Trib: MU's growth is tops in the Big 12, AAU
  • Big 12
    KBIA Sports Extra: Realignment soap opera leaves Big 12 coaches at odds
    Dallas Morning News: Realignment a reminder to Big 12 basketball coaches how little influence they have
  • Big East
    CBS Sports: For Big East, realignment overshadows basketball
    Chicago Tribune: Big East: Realignment leaves many in Big East fretful
  • Playoff? PLAYOFF?
    AZCentral.com: Mountain West Conference proposes 16-team college football play

    The Mountain West plan would make it easier for champions of all 11 Football Bowl Subdivison conferences to qualify for the post-season as long as a team is ranked among the top 30 in the country. The rest of the tournament would be filled with at-large selections, and a committee would determine the seeding. Teams not making the tournament could play in minor bowl games.

    Different playoff rounds would be played at home stadiums of teams in the tournament and bowls now in the BCS. All bowls, including those not part of the BCS, would be able to bid to host the title game. The payouts would escalate for conferences as their teams advanced, with the potential for a conference to receive roughly $95 million if one of its teams plays for the championship.

    Currently, the most any of the six major conferences could receive is $28.4 million if two teams play in BCS bowls. The five other conferences will share $26.4 million this upcoming year if any one of their schools is invited to play in a BCS game. If none gets a BCS bid, they share $13.2 million.

    The plan also calls for $100 million to be used for bonuses to conferences with high academic achievement and for enforcement and compliance of NCAA rules.

Mizzou Basketball Links

At this point, I'm honestly neither thrilled nor disappointed with Mizzou's current 2012 recruiting class. It is difficult not to be at least a little down about the fact that Mizzou didn't end up landing any of the really big-time players they were after (Rodney Purvis, Danuel House, etc.), but on a one-for-one basis, it's easy to like virtually all of their commits thus far. We'll see what happens with Quantel Denson, of course.

  • Ryan Rosburg
    PowerMizzou: Missouri big man will stay home
    The Trib: Rosburg commits to Tigers
    KC Star (Campus Corner): Rosburg tweets his pledge to Mizzou hoops
    PowerMizzou: Rosburg chooses his dream school

    "Missouri has been my dream school," Rosburg said. "Just being a hometown kid I've always thought about going to Mizzou. My family and I had to decide how much I liked the team and the staff and everything about the school itself. On the visit, I loved everything about it. There is not one bad thing. I fell in love with the school and the idea of my parents being able to come to a bunch of games. I just loved everything about it."

    An additional attraction that Missouri had, on top of being the home state school, is the opportunity to play early. With six seniors exhausting their eligibility this year there is a great opportunity for young players to come in and play significant minutes early in their career. That idea was not lost on Rosburg.

  • Black & Gold
    MUtigers.com    : Mizzou Basketball to Host Black & Gold Game Friday
    The Trib (Steve Walentik): Black & Gold Game set for 8 p.m. Friday
  • Cast Of Characters
    KC Star: With Laurence Bowers out, Mizzou hoops plans for 'small ball'
    PowerMizzou: PMTV-HD: Marcus Denmon
    PowerMizzou: PMTV-HD: Mike Dixon
    MUtigers.com: Senior Interview: Jarrett Sutton
  • Tickets
    MUtigers.com: Basketball Mini-Plans on Sale Tonight

Other Basketball Links

Other Mizzou Links

  • Mizzou Baseball
    MUtigers.com: Gold Improves to 2-0 at Fall World Series
    SimmonsField.com: Mizzou in the Majors: David Freese's Year Off @ MU
  • Mizzou Women's Basketball
    KC Star: Mizzou women focus on program building, not realignment
  • Mizzou Tennis
    The Missourian: Missouri tennis player adjusts to life in America

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