Mizzou Links: Golden is SEC DPOW, Mauk is improving, Hoops faces Purdue
Maty Mauk is making plays and not turning the ball over. Markus Golden is SEC Defensive Player of the Week, which is alright with us. Plus, there's talk of a rivalry game with Arkansas in the near future, and the basketball team plays Purdue at 1pm CT.
Golden now has 8.5 sacks on the season (ranking 5th in the SEC) and 14.0 tackles for loss (3rd in the SEC), as the Tigers lead the league in both categories overall, and rank 4th nationally in sacks (3.64 avg.) and 7th nationally in tackles for loss (7.8 avg.).
Penton got a season-low 20 snaps. Gary Pinkel said it was a mixture of discipline issue remnants and a leftover hamstring injury. Webb didn't leave the field. As he do.
Wilson's usage stepped up at nickelback as well. The 19 snaps were his second-most of the year, after 25 against Florida. Oh, and Missouri did not leave the Nickel for the second straight game. They've been a 93.5-percent Nickel team over the past three weeks.
Maty's Getting Back to Maty: Against Tennessee last year, Mauk completed 12 of 25 passes for 163 yards and three touchdowns. He was exactly the same in completions and attempts against the Volunteers this year, but with more yards and one fewer touchdown. That subpar completion percentage and high yards per attempt is what people came to expect out of Mauk last year, when he completed 51.1 percent of his passes and had 8.1 yards per attempt. He's getting back to that high-risk, high-reward player he was last year, rather than being just kind of high risk. In his first three SEC games, he completed 37 percent of his passes for 3.4 yards an attempt and five picks against no touchdowns. In the past four, he's completed 52.9 percent of his passes for 6.5 yards an attempt and seven touchdowns against an interception. Mauk was best when the game was most dramatic against Tennessee, as well. He was 5 of 9 for 123 yards and two scores on third down. He was 3 of 3 for 121 yards and two scores in the fourth quarter. That sounds like the Mauk of old. You know, 12 months ago.
Mitch Morse broke his left index finger against Texas A&M, had surgery the day after and played with it vs. Tennessee.
Mizzou has accumulated 87 flags this season for 665 yards. That places the Tigers 113th worst among 125 Division I teams for total penalties and 94th in penalty yards.
Mizzou was going to lose Darius White, Bud Sasser and Jimmie Hunt and coincidentally their top three wide receivers for a second straight year regardless of Lawrence Lee's departure. He had two catches for seven yards on the season, so the loss in production isn't as significant as the loss in experience.
In 2015, Mizzou will only have 3 wide receivers with any game experience:
Wesley Leftwich (6'1"/200lbs) 3 catches, 36 yards
J'Mon Moore (6'3"/190lbs) 2 catches, 33 yards
Nate Brown (6'3"/205lbs) 4 catches, 31 yards
Freshmen DeSean Blair (6'2"/185lbs), Keyon Dilosa (6'3"/190lbs, injured-out for 2014) and Thomas Richard (6'0"/190lbs) haven't seen snaps on offense.
Mizzou will still have three tight ends with game experience:
Sean Culkin (6'6"/245lbs) 15 catches, 143 yards, 1 TD
Clayton Echard (6'4"/255lbs) mostly a blocker
Jason Reese (6'5"/240lbs) also mostly a blocker
Plus one who hasn't seen an offensive snap: Kendall Blanton (6'6"/230lbs)
Mizzou and Arkansas have met just five times previously, with MU holding a 3-2 series edge. The schools have alternated wins each outing, with the last two coming in bowl games. Mizzou claimed the last meeting in style, taking a 38-7 win in the 2008 Cotton Bowl to cap a 12-2 season that saw the Tigers finish ranked 4th in the national polls (the highest final ranking ever for MU). Arkansas took the prior meeting in the 2003 Independence Bowl by a 27-14 count. The first meeting between Mizzou and Arkansas was way back in 1906 in Columbia, with MU winning 11-0. The teams wouldn't meet again until 1944 in St. Louis, with Arkansas winning that one by a 7-6 margin. The next game would come in 1963 in Little Rock, Ark., with Mizzou returning the favor with a 7-6 win of its own.
Starting QB banged up: Arkansas starting quarterback Brandon Allen won’t practice until Wednesday at the earliest, Coach Bret Bielema told reporters Monday. Allen exited Saturday’s game in the second quarter with a hip injury. If Allen can’t go, the Razorbacks would start Austin Allen, a redshirt freshman and Brandon’s younger brother.
In the event that Allen cannot play, his brother Austin will start in his place. Austin, a true freshman, completed three of five passes for 65 yards in relief of his brother against Ole Miss. He saw action in three of the team's four non-conference games, completing five of 11 passes for 88 yards with an interception.
On manufacturing rivalries
Manufactured rivalries don't have to be stale, and as many have stated elsewhere, this game specifically has the makings of being significant. If Arkansas is the reason Mizzou can't return to Atlanta, I'm sure fans will be able to add to the passion this rivalry may currently lack.
Pinkel on the Arkansas rivalry: "It's just going to take a little bit of time. Maybe one year."
Two weeks ago, Wisconsin and Nebraska announced they would play for the Freedom Trophy. Fans rolled their eyes in unison. It looked like the days of organic, fun trophy games were dead. And then the Internet intervened. Two days later, Nebraska and Minnesota had what everyone hopes is an honest-to-God new trophy game.
Don't you discount the Bible-beating Ozark hillbilly hate for even a second. It's real, and it's raw, and there is a good chance that at least one one meth lab, and possibly a Christian Bookstore, is getting burned to the ground as part of the collateral damage. But as with any true rivalry game, proximity is just part of the overall rivalry game presentation. There are certain nuances and considerations that must be attended to in order to make the game all it could be.
Hoops loses to Arizona
Mizzou was able to remain competitive for much of the game which, at this point, I'll consider a win. Bill and Sam will have more on the game later.
Arizona has been one of the nation's best rebounding teams over the past few seasons and have a long, athletic team that's difficult to grab boards against. Though a bit smaller than the Wildcats, Missouri was able to out-rebound Arizona 34-32, including eight offensive rebounds.
Mizzou’s zone defense was highly effective in the opening half, thanks to weak shooting from Arizona. The Wildcats shot just 2-10 from three in the first 20 minutes, and by clogging up the middle, the Tigers forced Arizona to become a jump shooting team, something the Wildcats struggled to do.
The Tigers’ season-high-tying 17 turnovers proved to be their undoing as the Wildcats turned them into 24 points, including 14 in the decisive second half as they took control.
Jonathan Williams III, limited by two fouls in the first half, scored MU’s first three baskets of the second half, but the Tigers couldn’t keep pace and couldn’t consistently defend 6-9 Brandon Ashley (15 points) and 6-7 forwards Stanley Johnson (14) and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson (15).
Hoops plays Purdue at 1pm CT on ESPN2
Have to be more aggressive on Offense to help my squad ,
Three years and two Mizzou coaches later, Painter finally steps on the court for a Tigers basketball game. His Boilermakers fell to Kansas State 88-79 in Monday’s Maui Invitational opener, followed by MU’s 72-53 loss to Arizona. Missouri and Purdue meet in today’s second-round loser’s bracket draw at 1 p.m. (St. Louis time) on ESPN2.
Fouls seemed to be the order of the night early on, as the Tigers were repeatedly called for fouls that were questionable at best. Meanwhile, Tulsa seemed to drain every shot they took from beyond the arc. 18 of their first 28 points were three point shots.
As the NCAA continues to investigate possible infractions at Southern Miss during Donnie Tyndall's time in Hattiesburg, many believe a possible first domino fell in Knoxville today. Vol assistant coach Adam Howard resigned on Monday; a quick press release from the university cited "personal reasons". Given the current climate many in the public aren't buying the rationale, and tweets like this fully support that notion:
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