Pregamin’ Idaho

Homecoming Gameday Schedule:

With bonus events for tonight!

Another year, another dope homecoming video:

So Fresh and So Clean, Clean:

BLOCK M HELMETS, Y’ALL. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.

What the “experts” are saying:

• In his weekly previews, Bill took a look at Idaho’s stout defense and their less stout offense... which could benefit from a trip to Columbia.
• Over at Underdog Dynasty, they’ve got Idaho near the bottom of the Sun Belt.
• Aaron Reiss at the KC Star is predicting a Mizzou win, but not without dredging up some recent, unpleasant memories.
• Mizzou’s student paper, The Maneater, raises an interesting point about the Vandals’ trip to Columbia.

1. Let's call a spade a spade: the first half of this season has been a disastrous doom spiral. And while the disappointments have been seemingly endless, which developments have been most upsetting to you so far?

Chris Bohkay - I'd say it's a three way tie between the offense not being consistent, the defense being completely invisible and the Barry Odom excuse party. What upsets me the most is that Odom has gone total Kim Anderson in pointing blame seemingly at anything that won't result in him getting fired, which I get but is a bad look in my opinion.

Mitch Hill - The offense. It has shown life in the last 2 weeks, but it was tough to watch in the beginning, especially with all of the returning experience and hype around them. Something I am excited about is Emmanuel Hall. It's homecoming, I wanted to add some positivity to it.

jaeger - The Purdue game. It wasn't that we lost; Purdue looks like they could win 7 or 8 games this year. It was that it was a stomping from the opening snap. I've never seen a football team look so dispirited and disinterested in a game. Just awful. I could handle a bad team that's trying hard and still losing. Mizzou got punched in the mouth on the opening drive and just gave up.

switzy227 - I could give many answers, but the fact is that the last couple weeks haven't been all that bad. The "endless disappointment" phase of the season has gone, or at least it is lying dormant. But if pressed, I'd just say Purdue.

dcrockett17 - The tackling, plain and simple. We've seen some semblance of improvement on every other unit but the tackling was bad against MSU and has stayed bad. You can talk scheme all day, but every defense requires getting off blocks and bringing people to the ground. This defense does neither with stunning consistency, even during some of their "best" games.

Josh Matejka - I think there could be a different answer for each quarter of each game at this point. But if I have to pick just one, it has to be the defense. We knew they’d be bad. But the general consensus was, “As long as they’re not as bad as last year, we’ll be fine.” They’ve been so much worse.

AlaTiger - The most upsetting event was the Purdue game. The most upsetting ongoing feature of this team is bad tackling.

2. On to more positive things: it's homecoming weekend! It may be an easy question, but give us your favorite Mizzou homecoming memory, sports related or not.

Bohkay - For me, homecoming wasn't as big a deal as a first time Mizzou student, there was no one I knew or had any attachments to, "coming home." It was just another football weekend that tended to include Midnight Madness on occasion. So, that all said, Homecoming 96, my first, was the only time I went to the parade, checked out House Decs and got into the spirit of it. Plus Mizzou beat OSU in overtime so all in all a good weekend.

Hill - Mizzou vs. OU in 2010. No question about it.

jaeger - 2010 against Oklahoma. No question.

switzy227 - I can't think of anything. I didn't pay much attention to athletics or homecoming when I was in school. I do remember waking up to the parade at a female acquaintance's apartment one morning...but that was only because she had a night of heavy drinking after not being accepted into the J-school and I wanted to make sure she was okay.

dcrockett17 - When I was there I honestly could not have cared less.

Matejka - I’ve never been much into the homecoming festivities. I will say, however, I spent one homecoming weekend as a journalism student working on a story about how some small businesses hate homecoming because of how rowdy everyone gets. That was pretty ironic and funny.

AlaTiger - The 2010 Oklahoma game was great and is the only homecoming game I remember.

3. On to even more positive things: despite being 1-5, the Tigers actually have a decent shot at salvaging this season and getting to 5 or (lord, help us) 6 wins. It all starts with a win this weekend against a hopefully easier opponent. What do you need to see to give you some hope?

Bohkay - I know everyone is pumping sunshine about the second half of the season, but this team hasn't shown me they are capable of winning on the road (at home either), which is part of the growth that this team or coaching staff has shown. So, while only losing to a bad Kentucky team by a smaller margin than expected, and a probable home win over lowly Idaho, I don't think we should start getting too excited. BUT, what would give me hope would be the convincing win we didn't get over MO State.

Hill - A high flying offense that scores a lot of points and a defense that creates 2-3 turnovers. Holding Idaho to about 24-28 would be nice as well. Will they do that? I certainly hope so.

jaeger - I need this to be a rout. Idaho got whooped by a bad UNLV team 44-16, and for me to believe Mizzou has a shot at respectability down the stretch, I think we need to beat them by a similar margin. Score a lot on offense, show that you outclass them athletically on defense (even if the scheme is still a mess), and maybe finally get the backup QB some in-game reps.

switzy227 - Takeaways. I'm too jaded to expect actual good defense, but I can wish for a couple fortuitous bounces.

dcrockett17 - The offense *looks* like it wants to turn the corner and provide some consistency. The OL is providing a solid foundation. It's been a while since it was dominated for four quarters. That's a good place to start. Open holes. Give Lock time. On defense I need to see a "back to basics" approach. Keep the scheme vanilla and make it be about beating blocks and making tackles.

Matejka - I don’t know that I’m buying the 5-6 win thing, but if I want to work up that type of optimism, Mizzou needs to absolutely crush Idaho. Like, take out all of this season’s frustration and rage out on one opponent then go back to work next week. I don’t care what that means score wise, but I’ll know it if I see it.

AlaTiger - Idaho's offense is bad. It needs to continue to look bad throughout the game.

4. PICK EM

Bohkay - Mizzou 45 - Idaho 41

Hill - Due to my answer on the last question, I am going to say Mizzou 48, Idaho 27.

jaeger - I say Mizzou 45, Idaho 21.

switzy227 - Mizzou gets the W, 42-31.

Matejka - Mizzou 38 - Idaho 27