Survive and advance, the truest motto of champions

In case you don’t vividly remember, the Mizzou Tigers beat the Purdue Boilermakers in a football game on the evening of Saturday, September 15, 2018.

In case you didn’t watch the game — or read anything about it afterward — maybe you should stop there. Mizzou is 3-0! These are good times! Don’t go further! Because at this point, we’re going to dig into the game a little bit. You’ve been warned.

There were too many tweets of this variety to add in this post, but Mizzou Twitter sounded a lot like this following the white-knuckle victory in West Lafayette this past weekend.

Pete — and everyone else who shares this sentiment — is right. Yes, Mizzou allowed almost 600 yards passing to a backup QB. Yes, the pass rush and secondary seem nonexistent. Yes, Emanuel Hall, DeMarkus Acy and Yasir Durant were all hurt and out for the entirety of the game (in most cases). But, hey! 3-0 is 3-0, and it’s always better to play horribly and win than play great and lose. And now, Mizzou gets a chance to clean up its act and go to 4-0 against one of the best teams in the country.

Report Cards are in!

• Alex Schiffer’s card featured two good grades and one bad. Guess which unit got the bad one!
• Gabe DeArmond’s report card is a little more detailed, and features several more bad grades. But, hey, there are definitely more good ones too!
• PowerMizzou also posted the weekly PFF player grades, for all you stat heads out there.
• Not technically a report card, but the coaches who vote in the Coaches’ Poll gave Mizzou 13 more votes this week than last.

Other football stuff

• PowerMizzou’s Sean Williams took a look at Mizzou’s first win over Purdue this weekend: the commitment of CJ Boone. ($$)
• Meanwhile, Dawg Sports is already looking ahead to next week’s matchup in Columbia.

I watched every bit of the Mizzou-Purdue game last night. Purdue is not a good team. And David Blough, their backup quarterback, threw for almost 600 yards against the Tigers (39/55, 572 yards, 3-TD)... If we don’t drop 50 next Saturday, we ain’t tryin...

He’s probably not wrong. Mizzou is going to need a massive step up to (a) outscore (b) hold off a talented Georgia squad.

More Links:

• ESPN’s “Best of Week (blank)” feature has a lot of interesting entries. My biggest takeaway? Enough with the various turnover props. Just let Miami be unique. It’s OK.
• CBS Sports’ Winners and Losers of Week 3 features an entire conference as a loser. And Mizzou played a role!
• The latest bowl projections for Missouri are in!

ESPN, SB Nation: TaxSlayer Gator Bowl vs. Wisconsin/Michigan State/Indiana

CBS Sports: Liberty Bowl vs. Kansas State

Saturday Down South: Outback Bowl vs. Wisconsin

247 Sports: Texas Bowl vs. Oklahoma State

• Just for kicks, here’s that fake punt against Arkansas that North Texas ran along with a full explanation of how the Mean Green pulled it off.