MAN-CRUSH OR BRO-MANCE? TOUGH CALL

Indeed, the answer is RELOADING. What an impressive and dominant win for the Tigers. Really what more needs to be said? All of the questions I had coming in were answered in a resounding way, at least for one game. The offense appears to have not missed a beat from the Chase Daniel heyday and (gasp!) they might even be better than the last two years. The defense looks much improved. I’m cautious to get too excited after one game and I know the Illini were essentially missing their top two tailbacks and all-everything WR for the majority of the game, but still. The Tiger secondary kept things in front and made all the plays despite the front 4 not getting a ton of pressure on Juice, especially early. They forced him to sit back in the pocket and throw the ball to beat the Tigers and he just couldn’t do it. He missed numerous wide open receivers, there were drops and there was some shoddy blocking in the IL running game. I think they shot themselves in the foot plenty of times. But give due credit to the Tiger D. By almost any measure, this performance was a dramatic improvement over what we saw a year ago.

Missouri's Defensive Improvement
Rush Yards allowed: (125.7 yards [in 2008] vs 110 yards [vs Illinois])
Passing Yards allowed: (286.4 yards vs 215 yards)
Total Yards allowed: (412.1 yards vs 325 yards)
Completion % allowed: (64.1% vs 59.5%)
Yards per Carry allowed: (3.6 ypc vs 3.1 ypc)
Yards per Pass Attempt allowed: (6.9 ypa vs 5.8 ypa)
Yards per Play allowed: (5.3 ypp vs 4.5 ypp)
3rd down conversion % allowed: (45.9% vs 37.5%)
4th down conversion % allowed: (51.9% vs 0.0%)
Scoring Defense: (27.2 ppg vs 9 pts)
TOP (defense on field): (35:11 vs 30:06)

If the Tiger D puts up numbers like that consistently this season, look out. Those are top 20 numbers on the defensive side of the ball. Again, it’s just one game but it’s not like the Tigers were playing a sucky DI-AA blood-donor school (Florida, I’m looking at you). I would wager Illinois doesn’t get held to single digits in points again this season. Just a hunch.

If there is one small area of slight concern it’s that the Tiger running game seemed a little stifled. Washington didn’t seem to have that burst and kind some of the plays took a while to develop. He did bust a nice long run late in the game which helped his overall numbers but for most of the day, he was laboring for every yard. Moore never quite seemed to get things going either and ended up with a high ankle sprain late in the game which will keep him out of this week’s action. I did LOVE seeing the two-back set in shotgun and liked Gabbert going under center on sneaks. There’s a huge difference between a 6’5” 240lb QB trying to get a yard and one who’s realistically 5’11” 200lbs. SuperSoph Blaine Gabbert certainly passes the eye-test for what a big-time college QB should look like. No disrespect to Mr. Daniel because he did unprecedented things for the program…but Gabbert’s size and arm strength allow him to do things that Chase (and Brad Smith before him) simply couldn’t. On the 3rd and 22 in the first quarter he threw a bullet off his back foot to DA to ensure a more manageable field goal attempt. And on the Kemp TD, well, I’m sorry, but Chase just doesn’t complete that pass. His TD toss to Jackson was made as he was backpedaling yet it was still on a rope. I thought he was very poised for the most part, overcoming some early pressure. He moved well in the pocket to avoid pressure and obviously ran nicely, both on designed keeper/read-option plays and scrambles. Aside from a couple early plays where he kind of casually flipped a ball out on a screen when pressure was coming and then got penalized for grounded it the next play (I think they were consecutive plays), Gabbert played mistake free football and I’m really nitpicking with those two. Tremendous composure displayed in that environment considering it was the guy’s first start. Oh, by the way, no big deal, but he leads the conference in completion pct (75.8%), TDs (3) and QB Rating (186.96). I am trying so desperately to temper my rapidly developing man-crush on BG but it’s proving to be quite the challenge.

Anyway, great win for the Tigers…but it’s just one. More to come on the next opponent in a day or so, the Bowling Green Falcons, who came from behind to beat Sun Belt Conference favorite, Troy, 31-14.