4-0...

Again, no such thing as an ugly win. And this one wasn't really ugly, just "slow-developing" (see: Running Game, Mizzou)

Nevada gave Mizzou the game I knew they could and the Tigers still came out on top.

Kaepernick did NOT get to his magical 7.0 yards per play threshhold. I am not sure if I spelled that right but I'm plenty deep in Busch Light and not about to check so we'll just assume I know what I'm doing. By my rough mathematical skills, he passed 28x for 146 and ran 13 for 59...so that's 41 plays for 205...not close to 7 per play. in fact. it's exactly 5 per play. Sayonara Kaepernick.

Any time you win by 10 on the road, regardless of the opponent, you take it and go home happy. This is no different. But there are some definite areas of concern. 78 rushing yards and 2.3 yards per carry is a HUGE concern. Clearly NV's strategy was to kill the run and make Gabbert beat them with his arm. While I wholeheartedly disagree with that philosophy from a strategic standpoint (um, have you watched film there Wolfies?) kudos to them...it worked. This one is on the O-Line. They're just not creating the running lanes. I don't know what else to really say about that. NV has two stud DE's but in the Big XII season, the Tigers are going to face some pretty talented defensive lines and the inability to effectively run the ball is a big issue. Pay no mind to D-Wash's 16 for 75 (4.7ypc) - all of it came on a 42 yard run in the 4th. Absent that, we're talking 15 for 33...barely 2 per carry. HAS to improve. One dimensional attacks might work vs the worst Pass D in the nation (Nevada) but not against Nebraska, OSU and Texas. Fair warning. Another thing is the play calling, more specifically the 2-pt conversion calls. Pay attention. Under no scenarios, absent a complete lack of all placekickers on one's roster, should you EVER go for 2 in the first 3 quarters of a football game. For me, this is a hard-and-fast rule. Until the 4th quarter, no need to chase points. Take your PAT and move on. I am dumbfounded at the necessity to try and make it a 7pt game that early in the contest. Especially when you have an offense that you know will score more. Seriously, take the point.

On the good side. Mr. Gabbert, despite being off, by my estimation, for a lot of the night - overthrowing DA twice in the end zone, missing Perry and Jackson in the end zone and Perry another time down the seam, plus throwing a prayer under pressure right into the Nevada secondary - despite all that....he was freaking M O N E Y tonight. His scramble-pass to DA for his first TD and his roll-out fling to Kendial Lawrence down the right sideline for a huge completion were ab-so-lutely unbelievable. To even ATTEMPT those throws shows giant gonads. I'm sorry, but if our QB last year did that, the Tigers fly home from Reno 3-1 instead of 4-0. No disrespect, but, once again, that's the difference that elite arm strength makes. And uncanny confidence in one's receivers.

So at the end of the day, here we sit with our Tigers 4-0. Most didn't predict this. I would've taken 3-1 back in August. The hairy part of the schedule looms with the conference season beginning and three straight games against ranked opponents. It's a new season, come October 8th when the Huskers come to Columbia. I think Nebraska is overrated, I'll just put that out there right now. I think their QB is mediocre at best, Helu is a solid back and Ndamoanbaonaoinoneaiobinaoeihoaboiaoejuoadkhalogg Suh is a real threat on the interior DL. Not impressed with their early season wins and not surprised by their loss at Va Tech (who will get ROLLED by Miami on Saturday). It's 13 days out but I'll go 31-20 Missouri at this point. I'm not convinced UL-Lafayette won't give them all they can handle on Saturday...

And with that, I bid thee farewell. Big fraternity golf tournament tomorrow. Time to pound some water and mentally prepare for a complete blood-bath tomorrow.

(Last thing...Wainwright can sew up the Cy Young with a dominant performance on Saturday)

NEVADA PREVIEW

Wow. Big game. Primetime. ESPN. Only show in town. Nevada has sputtered to an 0-2 start…finally back in Reno for their first home game. 30-some thousand screaming Wolf Pack fans decked out in white. Mizzou has to travel halfway across the country. Sounds like a recipe for an upset…if this were 2004. But it’s not 2004 (and this is not Troy). This Tiger program has grown leaps and bounds under coach Pinkel since those days. They will not peek past Nevada to the next kind-of big rivalry game in primetime on their schedule, who shall go nameless at this point. Expect them to be focused and ready to handle the task at hand. On paper, this is a pretty one-sided looking matchup, given the early season results, but we’ll take closer look.

When Nevada has the football
Jr QB Colin Kaepernick directs the Wolf Pack offense. He is the reigning WAC offensive Player of the Year and was the preseason pick this year for the same honor. In 2008 Kaepernick threw for 2,849 yards and 22 TDs (7 INT) and rushed for 1,130 and another 17 scores. He’s off to a much slower start in 2009, throwing for 400 yards and 1 TD (4 picks) while rushing for only 63 yards through two games. On the bright side, his completion pct has risen from 54% to 61%, but he seems to be finding guys in the wrong color jersey an awful lot. Last season, Missouri held Kaepernick to only 223 yards of total offense which was his 2nd lowest output on the year. As he goes, so go the Wolf Pack…the magic number for him is 7 yards per play. Since 2008, Nevada has lost every game when Kaepernick’s averaged under 7 yards per play on his aggregate pass and rush attempts. They’re undefeated when he hits 7+ yards a play (7-0). Coming into last year’s game in Columbia, Nevada was dealt a devastating blow with the loss of RB Luke Lippincott to a season-ending ACL tear the previous week. Lippincott’s absence opened the door for RB Via Taua who went on to rush for over 1,500 yards and 15 TDs. Both are back this year with Taua (Jr) as the feature back and Lippincott (6th year Sr) getting time at RB, WR and H-Back/TE. Taua has rushed 32 times for 209 yards and 2 TDs (6.53ypc). He’s also caught 5 balls for 42 yards out of the backfield. Lippincott didn’t touch the ball in the 35-0 loss at Notre Dame but logged 9 carries for 52 yards (5.78ypc) last week vs Colorado State. Lippincott hasn’t caught a pass yet on the year. Fr WR Brandon Wimberly is finally getting his shot to play after grayshirting in 2007 and redshirting last year. He caught 2 passes against ND and then had a big game last week vs CSU, catching 7 balls for 104 yards and a late score. Soph WR Tray Session leads the team in receptions with 12 after getting only 1 catch as a freshman last year. WR Chris Wellington is the leading returning receiver from a season ago but only has 6 catches thus far in 2009. Wimberly and Session are 6’3” and have wiry builds while Wellington is a couple inches shorter and sturdier. Jr TE Virgil Green has caught 6 balls on the year after hauling in only 13 a year ago as the starter. His strength is in using his 6’4”, 240lb frame to block. The offensive line has two tackles and a guard that have played together for the better part of two seasons. Their center is a senior starting for the first time and the other guard is a redshirt freshman who made his college debut in their season opener.

Nevada is a team that wants to run the football. They were 3rd in the nation running the ball last year with nearly 280 yards per game and a robust 6.1 ypc. They have 3 players on their roster who have 1,000 yard rushing seasons under their belt – I don’t think another team in America has ever been able to say that. But unfortunately for the 2009 Wolf Pack, they have been playing from behind too much to lean on the run as much as they’d like. In 2009 they’re down to 161 yards per game and 5.4 ypc. A season ago they ran the ball nearly 60% of the time. This year, that ratio is down to less than half at 48%. When forced to throw, bad things tend to happen, as evidenced by Kaepernick’s 4 picks in 2 games. In fact, ball security has been a huge issue for the Wolf Pack as they’ve turned the ball over 8 times thus far (against zero takeaways). Clearly if Mizzou can corral the Wolf Pack ground game, they should have great success on defense. The Tigers are allowing 105.7 rushing yards per game and 3.2 ypc… improvements over their numbers a season ago. Two things though – it’s still early and rush D wasn’t the issue in 2008. To draw a comparison to an earlier opponent of the Tigers, from a strategic standpoint…Illinois came in wanting to establish a running game vs Mizzou but wasn’t able to do it. My point is that both teams know that Nevada’s strength is in running the ball and the 2009 Tigers have already proven capable of shutting down another run-oriented team. If they force Kaepernick to throw a lot, they will win fairly handily I would guess. On first down the Wolf Pack run the ball 60% of the time but are only averaging 5ypc, forcing them into more passing situations on subsequent downs. For comparison, the 2008 Nevada squad rushed for nearly 7 ypc on 1st down. On 2nd down they have become a 60% pass team which is somewhat befuddling because on their 2nd down rush attempts they’re still ripping off 5ypc. So logic dictates that, on average, if they run the ball two times, they’ll get a first down. I think this might be a strategic flaw in their play-calling. Given the lack of success in the passing game thus far, I would be running the ball until Missouri, or anybody, proved they could stop me. Even down a few scores, don’t abandon what you do best. From Missouri’s defensive perspective, I would cram the box and make Kaepernick throw it. It’s also worth mentioning that Nevada is 115th in the nation in scoring offense at 10 points per game.

When Nevada is on defense
Their strength on D is in their two Jr DE’s: Kevin Basped and Dontay Moch. They combined for 21.5 sacks in 2008 and Nevada is the only team to return two players with double-digit sacks from last year. Moch already has 3 TFL on the young season and 1 QB hurry. Sr MLB Mike Bethea is the team leader with 18 tackles. He’s flanked on the strong side by Soph James-Michael Johnson and on the weak side by Soph Brandon Marshall. They have 3 seniors in their secondary including S Jonathon Amaya who is 2nd on the team with 16 tackles. This has not been an impressive defense so far this year. And if you cringe at the memories of the 2008 Tiger pass D, consider the Wolf Pack were dead last in the nation in passing yards allowed with almost 312 per game. Not much improvement this year as they have the worst pass efficiency defense in the country. Considering Mizzou has the 13th best pass efficiency ranking and the highest rated passer in a conference that tends to air it out and it’s clear that this mismatch cannot bode well for Nevada. They’ve allowed 7.2 yards per play this season, 6th worst in the nation. Most of that damage has been done through the air as Nevada’s opponents are averaging 12.7 yards per pass attempt…dead last in the country. Think about that for a second. That is a staggering number. I expect it to come down as the year progresses but that just blows my mind. They’re also not stopping the run particularly well, allowing nearly 180 ypg (99th in nation) on the ground and 4.4ypc (92nd - both numbers in bottom quartile). Nevada’s Total Defense of 440ypg and 35pts allowed are bottom 15 in the nation. Sure, Notre Dame is one of the better offensive teams around but Colorado State is nothing special and they still scored 5 TDs on the Wolf Pack. Obviously the 5 turnovers had something to do with this and I expect Nevada to play better at home but let’s not confuse this D with the 1985 Bears. Some more numbers for you…Nevada is bottom 20 nationally in 3rd down defense allowing a conversion rate 46%. Opposing QBs are completing nearly 85% of their pass attempts against Nevada on 3rd down. Couple this with Nevada’s 1.2 ypc allowed on 3rd down and it’s clear to me that Mizzou should be thinking pass, pass and more pass this Friday Night on 3rd down. 25% of completions against Nevada’s defense have gone for 25+ yards. That is ridiculous. My point with all this drivel is this: There will be ample opportunities for Mizzou to exploit this defense both on the ground and in the air. Sure the Wolf Pack could throw some exotic looks in there, like the Cover 4 that Bowling Green tried that kind of threw Gabbert for a loop early on, but I trust the coaches will pick up on such things and make the appropriate adjustments in a similar fashion.

This is another game in which Mizzou’s talent should win out. Their offensive strength plays against Nevada’s biggest defensive weakness and there is not a counter matchup to offset that. That Nevada running game will eventually bust out this season, that I’m sure of. If they run for 160-180 yards this week I will not be that surprised. I’m still not sure that’s enough to beat Mizzou because they haven’t shown they can put points on the board to this point. They are scoreless in the first half this year and if Mizzou can get out to a 10-0, 14-0, 17-0 type start, this one could turn ugly. For Nevada to win, they have to run the ball a ton, try to keep Mizzou’s D on the field for 10-12 play drives and chew clock. We all know the explosiveness of the Tiger offense. They’re not built to win the time of possession game, but they are improving from last year’s average of 25:49 (2nd worst in the nation). Nevada will line up in that pistol formation (short shotgun set for Kaepernick, Taua/Lippincott set back about 4 yards further – Mizzou ran this last year) and try to run different things out of that. Disciplined assignment football is the key this week on D. One area of concern I have for Mizzou is the penalties. They had more penalty yards vs Furman (75) than they’ve had since 2007. They’re averaging 6 penalties a game and 55 yards in penalties – those figures need to improve.

The only other thing that really concerns me in this contest is the intangibles and those can play out huge in college football. This is the Wolf Pack’s first home game and it is nationally televised on ESPN. It’s a fan “white-out”. They’re playing a team that absolutely wiped the floor with them a year ago. They are winless on the year and the pre-season WAC #2 team is being labeled as a huge early disappointment. Do not sleep on this team. They have talent and experience and a good coach. They will turn it around this year and be fine in their conference. As previously stated, this is the kind of game that, 4-5 years ago, would’ve made me uncomfortable all week but no more. This Tiger team seems prepared to play every week and until they show otherwise, I’m going to assume they’ll be ready to handle their business in Reno Friday night. I’m calling this one for Missouri, 41 – 20.

TIDBITS TO HELP YOU DOMINATE WATERCOOLER CONVERSATION

Nevada’s opponents have yet to attempt a field goal this year…because they’re 3 for 3 on scoring TDs in the red zone.

Nevada Fr RB Mike Ball is the WACs leading KO returner with a 32.8 yard average

Mizzou punter Jake Harry holds the 10th highest average in the nation at 45.1 yards.

JGD mancrush Blaine Gabbert leading the conference in passer rating…a stat that I will never fully understand how to calculate (anybody else feel like it’s kind of just made up?)

BREAKING NEWS: there were no “West Side Story” style brawls this week on campus involving Mizzou Football players vs Mizzou Basketball players. Just to clear the air on that. Might check Lawrence, KS for their report. Can't we all just get along?

Only because the wife was watching it last night...

I'm a sucker for reality TV and especially any of the "competition/talent" shows. I used to justify this behavior to the wife just having it on in the background and me being forced to watch. You know, I try to be fair since I normally monopolize our main TV with sports 24/7 but after some reasonably substantial soul-searching, I am prepared to admit that I kind of enjoy some of these shows...

So I caught the second night of Dancing With the Stars last night and to be perfectly honest, it was somewhat entertaining watching these celebs get thrown around a dance floor with reckless abandon. The professional female dancers are worth the price of admission alone in my estimation but last night it was the pro guys with their women stars and this is how I would handicap them after their first night, in reverse.

8. Macy Gray - first of all, didn't realize she's 42. Had her pegged about 6-8 years younger. She is a gigantic woman. Seriously she towers over all the male pro dancers. She couldn't look less interested. If she's not booted tonight, I'll be shocked

7. Kathy Ireland - Oh baby it's been a long way back since you, Elle McPherson and Rachel Hunter changed my world with the 1994 SI Swimsuit Cover...welcome back, missed you terribly. Oh yeah, dancing, not so much your thing.

6. Melissa Joan Hart - You remember her from Sabrina the Teenage Witch - I remember her from Clarissa Explains It All. Oh the joys of a youth spent glued to Nickelodeon.

5. Debi Mazar - Shawna from Entourage kind of does it for me a little bit. I think it's the accent and the sharp tongue. But a dancer, she is not.

4. Kelli Osborne - I thought for sure she'd be the worst but she was actually quite decent. I can't get enough gratuitous Ozzie shots in the audience. I hope they give him 15 seconds to mumble incoherently into the mic every week - that would be awesome.

3. Natalie Coughlin - one thing about the athletes and olympians - normally they get extremely competitive in this competition. She'll be right in the thick of it.

2. Joanna Krupa - she doesn't suck to look at but she's kind of the 2nd best in a mediocre to bad bunch. She got the best partner, Derek, whose job REALLY doesn't suck.

1. Mya - she's hands down the best female star at this point, not even close.

We'll get back to football shortly. Appreciate the lattitude.

3-0

Mizzou won and won handily. Hard to read a whole lot into this game given the obvious difference in size/speed/talent but good to see the Tigers do what they were supposed to. I liked that the offense was balanced (36 runs / 35 passes) and that a lot of 2nd stringers got meaningful minutes. Not really too concerned about Furman's offensive output, specifically their 305 passing yards. When you build a lead like that, the other team is going to throw it a ton.

Onto Reno, NV Friday night. Nevada is 0-2 and this is their home opener...nationally televised night game...think they'll be more than a little jacked up for this one?

More on Nevada later...

FURMAN PREVIEW

I think an introduction to Furman University is necessary. Furman is a private university in Greenville, South Carolina. It is the oldest and largest private academic institution in SC and one of the top liberal arts colleges in the U.S. I’m sure it doesn’t hold a candle to the “Harvard of the Midwest”, aka Truman State University, home of the fighting Wildcats, er, Bulldogs but I digress. Furman was founded in 1826 and enrollment is approximately 2,550 undergraduate and 525 graduate students. Athletically Furman competes in the Southern Conference (SoCon) of the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS, formerly Division I-AA). Their mascot is the Paladins, which, according to Wikipedia, were the “twelve peers and foremost warriors of Charlemagne’s court”…so they have THAT going for them. Consistently, the Paladins have been one of the more dominant - SORRY. I. JUST. CAN’T. DO. IT…executive decision: I’m referring to them as “FU” for the remainder of this piece, seriously, PALADINS??? – anyway FU is one of the better FCS teams but are coming off a down year in 2008 (7-5 overall, 4-4 in conference). In week 1 they handled Presbyterian 45-21 and won their conference opener on Saturday at Chattanooga 38-20.

When Furman has the ball
FU returns 7 starters from a spread attack that averaged 361 yards and 25 points per game a year ago. Thus far in 2009, they’ve averaged 416 yards and scored 41.5. They had some growing pains in 2008, their first year of the spread offense. They run more than they pass and so far in 2009 they’re relying on 5-8, 206 lb Soph RB Tersoo Uhaa to carry the load. He’s rushed for nearly 5 yards per carry and scored four touchdowns. Entering the season, Uhaa was set to play second-fiddle to returning rushing leader Mike Brown but the senior RB has been out with an ankle injury for the first two games and will not play vs Mizzou. True Fr Jerry Williams will spell Uhaa from time to time in the backfield and is a weapon as a receiver as well. Sr QB Jordan Sorrells is in his 2nd year at the helm of the offense and is an accurate passer at 71.4% on the season with 4 TDs against 2 INTs. The lefty, Greenville native, is backed up by UCLA transfer Soph QB Chris Forcier (older brother of True Fr Michigan QB Tate Forcier – that information is free…). Right now there is no QB controversy with FU but Forcier is a speedster and in a game like this, look for him to be in for a handful of snaps perhaps as a receiver or in some sort of Wildcat package. Forcier made his debut in last week’s game and logged 29 yards on 3 carries. Receiver targets include Jr Adam Mims who doubles as their return guy, Sr David Hendrix and Sr RJ Webb, who is returning to action after missing most of 2007 and 2008 with separate ACL injuries. Tennessee transfer, Soph Tyler Maples has already contributed in his first season for FU. Sr TE Chris Truss is an All SoCon performer and might be the only one on their roster with D-1 size at his position (6-4, 264). He’s caught 34 balls in his career for 470 yards and 7 TDs. The FU Offensive Line lost both tackles and their center from a year ago but have improved their ypc figure by 33% from a year ago. Their line averages 6-2, 278 lbs. This season they’re about 60/40 run, but last week in their win vs UT-Chattanooga, they were closer to 2:1 run. Mizzou will have to do a better job of stopping the run at the outset this week than they did against Bowling Green.

When Furman is on defense
Furman only brings back 4 starters from 2008’s defense that allowed 346 yards and 22 points per game. In their first two games, they’re allowing 373 yards and 20.5 pts. As with the offense, FU broke in a new defensive scheme in 2008, moving from a 4-3 base to a 4-2-5 alignment. This philosophy essentially replaces a linebacker with a theoretically faster defensive back and is one of the “en vogue” defenses to counter the myriad of spread offense attacks permeating college football. This switch allowed them to cut nearly 10 points and 50 total yards off of their 2007 defensive stats. Two names on their D-Line to look out for are Sr NT Justin Brown who leads the roster in starts and is an All SoCon performer and Jr DE Shaun Van Rensburg, who has good size (6-4, 250) and led the team in sacks a year ago. Their D-Line averages 262lbs, which is about 45 lbs a man they’re giving up against Mizzou’s O-Line. This has to be an area Mizzou looks to attack – running the football. This should be a huge advantage for the Tigers. The FU back 7 include two new starters at LB, Sophs Kadarron Anderson and Chris Wiley. The name to watch on the PU defense is Jr Max Lerner who plays the rover position which is likely some sort of safety/linebacker hybrid. He led the team in picks a year ago with 4 and has already grabbed another one last week on the first snap from scrimmage, returning it 43 yards for a score.

Lest you think FU is going to get all knock-need and queasy entering the Zou on Saturday night, you should know that they traveled to Virginia Tech last season and didn’t get completely blown out (24-7 loss). Sure they’re the lower division and Mizzou should pound them but I don’t think we’re looking at a game like SEMO last year where the 3rd string Tigers could beat them by 40. But let’s not get crazy. The bottom line is that these kids (collectively) are NOT Division 1 athletes. I am sure some of them could have played at that level, I’m sure some were recruited by bigger schools, hell they have guys on their roster that left schools like UCLA and Tennessee to play for Furman…but Mizzou CLEARLY should have the athletic advantage over these guys. I am not suggesting it is a show-up, flash your black jerseys, get a few growls out of the sound system and BOOM, 50 pt blowout, but if Mizzou just plays their game, this isn’t a remotely close game. Cannot look past and completely dismiss them (see: Michigan vs Appalachian State 2007), but let’s be real here. The talent discrepancy is far too great. I could go on but what’s the point. If Mizzou doesn’t handle them fairly easily, well, the Illinois game was the aberration, not Bowling Green. I’m calling this one 45-13 Tigers.

Quick note from the Tiger injury front: backup RB De’Vion Moore likely out again with high ankle sprain, hoping to be back at it for Nevada next Friday. Reserve LB Jeff Gettys tore his ACL against BGSU, he’s done for the year. Safety Hardy Ricks has a bum ankle but should be back full strength by Saturday. Jarrell Harrison (JuCo safety transfer) has missed all action to this point with a dislocated elbow – he’s been cleared to play but not sure what kind of utility he has with the arm yet.


TIDBITS TO HELP YOU DOMINATE WATERCOOLER CONVERSATION

Furman’s starting Right Guard is named Heath Cockburn. I can’t make this stuff up.

FU hasn’t allowed a rushing TD this season. I expect that to be a memory by about 1:27 pm CST.

Furman QB Jordan Sorrells and I share a birthday (ironically enough, we share that birthday with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il). This is all free information, you don’t have to pay for any of it!!!

Sean Weatherspoon is the Big XII leader in tackles with 11.5 per game – that’s good enough for T-12th nationally. Also, Spoon was actually born in Greenville, SC (home of FU) but only lived there 6 months. Spoon’s mom was a student at FU for a short period of time.

Aldon Smith is 6th nationally in TFL yardage (4 tackles for loss, 29 yards)

A win is a win is a win...

It was ugly but I'll take an ugly win over a pretty loss, whatever that means. In college football, unlike the NFL, style points DO count in the eyes of AP voters. You know what doesn't count though? Strength of schedule...no such thing in CFB. But that is an entirely different conversation. Regardless, the Tigers dropped out of the Top 25 less than 5 days after making their debut. Through my Busch Light-induced semi-haze, here's what I think I saw going on last night in Columbia, aka God's country...

- My man-crush on Boy Wonder Gabbert isn't dissipating but I noticed AGAIN that he's locking on his primary receiver almost exclusively. I have no idea how simple they're trying to keep things for Blaine but if you stare down your receiver from snap to throw every single time, bad things will happen. He made some really ill-advised throws into traffic last night when there were receivers wide-open elsewhere. He's not even giving the "I'm consciously looking the other way but I'm 100% positive I'm still going to the primary" look. Locking on the receivers can work fine at Clydesdale Park (represent!) for Saturday morning pickup games but not so much in college football. Again, I don't know what he saw or what his progressions were, this is just my view from 120 miles away. I rock at armchair QB.

- One more on Gabbert...he seems to not have a very good sense of the rush. I think he feels that it's coming quicker than it really is. Numerous times vs BGSU he got happy feet and rolled out when he could've stepped UP and found somebody downfield. The tackles were forcing the rushers outside and eventually behind him so moving laterally still put him at risk of being hit from behind. I know he can run and that's a great weapon to have but he had more time to step up and throw. Perhaps this is related to my first point - he locks on, that guy is blanketed, roll out and run. I don't know. Interested to see how this plays out in the coming weeks.

- Ground game looked pretty good. Nice to see D-Wash get some rhythm and I think K-Law is going to be a very exciting player. He looked really fast to me. Still wish some of the rushing plays wouldn't take so long to develop and in particular the way K-Law was receiving the zone-read handoffs, he was actually running backward when he got the ball so he had to turn nearly 90 degrees to attack the edge. Looked funny - probably some small footwork thing.

- For the second week in a row, the Tigers opted to use their front 4 on their own to apply pressure on the QB instead of sending blitzers. Worked pretty great vs IL, not as well vs BGSU. The 2 sacks were nice (total loss of 23 yards) but Sheehan is a more accurate passer than Juice and not as prone to tuck and run - he (Sheehan) was able to stay back there and fire short completions...at least for much of the first 3 quarters. Completely different story in 4th Q.

- There were many points in the game that I started thinking, boy this defense is sure starting to look like last year all of the sudden and I can't quite put my finger on it...combo of lack of identifiable pressure on Sheehan, open receivers and missed tackles.

- There were many points in the game that I started thinking, boy this QB is a true sophomore starting his first home game after a scintillating debut. I'm sure he was amped up, trying to do too much. Still, that arm-strength is a thing of absolute beauty.

- 25% conversion rate on 3rd down isn't going to cut it. Through 2 games, the Tigers are 13 of 33 (39%) in coverting 3rd downs. When they've chosen to run the ball on 3rd down, they're 8 for 12 (75%). When trying to pass, the conversion rate is 5 of 21 (24%). Sure this is all predicated on distance to gain the first down but I'm recalling numerous predictable WR bubble screens on 3rd and intermediate (4-9 yards to go) and in those down-and-distance situations our (my) hero has completed 3 of 7 for a whopping ONE TOTAL YARD and nary a first down conversion. Same down-and-distance, the Tigers have RUN the ball thrice for nary a first down conversion (10 total yards). That's 10 chances and not a single conversion on 3rd and 4-9 yards to go. What the hell is it about 3rd and intermediate??? Methinks Los Tigres ought identify some go-to 3rd and "4-9" plays.

- Hard to believe the Tigers won a game in which they lost the turnover battle 2-0? Not really. Since 2006, the Tigers are 7-8 overall when losing the turnover battle and 4-4 when losing it by 2. Oh, and Mizzou has won all 18 games played since 2006 when winning turnover margin. Now I understand why this was a point of emphasis for the coaching staff in pre-season. Turnover margin went from +13 in 2007 to -4 last season.

- This was a game that the Tigers of 5-6 years ago probably loses. I think the entire attitude and expectations of and for the program has taken a dramatic and noticeable turn for the better since then and that was evident watching the nearly 70,000 fans scream their heads off on 3rd downs and not file out to their tailgates for a refill when the Tigers were down early. Seriously, some of the early Pinkel teams would've folded and chalked the game up as "not our night" and taken the "L". This complete attitude/expectation adjustment is a bigger factor than many realize I think. I honestly am ALMOST completely over waiting for the proverbial "other shoe" to drop with this team and program. When you've seen 5th downs, kicked balls and phantom holding calls cost your team victories, you're conditioned to expect the worst to happen to you at the worst possible effing time.

That's about all...Furman University comes to Columbia on Saturday. Without looking, who can give me their mascot/nickname?

BOWLING GREEN PREVIEW

The Bowling Green Falcons arrive in Columbia 1-0 after overcoming a 14-0 deficit in the 2nd quarter to beat Sun Belt Conference favorite Troy 31-14. Before we go any further, Troy is legit. They were a bowl team a year ago and had the top defense and #2 offense in their conference. So let’s not confuse Troy with some pushover chumpster team. This was a big win for Bowling Green, make no mistake. Player of the game was Sr WR Freddie Barnes who caught a school-record 15 balls for 157 yards and two scores. That was good for MAC player of the week honors. You probably already know that Bowling Green has beaten Mizzou the last two times they’ve played, a fact Pinkel has said he’d be sure to hammer home this week. You might even know that the Tigers are 1-3 historically against the Falcons. But what you might not know about this Falcon crew is that they went 6-6 last season, only missing a bowl berth due to their loss at Northern Illinois. They went 5-2 on the road (losses at Boise St and Northern IL), knocking off a Pitt team (in Pittsburgh) that would finish 9-4. Point: they have played in big environments against good teams before – I don’t expect them to be intimidated.

When Bowling Green has the ball…
Sr QB Tyler Sheehan is at the helm of the offense, his third year as a starter. He has thrown for over 6,400 yards and 45 TDs in his career, completing 65% of his passes. Pretty good numbers. He led the team in carries and ran for 7 scores last year. As previously mentioned, Freddie Barnes (their top returning receiver) had a breakout game in the first week so the Tigers must keep an eye on him. Also note that Barnes threw 2 TDs in 4 pass attempts last year – watch out for him on trick plays (double-pass, end-around pass…) Another target, Sr WR Tyrone Pronty is out with broken foot. He hauled in 6 receptions vs Troy. Some other WR that will see time but didn’t get in the mix a ton vs Troy are Sr Chris Wright, Soph Adrian Hodges and Soph Ray Hutson. Sr TE Jimmy Scheidler had only 15 catches a year ago, 7 going for TDs. Sheehan found him 4 times last week for 72 yards. Overall they’re returning 6 guys with 10+ catches a year ago. On the ground, they go with a 2-back approach. Jr RB Willie Geter, is their little scatback (5’ 8”, 170lbs) and has averaged 6.3 ypc in his career. Sr RB Chris Bullock (5’11”, 218 lbs) is the other half of this duo – 4.4 ypc in his career. The Falcon offensive line returns 3 starters, two of whom are 5th year seniors. They have some good experience on offense. They have a first-year Head Coach in Dave Clawson who was with the Tennessee Volunteers as the O-Coordinator in 2008. Prior to UT, he was head coach at Richmond College (Football Championship Subdivision formerly known as D1-AA) from 2004-2007 and there he won two Coach of the Year awards. The Tennessee offense was a hot mess last year, near the bottom of the SEC in all statistical categories, no experience at the QB position, etc. (In a delicious twist of irony, UT is #1 in total offense after week 1 with 657 yards vs perennial POWERHOUSE Western Kentucky…who I actually believe is only in their 2nd year of D1, 2-10 a year ago…I think they join the Sun Belt conference in 2010 but I’m getting sidetracked here.) For what it’s worth, Clawson’s pass/run ratio a year ago was only 43% passing, however, in week 1 vs Troy, Bowling Green threw the ball on 44 of 72 snaps (61%). Attribute that to an experienced QB in Sheehan as well as the fact that they were trailing early in that game. They were 4 for 13 in converting 3rd downs and only faced one 3rd and short (1-3 yards) so they passed on 11 of those snaps, completing 6 but only half of those yielded first downs. For the game they averaged 1.8 yards per carry. Again, that Troy defense is pretty solid, but this is still not an impressive number. They want to pass the ball but aren’t quick to abandon that run. They trailed for nearly half the game and during the time that they were losing, they ran the ball 18 times (out of 28 total rushes). Seems a little backward – running the ball when behind and passing more when ahead…but hey, it worked. They have a Fr K, Jerry Phillips, who made his only attempt, a 21 yarder.

When Bowling Green is on defense…
The Falcons lost 8 starters on defense from a decent 2008 squad. In their conference, they finished 2nd in Total D (5th vs run and 2nd vs pass) and 4th in scoring D. That total D number from a season ago, 343 yards allowed per game, put them in the middle of the pack nationally. They start 3 senior LB: Jerret Sanderson, Cody Basler and James Schneider. The Falcons are undersized and inexperienced on the defensive line, starting four new guys. This should be an area Mizzou can exploit in the running game going up against the big Tiger O-Line (avg 6’4”, 308lbs). In the secondary they bring back senior safeties PJ Mahone and Jahmal Brown. Mahone led the team in tackles a year ago. At CB, they have a rotation going including Sr Roger Williams (who collected a team-high 10 tackles last week), Jr Robert Lorenzi, Soph Keith Morgan, Soph Adrien Spencer and a freshman duo of Tim Moore and Jonathan Davis. Sr Punter Nick Ivonelli was a 3rd team all-MAC performer last year with a 40+ average. He punted 5 times for 37.6 yards last week.

How I see it going down…
Mizzou has the athletic advantage in every facet of this game. I am interested to watch how the DE trio of the Smiths and Coulter get pressure on Sheehan and if the Tigers rely on predominantly four rushers like they did last week vs IL. The Bowling Green O-Line allowed only 1 sack to Troy last week – Mizzou will try to turn up the heat, in my estimation, a little more than they did against Juice Williams because Sheehan isn’t the runner that Juice is. Losing a possession receiver like Pronty will force somebody to step up but let’s not confuse this receiver corps with what IL threw at the Tigers last week, with or without Benn. I think Gettis will draw Freddie Barnes, and after watching him play vs the Illini, I’m liking my chances with that matchup. He just looks like a different player this year (must be the 15lbs he dropped). I don’t see Bowling Green running the ball on Mizzou effectively given their lack of success against Troy a week ago (1.79 yards per carry) and how Mizzou played against Illinois (3.14 ypc allowed). Conversely, I see the Tigers having a much better ground game against the youthful (and light) Falcon D-Line. You’re going to see superior players in the trenches for Mizzou on both sides of the ball, which will make a huge difference in the running game. Expect Washington to have a big game, something in the 120-140 yard range. I would imagine Kendial Lawrence, as the 2nd string back this week, will get double digit touches. The Tiger rushing attack will force the safeties to play up, opening a lot of spots for Gabbert to go downfield to his talented receivers. Those two safeties are good ballplayers and have some experience but the corners are still getting their feet wet in D1 football. Danario is 5” taller than any corner on their roster so there are some built-in size mismatches that the Tigers can exploit. Overall, this is a good mid-level opponent for Missouri in their 2nd game…possibly the best test they’ll have overall in the non-conference season after seeing Illinois basically roll over and play dead after the first quarter and seeing that Nevada got spanked by 5 TDs at Notre Dame. This is certainly not a 100% pushover game but I think Coach Pinkel has excelled in the past 3-4 years at getting his team ready to play every week, especially against lesser opponents. Back in the day, you could bet that Mizzou just wouldn’t show up for a game each year that they were supposed to win but I’d like to think those days have passed. The team seems focused and appears to still have a chip on its shoulder. I like that. Hope it stays there all year. For a final, I’ll go Tigers over Falcons, 43-17.

TIDBITS TO HELP YOU DOMINATE WATERCOOLER CONVERSATION

Mizzou is 4-0 under Pinkel the week after beating Illinois, with an average margin of victory in those games of 31.25pts

8 Tigers made their first career start last week vs Illinois (Gabbert, Kemp, Hoch & Wuebbels on offense; Resonno, Gachkar and Rutland on defense; also Ressel the kicker)

Speaking of Ressel, allow me to introduce you to the conference leader in FG/game…

JGD man-crush Blaine Gabbert leads the Big XII Conference in passing efficiency, completion pct, TD passes and bicep girth for starting QBs