The viewers who witnessed watching the Missouri Tigers on Saturday night knew that the game vs. the Colorado Buffaloes was going to be a blowout. I knew coming into this game that the Colorado Buffaloes had no chance, but I did not think Missouri was also going to shutout the Buffaloes! Of course, the offense looked sharp again. Chase Daniel, Jeremy Maclin, and Chase Coffman had big games. The highlight of the game was when Chase Coffman made a one-hand snatch on a Colorado defender in the endzone on 3rd Down to give the Missouri Tigers a 14-0 lead. He later broke the NCAA record for most career receptions for a tight end. The defense played solid, but they were playing against some scrubs so that really doesn't count. Colorado looked scared the whole game and had no idea what they wanted to do on offense. They used the two-QB system in Hawkins and Hansen but no progress. I left the game in the middle of the third quarter when it was 34-0 still with 8 minutes left so I can't really give the full analysis of the game. I'm going to break the positives, negatives, and neutral (YES I SAID NEUTRAL) down.
The positives:
Chase Daniel was outstanding despite the pick he threw in the second quarter. He was 31-37 302 yards and 5 TDs, but hey you're supposed to do that against cupcakes.
Jeremy Maclin got into the flow of the offense with 11 rec, 134 yards and 2 TDs
Chase Coffman made the highlight of the game. I'm glad SportsCenter gave props for that. He had 7 rec, 50 yards, and a TD.
The defensive play of Sean Weatherspoon (of course). He's a ball-hawker! The front four got after the QBs, and the secondary play.......let's just say they got lucky for half of the game.
The negatives:
Why won't Gary Pinkel run the goal-line formation inside the 5-yard line? I think he's an idiot when it comes to this. There's no need to run the spread down there. Just line up in a Goal-line formation and hand the ball off to Derrick Washington or run a play-action pass and throw one up to Chase Coffman. It's not that hard! There has a couple of times in which Mizzou had to almost kick a field goal because of his inability to use his brain. Of course we were still scoring but still. He's going to have to make this adjustment if he ever wants to beat a top team ever in his life! I'm talking about against OU, Texas, Oklahoma State, or any top SEC opponent.
The secondary. I'm mainly going to pick on Castine Bridges. When I was watching the game in the middle of Tiger's Lair, this guy swore he was making plays. Whenever the QB overthrew his target or the receiver drops a pass, he celebrated like he actually did something! This guy really needs to stop. I think he only had one pass deflection the whole game. I'm sorry, but how is this guy starting at a D-1 college? Is it his height because height doesn't mean anything, if you have no coverage skills. He's clearly the Eric Warfield of college football. An easy way to beat Mizzou is to throw a hitch, slant or crossing route over the middle to his side, and I guarantee that 95% of the time, Castine gives up the play. Receivers will at least get close to 10 catches per game playing on his side. I rather see the smidget Del Howard starting than this joker.
Neutrals:
The offensive line. The wide splits need to go. Teams are figuring out how to get through our offensive line by having their D-Line go to inside to get after Chase Daniel. Chase is running around too much and when he runs around too much, it's not a good look for the offense because he will either throw a pick or a bad pass. Chase needs to get comfortable throwing the ball if we have a chance of winning. I'm not saying Chase can't throw the ball on the run, but his stats throwing outside the pocket don't compare to when he's in the pocket. The offensive line needs to scoot in a bit closer. Other than that, the line played good for the most part, but we have to make this adjustment against a legit top team.
Derrick Washington. He played pretty good. I like his vision and agility, but he's a bit slow. In the offseason, he needs to work on getting faster but other than that, I can see him playing the NFL. For the record, he could be better than Tony Temple when his career at Mizzou is over with.
To sum things up:
I realize that Missouri will not compete for a national title this year, but we still have a shot at the BCS. The thing is that we can' play like the Chiefs once we get on the national stage. (I'll get to them on my next blog) Twice this year against Oklahoma State and Texas, we looked like we forgot how to play football. Texas really exposed us in our last loss making our secondary look terrible out there. That was the only thing that could derail us from a national title and look what happened. Columbia won't ever get a chance like that for a while, but who knows? Blaine Gabbert could burst out on the scene next year and still put us in contention. Missouri has a favorable schedule. Next week @ Baylor, then the final home game vs. K-State, then @ Iowa State and yes the Border War vs. Gay-U *cough* I mean KU! MU should run the table, but if they do, we have to show up in the Big 12 Title Game because the Big 12 South is looking dangerous right now. If we get off to bad start against OU, Texas, Ok. St, or Texas Tech then we have no chance of winning the ball game simply for the fact that the defense hasn't proved anything yet. At the end of the day, I still think these guys can do it. They have four games left to prove that they are ready to finally handle the big stage and for Chase and Gary Pinkel to finally get their first big win! If that happens, HOO-RAY! HURRAH! MIZZOU! MIZZOU!
Message to all the KU students, faculty, and fans:
Before you guys start talking about our squad in how Chase Daniel and Gary Pinkel have never won a big game, what big game have you guys won? The Orange Bowl doesn't count for one because VA Tech were really some nobodies. The ACC sucked last year and its even worse this year. You guys only got in because the BCS was sucking you guys down and wanted to make a great story out of you bums. You guys have never beat a Top 10 opponent in your life! Have you guys even beat a ranked opponent this year? I'm glad you guys got a tough schedule this year because it brought you back down to Earth. The losses will keep coming for guys too. You guys play K-State next. Better hope Josh Freeman doesn't show up because he can throw for a bunch of yards on your sorry secondary. Yes, you guys are in the same boat as us! Then @ Nebraska, home vs. Texas, and then you guys will get served by Mizzou in the Border War! I could possibly see 5 maybe 6 losses overall. Makes me wonder if you guys are even going to get a bowl bid? See you at Arrowhead in a few weeks Gayhawks.
