“What’s the international sign for ‘choke’?”
December 3, 2007 at 10:32 a.m.
Miles Traveled: 1,187
Hours in the LeSabre: We have officially lost count, but it’s been a lot
“That’s what she said.” Count: 79
There are only two reasons why I have enough mental strength to make this post. First, time has healed some of the wounds between now and the-game-that-shall-not-be-named. Second, we just watched Love Actually, which simultaneously lifted my spirits and got me amped for Christmas. What a quality film, I am swooning like a tween at a John Mayer concert.
As for the-game-that-shall-not-be-named, there are a few notes:
The crowd was at least 60-40 South Kansas (the new name for Oklahoma) yet the Mizzou crowd at its height was louder than South Kansas.
The redzone offense for Mizzou was absolutely disgraceful. Whoever was making the play calls for the Tigers needs to take a long look in the mirror and reevaluate their football career. The entire game Mizzou would steadily throw the ball down the field, get inside the five-yard line then try to run it in from a shotgun offense, resulting in predictable failure.
Now, usually this scheme works fairly well. But if South Kansas is consistently stuffing the running game (Tony Temple: 13 carries, 26 yards) they why in God’s name would you try to continue to run the ball with him? At the very least why not put Martin Rucker in shotgun and have him beast his way through the line?
Also, if you have the ball inside the 1-yard line and its second down, there is no excuse for one of the most prolific offenses in the NCAA not to score six.
Why didn’t the offense take one shot down the field? Was there a pass attempted that was longer than 15-20 yards? All of these play calling questions made me nostalgic for our underachieving teams the last two years.
Not having Chase Coffman in the redzone hurt the Tigers more than I thought. The first drive Chase Daniel overthrew Rucker in the endzone, and I openly wonder if Coffman would have been able to climb the ladder and make the catch. Starting the game out 7-0 instead of 3-0 could have made a huge difference for the confidence of the team.
All in all, the offensive effort was pathetic and the defense was clearly overmatched and was easily exploited on stretch running plays to the outside. To their credit, it’s hard to create turnovers when they can run for first downs consistently and your offense isn’t giving you any help.
If this offends anyone because they think I am being too critical know this: if Missouri ever wants to be considered an elite program in the Big 12, then they need to beat the elite teams and should be held to a higher standard.
But, as a life long Cub fan I offer one piece of advice:
Wait till next year.
[Note: There will be one more post tomorrow to wrap up the entire event, complete with the pcitures that I wasn't able to upload during the trip. See you then.]
Comments on this post
First of all, did none of you tiger fans see the line? The Sooners were favored. Relax... you didn't choke, you lost the way the rest of the country thought you would. Second of all, Daniels behavior was a disgrace fitting for someone who can't lead his team to a victory.
Posted by Casey Richards on Dec 3, 2007 at 8:26 p.m. (Report Comment)