Whitlock : Tigers have a date with destiny

[KcMizzou]

LINCOLN, Neb. | These Tigers will rewrite history again this season.

Winless in Nebraska for three decades, the Missouri Tigers exorcised 30 years of frustration by pounding the Cornhuskers 52-17 Saturday night inside Memorial Stadium.

Now it’s fair to wonder what bit of history will be next to fall.

The Tigers haven’t won a conference football championship since 1969. They haven’t won a game in Austin since the 1800s. They haven’t finished a regular season undefeated since Kansas used an illegal player in the Border War in 1960.

Yes, I’m getting ahead of the Tigers. They’re just 5-0 and will face a very stiff challenge next Saturday when the Oklahoma State Cowboys visit Faurot Field.

But the fact is all of that history can be revised this season because Gary Pinkel has constructed arguably the nation’s most lethal offense.

There’s just no way to stop Chase Daniel, Jeremy Maclin, Chase Coffman and Derrick Washington. I’m not sure you can slow them. We know Nebraska can’t.

Daniel completed 18 of 23 passes for 253 yards and three touchdowns. Maclin caught five passes for 89 yards, including a beautiful 58-yard catch-and-run that started Missouri’s scoring bonanza. Coffman snatched five passes, too. And in just 14 carries, Washington rumbled for 139 yards and two TDs.

The Tigers scored half a hundred despite Nebraska dominating time of possession. Mizzou is averaging an astonishing 53 points per game. Heck, Mike Anderson might take that average for his basketball team this season.

“We got beat and we got beat soundly,” Nebraska coach Bo Pelini ranted following the game. “They played better than us and they coached better than us…. Yes, I’m embarrassed.”

Ah, there’s no reason to express shame. The Tigers are going to frustrate a lot more Big 12 North opponents this season. It seems rather obvious now that the Tigers are the class of the North.

The Kansas Jayhawks barely escaped Iowa State on Saturday. The Kansas State Wildcats got thrashed by Texas Tech. Colorado is as unpredictable as ever. Iowa State coughed up a 20-point lead at home.

Do you think any of those North teams can seriously challenge the third-ranked Tigers? Do you think Kansas or Kansas State can begin to throttle Daniel and friends?

No way. The next two weekends — against Oklahoma State and at Texas — are likely to decide whether the Tigers return to the Big 12 title game and a potential mega-showdown with No. 1-ranked Oklahoma.

The Cowboys, 5-0, can score. Saturday night they dropped 56 points on Texas A&M. Next week’s contest should be a relay race. I’ll take Maclin running the anchor leg against anybody on OSU’s roster. The Tigers will do just enough defensively and pull away in the fourth quarter with some big plays from Maclin and Coffman.

Missouri’s matchup against Texas is likely to be a replay of the Oklahoma State game. The Longhorns, 5-0, are scoring 40-plus points a game, too. They’ll have a huge advantage playing at home.

But I’m starting to believe this Missouri team feels like it’s supposed to win the national title. The Tigers have a swagger. They got a taste of the spotlight last season and feel like they belong in the spotlight this season.

If somehow the Tigers can handle the next two weeks, they will have put together a resume worthy of a No. 1 ranking. I’m not saying they should surpass Oklahoma in the polls. I’m not saying the Tigers should be ranked No. 1. I’m saying their resume would be as impressive as any team in the country.

Being No. 1 now doesn’t really matter. We saw that last year when the Tigers were ranked No. 1 before getting waxed by Oklahoma in the conference title game.

Nope. You just want to be in the hunt in October and November. You want to be ascending and improving at this time of the year. That’s what we’ve seen over the past month since the season opener against Illinois. Missouri’s defense has made steady improvement since giving up 42 points to the Illini.

That improvement will be tested by the Cowboys and the Longhorns the next two weekends. I think they’re up to the challenge. If they’re not, there’s a darn good chance Daniel, Maclin and Coffman will outscore ’em anyway.

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