Whitlock-MU is a Fraud

[KC_Connection]

http://www.kansascity.com/sports/col...ry/957217.html

SAN ANTONIO | When it was over, when the 12-point-favorite, former-national-title-contending Missouri Tigers finally subdued Northwestern in overtime, the Tigers danced across the Alamodome as if they’d beaten Kansas or won the Big 12 title.

When he was handed the microphone at the Alamo Bowl trophy ceremony, Gary Pinkel shrieked: “How ’bout dem Tigers?!?”

I wondered what game I’d just watched.

The one I watched was an embarrassment for the Tigers. An inferior opponent had outplayed them for most of the night, settled for a moral victory in the fourth quarter and gave up in overtime.

Congrats, Mizzou. Beating Northwestern 30-23 in overtime inside a half-empty stadium at the conclusion of a season that started with national-title hopes is now the signature moment at the end of the Chase Daniel-Dave Christensen-Spread Offense era.

I’m sorry to rain on the parade scheduled for Columbia today to celebrate the 10-4 Tigers. But I expected more. Coming off losses to Kansas and Oklahoma, I expected Daniel and Christensen to exit Missouri and the Alamodome amid fireworks they sparked.

Instead, while the Tigers were wildly celebrating their “big” victory, the Northwestern Wildcats were at the losers’ postgame news conference claiming a moral victory. Coach Pat Fitzgerald talked about how no one expected the Wildcats to be competitive in this game and how much they proved by taking Missouri into the fourth quarter.

Northwestern proved Missouri is a fraud. The Tigers’ over-the-top celebration let us know that they know they’ve been overrated and overhyped, benefactors of Bill Snyder, cupcake scheduling.

Yeah, they cooed about averaging 10 victories during the Daniel-Christensen era. Uh, 10 victories is like 1,000 yards in the NFL. It used to mean something when the NFL season was 12 and 14 games. Ten victories used to mean a lot before teams started scheduling four nonconference victories.

The Tigers have mastered the art of beating weak teams and sneaking past decent ones. We’ll call the Wildcats decent.

What should we call the Missouri Tigers?

I’m not sure. It’s all pretty much under review now — the Daniel-Christensen-Spread era.

Daniel seems more like a system quarterback now than a Heisman Trophy contender. He played miserably against Northwestern, tossing three interceptions and becoming progressively more inaccurate as the night wore on.

Christensen’s Spread seems flawed by forced diversity. On a night when the Tigers should’ve simply thrown the ball to Chase Coffman 20 times, Mizzou’s big tight end caught seven passes for 67 yards.

We might one day remember Coffman as the Michael Jordan of college football and Christensen as Dean Smith. Christensen might be the only man capable of holding Coffman to fewer than 10 receptions a game.

I spent all night begging Daniel to throw to Coffman. He caught everything in his area code and a couple of over-the-border balls. On a night when the Tigers just needed to move the chains, Christensen repeatedly got cute with reverses, fake reverses, the Wildcat formation and deep balls to receivers not named Jeremy Maclin.

It was very frustrating.

Pinkel and Christensen both need to write thank-you notes to Pat Fitzgerald.

Northwestern simply refused to score points in the fourth quarter. Fitzgerald stood on his sideline, dropped to his knees and prayed that the clock would expire during the final quarter. Rather than throw deep against Missouri’s vulnerable corners and safeties, Fitzgerald had his QB throw slants, screens and occasional dumps over the middle of the field.

With a chance to drive for the game-winning field goal at the end of regulation, Fitzgerald ran the ball once, threw sideways twice and punted. Herm Edwards must be his coaching role model.

Whatever, the Wildcats are always irrelevant when it comes to big-time football. Northwestern traveled to San Antonio to reveal things about the Tigers.

The questions that were raised about the Tigers in the losses to Kansas and Oklahoma were all answered on Monday.

The answers were unpleasant and unflattering. They put Missouri’s last two seasons in proper perspective. Gary Pinkel still has a lot of work to do. The Tigers have not arrived. They’re the kings of a pathetic Big 12 North.

Let’s save the ticker-tape parades and unseemly celebrations and shrieking until Pinkel puts a bit more on his resume.

And this is why I was laughing yesterday, Frazod.