****Official 2014 Missouri Tigers Football Thread****

['Hamas' Jenkins]

None of this matters. Fire Pinkel.

[NewChief]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

I don't believe the defenses are a push.

The Tigers and Hoggies have two mutual opponents: Georgia and Texas A&M.

Against Georgia, the Tigers lost 34-0 in a game in which the offense didn't bother getting off the bus. But what did the defense do? (Other than spend 43 minutes on the field?)

Yards Per Rush: 3.6 (Held Nick Chubb to 3.8 YPC)
Yards Per Pass: 5.8

How did Arkansas fare against Georgia?

Yards per Rush: 5.3 (Nick Chubb ran for 6.7 YPC)
Yards Per Pass: 10.5

Georgia only ran 56 plays against Arkansas while gathering 4 turnovers. It ran 87 against Missouri while gathering 5 turnovers. Yet Georgia gained MORE yards against Arkansas that it did against Mizzou.

If Arkansas defended as many plays against Georgia as Missouri did, here are the yardage totals, based on the averages:
305 passing yards
307 rushing yards

That's 612 total yards. Wow.

OK, just one game. And Missouri was playing without a healthy Markus Golden. Was Arkansas missing key defensive personnel in that game?

Let's look at the other common opponent: aTm

aTm vs. Arkansas
Yards per rush: 5.1
Yards per pass: 9.4

aTm vs. Mizzou
Yards per rush: 3.9
Yards per pass: 6.6

aTm gained nearly 200 FEWER yards against Arkansas than it did against Mizzou, in 5 more plays than it faced against Missouri.

Combine the stats against these common opponents...

Arkansas surrendered 5.21 yards per rush and 9.7 yards per pass.

Missouri surrendered 3.7 yards per rush and 6.25 yards per pass.

Arkansas's D has played great the past 2 weeks, but Missouri's D has really been great all year (except for one game without Markus Golden).

Georgia was an anomaly (easily our worst all around performance of the year). We actually were missing our middle linebacker Brooks Ellis for that game, and he's the QB of the defense.

A&M was really early in the year when Robb Smith was just getting them going. We'll see, but the defense for Arkansas has been dominant the last two weeks.

[Mile High Mania]

So, both teams lost to Georgia and Mizzou beat A&M a few weeks ago while the Hogs lost to A&M.

Hogs scored 32 vs Georgia, lost by 13.
Hogs scored 28 vs A&M, lost by 7 in OT when they were ranked #6.

A lot of it is timing - A&M was undefeated still at that point and I would guess the Hogs could maintain that lead at this point.

Splice the stats up however you like them. Against those two teams, the Hogs scored 60 points while giving up 80. Mizzou scored 34 points while giving up 61 points.

We can do this stuff all day long, extrapolating this stat against that stat... bottom line is, this Razorback team playing now is on a different level compared to a month ago.

Should be a fun game.

['Hamas' Jenkins]

Originally Posted by Saul Good

...and Mizzou wound up 12-2 and ranked top 5 by the time it was all said and done. I think one of us was vindicated about the quality of Mizzou's season last year while the other pulled the eject lever for the umpteenth time yet again this season.

Before you decide to lecture me yet again about being disingenuous, perhaps you should re-read your OP and let it serve as a reminder that pessimism isn't a synonym for realism.

If MSU ends up 11-1, they will have won at Death Valley, at Ole Miss and at home against aTm, Arkansas, and Auburn with their only loss being by 5 at Alabama. In the real world, people call that an impressive resume. You prefer to call it backing into a four team playoff....which is comical.

What's also comical is saying that MSU was dominated by Alabama. MSU had more rushing yards than Alabama. They had more passing yards than Alabama. They had nearly 100 more total yards than Alabama. They had more time of possession than Alabama. They had 26 first downs to Alabama's 17.

Alabama won that game because State's Heisman candidate QB was banged up and played like crap turning the ball over three times while Alabama's only turnover was reversed by a questionable replay and called a touchdown.

You've dug in your heels here, and that's fine. You'll have to forgive me if I find the case you've laid out severely lacking.

I wasn't even talking about myself. You used that false argument when touting Missouri in one of the 5000 conference pissing matches you've engaged in.

Regarding the OP: Let us not forget that Missouri lost to Indiana at home this year, easily the worst loss of the millennium. I hope this team can win the East, but aside from the defense, it's not a good football team. They were absolutely annihilated by a good Georgia team at home as well. Beating a floundering Florida team and a massively overrated South Carolina is certainly better than losing, but this team has beaten one program this year that is likely to finish the regular season with more than seven wins.

Regarding Mississippi State: Teams that get dominated in the first half usually end up racking up far better numbers in the second half, but those numbers don't tell a true story of the game. They were dominated by Alabama.

The point isn't that Mississippi State isn't a good football team but that they are overrated. They shot up in the polls because of the timing of their wins, not their quality. If they beat Auburn, LSU, and aTm in the last three weeks of the conference season and lost to Alabama in their second conference game instead of the next-to-last, they never elevate to the top position because they would have exactly one win over a team currently ranked (and no top 10 wins) rather than three wins over supposedly top-10 teams, yet none of those teams are demonstrably more or less talented now than they were six weeks ago.

If Alabama beats Auburn and then loses to Georgia or Missouri, Alabama is out of the playoff, perhaps rightfully so. If Oregon loses to UCLA, they're done. Same for Ohio State, and Florida State. The only teams that don't have to win a CCG to get into the playoff are Miss St, TCU, and Baylor. That's backing in, especially since there is no way they'd be #4 if you reordered the games they played.

In effect, the stupidity of the system rewards MSU for the timing of their victories and losses rather than the quality of them. That's an inherently bullshit system, because arbitrary guesswork ends up informing a supposedly meritocratic judgment.

[Saul Good]

The system rewards Mississippi State? I happen to agree with the system. The selection committee agrees with the system. The AP voters agree with the system. The coaches poll agrees with the system. Nearly every computer algorithm agrees with the system http://www.masseyratings.com/cf/compare.htm but the guy who has argued for years that Gary Pinkel (the coach of a team that's 21-4 the last two seasons) should be fired...the guy that incessantly harped about how Britt wasn't a good enough tackle right before he went in the second round and started game 1 for the defending Super Bowl champs...thinks that MSU isn't worthy of a playoff spot, so maybe you're right. You're nothing if not due.

[Saul Good]

For ****'s sake, the only four teams that could potentially meet your qualifications are Alabama, Florida State, Oregon, and Ohio State. The first three are in if they win out. Ohio State is the only potential "snub", and I know you don't want to defend their resume against MSU's.

['Hamas' Jenkins]

Originally Posted by Saul Good

The system rewards Mississippi State? I happen to agree with the system. The selection committee agrees with the system. The AP voters agree with the system. The coaches poll agrees with the system. Nearly every computer algorithm agrees with the system http://www.masseyratings.com/cf/compare.htm but the guy who has argued for years that Gary Pinkel (the coach of a team that's 21-4 the last two seasons) should be fired...the guy that incessantly harped about how Britt wasn't a good enough tackle right before he went in the second round and started game 1 for the defending Super Bowl champs...thinks that MSU isn't worthy of a playoff spot, so maybe you're right. You're nothing if not due.

Britt was as bad at RT against the Chiefs as any tackle has been in any game this year. But let's put him in the HOF because Seattle drafted him. He has been BAD.


Saying the AP and the Coaches agree is tautological. Of course they agree; they are the damned system. Hell, the selection committee is no different from either one of those polls. It just exists under a different name and spouts out the same tripe.

And again, MSU is no more or less worthy than about five other teams. But if they get in they will have backed in, which was always my argument. I'd appreciate it if just once you would categorize viewpoints correctly instead of purposefully bullshitting to beautify your argument. Instead, you cook up more slanted horseshit than a PR firm.

But duplicity has always been your game. You flat out stated Missouri sucked this year, too.

[kcchiefsus]

Anybody know what recruiting is looking like this year, beyond the current group of commits? I no longer subscribe to powermizzou so i'm not really in the know anymore.

[Titty Meat]

Congrats on the good season Mizzou. 9 wins with losing all that talent is impressive.

[Saul Good]

Originally Posted by Chocolate Hog

Congrats on the good season Mizzou. 9 wins with losing all that talent is impressive.

Thanks. Huskerfan's ability to call for the head of a coach who wins 9+ games every year is also impressive.

[Titty Meat]

Originally Posted by Saul Good

Thanks. Huskerfan's ability to call for the head of a coach who wins 9+ games every year is also impressive.

Plenty of Mizzou fans were calling for Pinkels head in previous years.

[kepp]

Originally Posted by Chocolate Hog

Plenty of Mizzou fans were calling for Pinkels head in previous years.

I've heard it some this year also. Mostly after the Indiana loss, but still.

[Reaper16]

Originally Posted by Chocolate Hog

Plenty of Mizzou fans were calling for Pinkels head in previous years.

SaulGood's quip got shut down preeeeeety hard by this.

[Saul Good]

Originally Posted by Reaper16

SaulGood's quip got shut down preeeeeety hard by this.

Clearly you missed the context of the joke, then. Billay has been arguing with a guy in the Husker thread that thinks Bo should get canned and thinks that any coach could win nine games every year.

[Saul Good]

Hale Hentges is heading to Mizzou for a visit on Friday...

[Pitt Gorilla]

Originally Posted by Saul Good

Hale Hentges is heading to Mizzou for a visit on Friday...

That just seems strange. It's a good sign, though. We really need guys that can catch the ball, especially after losing lee.