KC Star Mizzou Articles

[KcMizzou]

Could someone post them for me?


I'm having issues with the site.

[KcMizzou]

Right here in this thread would be fine.

[siberian khatru]

WHITLOCK:

Mizzou leaves no doubt about which team is No. 1

The Missouri Tigers stated their case for No. 1 Saturday night, and only the clueless left Arrowhead Stadium unimpressed.

Oh, fans of the Ohio State Buckeyes and West Virginia Mountaineers might contend that the mother-of-all-border wars exposed previously undefeated Kansas as a fraud, and there may be a teeny kernel of truth in that sentiment.

But that reality doesn’t eliminate what Saturday’s showdown told us about the Tigers:

They’re worthy of college football’s No. 1 ranking. They’re legitimate national-title contenders. And they’re ready for their rematch with Oklahoma in next weekend’s Big 12 title game.

In beating the Jayhawks 36-28, the Tigers removed much of the drama in Armageddon at Arrowhead, the most hyped, anticipated and significant game ever played inside the home of the Chiefs. Mizzou

scored first, led 21-0 in the third quarter and controlled this contest from start to finish.

The victory secured the Tigers their first-ever Big 12 North crown, which gives Mizzou, 11-1, a chance to erase the lone blemish on its record, a 10-point road loss to the Sooners. If the Tigers beat Oklahoma, they’ll likely play in the BCS title game in New Orleans.

I believe they’ll knock off the Sooners.

Saturday night, the Tigers certainly looked like the most complete team in the Big 12, if not the nation.

No team in the country has a better pure passer than Chase Daniel.

Daniel’s precise passing shredded a Kansas defense that had bullied 11 previous opponents. After a slow, two-punt start, Daniel and the Tiger offense found a rhythm that the Jayhawks simply couldn’t break.

Daniel completed an amazing 40 of 49 passes for 361 yards and three TDs. Only penalties and dropped passes slowed the Missouri offense. Tony Temple carried the ball 22 times for 98 yards, giving Mizzou a dangerous run-pass option.

We knew the Missouri offense would be lethal. What really impressed Saturday night was the Tigers’ defense. For three quarters, Mizzou’s defense throttled the normally high-scoring Kansas offense, holding the Jayhawks to seven points.

The Tiger front seven made Kansas’ offense one-dimensional, shutting down running back Brandon McAnderson. The Jayhawks’ leading rusher never found consistent running lanes. He managed 41 yards in 14 carries. McAnderson’s ability to run the ball was supposed to be Kansas’ big advantage. It never materialized, which put more pressure on quarterback Todd Reesing.

Reesing, who came into the game with just four interceptions, cracked under the stress.

He underthrew an open receiver in the second quarter, and Missouri’s William Moore picked off the pass. In the third quarter, Reesing threw behind an open receiver, and Castine Bridges grabbed the deflected ball and took it the other way.

Reesing was off the entire game. His balls lacked zip. He tossed several passes into the dirt for no reason. By the end of the game, he had happy feet and was anticipating a Missouri pass rush.

Yes, the Jayhawks performed like a team that had never been tested by top competition. The Tigers, having played and lost to Oklahoma on the road earlier this season, seemed more prepared for the big stage than the Jayhawks.

Daniel, Temple, Danario Alexander, Tommy Saunders, Jeremy Maclin and Martin Rucker — Missouri’s offensive stars — seized this moment. Kansas’ offensive stars did not. Kansas made it to 11-0 by not making mistakes, by not losing the turnover battle. On Saturday, the Tigers played turnover-free football and stayed true to form in terms of offensive aggression.

Gary Pinkel ran a fake field goal in the first quarter. He went for it on fourth down twice in the first half. The Tigers overcame 14 penalties. It was like they laughed off any and every mistake.

You can do that when you have a quarterback as poised, experienced and skilled as Daniel. You can do that when you have a plethora of NFL-ready offensive weapons.

No matter what happens from here, we know the Tigers are for real. We know they’re worthy of being in the national-title hunt.

http://www.kansascity.com/sports/columnists/jason_whitlock/story/375930.html

[KcMizzou]

Ty, sir... off to read it.

[siberian khatru]

JOPO:

Daniel was the difference

Well, we have some answers after Saturday night, after Missouri beat Kansas 36-28 in one of the wildest sports scenes in the history of Kansas City.

Question 1. Is Kansas for real? Answer: Yes. Sure, some people will say now that the Jayhawks’ 11-1 record is a mirage, an illusion created by bad scheduling (or good scheduling, depending on your point of view) and going through the Big 12 without having to face Oklahoma, Texas or Texas Tech.

But Saturday night — after a jittery first half — the Jayhawks came back from a 21-0 deficit and scared the heck out of the team that will probably be No. 1 in America when the polls come out. Play that game 20 times, and the Jayhawks win their share.

Question 2: Does Missouri deserve to be No. 1 in America? Answer: Yes. In this crazy season when no team has dominated, the Tigers have victories over Illinois and Kansas (both on neutral sites) and their sole loss was a tough game at Oklahoma. It looks to be the best resume. Plus a nation watching the game on Saturday saw that Missouri has America’s most systematic offense.

The trouble is, Missouri now has to go and play Oklahoma in the Big 12 championship game, and that will be a ruthless game.

Question 3: How good is Missouri quarterback Chase Daniel anyway?

This takes a little bit longer answer. Daniel was the difference-maker in the Missouri’s argument-ending victory Saturday night. Sure, if you want numbers, you can have numbers; Daniel completed 40 of 49 passes for 361 yards and three touchdowns. Heisman voters — who may still be in a daze after Darren McFadden’s show against LSU on Friday — can chew on those numbers.

But to me, Daniel’s brilliance has nothing to do with the big numbers he puts up more or less every week. Howie Long once gave a great explanation of what it was like to get beat by quarterback legend Joe Montana. He said it was like getting knocked out in a pillow fight. You never felt the blow. And you were all kinds of mad afterward.

That’s as good as any description of Daniel. He never knocks you out with some dazzling punch. He won’t slip through two defenders and then break away like Vince Young; he can’t zip 60-yard laser passes like John Elway did; he doesn’t flatten defenders and serve as his own offensive line like the quarterbacking choo-choo train Tim Tebow.

So what does Daniel do? Something right. On every play. In chess, grandmasters will tell you that it’s the most innocuous-looking moves that are deadliest. In football, it isn’t often the 70-yard runs or perfect passes into triple-coverage that win games. Two plays stand out from Saturday night’s game. Neither one was a scoring play. Neither one led to a touchdown.

The first play came midway through the fourth quarter, with Missouri leading 31-21, with Kansas beginning to find its groove. The Jayhawks played panicked football the first half — missed field goals, dropped passes, penalties, sophomore quarterback Todd Reesing, for the first time all season, looked a bit overwhelmed — but in the second half (led and willed by Reesing) they scored touchdowns on three straight possessions. The Tigers faced a third down and 14, and everybody was looking ahead. Missouri would have to punt, Kansas would drive down for another touchdown, the lead would be three, the crowd would go crazy.

Daniel took the snap and looked downfield. And then, he felt a little pressure to his right. I can never remember seeing a college quarterback who has Daniels’ innate feel for the rush. He’s like one of those fancy cars that beep whenever another car or three or whatever is too close. He just knows. And so on this play he just moved a little bit to his left — it was hardly noticeable. But it made all the difference. He had an open lane, he threw a perfect pass over the shoulder of receiver Dana Alexander, who caught it for 14 yards and a first down.

That was the first pillow shot.

The second came two plays later, this time with Missouri facing a second-down and 12. Again, some of those feelings were building — Missouri might punt, Kansas might score, the game might get wild — and this time the pressure came straight at Daniel. He eluded it. He’s terrific at this.

This time, Daniel worked his way left into the clear, and he floated a 14-yard pass to the amazing Jeremy Maclin. That was another first down, it put Missouri in field goal range. And that more or less ended all of Kansas’ hopes.

And that was pillow punch No. 2.

Neither play, on its own merit, would make the “SportsCenter” highlights. But coaches know that you don’t win games — and you certainly don’t win big games — with highlight plays. The old Kansas State basketball coach Jack Hartman used to talk often about what talent means. People always want to believe talent is about who can run fast or jump high or bench 400 or throw the ball 80 yards in the air. Hartman said, no, talent is simply about being in the right place and doing the right thing.

That’s Chase Daniel. I don’t know if he does anything spectacularly enough to win the Heisman Trophy this year. But the guy does all the right stuff. You can win championships playing that way.

http://www.kansascity.com/180/story/375924.html

[siberian khatru]

Game story doesn't have quotes yet -- not really worth reading.

Do read the Post-Dispatch stuff, though.

[KcMizzou]

Game story doesn't have quotes yet -- not really worth reading.

Do read the Post-Dispatch stuff, though.Thank you again... rep.