Big 12 Championship Preview
Sam Bradford and Oklahoma dominated MU in last year's Big 12 Championship game. Will a repeat be in store for Saturday, or can the Tigers pull off a dramatic upset?
The Missouri Tigers will play Saturday night in the Dr. Pepper Big 12 Championship, and while some Missouri fans consider this season a disappointing one so far, there a few things to keep in mind.
- The Missouri Tigers are playing in the Big 12 Championship. There are 10 good teams that will die to be in the position that Missouri is in right now.
- Everyone claims last season to be the best in school history, and while that may be the case, MU was unable to win the Big 12. They are now only three and a half hours away from accomplishing that feat.
- The team still has nine wins. There aren't many programs that are fortunate enough to have a winning record, let alone win nine or more games, which this team still has the possibility of winning two more. If Missouri is able to upset the Oklahoma Sooners this weekend in Kansas City, everyone will immediately start talking about this team as being a great one again.
Senior cornerback Castine Bridges tore his miniscus on Saturday against Kansas. Bridges will have surgery tomorrow, but will be out for the remainder of the season. Mike Prince had appendix surgery earlier, and will not play this week, but can expect to be back for the bowl game.
Oklahoma comes into the game as the heavy favorite, and for good reason. The Sooners have a +14 turnover margin; MU has a -1 turnover margin. The Sooners are one of the hottest teams in the country right now, scoring 60+ points in the last four games. Oklahoma is also known for its fast starts, outscoring their opponents 215-30 in the first quarter this season. In Missouri's three losses, they have been kept out of the endzone on their first offensive possession. In the nine wins, Missouri has scored a touchdown, so the beginning opening series will be huge in this game.
Sophomore quarterback Sam Bradford will look to expose a weak Missouri secondary, that Kansas, along with most of MU's opponents this season, have just picked apart. As much as I would love to see the upset this weekend, I just don't see anyway that it is possible. Oklahoma is too good, and they are playing on a totally different level than Missouri is right now.
Prediction: Missouri: 31, Oklahoma: 52
Comments (7)
8:10 p.m., Dec. 1, 2008
Reginald Bolin said:
Sounds to me like Mr. Tucker has the bad attitude and doesn't know how to lose with dignity or win with humility. Maybe Mr. Tucker should check his attitude before writing such a comment.
9:46 p.m., Dec. 1, 2008
JP said:
Maybe Mr. Bolin should remember that UT kicked the crap out of OU. Maybe Mr. Bolin should check his sources before writing such a coment.
5 a.m., Dec. 2, 2008
Rick said:
I don't understand why you are upset with OU? They didn't vote themselves into the Big 12 Game!!! All they did was play outstanding football.
6:17 a.m., Dec. 2, 2008
Harvey said:
It's only a game, not worth calling names and throwing insults. Bottom line, if Texas had played better then there would be no issues. OU was lucky! Let's just pull together as Big 12 fans and support our teams moving into the bowl games.
1:42 p.m., Dec. 2, 2008
Greg said:
Look all of this misses the point, OU is simply better than we are in every conceivable way. They are much, much better on offense and miles away from us on defense. You know what, I still haven't seen Chase Daniel be successful against a good defense so far this year. He's been great against mediocre to weak defenses, but punchless in the big games, like OU twice last year, Texas, and Oklahoma State. I personally think this game will be over by the end of the first quarter. OU 52, MU 17
7:46 p.m., Dec. 3, 2008
Cody said:
I hope missouri's offensive line blocks the defense and maybe gives daniel some time so he can sit back and have time to pass instead of being rushed. also missouri's defense covers the pass game they will be good because there rushing defense is great. if they follow those requirements they might do better than they did against texas
7:59 p.m., Dec. 1, 2008
Paul Tucker said:
As a very unhappy Austin based Longhorn fan, I wish all the best to your team against ou. Yes, we were robbed of our big 12 spot and all orangebloods are raging mad. Having attended the games against Mizzou in Austin and the Sooners in Dallas, I can honestly say that your fans have class. The Sooners simply do not. They are hateful and foul-mouthed, do not know how to lose with dignity nor win with humility. Please, please, please: BEAT THE HELL OUT OF OU!!!!