Column: True team effort

By Brad Minkow, Sports Columnist
Nov. 13, 2007

As many NCAA football powerhouses have faltered and stumbled throughout the 2007 season, the Missouri Tigers have triumphed. Whereas preseason favorites have succeeded and failed at the hands of their superstars, such as Arkansas, Florida and Southern California, Missouri's interest in spreading the wealth of talent has maneuvered the Tigers toward success.

During the past two weekends, the Razorbacks needed more than 325 yards from senior running back Darren McFadden, and the Gators demanded seven touchdowns from sophomore quarterback Tim Tebow to remain competitive. And although these performances have led to many victories in the Southeastern Conference, neither team finds themselves near the top of the standings.

Missouri, on the other hand, as evident in last Saturday's victory against Texas A&M, has the unique capability to share the load through many positions and multiple players at each position.

Even on Senior Day, coach Gary Pinkel made it his business to involve a large number of his players. Junior quarterback Chase Daniel continued his dominance over Big 12 defenses as he threw for three touchdowns. And, as is commonplace with the Tigers these days, he used a full arsenal. The stockpile of weapons included the usual suspects of tight ends in senior Martin Rucker and junior Chase Coffman, along with freshman wide receiver Jeremy Maclin. And that's in addition to underused but just as effective targets senior William Franklin, sophomore Danario Alexander and senior Jason Ray.

Although Maclin and Coffman received all three touchdowns, every player was used to some degree. Unlike many programs where star talents would become emotionally frustrated with a lack of attention, Pinkel has instilled in his players the ideal of selflessness. Ironically, it is the same selflessness that confuses defense to the point of exhaustion, almost always paving the way for Missouri blowouts.

Pinkel also refrained from restricting his running game to senior tailback Tony Temple. Junior tailback Jimmy Jackson and freshman tailback Derrick Washington both saw significant playing time. Despite the rotation, Temple was still able to rush for more than 100 yards, and his lessened playing time with greater unpredictability enabled him to pick apart the Aggies.

With all that said, it is not to say that Missouri has not been propelled by its own leaders and Heisman candidate. Rucker's maturity, talent and poise have brought together a young Tiger squad during a stretch of much success. On the other side of the ball, the inspirational and enthused play by senior defensive tackle Lorenzo Williams and sophomore linebacker Sean Weatherspoon, especially in light of senior safety Pig Brown's injury, have helped a much-improved Tigers defense last in the season. And of course, Daniel has slowly ascended atop the Heisman Trophy race as he has amassed 26 touchdowns to just nine interceptions en route to his team's No. 5 ranking in the Bowl Championship Series standings.

Missouri might not boast the most electric or jaw-dropping team in the nation, but no doubt they are one of the most unified. Through this unity, they have become one of the few programs to have a new hero each and every game. And through these different leaders and performances, Missouri has positioned itself for an unexpected but exciting November.

bmm34c@mizzou.edu

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Column: True team effort

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