MU ends non-conference 4-0

By Sam Wilson

Published Sept. 25, 2007

With 6 minutes, 3 seconds remaining in the first quarter of Saturday's football game, some students undoubtedly began to plan their exit from what they thought would be a blowout.

The first play from scrimmage was a 57-yard pass from junior quarterback Chase Daniel to senior wide receiver Will Franklin. Senior tailback Tony Temple had just scored a touchdown on a pass from Daniel. The Tigers led 14-0 against the Illinois State Redbirds, a team from the Football Championship Subdivision, formerly known as Division I-AA.

The Tigers would eventually win 38-17, but just before the end of the first quarter, two Illinois State made the game more interesting. First, Redbird freshman kicker Tyler Funk made a 21-yard field goal with 12 seconds to go to make the score 14-3.

Then, during the last play of the quarter, Daniel threw an interception while trying to avoid a sack, giving ISU the ball in MU territory.

"We had a little line miscue on it," Daniel said. "I've got to throw it away on that."

For the second straight possession, the Redbirds drove into the red zone, only to come up short on another third down. This time, they decided not to kick a field goal and went for a touchdown on fourth and goal from the three-yard line instead. Redbird senior quarterback Luke Drone's pass was incomplete for sophomore wide receiver Eyad Salem, and the MU defense had allowed only three points in two red-zone trips.

"Words can't explain what it does to your defense to shut somebody out in the red zone," senior safety Pig Brown said. "It just takes a real big chip off your shoulder."

The next score came from MU (4-0), an eight-yard touchdown pass from Daniel to redshirt freshman wide receiver Jeremy Maclin to make the score 21-3. Illinois State (2-2) would finally get its first touchdown with 3:41 to go in the first half and trailed 24-10 at halftime.

For most of the third quarter, both teams went back and forth without any scoring. Finally, the Tigers broke the drought with 49 seconds to go when Temple's touchdown run made the score 31-10. After Illinois State failed to convert a third down early in the fourth quarter, Maclin had a punt return touchdown to make the score 38-10.

"The hole was wide open," Maclin said. "I just caught the ball and went for it."

On the return, he was forced to catch the ball on the run.

"That was probably almost committing suicide," he said. "That's probably one of the hardest things to do."

The Tigers held on to their 38-10 lead for most of the fourth quarter. Despite the discrepancy, the team continued to throw the ball, even to the sidelines.

"That's what we do," coach Gary Pinkel said. "That's our offense, and I respectfully say this: If we were in the 50s we would really watch what we're doing, but we weren't in the 40s yet."

Members of the defense seemed to be pleased with its improvement but still saw work to be done, especially since Redbird sophomore running back Geno Blow had 116 yards on 21 carries.

"I think we played the run better," MU junior linebacker Brock Christopher said. "They got some chunks of yards today that they shouldn't be getting, but we came out hard and played better."

Pinkel said he was pleased with the win.

"I feel very good about the victory," he said. "There are always things to work on, but we're 4-0."