Tigers shift focus to Homecoming game

A win against Colorado would keep Missouri's season afloat.

By Lenny Goldman

Published Oct. 24, 2008

After Monday's news conference, it was clear coach Gary Pinkel and senior quarterback Chase Daniel both knew the starting time for Saturday's game.

Overconfidence last week?

"All that matters is us at 5:30 playing Colorado," Pinkel said.

Is there a need to win out the rest of the season?

"I would suggest that everyone in my organization and in this building, focuses everything they've got into 5:30 on Saturday afternoon," he said.

How about the team's attitude this week?

"Our attitude is 5:30 on Saturday," Daniel said.

That time on Saturday will determine if the team's ship sinks or can come back afloat. After two consecutive conference losses, the Tigers must prove themselves on Homecoming against Colorado.

"I think right now no one is worried about last game," senior defensive end Stryker Sulak said. "That's something that we can't do anything about. We're coming off of two straight losses, and maybe that does make us a little more hungry, and hopefully it will help a lot. A lot of players, including myself, are not really happy with how we played, so I want to step it up for next week."

To do so, they're going to have to beat a Colorado team coming off a narrow 14-13 defeat of Kansas State last week.

In the victory, Colorado burned freshman quarterback Tyler Hansen's redshirt, as he came off the bench for the first time late in the first quarter.

Hansen entered the game with the Buffaloes trailing 7-0, but eventually led them on two scoring drives while splitting reps with sophomore quarterback Cody Hawkins.

"They have two quarterbacks, they brought a freshman out last week, and he kind of added a little bit with Hawkins last week," Pinkel said. "I think he did a real good job of running the ball and being in there for the first time. And it adds a whole different dimension to their offense. I think they're probably going to play both and that's what we're going to have to deal with from an offensive standpoint."

For Sulak, facing a dual-quarterback system means more preparation.

"We have to prepare for two quarterbacks now," he said. "We're going to have to watch a lot more film and see what the tendencies are for both of them."

Offensively, Missouri should look to reestablish its running game that basically vanished in the two losses.

After rushing for 130 or more yards in each of the first five games, the Tigers moved the ball 64 yards on the ground against Oklahoma State and 30 yards against Texas.

"We try as much as we can to keep it even," Daniel said. "I don't think Texas had allowed a rushing touchdown and we scored two on them. I don't think we're necessarily pulling away from the running game. We want to get back to it. It's hard playing from down and running the football."