Column: Time to shine

By Jake Kreinberg

Published Oct. 19, 2010

This is it.

Missouri fans pining for the spotlight, the chance to prove their team isn’t a fluke and the opportunity to prove the Tigers are a legitimate national contender, will find it this Saturday night against the Oklahoma Sooners.

The bright lights of Memorial Stadium, compounded with ESPN’s College GameDay’s first visit to campus, can warm, no, light a fire under the perception that Missouri is here to stay on the national level.

MU’s next two games will not only define the season, but also go a long way toward defining coach Gary Pinkel’s term at Missouri. While next week’s game against Nebraska will have more impact in the Big 12 North standings, Saturday’s game against the Sooners has the ability to shift the perception of the entire program.

Some fans question if Pinkel can put the Tigers among the nation’s elite programs, citing his 0-11 record against traditional South powers Oklahoma and Texas, including seven losses against the Sooners. (Missouri has won three of its past 34 meetings with OU.)

As if exorcising the demons from Norman wasn't inspiration enough, Oklahoma will carry the banner of being the top-ranked team in the country when it travels to Columbia. With a win, MU will enter the top 10 in the country and prove they are the team to beat in the Big 12 faster than Big 10 officials can look up from their corn and ask, “What’s Missouri doing up there?” And that’s no joke.

And yet…

A loss (let alone a blowout) will take this program a definitive step backwards. By no means are this year’s Tigers bad or even mediocre, but in a world where money rules and putting butts in the seats (or on rock-hard bleachers) is the top priority, a loss on such a grandiose stage will compound the belief that MU just isn’t ready for the big time.

So does Pinkel notice the magnitude of Saturday’s contest?

“I’m glad it’s in The Zou,” the head coach said after the 30-9 win over Texas A&M. “We’re excited.”

He should be excited. And so should Missouri’s fans, because Pinkel brings a more complete team to face the Sooners than he ever has previously. Chase Daniel could still be scoring touchdowns for the 2007 Tigers but it still wouldn’t get them any closer to Oklahoma or Texas, because the defense was porous enough to let Sooner Schooners plow through it.

The 2010 version of Missouri’s defense may lack the star power of Sean Weatherspoon, but what it does have is a cohesiveness that stifles opposing offenses through an aggressive array of blitzing. Defensive coordinator Dave Steckel feels comfortable bringing pressure nearly every play because he trusts the secondary to match up with the Big 12’s finest receivers step for step. Steckel’s philosophy is to limit big plays, and the Tigers have done so en route to allowing only 10.8 points per game, good for second in the nation.

Pressuring the pocket will be Missouri’s key to victory Saturday. Shutting down OU’s DeMarco Murray and the ground game will be the Tigers’ most difficult task this season, but if they can, it will make for one long night on the road for quarterback Landry Jones against the improved secondary.

Missouri can legitimately say for the first time under Pinkel it has the talent to match up with Oklahoma. Now all the Tigers have to do is prove it on the big stage.