Preview: No. 14 Missouri to meet Kansas in Border Showdown
The Tigers look to improve to 10-2 on the season with a win over the Jayhawks.
Published Nov. 26, 2010
The 9-2 Missouri football team will close out the regular season inside Arrowhead Stadium on Saturday against the Kansas Jayhawks. Missouri will take on a 3-8 Kansas team that has lost six of their last seven in what has become a rebuilding year.
In the past few years, the storied Missouri-Kansas matchup has provided a thriller no matter how the teams performed during the rest of the season. The last two contests have been decided by three points or less, with the Tigers winning a back-and-forth game 41-39 in 2009.
The 120-year-old series is the second-most played rivalry in sports and the closest among teams who have played more than 103 times. Missouri leads the all-time series by a narrow margin, 55-54-9.
Now finishing his 10th year with the Tigers, coach Gary Pinkel is well-versed in the border battles of these two teams.
"You inherit this rivalry when you come to Mizzou as a player or a coach,” Pinkel said. “It's one of the great rivalries of college football. I've said this every year: you can throw the records out. It means so much to each team and we’ll get their best effort because that's what that does."
Senior linebacker Andrew Gachkar knows as well as any Tiger that previous records and favorites mean nothing in this rivalry game.
“There is no doubt in my mind that this is going to be a close, competitive game,” Gachkar said. “We can't worry about their record. When we step onto the field it is going to be a whole other team that just wants to beat us, just as badly as we want to beat them."
Although the rivalry will energize every player on both sides, Missouri’s sophomore defensive end Aldon Smith will have some extra motivation on Saturday. The Raytown-native will be playing near his hometown, though the star pass rusher won’t let that change his approach.
"It is definitely nice to go back to Kansas City and hold it down for the east side of the city,” Smith said. “The fact that I am playing in front of a lot of friends and family means a lot too. But I don't take any personal emotions into the game; I just go out there and play the game no matter who we are playing.”
Smith, along with the rest of the defense, has taken care of business the past few weeks. The Missouri defense forced four turnovers against Kansas State and then shut out Iowa State on the road last weekend.
The Tiger offense is not nearly as solid, as they continue to be inconsistent in the scoring department. Junior quarterback Blaine Gabbert and company seem to alternate weeks of efficiency with games of little production this season.
One part of the Missouri offense that has become constant is the performance of their breakout receivers. Junior tight end Michael Egnew and sophomore receiver T.J. Moe have lit up the Tiger score sheets all year.
The duo account for 10 of Gabbert’s 16 passing touchdowns in 2010, and the quarterback admires what both of them bring to the table.
“Coming into the fall, I knew that both of them had the ability to get the job done, but they have taken it to a whole new level,” Gabbert said. “I can't tell them to make people miss, like T.J. does, or tell them to run over people, like Michael does. They have come a long way and now they’re high-level, Big 12 guys."
Kickoff in Kansas City is scheduled for 11:40 a.m. on Saturday. Missouri will be playing for their fourth 10-win season in school history.