Column: Missouri football: a box of chocolates

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By Jake Kreinberg

Published Nov. 9, 2010

Well, isn’t this a conundrum.

After a summer of taking shots from around the country, the dissonant Big 12 Conference has resorted to beating itself up on the field. Traditional powers Texas and Oklahoma are exhibiting down years, and everyone else can point to at least a few games they’d like to call an audible on.

It’s a year when a team from the middle-class can take advantage and rise to compete for the conference championship and an automatic berth into the Bowl Championship Series.

It was Missouri’s year.

The Tigers started the season with seven consecutive wins, leaving themselves as one of only seven unbeaten teams left in the country. Sure, there were still doubters who questioned if MU would revert back into that hated “paper tiger” analogy, but this year would be different (hey, we beat Oklahoma, right?).

MU ascended the polls so quickly to sixth (in the BCS) it put the university on Cloud Nine.

Turns out the team might have gotten dizzy up there.

After the unforgettable night on Faurot Field over Homecoming weekend, Missouri has gotten trounced by Nebraska and Texas Tech, the latter of which sat in the cellar of the Big 12 South and whose pass defense ranked 119th out of the 120 major college football teams.

It wasn’t that the Tigers were shown up statistically that bothers me the most, but rather that the team on both occasions looked listless. Could the explanation be that MU tired from the emotionally challenging slate of Oklahoma and Nebraska in consecutive games — games that could have turned the direction of the program?

Yes, although as coach Gary Pinkel has said, that’s no excuse.

Pinkel has also said with each victory, games become bigger as the season progresses, no matter the opponent. That’s why the past two weeks have been a disappointment.

It’s true this team could still go 10-2 (a scenario becoming more distant by the week), and surpass preseason expectations. But given a 7-0 head start, those expectations change. They rise into national contender expectations, and, correct me if I’m wrong, isn’t that what we want Missouri to be? The Tigers had beaten Oklahoma and proven they could play with anyone, including Nebraska.

OK, maybe the Cornhuskers were invincible in Lincoln that fine October day, but what happened in Lubbock is inexcusable. MU’s two longest rushing touchdowns since the Brad Smith era put the Tigers comfortably ahead early. After that, nothing.

I understand Texas Tech’s pass defense was so porous it would turn even Raider Red’s smile upside down, but if junior quarterback Blaine Gabbert is having a rough day, why abandon the run? Missouri rushed the ball 22 times in the first half, then nine in the second half. Consequently, the team gained 305 yards overall in the first half, compared to only 50 in the second. Of MU’s six possessions in the second half, only two lasted longer than three plays.

This is a recurring theme. After being employed so well against Oklahoma, the Tigers seem anxious to drop the run altogether once it starts to snag. I’m not going to pretend to know more than the coaches on the sideline, but I do know the inherent advantages of having a running component to an offense.

After nine games, do we know what to expect from this team?

I don’t.