Missouri Tigers 2008 Preview

Coach: Gary Pinkel (49-37) Eighth Year
Last Year: 12-2, 7-2 Big 12 North, first of six 
Returning Starters : Offense 6*, Line 3 | Defense 10, Line 3

Three Things You Should Know
1) Thank God for Illinois. Otherwise, Mizzou would be hearing a serious media chorus whining about their upcoming schedule. They do have to go to Lincoln, but Tiger insiders assure me that this is no issue. There's a trip to Austin in the middle of the schedule that could be troublesome. And of course, you have the Border War over in Raytown. So, that's it. Illinois, Texas and KU. Mizzou fans better hope the Jayhawks post a good record this year, because that schedule talk gets old.
2) The Tigers will be replacing four-year starter Adam Spieker at the center position. Sophomore Tim Barnes (6-4/305) gets the job and he'll have to get experienced quickly as Illinois returns three starters on the D-line. It'll be interesting to see if the Illini try to confuse the new center with lots of line/linebacker shifts.
3) The brief #1 ranking that Tigers notched last year was their first appearance in that slot since 1960.

Trends
MU is 5-2 over the past three years in neutral site games ... MU's schedule difficulty is rated at #64 by Phil Steele (KU #25) ... MU goes for three-straight against KU which would match the Jayhawk streak from 2003-2005 ... Since 1966, neither team has been able to string together more than three wins in the series.

The Game
I think this is pretty simple. We can score on Missouri. The defense has flat out cost us this game the past two years and the senior crew of linebackers has a little pressure on them at this point. Obviously, the Orange Bowl Championship is the pinnacle of KU football to date, but don't think it won't get a little uncomfortable at Alumni functions for Mike Rivera, James Holt and Joe Mortenson when they run into Nick Reid, Banks Floodman and Kevin Kane if they don't have a Missouri win in their pocket. They had this Border War thing under control when they walked out the door and the new crew hasn't really carried the torch in this specific series. Still, it's not like you get your picture on the wall for beating Mizzou or anything crazy like that. You just can't let this thing get out of control and besides the road to a Big 12 Championship goes through Missouri and that trophy would look pretty nice at the new complex.

Speaking of the old LBs, what happened in this series? We held the Tigers to three points in 2005. Credit the new offensive scheme or Chase Daniels as Mizzou converted that three-point output to 42 points the following year in Columbia, then 36 last year at Arrowhead. Tactically, we're getting beat on this scheme and I'd like to think that after two years we'll bring a new game plan to the table (I said this last year as well). You can play your base if you want to, but don't show it until the offensive coaches have made their call. Since our offense runs virtually the same scheme as far as playcalling from the sideline, I'd think it would be pretty easy to work this out in practice. It's crazy to let that particular offense know what you're doing every play.

2008 Missouri Schedule
Aug. 30, 2008 Illinois  
Sept. 6, 2008 SE Missouri St. 
Sept. 13, 2008 Nevada  
Sept. 20, 2008 Buffalo 
Oct. 4, 2008 at Nebraska 
Oct. 11, 2008 OK State  
Oct. 18, 2008 at Texas 
Oct. 25, 2008 Colorado  
Nov. 1, 2008 at Baylor 
Nov. 8, 2008 Kansas State  
Nov. 15, 2008 at Iowa State  
Nov. 29, 2008 Kansas

2007 Results
W at Illinois 40-34
W at Ole Miss 38-25
W Western Michigan 52-24
W Illinois St. 38-17
W Nebraska 41-6
L at Oklahoma 41-31
W Texas Tech 41-10
W Iowa State 42-28
W at Colorado 55-10
W Texas A&M 40-26
W at Kansas State 49-32
W at Kansas 36-28
L Oklahoma 38-17
W at Arkansas 38-7