In week two of college football, when you consider the upsets teams from the MAC pulled off, the Tigers will take this win. "We’re 2-0." That’s how head coach Gary Pinkel summed up Missouri’s come from behind 27-20 win over Bowling Green. The fact the Tigers had to come back showed a lot of character, but it also showed this team still has more to learn.
The Missouri offense started slowly and never really got going until midway through the fourth quarter. A good Bowling Green pass rush and penalties really slowed the Mizzou offense early on.
After Bowling Green made it 7-0 on a 10 play drive that covered 80 yards, the Falcons had a chance to do some damage when Gabbert fumbled inside his 20 while being chased. BG could only manage three yards and had to settle on a 37 yard field goal from Jerry Phillips late in the first quarter to go up 10-0. (Mizzou postgame, click on image for video.)
Then, early in the second quarter, Carl Gettis fumbled a punt giving Bowling Green great field position again at the MU 18. Once again, the defense came up big holding the Falcons to four yards and a Phillips 32 yard field goal to go up 13-0.
The Falcons did a good job of mixing in some blitzes and dropping eight guys back into coverage. That forced the Tigers to abandon their passing game and turn things over to Derrick Washington.
After the Falcons kickoff went out of bounds, Washington took two straight hand offs for gains of nine and 19 yards to get to the BG 37. Two plays later, Brandon Gerau was called for a hold on what would have been a 32 yard touchdown run by freshmen Kendial Lawrence. Washington came back with a six yard gain for another first down. From the BG 25, Gabbert found Washington for an eight yard pass. Another short run gave Mizzou 1 st and 10 at the 15, but Austin Wuebbels got called for a hold, his second penalty of the night. Wuebbels personal foul killed the Tigers opening drive. On third and 15 from the 21, Gabbert missed Jerrell Jackson who was wide open in the end zone instead trying to squeeze a pass into Wes Kemp. The pass was incomplete and MU settled for Grant Ressel’s field goal.
The Tigers moved down the field with their two minute offense, but again couldn’t get in for six and settled for a 46 yard field goal from Ressel to make the score 13-6 at the half and Mizzou appeared to build up some momentum
Gabbert finished the first half 10 of 21 for just 44 yards. Washington rushed for 54 yards on 11 carries.
Bowling Green took the second half kickoff and marched down the field with ease against a Mizzou defense that really kept the game close with their two stops inside the red zone. The Falcons pounded in a touchdown from one yard out from Willie Geter to give Bowling Green a 20-6 lead.
The spark Missouri was looking for may have come late in the third quarter. After being backed up to a 3 rd and 10 at midfield, after Gabbert fumbled a snap, Washington rushed 18 yards for a first down. Gabbert then lofted a pass down the left sideline hitting Jared Perry for a 27 yards touchdown pass to close the game to 20-13. The drive covered 87 yards. Perry said the ball actually went through the defender’s hands before he hauled it in.
After forcing a BG punt, Mizzou was back on the move as Gabbert had perfect touch down the right side line finding Wes Kemp for a 34 yard touchdown to tie the game at 20-20 with 10:15 to play in the fourth. The crowd of 65,401 were suddenly back in the game. The key to the Tiger comeback was the rushing game.
Washington would gain 70 yards on 12 carries and Lawrence would add another 30 on four carries.
On the Falcons, next possession, redshirt freshmen Aldon Smith dropped BG QB Sheehan for an 18 yard sack, forcing another punt with Mizzou taking over at their own 40. The Tigers continued to pound the ball on the ground with Washington and Kendial Lawrence. Then, Gabbert hit Danario Alexander on a 23 yard gain on a crossing pattern giving Mizzou the ball first and goal from the one and D-Wash ran in it for Mizzou’s first lead of the game with 5:38 to play. The defense would hold off two more attempts from Bowling Green as they never made it past midfield.
The Tigers finished with 188 yards net rushing and Gabbert rebounded to finish 20-33 for 172 yards with two touchdowns.
Click to listen to head coach Gary Pinkel.
Mizzou escapes a big MAC attack
Gabbert shines in Missouri’s win over Illinois
Chase who? Blaine Gabbert made a major statement with his arm and his legs in his first collegiate start. Gabbert threw for 25 of 33 for 319 yards and three touchdowns as the Missouri Tigers open the 2009 season with an impressive 37-9 win over Illinois at the dome in St. Louis.
Missouri’s first two possessions were impressive. After Illinois punted on their first drive, Mizzou started at their own seven yard line. Derrick Washington’s first run was a loss of two yards. It wasn’t where you wanted to set up Gabbert for his first pass attempt, throwing from the end zone, but Gabbert found Danario Alexander for a 16 yard gain and a first down. From there his confidence grew.
Gabbert (photo courtesy of Bill Greenblatt, UPI) was 5 of 6 on his opening drive and while he got called for an intentional grounding penalty that stalled the drive, he got the Tigers in field goal position for Grant Ressel to hit a 32 yard field goal. After an Illinois three and out, Missouri took over and established Gabbert with the run. He reeled off runs of 14 and 11. Then he showed his arm strength. At the Illinois 49, Gabbert threaded a pass through two Illini defenders and zipped it into Wes Kemp who sprinted down the sideline 30 yards for a touchdown to put Mizzou up 10-0.
Juice Williams, playing without his top receiver Arrelious Benn who went down on the third play of the game with an ankle sprain, managed to get Illinois down deep in Missouri territory, but came up short on a third and one play and settled for a 24 yard field goal 1:20 into the second quarter.
A key swing in the 2 nd quarter came when Missouri got called for a roughing the punter call after what would have been a three and out with 7:00 to go in the half. Illinois gained some momentum and drove down to the Missouri 20 but on fourth and one, Illini QB Juice Williams stumbled and fell down at the 24 ending the Illini scoring threat. Gabbert led the Tigers down for a 41 yard field goal, Ressel’s third of the game for a 16-3 halftime lead. An interception by Hardy Ricks earlier in the second quarter, set up Ressel’s second field goal.
The Tigers came out of the third quarter and put together an 81 yard drive capped by a three yard touchdown pass from Gabbert to Jerrel Jackson. That came two plays after Gabbert found Alexander wide open on a third and 12 completion where Alexander scampered down to the three.
On Illinois’ next possession, the Illini were driving when Walter Aikens recovered Jeff Cumberland’s fumble after he got passed the first down marker beating cornerback Carl Gettis. After a three and out by Mizzou, the Tigers got the ball back after stopping Illinois. Mizzou drove 70 yards and scored on a screen pass from Gabbert to Jared Perry that turned into a 46 yard touchdown. The corner guarding Perry came on a blitz leaving Perry wide open and nobody picked him up.
Illinois drove down the field and scored from two yards out less than two minutes into the fourth quarter, but missed the extra point making the score 30-9 with 13:19 to play.
Missouri continued to pour it on. On a third and 19, after an illegal blocking penalty, Gabbert found Perry on a fly down the sideline for 21 yards and a first down. Derrick Washington had a 32 yard run that took the ball down to the 10. Two plays later, Gabbert scampered in for the final score.
Click to listen to Gary Pinkel’s post game comments.
Defense dominates Tigers’ scrimmage
More dropped passes, fumbles and sacks. That about sums up the second Missouri Tiger scrimmage in a day that was dominated again by the defense. There would be an upside to this if in fact the defense didn’t ranked 117 th last year.
Or maybe the Missouri defense is that much more improved from a year ago? I like Dave Steckel’s approach to the defense…no-nonsense, take nothing less than 100% attitude and the players love to hit.
I like this defensive line more than last years. With Jaron Baston at nose tackle and three "big" defensive ends in senior Brian Coulter, sophomore Jacquies Smith, and redshirt freshmen Aldon Smith, there will be constant pressure on the quarterback. Coulter had one tackle for loss and Smith had a sack and two tackles for loss. This combined with sacks in the last scrimmage from Smith and Coulter prove my point. Even Brian Madison, fourth on the depth chart at defensive end picked up a sack.
There is more to the linebacker position than just Sean Weatherspoon. Junior Andrew Gachkar plays like a safety, Junior Luke Lambert returns with a year’s experience and young guys like sophomore Will Ebner and redshirt freshmen Zaviar Gooden expect to see some playing time.
The secondary is deep. At cornerback, the Tigers are five deep with guys who are fighting for playing time and there are five safeties who are playing well right now.
I believe it always takes the offense a little more time to get going and takes longer for the offensive line to get used to working with each other and certainly for the quarterbacks to get their timing down with receivers. What does concern me are the number of dropped passes. That is nothing more than a lack of concentration. At this level, players have to be able to hold onto the football.
My biggest concern is the kicking game. Senior Tanner Mills, sophomore Grant Ressel and redshirt Trey Barrow are nowhere near close to showing any consistency. If I had to pick a starting field goal kicker I’d go with Ressel.
Results from today’s scrimmage.
Grant Ressel: 6-of-8 (Made: 32, 40, 29, 37, 30, 29; Miss: 37, 41)
Trey Barrow: 5-of-8 (Made: 37, 29, 37, 30, 29; Miss: 32, 41, 40)
Tanner Mills: 4-of-8 (Made: 29, 37, 30, 29; Miss: 32, 37, 41, 40)
More coming from Gary Pinkel later today.
Pinkel looking forward to MU’s first scrimmage
Saturday’s scrimmage for the Missouri Tigers is very important to head coach Gary Pinkel. He thought the team had a lively practice on Friday and now the evaluation after tomorrow will really show the coaching staff just where the Tigers are with 21 days to go before opening kick against Illinois.
Pinkel has really been happy with his the play of the offensive line. He likes the depth of the squad and likes the guys who need to fill the holes left behind from last year. The kicking game is going to take a major hit…that’s my opinion. Jeff Wolfert was one of the steadiest kickers in the nation, so it will be interesting to see what the kicking game shows tomorrow.
It’s basically Blaine Gabbert’s first live action of the year. From the offensive players that I have talked with, he’s really come a long way since the spring. His passes if they are not right on, they are in the vicinity.
Under defensive coordinator Dave Steckel, it will be interesting to see how the defense comes out. What sticks out in my mind during the Spring Game was the whole unit was buzzing around the ball. Sharp hits and multiple defenders were on the ball.
Here is audio from Friday’s practice courtesy today of mutigers.com
Tigers begin summer practices
The 2009 Missouri Tiger football team kicked off the summer training camp with a focus on defense. The coaches walked around with T-shirts that read "Lead the country" on the front and "Turnover margin" on the back. Head coach Gary Pinkel said that was a big reason this team went from 12 to 10 wins last season.
Listen to Coach Pinkel talk about the turnovers and Sean Weatherspoon on being named team captain, plus watch some of the drills from the Tigers’ first practice, by clicking on the photo link above.
In 2007, when the Tigers won 12 games and were Cotton Bowl champions, they were one of the top teams in the nation in turnover ratio. Last year, they were one of the worst and those turnovers were glaring in that home loss to Oklahoma State which became the turning point in what should have been a great season into a good season.
The slogan is great and it will re-focus the team with one of the true stats that does not lie. If a team wins the turnover battle, they typically win the game. The question, who will step up on defense? Guys like Jacquies Smith, Brian Coulter, and redshirt freshmen Aldon Smith on the defensive end were strong in the spring game. Can they apply enough pressure on the quarterback to force early throws. I believe there are still a lot of questions with Missouri’s secondary and if Big 12 quarterbacks have time to throw, the Tigers could get burned. Plus, I expect teams to try to stay away from Sean Weatherspoon. The senior linebacker returned two interceptions for touchdowns last year.
The Tigers should be strong against the run with 6’1 305 pound nose tackle Jaron Baston clogging up the middle, but again, the key will be pass rushing.
Turnovers, just don’t come from the defensive side. Eliminating turnovers and not forcing the issue on offense will be the biggest concern for offensive coordinator David Yost. He’ll need to re-tool his offense around sophomore quarterback Blaine Gabbert to take some of the pressure off the first year starter, as Yost takes over the role of offensive coordinator. I’ll be interested to see Gabbert’s poise early in the season. Chase Daniel was a quarterback who made a lot of tough throws that most college quarterbacks couldn’t make, but because of that, he also made throws no college quarterback could make and they often resulted in an interception. Brad Smith was the type of quarterback who protected the ball well, because when there wasn’t an open receiver, he just ran. We’ll see how Gabbert develops in that area.
Mizzou football notes: WR Danario Alexander (Marlin, Texas), senior DL Jaron Baston (Blue Springs, Mo.), senior OL Kurtis Gregory (Blackburn, Mo.) and senior LB Sean Weatherspoon (Jasper, Texas) were voted 2009 team captains.
As a way to honor Aaron O’Neal, the Tigers have decided to do something else to further honor his memory going forward…by having a freshman linebacker wear #25 (AO’s number), in honorary fashion all throughout his career at Mizzou.
The first recipient is redshirt freshman linebacker Zaviar Gooden (Pflugerville, Texas). Zaviar wore #40 last season, and had changed to #21 this spring, but he will now wear #25 the rest of his Tiger career, in honor of AO. When Zaviar’s playing days are done, the #25 will be passed along to another freshman linebacker at that time.
