By Seth Herrold
The Missouri Tigers are facing one of their biggest games in the Gary Pinkel administration on Saturday when they play host to Oklahoma, the number one team in the BCS Poll. The Tigers, having a strong season in their own right, come in ranked 11th in the nation in that same poll.
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Adding to the magnitude of the two teams coming together on the gridiron at Faurot Field is ESPN College Gameday, which will broadcast from the campus in Columbia for the first time ever as well as Mizzou Homecoming activities.
Pinkel hasn’t had the best track record against the Sooners and his record in high profile games isn’t much better. Pinkel is 0-6 against Oklahoma and that includes a pair of Big 12 championship games, one of which was the site for another ESPN College Gameday broadcast.
When I first heard that the Mizzou-Oklahoma game might be the site for Gameday, I wasn’t sure if I wanted it. The Texas A&M game hadn’t been played yet and before that game I didn’t look at Missouri as a very good team. Yes, the Tigers were 5-0, but I looked at it this way: four non-conference wins over poor teams and one conference win against what I would say is one of the bottom three schools in the conference. Not to mention that the San Diego State game should not have been a win. I’m not above saying that was one of the luckiest turn of events I have ever seen in my life.
But then Missouri beat Texas A&M. I kind of have a feeling now that A&M isn’t as good as they were hyped up to be, but seeing the way the Tigers’ defense throttled an Aggies squad that didn’t really turn the ball over.
After that game, seeing the Tigers play so passionately on the defensive side, I am looking at this team in a whole different light. In short, Missouri is a good football team. In sports, especially football, it always seems the better defense is what wins championships. For all the talk of the spread offense that captivated the nation in the 2000’s, it was always teams with lock-down defensive units that took the top spots. Look at the Tigers’ teams in 2007 and 2008. Those two teams probably had the best offenses in school history. They can at least argue that they were. But Missouri didn’t win a Big 12 championship in either of those two seasons and Oklahoma was the reason why both years. The Sooners had good offensive teams in those years, but their defense was great. The Tigers’ was not.
Now, a couple of years after, the Tigers have another high profile showdown with the Sooners, who have proven to be the Tigers’ antagonist since Pinkel came to town. The difference is both team’s offenses are down from where they were during the 2007 and 2008 seasons, but both teams have solid defenses. The Tigers couldn’t stop the Sooners in San Antonio or Kansas City, but this year in Columbia the story will be different.
Sooners Beware: Brad Madison lives here. The Bethany native, dubbed a ‘whirling derbish’ by Fox Sports Net commentators, spun his way in for three sacks against the Aggies. Madison and company have the Tigers’ defense at a level that I personally have never seen and that is a real reason to fear the Tigers.
The eyes of the nation will be on Mizzou this Saturday. Can the Tigers knock off the number one team? One thing is for sure, with this defense, it’s possible.