MIZ-Deja Vu

By Seth Herrold
“It’s deja vu all over again.” As the Missouri Tigers prepare to embark on their 2013 football campaign, I shared Yogi Berra’s sentiments from his famed quote.
When is the last time the Missouri Tigers entered a football season coming off a year in which they missed a bowl game? When is the last time Missouri came into a football season with a decision to make at quarterback between a senior who had been the starter over the past couple of years and a highly touted freshman billed as the future of the program. The answer to both questions is the same year and it wasn’t all that long ago.
Following the 2004 season, an abysmal one that saw the Tigers go 5-6 with losses to the likes of Kansas and Troy State, Missouri entered 2005 with Brad Smith returning at quarterback for his senior year. As it would be, 2005 was also the freshman season for a man who would break every passing record in school history, Chase Daniel.
Now here we are again. Missouri is coming off a bad season where there was no bowl game. Quarterback James Franklin is back as the senior as Smith was and Maty Mauk is in Columbia as well for his freshman season, like Daniel was. Gary Pinkel was on the hot seat entering 2005 and there have been some grumblings throughout the state that his seat is a little warm this year. So this is a great opportunity for the Tigers’ coach to learn from his past.
In 2005, Pinkel went with the senior, Smith, and it nearly cost him. On Oct. 15, 2005, Chase Daniel, the freshman, saved Gary Pinkel’s job on homecoming against Iowa State. Smith was 8-for-12 with an interception with nine minutes left in the game. The Tigers were down 24-14. It was then that Smith was knocked out of the game. Daniel led the Tigers down the field twice, once for a touchdown, once for a field goal and the Tigers forced overtime. Smith had been cleared to return to the game, but Pinkel stuck with Daniel. The decision paid off as Daniel led the Tigers back to a 27-24 overtime win.
To this day, that remains in my personal top three favorite Missouri football games I ever attended along with the 2007 win over Kansas at Arrowhead and the 2007 Cotton Bowl win over Arkansas. The impact of Daniel bringing the Tigers back wasn’t fully realized until the Tigers, with Smith as the starter, lost three of their last four games to go 6-5 on the season. Had Smith stayed in the Iowa State game, or even returned after Daniel’s first scoring drive, the Tigers would have lost, finished the season 5-6, missed a bowl game again and Gary Pinkel might not have been back for 2006.
I said before 2005 I wanted Daniel at quarterback and Smith at wideout. Smith was a great athlete and he has proven to be a valuable commodity in the NFL as a wideout. He would have been a great target for Daniel. Nothing against Smith, but Missouri would have really benefitted getting Daniel in the quarterback spot early. They would have made a bowl game and probably done so without the bad losses to New Mexico and Kansas.
Now Missouri needs to turn to Maty Mauk. If Pinkel learned anything from 2005, Mauk will be the starter when Missouri opens the season. Like Smith, Franklin is a good athlete and Missouri could work him into the offense somehow and he would still benefit the team. If Pinkel wants to win games and make it back to a bowl game, he really needs to turn to Mauk. It would benefit the Tigers this year, it would benefit Dorial Green-Beckham and the receiving corps, It would benefit the running game and it would benefit the Tigers in future seasons.
Mauk is a real talent. I hope Missouri doesn’t waste a year of his career letting him watch Franklin lose games from the sidelines. If Pinkel didn’t learn from 2005, he may be out of a job come December.