The Zou: Tracking Mizzou in '08

The Tigers opened up the season with a win over Illinois, the 20th ranked team in the land.  So here is an overview of each position's performance for the Tigers.

QB:  Chase Daniel looked great in his senior season debut, but he did look a tad rusty at times.  He threw a pick six early, but overall played very well.

HB:  Definitely a plus for the Tigers.  Derrick Washington played tremendously against the very strong Illini front seven and almost averaged seven yards a carry with 19 carries for 130 yards.  Jimmy Jackson also played a very good backup role, getting five carries and 40+ yards.

OL:  The offensive line came into this game with a few questions, and they had one of the nation's best front seven.  The first play, the left side (the questioned side) didn't look so good as an Illini was in the backfield.  After that play, they were no real issues with this line.  They blocked great for the runners, and quarterback Chase Daniel, helping this offense to score 52 points in the season opener.

WR/TE:  The wide receivers looked just fine, even without Danario Alexander, who is out with an injury.  Tommy Saunders caught two touchdown passes while Jared Perry took advantage of the Illini double coverage on Maclin.  Maclin didn't do much as a receiver, but he changed the game in his return skills.  Chase Coffman showed why he is an All-America candidate, having a big day catching the ball.  He had a ridiculous play, breaking multiple tackles and jumping over, that's right, over an Illini defender while he was slightly bent at the knees.

DL:  The defensive line looked pretty good, returning three starters.  They looked good against the run and got good pressure on Juice Williams.  Styker Sulak had a blocked extra point and three sacks.  This kid is one of the most underrated pass rushers in the league, if not the nation.

LB:  The linebackers looked pretty good as well, not allowing the runners to get through them.  They really did great containing Juice Williams.  Sean Weatherspoon wanted some Juice, and he intercepted a key pass from Juice and put the game away with a strip six.  He just ripped the ball from the Illini receiver, took it to the house, and made it look so easy.

CB/S:  The defensive backfield did not look so hot, allowing Juice Williams to throw for a record amount of yards and five touchdowns.  They got burnt multiple times by the speedy Illini receivers.  But I would not worry too much, as the Illini had a successful passing game last year, but the secondary got it together. 

KR/PR:  Jeremy Maclin took a kickoff to the house, his second in the last five games, and he nearly took a punt to the house.  I'm not entirely sure why they even kicked it to him, but I'm glad they did.

K/P:  Kicker Jeff Wolfert hit a 50 yarder early in the game, and looked good on kickoffs.  The punting game wasn't spectacular, but Jake Harry looked better than previous Missouri punters, and there were no scares of being blocked or returned on.

Coaching:  The Tigers went for it early on fourth and five, and didn't make it.  Gary Pinkel took a risk, but it didn't pay off.  They also missed another fourth down later in the game, but overall the coaches lead the team to a ten point victory over a top 20 opponent, in a rivalry atmosphere, at a neutral site.

The Tigers strengths looked to be the running game, passing game, return game, kicking game, rushing defense, pass rush, and containing the running quarterback.  The main weakness was the secondary, while the punting game is in between.  I am not too worried about the secondary.  The defense was definitely focused on containing Juice's running and were going to make him throw on them.  They accomplished exactly that, but Williams proved he could throw it too.  Although there is no excuse for the secondary to be burnt that bad, that many times, they still have three tune up games before they play Nebraska, in Lincoln, for the conference opener.  Oh, and it looks like my 48-38 prediction was not quite enough.  I was only eight points off though, as the Tigers won 52-42.