Oklahoma Football: Stoops Against Pinkel, Scouting the Missouri Tigers

There are two marquee matchups of unbeatens from power conferences this Saturday and one occurs in Columbia. As in Missouri. Who'da thunk it?

That's because going into the second half of the college football regular season, the University of Missouri football team enters their seventh game of the year undefeated for one of the few times in school history.

Missouri is one of only 10 remaining undefeated FBS teams, and with an Oklahoma squad carrying the No. 1 spot in the BCS standings next on the schedule, they will be hosting the ESPN College GameDay crew in Columbia for the first time.

Tigers head coach Gary Pinkel has done a great job of restoring respectability to the program, as evidenced by the No. 1 ranking his squad carried into the 2007 Big 12 Championship game against South division representative Oklahoma.

Unfortunately for the Tigers, as was the case in that game as well as the next year's championship game, Pinkels' team has never beaten Bob Stoops and the Sooners, going a combined 0-7 since he took over the coaching duties in 2001.

Missouri was an unknown coming into the season. They were returning some solid players on offense with quarterback Blaine Gabbert and running back Derrick Washington, but their defense was suspect.

While Gabbert has played well, Washington is a no-show after being dismissed from the program following serious criminal charges being filed against him at the end of August. It has been more of a case of running back by committee for the Tigers this season. Missouri's offense has been adequate to this point but has not been the backbone of this year's team.

Surprisingly, it has been the defense that has been the most responsible for the Tigers early season success. They are second nationally in scoring, giving up only 10.8 points a game. They are way ahead of the Sooners defense in most other defensive statistical categories as well.

Missouri has more sacks (20-18) and the same number of turnovers at 14 apiece.

The Tigers are lead by sophomore linebacker Zaviar Gooden who leads the team in tackles. They will also be bolstered by the return of last year's leading defensive end, Aldon Smith, who has missed the last three games. Smith will bring even more pressure from a pass rush that is already collecting sacks at a rate of 3.3 a game.

If the Sooners hope to be able to go into the Tigers house and come away with the victory, they will need to come out strong from the opening kickoff. If their defense steps it up and plays like it did last week and at other points of the early season, they should be able to control the Missouri offense. They need to pressure Gabbert and keep him moving in the pocket without losing containment.

On offense, they need to come out firing on all cylinders and attack with a balanced game plan. DeMarco Murray must be able to find running lanes early to suck the efficient Missouri pass defense into the box. With Murray gashing them on the ground, Jones must then continue his efficient passing and take care of the ball, while burning them with the play action.

Oklahoma must be aggressive on both sides of the ball and take the crowd out of the game early. It will all start with the play in the trenches. If Oklahoma can win the battles at the line of scrimmage, they should be able to impose their will through superior athletic ability on the Tigers.

But of course, as I have said before throughout the season, if the young Sooners take too much stock in their current top status in the BCS poll, the outcome of this game could result in Coach Stoops' first-ever loss to Gary Pinkels' Missouri Tigers.