Sept. 24, 2000

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MISSOURI TAKES ON NO. 1 NEBRASKA
The Missouri Tigers (1-2) travel to Lincoln, Neb. on Saturday to battle the No. 1 team in the country, the Nebraska Cornhuskers (3-0) on Saturday. Game-time is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. on Fox Sports Net.

Nebraska is the third consecutive ranked opponent that Missouri will face. The Tigers fell at now No. 8 Clemson, 62-9, and dropped a heart-breaker at home to No. 15 Michigan State by a score of 13-10.

The last time Missouri faced three consecutive ranked opponents was in 1995. Three Big Eight opponents - Oklahoma (23), Kansas (11) and Colorado (9) - were all ranked.

In 1990, Missouri faced No. 21 Arizona State, No. 12 Colorado and No. 7 Nebraska in consecutive weeks. The Tigers defeated Arizona State, 30-9 before falling to Colorado in the famous "Fifth-Down Game," 33-31. Nebraska hammered the Tigers in Lincoln the following week, 69-21.

THE MISSOURI-NEBRASKA SERIES
Missouri and Nebraska will meet for the 94th time on Saturday. The Tigers have dropped 21 straight games to the Cornhuskers. The last time Missouri defeated Nebraska was in 1978 in Lincoln when the Tigers came away with a 35-31 victory.

Saturday's game will mark just the third time that Missouri and Nebraska have met since 1978 with the Cornhuskers ranked No. 1 in the country. The last time the Huskers were No. 1 and battled Mizzou was in 1997 when the Nebraska came away with a 45-38 overtime win in Columbia in one of the greatest games in college football history. In the infamous "Kicked-Ball Game," Missouri led 38-31 in the closing seconds of the game. Nebraska quarterback Scott Frost drilled a pass into traffic towards the Missouri goal-line. The ball popped up into the air off the foot of NU receiver Shevin Wiggins and somehow ended up into the hands of Husker freshman wide-out Matt Davison for the miracle catch in the end zone. That sent game into overtime and Nebraska got out of Columbia with a 45-38 win.

Missouri and Nebraska gave fans another classic the last time the two teams met in Lincoln. In 1998, the Tigers came in ranked No. 19 in the country to face the No. 7 Cornhuskers. Mizzou led 13-6 at halftime and it wasn't until the 10:27 mark of the fourth quarter when Nebraska took a 20-13 edge.

Much like the drama in Columbia in 1997, Missouri had a chance to provide its own miracle in the closing seconds. With the ball on the Nebraska 22-yard line, quarterback Corby Jones sailed a pass into the corner of the end zone that went through the hands of a diving John Dausman. On the final play, Jones had nowhere to turn as he was sacked by linebacker Eric Johnson.

Last year in Columbia, first quarter miscues by the Missouri special teams doomed the Tigers early as Nebraska jumped out to a 16-0 lead and buried Missouri 40-10. Mizzou botched two snaps on punt attempts in the first quarter that led to a safety and a Nebraska touchdown. On Missouri's third series, quarterback Kirk Farmer threw a pass that was intercepted by Nebraska's Julius Jackson. On the Huskers' first play of the series, quarterback Eric Crouch scampered 31 yards for a touchdown.

Nebraska led 19-3 at halftime and outscored the Tigers 21-7 in the second half. The Cornhuskers rushed for 333 yards in the game while holding the Missouri running game to just 25 yards on the ground.

Crouch racked up 234 yards in total offense for Nebraska (92 yards rushing, 143 passing) and accounted for three touchdowns.

SCOUTING NEBRASKA
The Nebraska Cornhuskers, ranked No. 1 in the country, have won nine consecutive games dating back to last season. Their last defeat came at the hands of Texas in Austin on Oct. 23 last season when the Longhorns came away with a 24-20 victory.

So far in 2000, the Huskers rolled over San Jose State in their home opener, 49-13 and escaped Notre Dame in week two with a 27-24 overtime victory. Last week, Nebraska dominated the second half against Iowa and defeated the Hawkeyes 42-13.

Nebraska enters Saturday's contest as the nation's leader in rushing offense. The Huskers are averaging 370 yards per game on the ground and 6.53 yards per carry.

Last weekend against Iowa, the Huskers chalked up 331 yards on the ground. NU I-backs Dan Alexander (15 carries, 113 yards) and Correll Buckhalter (16 carries, 100 yards) both rushed for over 100 yards while quarterback Eric Crouch rushed for 93 yards.

Nebraska is ninth in the country in scoring offense, averaging 39.3 point per game. The Huskers are sixth in total offense, despite being ranked 103rd in passing offense. Do not let that stat fool you. Crouch was 10-for-13 last week for 159 yards and five touchdowns.

Defensively, Nebraska is allowing just 16.7 point per game to their opponents. The Huskers have allowed 143 yards per game on the ground, but are 12th in the country in passing defense, allowing 148.3 yards per game in the air.

MISSOURI vs. RANKED OPPONENTS
Missouri has struggled against ranked opponents since the 1994 season. The Tigers are just 1-24 against ranked opponents in the Larry Smith era. The lone win was a 51-50 double-overtime victory at Oklahoma State in 1997 against the 12th-ranked Cowboys.

TIGERS HOPE TO CURE ROAD WOES
The Missouri Tigers continue to struggle on the road. The loss at Clemson was their fifth straight on the road. The Tigers have been outscored 237-9 on the road in those five games.

The Tigers did snap a three-game road scoreless string at Clemson.

MISSOURI AFTER BYE WEEKS
The Missouri Tigers are 2-3 under Head Coach Larry Smith following bye weeks. They have won their last two games following a bye.

In 1997, Missouri's bye week was considered the final week of the season.

EYE OF THE TIGER
Clearly, the toughest part of the Missouri schedule will be over with following Saturday night's game in Nebraska. The Tigers will return home for two straight home games against un-ranked Big 12 opponents Oklahoma State and Kansas.

When looking ahead, the Mizzou schedule has a number of "incentive" games. Two of Missouri's remaining opponents, Iowa State and Colorado, came away with close wins over the Tigers in 1999. The Cyclones defeated Missouri 24-21, spoiling the Tigers' homecoming, and Colorado escaped at home with a 46-39 overtime victory.

Mizzou also has Oct. 14 marked on its calender as Homecoming vs. Kansas. The Tigers will be looking to avenge a 21-0 shutout in Lawrence last season against their arch-rivals.

MISSOURI HEAD COACH LARRY SMITH
Larry Smith is in his seventh season at Missouri (24th overall) He has a record of 31-40-1 at Missouri. He became Mizzou's 30th head football coach on Dec. 15, 1993. With 18 years as a head coach in NCAA Division I before coming to MU, Smith was the most experienced coach ever hired by a Big Eight Conference school.

He has a 24-year career record of 141-120-7, and coached previously at Tulane (18-27, 1976-79), Arizona (48-28-3, 1980-86), and Southern California (44-25-3, 1987-92). He was out of coaching in 1993.

Smith is one of only two active coaches who have taken four schools to bowl games, along with Lou Holtz (South Carolina) and one of only four who've ever done it (Earle Bruce and Bill Mallory). Smith ranks 11th among active coaches in career victories.

A native of Van Wert, Ohio, Smith is a 1962 graduate of Bowling Green State University. He served as a collegiate assistant coach at Miami (Ohio), Michigan and Arizona before beginning his head coaching career.

THREE NEW OFFENSIVE COACHES AT MISSOURI
Much was made in the preseason about Missouri's new offensive system. The Tigers have three new offensive coaches in 2000 that have opened up the Missouri offense.

Co-offensive coordinator Bill Cubit and offensive line coach Sam Pittman coached at Western Michigan University last year and led an offensive attack that was ranked 11th nationally in passing offense (311.8 yards per game) and 23rd in scoring offense (31.1 ppg).

Cubit spent three seasons at Western Michigan and helped the Broncos to a top-25 ranking in passing offense all three seasons behind quarterback Tim Lester. Last season, Cubit's offense broke 26 school and conference records. In 1998, Western Michigan became just the 14th school to have a 3,000-yard passer, 1,000-yard runner and 1,000-yard receiver. The Broncos repeated that feat last season.

Pittman is no stranger to Big 12 football. Before his stint at Western Michigan, the El Reno, Okla. native spent two seasons as the offensive line coach at Oklahoma. His offensive line helped produce the nation's 18th and 34th best rushing attacks in 1997 and 1998.

Missouri's third addition to the offensive coaching staff is no stranger to the Tigers. Chris Tabor, who spent the last three seasons as the offensive graduate assistant, takes over as the Tigers' running backs coach. Tabor worked mainly with the offensive line and scout teams while a graduate assistant. He spent the 1994 season coaching running backs at Hutchinson Community College under current MU Co-Offensive Coordinator Andy Hill.

JUSTIN SMITH CHALLENGING FOR BRONKO NAGURSKI AWARD
In just two seasons, junior defensive end Justin Smith has already become one of the most dominant defensive players in MU history. In 25 games, Smith has recorded 201 tackles and 12 1/2 quarterback sacks, which puts him six sacks away from breaking the career record held by current New York Jets defensive tackle Rick Lyle. Smith tied Lyle and three other players for the single-season sack record last season with eight.

"Smitty" has impressed national audiences the last two weeks against No. 8 Clemson and No. 15 Michigan State. Smith chalked up 13 tackles (11 solo) against the high-powered Clemson Tigers in Death Valley. In his last outing, Smith had Michigan State freshman quarterback Jeff Smoker seeing No. 96 in his sleep. Smith hit Smoker four times, forced him to fumble it once and batted down a pass that he almost picked off. Smith also had a quarterback sack on Smoker that was called back for a penalty.

On the season, "Smitty" is Missouri's third-leading tackler with 23. Five of those tackles are for 31 yards in losses.

Smith, who is playing at 270 pounds this season, bench presses and power cleans 500 pounds. He possesses amazing quickness with 4.5 speed and has a vertical leap of 30.5 inches.

The accolades have begun to mount for the Holts Summit, Mo. native. As a freshman, Smith was tabbed the Big 12 Defensive Freshman of the Year and was named first team All-Big 12 last season. Already in 2000, "Smitty" has earned preseason first team All-America honors from Playboy, College Football News, and Football News. Athlon and The Sporting News have chosen Smith to the second team.

"Smitty" was featured in the Aug. 21 issue of ESPN The Magazine in an article by Gene Wojciechowski.

Off the field, Smith was a second team District VII GTE/CoSIDA Academic All-American as well as a first team Academic All-Big 12 selection.

MISSOURI DEFENSE OUT FOR RESPECT
In three games in 2000, the Missouri defense has played very well. Yes, the No. 1 scoring team in the country, Clemson, racked up 62 points, but the play-by-play will show that only three of its scoring drives started outside Missouri territory.

The Tigers held No. 15 Michigan State to 297 yards of total offense the last time out. The Spartans had just 125 yards of total offense in the first half. It took 252-pound running back T.J. Duckett 33 carries to accumulate his 131 yards on the ground, an average of 4.0 yards per carry.

The Missouri defense enters Saturday's game ranked 35th in the country against the run (114.7 yards per game). The Tigers will be looking to hold their own against the No. 1 rushing team in the nation, Nebraska.

The Tigers have made big plays defensively. No less than nine MU defensive players have at least two tackles for loss in the first three games. Justin Smith and Cedric Harden have each made five tackles for loss while linebacker Sean Doyle and Pat Duffy has recorded four tackles for loss.

The Missouri defense has registered 13 quarterback sacks, forced five fumbles, intercepted two passes and broken up five passes.

HAMMER-TIME
Junior place-kicker Brad Hammerich is hoping to get plenty of opportunites to kick the football this season. Hammerich led the Tigers in scoring last season with 52 points, a number surely Mizzou hopes to see increase in 2000.

When breaking down Hammerich's numbers from a year ago, it is easy tell why Missouri feels that he is one of the best in the conference. Despite missing his first PAT of his career against Clemson, Hammerich is 32-for-33 in his career. He is 10-for-16 in field goal attempts - a perfect 5-for-5 from inside 40 yards, 5-for-9 from 40 to 49 yards and 0-for-2 from beyond 50 yards. Hammerich pushed a 50-yard attempt against Michigan State about two-feet left and had the distance.

Hammerich's shortest miss was from 40 yards out against Oklahoma. Other than that, Hammerich missed a 45-yarder at Memphis and missed attempts of 49, 55 and 48 on a windy day in Lawrence, Kan.

MISSOURI BLOCK PARTY
In 1999, Missouri blocked six kicks, tying a single-season record set back in 1994. With three blocked kicks against Western Illinois, one would think the single-season record may be in jeopardy in 2000.

The Missouri "Raiders" team, otherwise known as the punt return team, reaked havoc on the Western Illinois punting unit all night long. On the very first series, WIU botched a snap and the Tigers tackled the Leathernecks' punter at the WIU 2-yard line. Mizzou scored two plays later.

The other big play by the "Raiders" unit was made by walk-on Grant Thornburg. The Palmyra, Mo. native filled in for Justin Smith and came up with a blocked punt that was recovered in the end zone by Western Illinois for a safety.

Missouri's other blocked punt was by Justin Gage in the second quarter.

The Tigers Michael Gavins also recorded a block when we wiped out a PAT attempt by WIU.

Missouri has now blocked 31 kicks since Larry Smith came to Ol' Mizzou - 15 PATs, 10 punts and six field goals.

ROBINSON ON THE "BUTKUS LIST"
Mizzou linebacker Jamonte Robinson is one of 70 players on the "Butkus Watch List."

Against Western Illinois, Robinson led the Tigers with 10 tackles, seven of which were solo. He recorded two quarterback sacks for 15 yards in losses and he recovered a fumble. He notched seven tackles on Saturday against Clemson.

Robinson had another big day against Michigan State with 12 tackles, giving him a team-best 28 for the year.

Robinson now has 220 career tackles at Missouri in 24 games. He is just 36 tackles away from cracking Mizzou's all-time top-15 list.

12-GAGE IS A MAJOR WEAPON
Sophomore Justin Gage is a man of many talents. Against Western Illinois, Gage caught two passes (one for a TD), carried once, blocked a punt and just missed two others.

Gage accounted for 105 total yards in two plays against Michigan State. He caught a 35-yard reception from quarterback Kirk Farmer in the first quarter. He also threw a 70-yard bomb to fellow wide-receiver John Dausman on a trick play. That pass was the longest thrown since 1994 when Jeff Handy connected with Frank Jones on a 73-yard strike at Hawaii.

Gage is Mizzou's third quarterback and saw action in three games at QB last year.

All of that is just what he's does on the gridiron. Once football is over, Gage will lace up the sneakers and hit the hardwood for basketball where he was a key reserve for Head Coach Quin Snyder last season.

SPEAKING OF LONG PASS PLAYS ...
Gage's 70-yard completion to Dausman against Michigan State is 18 yards short of the longest pass play in MU history. The longest pass play in school history was in 1976 against none other than this week's opponent, Nebraska. Quarterback Pete Woods hooked up with Joe Stewart for a 98-yard scoring play against the Huskers.

BLAKLEY HOPES TO BE BIG 12's BEST TIGHT END
Junior tight end Dwayne Blakley is off to another fine start for Missouri. He has eight catches for 128 yards and a touchdown in three games this season.

Blakley has now grabbed 35 receptions in his career for 423 yards and eight touchdowns.

Blakley looks to be in line to go down as one of MU's great tight ends of all-time. NFL Hall-of-Famer Kellen Winslow was an All-American for Ol' Mizzou in 1978. That season, Winslow caught 28 passes for 479 yards and six touchdowns.

In 1993, A.J. Ofodile set a single-season record for tight ends with 55 catches for 589 yards and four touchdowns.

HAYES AND GLAUBERMAN DIRECTING YOUNG OFFENSIVE LINE
Despite some of the problems that Missouri has had putting points on the board in the last two games, the part of the offense that has played extremely well has been the left side of the offensive line.

Kansas City natives Mike Hayes (Oak Park) and Joe Glauberman (Overland Park) have played "winning football" in each of the first three games of the season. Along with senior nose tackle Pat Mingucci, Hayes and Glauberman are the only two players to be selected to the Missouri "Champions Club" all three weeks.

Hayes, a 292-pound junior, is the leader of the offensive line. His play so far this season is of no surprise and will look to warrant All-Conference awards.

Glauberman, a 279-pound senior, replaced junior Aaron Crittendon in the lineup last spring when Crittendon had shoulder surgery. Glauberman put on over 30 pounds this summer and has not allowed Crittendon to have his starting job back.

HAPPY TO HAVE ANTHONY HEALTHY
It has been a long road for sophomore strong safety Gary Anthony since August. After being hyped as the key to the Mizzou secondary in the off-season, Anthony entered the pre-season with a bad case of tonsillitis that sidelined him for the first week of two-a-days. Just three practices after his return, he then suffered a high ankle sprain that sidelined him for another week.

After playing sparingly in the season-opener against Western Illinois, the talented St. Louis native looks to be back. He played well at Clemson and had his best game against Michigan State

WHITTINGTON PLAYING BIG ROLE
Like his brother Bernard who is in his seventh season with the Indianapolis Colts, Missouri's Daryl Whittington is using his senior season to blossom into a fine football player and potential NFL prospect.

Whittington spent his first four years at Mizzou struggling to add weight to his 6-6 frame. Finally this off-season, Whittington added close to 15 pounds and is playing at nearly 260 pounds.

The atheltic St. Louis native is splitting his time between outside linebacker at defensive end and is playing very well. He accumulated a career-high seven tackles against Clemson after recording a sack and a fumble recovery against Western Illinois.

Missouri defensive coordinator Moe Ankney has been quoted as saying: "Daryl is going to make us look really dumb when he is playing on Sundays next year."

YOUNG OFFENSE MAKING PROGRESS
Football experts, at least those who know football understand that it takes time to fine-tune a brand new offensive system. Despite scoring just 10 points against No. 15 Michigan State, here is evidence that the Missouri offense made progress:

Quarterback Kirk Farmer: Completed 50 percent of his passes (15-for-30) and had his best passing day of the season (172 yards). His best passing performance of his career was against Colorado last year when he threw for 182 yards and two touchdowns.

Running Back Zack Abron: Despite a costly fumble late in the game, the redshirt freshman rushed for a career-high 74 yards and his first career touchdown.

Big Plays: Missouri had four offensive plays go for at least 28 yards.

When MU Punted: Junior punter Jared Gilpin had the best game of his career. He averaged 45.8 yards per punt, booted three punts of over 50 yards (53, 55, 53) and placed two punts inside the 20-yard line

CURRY MOVED TO WIDE RECEIVER
Sophomore Terrence Curry has been moved from cornerback to wide receiver to help add depth to MU receiving corps. The Tigers lost redshirt freshman Brandon Barnes in the Clemson game with a broken ankle and will be without sophomore Travis Garvin for at least the Nebraska game with a knee injury.

At Kirkwood High School, Curry caught eight passes his senior season, averaging 31 yards per reception. Seven of the eight passes he caught were for touchdowns.

FORMER HUSKER NOW WEARS BLACK-AND-GOLD
Former Nebraska great Ed Stewart will be attendance in Lincoln on Saturday, only he will not be wearing the scarlet and cream. Stewart, the 1994 Big Eight Defensive Player of the Year for Nebraska, is now the Assistant Athletic Director for Student Services at Missouri.

Stewart is the sixth all-time leading tackler in Nebraska history.

EARNING PLAYING TIME
In Missouri's 50-20 blowout over Western Illinois, at least 23 players saw their first action as Missouri Tigers on Faurot Field. No offense to the movie "Rudy," but the Tigers had a few Rudy's - walk-ons that have put in the time and earned a chance to play in front of 50,000 fans.

Walk-ons Darren Baldwin, Jesse Belfield, Marcus Caldwell, Scott Jones, Michael Harden, Brian Heits and Grant Thornburg all saw action on Saturday.

Thornburg made his presence felt by blocking a punt that led to a safety while Jones recorded his first career tackle on special teams.

Thornburg, Jones and Caldwell were all named to Missouri's Champion Club this week.

TIGERS SCORE AGAINST HUNGER
Again this year, Head Coach Larry Smith and the Missouri Tigers have teamed up with the Central Missouri Food Bank to stop hunger in its tracks. Interested persons can pledge money for every point the Tigers score in 2000. The proceeds help the food bank and more than 120 charities in its 29-county region providing free food to soup kitchens, shelters and food pantries.

For more information, call 1-800-764-3663, or 573-474-1020.

Since the program began six years ago, close to $1 million has been raised and more than 12 million meals have been provided to Missourians in need.

MISSOURI DEBUTS NEW $13.1 MILLION PRESS BOX
The skyline has changed in Columbia thanks to a new $13.1 million press box that adorns Memorial Stadium. The project, which actually started before the 1999 football campaign, was designed by Ellerbe Becket. The contractor of the project was Walsh Construction while the operation was managed by the University of Missouri Construction Management.

The new press box consists of six levels and stands 110 feet high, 321 feet wide. The structure consists of 35 suites, 418 Tiger Lounge seats and 147 working press positions, doubling the amount of the old press box.

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