Oct. 2, 2000

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MISSOURI RETURNS HOME, FACES OKLAHOMA STATE
The Missouri Tigers (1-3, 0-1) return home this Saturday afternoon to take on the Oklahoma State Cowboys at Memorial Stadium/Faurot Field. Kickoff is set for 1:00 p.m. The Tigers and Cowboys will meet for the first time since the 1997 season.

Missouri is coming off of a 42-24 loss at the hands of the No. 1 team in the nation, Nebraska. Oklahoma State also fell on the road last week to the 13th-ranked Texas Longhorns, 42-7.

THE MISSOURI-OKLAHOMA STATE SERIES
Missouri and Oklahoma State will meet for the 45th time on Saturday in Columbia. The Tigers hold the edge in the all-time series, 25-19-0. Missouri has won the last two meetings between the two teams and four of the last five.

The last two football games between the two schools have been nothing less than spectacular, both resulting in overtime victories for Missouri. In 1996, the Tigers led by a touchdown four different times in the contest, and all four times OSU came back to tie the game.

In the overtime, MU running back Brock Olivo took over. After a four-yard run by Corby Jones (18 carries, 193 yards), Olivo ran for 13 and 8 yards to give the Tigers the first overtime score.

On OSU's possession, the Cowboys took the ball down to the four-yard line and faced fourth and goal to tie the game. OSU quarterback Tone Jones flipped the ball to running back Andre Richardson. Richardson looked to have a wide-open lane for a touchdown, only he simply dropped the football to give MU the win.

In 1997, Missouri and Oklahoma State played won of the most exciting games in recent memory. The Tigers walked into Stillwater, Okla. and came away with a 51-50 double-overtime win over the 12th-ranked Cowboys. The win was Mizzou's fifth of the season and set-up the bowl-clinching victory the following week at Colorado.

SCOUTING OKLAHOMA STATE
Like Missouri, Oklahoma State will be looking to end a losing streak. After winning their first two games over Tulsa and Southwest Texas State, the Cowboys have dropped two straight. OSU is coming off of losses to No. 18 Southern Mississippi, 28-6 and to No. 10 Texas, 42-7.

The 42 points given up to the Longhorns are the most OSU has allowed this season. The Cowboys entered last week's game as the No. 1 team in the nation against the run. Texas rushed for 205 yards on Saturday and two touchdowns. OSU is giving up 74 yards per game on the ground and are ranked eighth in the country.

Where the Cowboys have succeeded againt the run, they have struggled against the pass. OSU is 100th in the country in passing defense, allowing 258.5 yards per game through the air. Texas threw for 299 yards and three touchdowns (96, 21, 21 yards) last week against the Cowboys' secondary.

Offensively, Missouri will have to deal with 5-11, 225 junior tailback Reggie White. White has been the key component to the OSU offense, averaging 121.5 yards rushing per game, good for 13th in the nation. White averages 5.6 yards per carry and has scored three touchdowns.

Senior quarterback Tony Lindsay is averaging 124.5 yards passing per game while he is also a threat to run. Lindsay is OSU's second leading rusher with 41 yards per game.

Defensively, the Tigers must deal with senior defensive end Juqua Thomas. Thomas has 3.5 sacks in four games so far this season and seven tackles for loss.

TIGERS WENT TO WAR IN LINCOLN
Head Coach Larry Smith said that in his 38 years of coaching, he had never had a team that played as hard and fought so hard to win a football game as his Tigers did last Saturday night in front of a sold-out crowd in Lincoln, Neb. Mizzou gave everything it had in a 42-24 loss to the nation's No. 1 team, the Nebraska Cornhuskers.

The Missouri offense came to life, accumulating a season-high 492 yards of total offense against the Huskers' "Black-Shirts." The MU defense brought everything it had, racking up nine tackles for loss, three quarterback sacks and forcing a fumble.

Sophomore quarterback Kirk Farmer had the best game of his career before going down with seven minutes to go in the third quarter with a broken clavicle. Farmer rushed for a career-high 83 yards, threw for a liftetime-best 214 yards and even caught a 35-yard pass.

Sophomore wide receiver Justin Gage emerged as Mizzou's new playmaker, catching five passes for 125 yards while throwing a 35-yard pass. Junior tight end Dwayne Blakley continued his campaign as the top tight end in the Big 12 with five catches for 45 yards.

Defensively, All-American Justin Smith celebrated his 21st birthday with another huge performance on national television. "Smitty" had seven tackles (three for loss) and sacked quarterback Eric Crouch twice, giving Smith 14.5 sacks for his career.

Senior nose tackle Pat Mingucci and junior linebacker Jamonte Robinson also had big games. Mingucci was a major factor in holding Nebraska's I-backs to just 128 yards rushing (58 of those yards occured on one play). The Huskers Dan Alexander was shutdown, rushing for just 34 yards on 13 carries, thanks to Mingucci and defensive guard Cedric Harden. Mingucci chalked up a career-high 12 tackles.

Robinson, who missed all but two series in the first half with a sprained ankle, fought off the pain and played the entire second half. Robinson ended up with his third double-digit tackle effort of the season with 11. Two of those tackles were for losses.

TIGERS PLAY FOURTH TOUGHEST SCHEDULE
According to the latest Sagarin Ratings, the Missouri Tigers are ranked No. 57 nationally with a rating of 72.38. Missouri's schedule is ranked as the fourth toughest in the country following this weekend's contest with No. 1 Nebraska. The Tigers are coming off of three straight games against nationally-ranked opponents.

EYE OF THE TIGER
Clearly, the toughest part of the Missouri schedule is over. The Tigers return home for two straight home games against un-ranked Big 12 opponents Oklahoma State and Kansas following three consecutive games against nationally-ranked opponents capped off by last week's war in Lincoln.

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 31-41-1 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 141-121-7, 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 26 games, junior defensive end Justin Smith has already become one of the most dominant defensive players in MU history. Smith has recorded 211 tackles and 14 1/2 quarterback sacks, which puts him five 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 month against No. 8 Clemson, No. 25 Michigan State and No. 1 Nebraska. Smith chalked up 13 tackles (11 solo) against the high-powered Clemson Tigers in Death Valley.

Against Michigan State, Smith had 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.

Last week against No. 1 Nebraska, Smith was at it again. He racked up seven tackles, three for loss, and sacked quarterback Eric Crouch twice. Smith also got a number of licks in on Crouch on option plays.

On the season, "Smitty" is Missouri's second-leading tackler with 33. Eight of those tackles are for 51 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.

BAD BREAK FOR FARMER
Quarterback Kirk Farmer enjoyed the best game of his career despite a 46-39 overtime loss at Colorado in game five in 1999. He threw for a career-high 182 yards, rushed for 31 yards, including a gutsy 21-yard touchdown scamper in the fourth quarter.

The following week, Farmer broke his leg along the visiting sideline in the second quarter against Iowa State at Faurot Field in a game the Tigers lost 24-21.

Last Saturday, it happened again. Farmer arrived as a big-time collegiate quarterback, putting up career-highs in passing (13-for-25, 214 yards, 1 TD), rushing (9-for-83, 1 TD) and even receiving (1-for-35) ... and then it happened again. With just over seven minutes to play in the third quarter, Farmer broke loose for a 33-yard run and then fell on his shoulder as he was tackled. He suffered a broken clavicle in his left arm and will be sidelined for at least three weeks.

BAD BREAKS II
Senior wide receiver John Dausman, who was lost for the season last year with a torn ACL, suffered what looks to be another severe knee injury on Saturday night at Nebraska. Dausman was blocking down field and got tangled up on the Missouri sideline. More will be known on the severity of the injury later this week.

TIGERS TURN TO THE OUTLAW
Missouri will now turn to young quarterback Darius Outlaw to lead the offense as Kirk Farmer recovers from a broken clavicle. Outlaw, who sat out the 1999 season as a partial qualifier, has taken nearly as many snaps as Farmer has in practice since day one, but now he will be thrusted into the spotlight to keep the momentum going that Mizzou picked up at Nebraska on Saturday.

Outlaw did admirable job in relief of Farmer in the final quarter and-a-half at Nebraska. He finished 5-for-11 passing for 34 yards, including a 17-yard completion. He also showed his mobility, scampering for a 29-yard gain.

Consider this. Saturday night should very well be considered Outlaw's debut, despite playing in mop-up time against Western Illinois and Clemson. Another young quarterback made his debut in Lincoln, Neb. back in 1995. Corby Jones took his first snaps in front of the sea of red and rushed 8 times for 7 yards while throwing just two passes, none of them complete, and one of them was intercepted.

HEART OF A SENIOR
Senior nose tackle Pat Mingucci earned his fifth year of football back. A partial qualifier in 1996, the Jefferson City native did what he had to in the classroom to earn his fifth year of eligibility. Now, Mingucci is getting it done on the gridiron.

While Texas' Casey Hampton is getting all of the attention, Mingucci's performance this season has been outstanding. He has 25 tackles from his nose position and four for loss.

He has played his best games against the top running backs in the last two games. Michigan State's T.J. Duckett got most of his yards running over the tackles instead of going up the middle against Mingucci. Nebraska's Dan Alexander had 13 carries for 34 yards, mainly because of the play of Mingucci. He racked up a career-high 12 tackles against the Huskers.

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 36-for-37 in his career. He is 12-for-18 in field goal attempts - a perfect 7-for-7 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." In three of Missouri four games, Robinson has recorded double-figures in tackles. He has also been a key component on Mizzou's special teams.

Robinson leads the Tigers with 40 tackles on the season and is 25 tackles shy of breaking into Missouri's all-time top-15.

12-GAGE IS A LETHAL WEAPON
Yes, he wears No. 12 and his last name is Gage. What a perfect nickname for a guy who is as deadly as the real thing.

Sophomore Justin Gage has become the Tigers "big gun" in 2000. After being moved to wide receiver this past spring, Gage in the man. At 6-5, 200 pounds, Gage has made a habit of jumping over shorter defenders and making fabulous catches. He caught a 35-yarder against Michigan State and a 25-yarder against Nebraska.

Speaking of Nebraska, Gage torched the Huskers defense with five catches for 125 yards and a 48-yard touchdown reception. Gage also caught a TD pass against Western Illinois in Mizzou's opener.

Gage, who played three games at quarterback last season as a freshman, still has a cannon for an arm. Against Michigan State, he hooked up with John Dausman on a double-pass for a 70-yard bomb, the longest pass play at Mizzou in six years. Gage's arm was used again against Nebraska when he caught a screen pass from Kirk Farmer and proceeded to throw it back to Farmer for a 35-yard gain.

By the way, did we mention Gage is also a back-up post player on Quin Snyder's Missouri basketball team? While Gage is taller than his defensive back opponents on the gridiron, he spent last winter guarding guys four and five inches taller than he is such as NBA first round draft picks Marcus Fizer and Chris Mihm.

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 13 catches for 173 yards and a touchdown in four games this season.

Blakley has now grabbed 40 receptions in his career for 468 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, 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 four 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 four 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.

GILPIN QUIETS HIS CRITICS
After a tough 1999 season, the Missouri punting game has rounded into form in 2000. Junior punter Jared Gilpin is posting impressive numbers, particularly in the last two games.

Gilpin is averaging 41.2 yards per punt so far this season. For the second week in a row, he averaged over 40 yards per punt with a 40.2 yard average. Against Michigan State, he booted three punts of over 50 yards (53, 55, 53) and boomed another 55 yarder against Nebraska.

More important than Gilpin's distance has been his punt placement. In 29 attempts, he has placed nine punts inside the opponents 20 yard-line. Compare that to last year when Gilpin put 10 inside the 20 for the entire year.

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."

TIGERS WILL GET JULIAN JONES BACK
After playing without All-Big 12 defensive back Julian Jones last week against Nebraska, the Midwest City, Okla. native will be back this week against Oklahoma State.

Jones suffered a dislocated bone in his wrist during practice two weeks ago and will wear a protective cast until it is fully heeled.

Jones led the Big 12 Conference in interceptions last season with six. He has one this season and returned it for a touchdown against Western Illinois in the season-opener.

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 are now without John Dausman.

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.

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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