Michigan State Next For The Tigers
9/10/2000 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 10, 2000
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THIS WEEK'S GAME AT A GLANCE
KICKOFF: 6:00 p.m. CST
SITE: Columbia, Mo., Memorial Stadium/Faurot Field (68,349), natural grass
RADIO: Tiger Network (Mike Kelly/John Kadlec/Chris Gervino), on nearly 60 stations, and the internet at www.mutigers.com. Also available by calling Teamline at 1-800-846-4700, ext. 5755.
TV: Fox Sports Net - Ron Thulin/James Lofton/Eric Clemons
RANKINGS: Michigan State is ranked No. 22 in the A.P. Poll and 20th USA Today/Coaches Poll.
SERIES RECORD: Tied, 3-3-0
HEAD COACHES:
Missouri - Larry Smith, 31-39-1 at MU (7th season), 141-119-7 overall (24th season).
Michigan State - Bobby Williams, 2-0 at MSU (1st full season) and overall
TICKETS: Contact the MU ticket office at 1-800-CAT-PAWS
TIGERS SET TO HOST BIG TEN POWER MICHIGAN STATE
The Missouri Tigers (1-1) hope to put last week behind them as they get set host No. 20 Michigan State at Memorial Stadium on Saturday evening at 6 p.m. The game will be broadcasted live on Fox Sports Net.
Missouri is coming off of a 62-9 loss at No. 17 Clemson last week in a game that saw the Tigers turn the ball over six times.
Michigan State defeated a very good Marshall team last week by a score of 34-24 in East Lansing. The Spartans played a majority of the game without starting quarterback Ryan Van Dyke, who bruised his thumb on MSU's first possession. He is expected back against Missouri on Saturday.
THE MISSOURI-MICHIGAN STATE SERIES
Missouri and Michigan State will meet for the seventh time on Saturday night in Columbia. The all-time series is tied at 3-3 as the two teams will battle for the first time in 55 years.
The Tigers and Spartans last played in 1945 in East Lansing, Mich. where MSU ended a three-game losing streak against Missouri with a 14-7 victory. Michigan State also haulted a Mizzou four-game winning streak, but the Tigers finished 6-4 that season and went on to play in the Cotton Bowl against Texas. The Spartans finished 5-3 that year.
The first three meetings between Missouri and Michigan State ended in shutouts. The Spartans one the first two games played between the two schools in 1936 and 1937 by scores of 13-0 and 2-0. Missouri got revenge in 1938 with a 6-0 win in Columbia.
SCOUTING MICHIGAN STATE
Missouri will have their hands full on Saturday night when it takes on a Michigan State team that has won five straight games and 11 of its last 13. Head Coach BobbyWilliams, who took over the helm following Nick Saban's departure before last year's Florida Citrus Bowl, has led MSU to a bowl win over Florida, and a 34-24 victory in last week's season opener against Marshall.
Despite returning just five starters offensively and six on defense, the Spartans did not miss a beat last week against Marshall. Michigan State racked up 433 yards in total offense and held Marshall to just 51 yards rushing.
The Tigers must contend with 6-1, 252-pound tailback T.J. Duckett, a sophomore from Kalamazoo, Mich., who accumulated 219 rushing yards last week on 226 carries (8.4 yards per carry).
Junior quarterback Ryan Van Dyke is expected to return this week for Michigan State after bruising a thumb in the first quarter last Saturday. Van Dyke made his first career start last weekend, but has played in 12 games during his career at MSU.
If Van Dyke cannot go, true freshman Jeff Smoker, one of the highest touted high school quarterbacks in the country last season, will be called upon as he was last week. Smoker went 16-for-24 for 138 yards and a touchdown against Marshall in his collegiate debut.
Michigan State also has a weapon in 267-pound tight end Chris Baker. Baker caught eight passes last week for 93 yards and a touchdown.
Defensively, senior cornerback Renaldo Hill is one of the best defensive backs in the country. He has 118 tackles in his career, including a team-best seven on Saturday, and has six interceptions for his career.
The Michigan State secondary picked off three passes last week, including two by linebacker Drew Young.
MISSOURI vs. THE BIG TEN
Missouri will play its 96th game vs. the Big Ten on Saturday. The Tigers are 39-52-4 all-time against the Big Ten Conference and have lost their last three games against Big Ten opponents.
The last time Missouri faced a Big Ten school was in 1998 when the Tigers took on Ohio State in Columbus, Ohio. The Buckeyes, ranked No. 1 in the country at the time, defeated Mizzou 35-14.
The last time the Tigers defeated a Big Ten opponent was in 1993 when they defeated Illinois 31-3 in Columbia.
Missouri Head Coach Larry Smith is 0-3 against the Big Ten since coming to Mizzou.
MISSOURI vs. RANKED OPPONENTS
Missouri has struggled against ranked opponents since the 1994 season. The Tigers are just 1-23 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.
2-1
That is how Missouri has begun each of the last three seasons ? 2 wins, 1 loss. A win over Michigan State on Saturday would extend the streak to four games.
MIZZOU's ROAD WOES CONTINUE
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 scoreless string on Saturday.
WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN
Perhaps the theme song for Mizzou's loss to Clemson on Saturday should have been Cher's "If I Could Turn Back Time." The Tigers would have liked to turn back time to just under six minutes to go in the second quarter at Death Valley.
With Mizzou trailing 14-6, wide receiver Travis Garvin dropped two consecutive touchdown passes from Kirk Farmer in the end zone. A touchdown would have put the Tigers within two points at 14-12, and depending on a PAT try or a two-point conversion, the game may have been a one-point affair or even tied and all of the momentum would have been on Missouri's side.
After settling for a field goal and turning the momentum back to Clemson, what followed was quite simply unbelievable. The 17th-ranked Tigers put 34 points on the board in just over 10 minutes of play from the 2:27 mark of the second quarter to the 8:54 mark of the third period.
Clemson converted a fourth down and five yards to go for a touchdown with 2:27 remaining in the half. Missouri would then turn the ball over on four of its next five possessions and Clemson capitalized on five of Mizzou's turnovers. MU's six turnovers (three fumbles, three interceptions) led to 34 Clemson points.
MISSOURI HEAD COACH LARRY SMITH
Larry Smith is in his seventh season at Missouri (24th overall) He has a record of 31-39-1 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 141-119-7, 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 has been 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 BRONCO 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 24 games, Smith has recorded 194 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.
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.
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 last Saturday, Hammerich is 31-for-32 in his career. He is 10-for-15 in field goal attempts ? a perfect 5-for-5 from inside 40 yards, 5-for-9 from 40 to 49 yards and 0-for-1 from beyond 50 yards.
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 Clemson 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.
With 17 tackles so far this season, Ro- binson now has 208 tackles in his career.
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. He 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 key reserve for Head Coach Quin Snyder last season.
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 five catches for 92 yards (team-high) and a touchdown in two games this season.
Blakley has now grabbed 32 receptions in his career for 387 yards and eight touchdowns.
HEALTHY JONES LOOKING TO MAKE A NAME FOR HIMSELF
Senior cornerback Julian Jones led the Big 12 Conference in interceptions last season with six. He also racked up 92 tackles
while playing with a bad shoulder throughout the season.
Still, Jones' name is rarely brought up when there is talk about the top defensive back in the Big 12 Conference. The Midwest City, Okla. native got off to a great start against Western Illinois when he picked off his seventh pass of his career and took it back 49 yards for his first career touchdown.
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."
WELCOME BACK
Senior wide receiver John Dausman and sophomore quarterback Kirk Farmer made triumphant returns to the gridiron against Western Illinois following serious injuries a year ago.
Dausman, who spent all of 1999 on the shelf recovering from a knee injury, is Mizzou's top receiver so far with six catches for 86 yards. Dausman made 18 catches for 364 yards and three touchdowns in 1998 and was expected to be one of Mizzou's top threats last season.
After looking better and better game in and game out last season, Farmer broke his leg in week five against Iowa State. He is now the Missouri starting quarterback.
Farmer's numbers are not great, 22-of-47 for 283 yards, but consider he has very little game-experience as he is learning a new offensive system while fighting a nagging ankle injury.
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.
BARNES LOST FOR THE SEASON
Redshirt freshman wide receiver Brandon Barnes was lost for the season against Clemson. Barnes had a Clemson player role up on his ankle in the fourth quarter, breaking the bone, and therefore ending his season.
Barnes made his first career reception earlier in the game for 16 yards.
The Tigers will now look to true freshmen Tay Jackson and Marcus James to help fill the void left by Barnes.
HOMEGROWN TIGERS
Missouri's depth chart reveals that 22 members of the two-deep roster are from the state of the Missouri ? 12 on offense and 10 on defense.
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.
TIGER TIDBITS
Lewis spent three years as an inside linebacker, but was moved to fullback midway through preseason workouts to add depth to that position. With the injury to T.J. Leon, the move has proven to be a good one and Lewis will probably see some playing time at fullback as well as his special teams duties.
Alnutt replaces Curtis Jones who has landed a job with Nike.
Several other former Mizzou football players are helping out the program while earning degrees. Pat Ivey, who played with Alnutt from 1993-95, is the Tigers' new Strength and Conditioning Assistant and just completed his master's this summer in health education.
Missouri All-American Devin West is now the offensive graduate assistant for the Tigers while former offensive lineman Brad Smith is now a graduate assistant in the Tiger strength and conditioning program as he finishes out his degree. Former wide receiver Jamie Scholten is pursuing a master's degree while working in Missouri's Total Person Program.
TIGERS FOR TIGERS
Although there are many universities
with a tiger mascot, the University of Missouri is the first to actively support a comprehensive conservation program for critically endangered wild tigers, according to the World Wildlife Fund. The Mizzou Tigers for Tigers program is a pioneering effort to raise awareness and support to ensure that there will be wild tigers for as long as there are Mizzou Tigers.
For more information, contact Dr. Mary Ratnaswamy, MU School of Natural Resources at 573-882-9424 or Mike Baltz, MU Division of Biological Sciences at 573-882-4854.
