Aug. 27, 2001

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THE MISSOURI-BOWLING GREEN SERIES:
This week's matchup between Missouri and Bowling Green is the third meeting between the two schools. The series is tied 1-1, dating back to the 1995 season. Bowling Green defeated Missouri 17-10 in Columbia in 1995. The Tigers evened the series in 1998 with a 37-0 victory over the Falcons. Ironically, that was the last time the Missouri defense held its opponent scoreless.

GARY PINKEL AND BOWLING GREEN:
Head Coach Gary Pinkel makes his Missouri coaching debut on Saturday against Bowling Green. Coincidentally, Pinkel's final game at the University of Toledo was against the Falcons last year. Toledo won that game 51-17. Pinkel has a career coaching record of 5-5 against Bowling Green.

PINKEL vs. BOWLING GREEN
1991 - Bowling Green 24, Toledo 21
1992 - Bowling Green 10, Toledo 9
1993 - Bowling Green 17, Toledo 10
1994 - Bowling Green 31, Toledo 16
1995 - Toledo 35, Bowling Green 16
1996 - Toledo 24, Bowling Green 16
1997 - Toledo 35, Bowling Green 20
1998 - Toledo 24, Bowling Green 16
1999 - Bowling Green 34, Toledo 23
2000 - Toledo 51, Bowling Green 17

HEAD COACH GARY PINKEL:
Head Coach Gary Pinkel makes his coaching debut at Missouri this Saturday. In 10 seasons at the University of Toledo, Pinkel established himself as one of the most successful head coaches in Mid-American Conference history. He enters Saturday's contest with a career coaching record of 73-37-3. Those 73 wins rank fourth among coaches in MAC history. His Toledo teams finished in the top three in the MAC or MAC West Division eight times, including four first-place finishes. Three of those teams advanced to play in the post-season and captured one MAC Championship and three MAC West Division titles.

PINKEL RANKS HIGH ON ACTIVE COACHES WINNING PCT. LIST
Gary Pinkel enters Saturday's contest against Bowling Green ranked 14th among active Division 1-A football coaches in winning percentage. His 73-37-3 career record gives him a winning percentage of .659. Only two current Big 12 coaches rank higher than Pinkel, R.C. Slocum at Texas A&M (6th, .743) and Bill Snyder at Kansas State (10th, .695).

TIGERS IN HOME OPENERS
The Missouri Tigers have an all-time record of 77-29-4 in home openers. The Tigers have won four straight home openers and five of their last six. One of those victories was against Bowling Green in 1998. The Missouri offense has exploded in the last four home openers. The Tigers are averaging 40.5 points per game in those four games, including a 50-point outburst last season against Western Illinois.

COACHING DEBUTS AT MIZZOU
Head Coach Gary Pinkel can do something on Saturday that Missouri coaching legends Dan Devine and Al Onofrio did not do. That is win in his coaching debut at Missouri. Missouri head coaches are 17-11-2 in their coaching debuts at the University of Missouri.

SCOUTING BOWLING GREEN
Head Coach Urban Meyer makes his coaching debut on Saturday against the Tigers. Meyer spent the last five seasons on the Notre Dame coaching staff as the wide receivers coach. He inherits a Bowling Green team that went 2-9 last year and 2-6 in the Mid-American Conference. Offensively, the Falcons are led by two established wide receivers in seniors David Bautista and Kurt Gerling. Bautista was the team MVP last season, catching 69 passes for 915 yards, ranking him second in the MAC in both categories. Gerling has caught a pass in 29 consecutive games, the nation's sixth-longest streak. On defense, Bowling Green returns all four starters from a year ago along the front line, led by senior nose tackle Brandon Hicks. Hicks finished among the MAC leaders in sacks (8) and tackles for loss (13) on his way to earning first team All-MAC honors.

SEPT. 15, 1998, MU 37, BGSU 0
In their last meeting, Missouri defeated Bowling Green by a score of 37-0 at Memorial Stadium in Columbia. Devin West rushed for 125 yards and quarterback Corby Jones passed for 187 yards in the Missouri victory. Jones rushed for two touchdowns (6, 8 yards) and connected with wide receiver Kent Layman for a 62-yard touchdown strike. Layman pulled in four receptions for 121 yards. The Tigers rolled up 340 yards on the ground and another 204 yards through the air. The Missouri defense held the Falcons to just 56 total yards.

TIGERS RETURN EXPERIENCE ON OFFENSE
The Missouri Tigers enter Saturday's game with plenty of experience on the offensive side of the football. Ten of the Tigers' projected offensive starters have started at least four games in their career. The exception is sophomore wide receiver Tay Jackson, who did see a lot of action a year ago as a true freshman. Four starters, wide receiver Justin Gage, and offensive linemen A.J. Ricker, Justin Bland and Mike Hayes started all 11 games last year.

NEW FACES IN NEW PLACES ON THE TIGER DEFENSE
While five All-Big 12 Conference performers return defensively for Missouri, six players will be making their first career starts on Saturday, several of them in new positions. Three of the Tigers' front four will make their start in brand new positions. Junior defensive end Antwaun Bynum has been a linebacker throughout his career and will start for the first time in a down position. His fellow bookend is sophomore Dan Davis. A tailback a year ago, Davis is playing on the defensive side of the football for the first time in his career (including high school). Defensive tackle Keith Wright has been very impressive in the preseason and makes his first start inside after playing defensive end and linebacker throughout his career. Senior defensive tackle Chris Ryan is expected to make his first career start on Saturday as well. Junior Tauras Ferguson will start at one outside safety position while redshirt freshman Kevin Johnson makes his first career start at the other outside safety spot. Ferguson is a converted running back while Johnson played free safety last year.

ALL-BIG 12 PERFORMERS LEAD THE MIZZOU DEFENSE
The experience on the defensive side of the football is talented. Five returning defensive players have been All-Big 12 selections. Both linebackers, Jamonte Robinson and Sean Doyle, have been honorable mention All-Big 12 picks. Defensive backs Antoine Duncan and Clarence Jones were honorable mention All-Big 12 selections last season and junior defensive tackle Cedric Harden has also been an All-Big 12 pick.

12-GAGE
Junior wide receiver Justin Gage is Missouri's best offensive weapon. Playing wide receiver for the first time in his life last season, Gage earned honorable mention All-Big 12 honors and was the MU offensive MVP. His 44 receptions ranked 10th among Missouri single-season leaders. His 709 receiving yards was seventh-best in school history. The 6-4, 208-pounder is perhaps the Tigers' best overall athlete. A former quarterback, Gage has completed 16 passes in his career, two of them for touchdowns. Gage has also been a key reserve each of last two seasons for Quin Snyder's basketball team.

TIGERS EARN PRESEASON ACCOLADES
Three Missouri Tigers were named preseason honorable mention All-Americans by Street & Smith's. Wide Receiver Justin Gage, offensive guard Mike Hayes and linebacker Sean Doyle were all recognized by Street & Smith's. Hayes was also named to The Sporting News "All-Underrated Team."

ROBINSON TACKLES THE CHARTS
Senior linebacker Jamonte Robinson is climbing the career tackles chart at the University of Missouri. The St. Petersburg, Fla., native has 270 career tackles, ranking him 13th in school history. Robinson needs 30 tackles to become the 10th player in school history to record 300 tackles. He needs 76 tackles to crack Missouri's all-time top-five.

MISSOURI'S CAREER TACKLES LIST

1. DeMontie Cross 415
2. Travis McDonald 386
3. Darren McDonald 375
4. Barry Odom 362
5. Darryl Major 346
6. Erik McMillan 323
Jay Wilson 323
8. Adrian Jones 319
9. Lynn Evans 316
10. Van Darkow 294
11. Caldrinoff Easter 283
12. Chris Garlich 276
13. Jamonte Robinson 270

HAMMER-TIME
Senior Brad Hammerich is hoping to get plenty of opportunities to kick the football this season. The Chesterfield, Mo., native has had an outstanding off-season and his career numbers are impressive. Hammerich is 40-of-41 in his career in PAT attempts. He is 16-for-24 in field goal tries. Just one of those missed field goals have come on attempts of under 40 yards. He is 10-of-11 from inside 40 yards in his career and 6-of-13 from beyond 40 yards. Hammerich has a big-time leg, evident by a 56-yard field goal in the Black and Gold Game in the spring.

2001 TIGER CAPTAINS
Six seniors were voted captains by their teammates in the spring for 2001 season. The 2001 Missouri Tiger captains are:

5	David Monroe	Sr.,	LB
8	Clarence Jones	Sr.,	FS
55	Jamonte Robinson	Sr.,	LB
63	Mike Hayes	Sr.,	OL
72	Justin Bland	Sr.,	OL
85	Dwayne Blakley	Sr.,	TE

HOMEGROWN TIGERS
Over 70 football Tigers are from the state of Missouri. Of this week's starters, 14 are from the Show-Me State.

THIS WEEK'S SHOW-ME STATE STARTERS
TB - Zack Abron, Lake St. Louis
WR - Justin Gage, Jefferson City
TE- Dwayne Blakley, St. Joseph
ST- Justin Bland, Chillicothe
SG - Mike Hayes, Kansas City
WT - Aaron Crittendon, St. Joseph
DE- Antwaun Bynum, St. Louis
DT- Chris Ryan, Milan
OS- Tauras Ferguson, St. Charles
FS- Clarence Jones, St. Louis
CB- Michael Harden, Kansas City
P- Brock Harvey, Jefferson City
K- Brad Hammerich, Chesterfield
DS- Ben Davidson, Centralia