Oct. 1, 2001

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THE MISSOURI-OSU SERIES
The Missouri Tigers and Oklahoma State Cowboys will meet for the 45th time on Saturday night in Stillwater, Okla. The Tigers lead the all-time series, 26-18. Missouri is 9-11 all-time in Stillwater. The Tigers have won the last three meetings between the two schools and three of the last five dating back to 1993. Two of the last three meetings were won in overtime by Missouri.

MEMORABLE LAST TRIP TO STILLWATER
Very few Missouri followers will ever forget the Tigers' last trip to Stillwater, Okla. In 1997, Missouri won a thrilling 51-50 double-overtime game against the No. 12 ranked Cowboys. The win was Mizzou's fifth of the season, and the Tigers went on to defeat Colorado in Boulder the following week to clinch its' first bowl trip since 1983. Missouri raced out to a 24-7 halftime lead against the undefeated Cowboys, and then opened up a 30-7 advantage on a 23-yard touchdown run by Corby Jones on the Tigers' first possession of the second half. The No. 12 ranked Cowboys rallied and hit Missouri with 30 unanswered points and took a 37-30 advantage with less than two minutes to go in the game. Facing fourth-and-12 from its' own 18 yard line, Jones hit wide receiver Ricky Ross over the middle for 18 yards and a first down to keep Missouri alive. With 40 second left on the clock, Jones and Ross hooked up again, this time for 38 yards as Ross pulled down the jump-ball from OSU all-conference defensive back R.W. McQuarters. The extra point by Scott Knickman tied the score 37-37 and sent the game to overtime. The two teams traded touchdowns in the first overtime. Jones, who rushed for 85 yards and threw for 231, opened the second OT with a 15-yard TD run to give the Tigers the lead. OSU answered when quarterback Tony Lindsay scampered into the end zone from six yards out to make the score 51-50. The Cowboys decided to go for the win instead of the tie. OSU came out in a "swinging gate" formation, an alignment that uses only three offensive linemen and gives the offense a three-on-two advantage to throw a pass to one side of the field. But as Lindsay dropped to pass, he couldn't get off a throw. Missouri's Marquis Gibson flushed Lindsay from the pocket and Donnell Jones and Brian Cracraft wrapped him up short of the goal line for the MU victory.

IF IT GOES TO OVERTIME ...
Missouri has played four overtime games since overtime was instituted into college football in 1996. The Tigers are 3-1 in OT with two of those victories against Oklahoma State. In 1996, Mizzou defeated the Cowboys 35-28 in Columbia. That same season, Missouri needed three overtimes to knock off Baylor in Waco, Texas. The final score of that game was 49-42. In 1997, the Tigers defeated the 12-ranked Oklahoma State Cowboys in double-overtime, 51-50. Two weeks later, Missouri suffered its' first overtime loss in the infamous "kicked ball" game as No. 1 Nebraska escaped Columbia with a 45-38 overtime win.

HEAD COACH GARY PINKEL
Head Coach Gary Pinkel is in his first season at Missouri. 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 mark of 74-39-3. He is 1-2 as head coach at Missouri. He left Toledo with 73 wins, ranking him 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 Oklahoma State ranked 14th among active Division 1-A football coaches in winning percentage. His 74-39-3 career record gives him a winning percentage of .650. Only two current Big 12 coaches rank higher than Pinkel, R.C. Slocum at Texas A&M (6th) Bill Snyder at Kansas State (9th).

TIGERS ON THE ROAD
Missouri will play its' first road game of the season on Saturday in Stillwater, Okla. The Tigers were scheduled to play in East Lansing, Mich. against Michigan State on Sept. 15, but that has been rescheduled for Dec. 1 following the terrorist attack on the United States. A victory on Saturady would give Missouri two straight road wins for the time since 1997. The Tigers won their last road game 47-22 last season at Baylor. Mizzou's 51-50 double-overtime win at Oklahoma State in 1997 was the first of two straight road victories. The Tigers defeated Colorado in Boulder the following week by a score of 41-31 to clinch a bowl berth.

SCOUTING OKLAHOMA STATE
The Oklahoma State Cowboys enter Saturday night's contest with a 2-2 record under new Head Coach Les Miles. The Cowboys own home victories against Louisiana Tech and Northwestern State. OSU lost to Southern Mississippi in the season opener and dropped its' first Big 12 Conference game at Texas A&M two weeks ago. The Cowboys enter Saturday's contest ranked 13th in the country in total defense. OSU has allowed just 264.50 yards per game. On the flip side, Oklahoma State ranks 96th in total offense. The Cowboys have produced just 292 yards per contest. Sophomore quarterback Aso Pogi is averaging 177.5 yards in total offense per game. He has completed 61.8 percent of his pass attempts so far this season and has thrown for 736 yards. Pogi's favorite target has been sophomore Rashaun Woods, who has pulled in 31 receptions in the first four games this season. Woods is averaging 12.7 yards per reception. The Cowboys are coming off a 24-0 shutout of Northwestern State last Saturday night in Stillwater. Northwestern State put up just 185 yards of total offense against the Cowboys .Oklahoma State is led defensively by senior linebacker Dwayne Levels, who led OSU in tackles a year ago with 95. He has 38 tackles so far this season.

LAST YEAR: MU 24, OSU 10
Missouri opened up a 14-0 lead and never looked back as the Tigers defeated Oklahoma State by a score of 24-10 last year in Columbia on a very cold early October afternoon. Missouri quarterback Darius Outlaw threw for 191 yards and a touchdown while scoring another himself in his first career start in a Tiger uniform. The Tigers offensive line overpowered an Oklahoma State team that entered the contest as one of the top rushing defenses in the country. Missouri's Zain Gilmore rushed for a career-high 169 yards on 28 carries. Outlaw scored on the Tigers' first drive on a 3-yard run to give Mizzou a 7-0 lead. On the next series, Outlaw hooked up with freshman Tay Jackson for a 5-yard TD strike to give the Tigers a 14-0 advantage. OSU kicked a first quarter field goal to make it 14-3, and that is the way it stood heading into halftime. The Missouri defense took over from there. Oklahoma State was forced to call three second half timeouts, and the first play following all three timeouts resulted in the same thing, a Missouri interception. Cornerback Antoine Duncan proved to be the Tigers' defensive hero, intercepting two second half passes. The other INT was recorded by 6-8 defensive tackle Michael Gavins, who batted the ball to himself in the fourth quarter to seal the victory for the Tigers.

LAST TIME OUT
The Missouri Tigers led No. 4 Nebraska 3-0 after the first quarter, but the Nebraska defense shutdown the Tigers while Heisman Trophy candidate Eric Crouch brought the Huskers' offense to life in the second half in a 36-3 Nebraska victory. Missouri's offense produced just 205 yards of total offense while Nebraska racked up 425 of its' 532 total yards on the ground. Crouch rushed for 191 yards and two touchdowns, including a 95-yard run in the third quarter that gave the Huskers all of the momentum. The touchdown run was the longest scoring run in Nebraska history and the longest TD run Missouri had ever given up. Missouri took a 3-0 lead on a 28-yard field goal by Brad Hammerich with 4:51 to go in the first quarter. The Missouri defense held Nebraska to just 62 yards on 15 plays in the first quarter, while the Tigers put up 108 total yards led by quarterback Kirk Farmer, who made his first start in over a year last week. Farmer completed nine of his 20 passes for 77 yards while rushing for 17 yards on two carries. His main target was tight end Dwayne Blakley, who pulled in four first quarter receptions and six for the game. Nebraska got on the board in the second quarter on a 1-yard run by Dahrann Diedrick that capped off a 14-play, 73-yard drive. Following a missed 50-yard field goal attempt by Missouri's Brad Hammerich, Nebraska took momentum into the locker room at halftime when Diedrick scored on a 4-yard run with 23 seconds remaining in the first half to give the Huskers a 14-3 halftime lead. The score remained 14-3 until the 5:39 mark of the third quarter when Josh Brown connected on 38-yard field goal to increase the Nebraska lead to 17-3. Still in the game, Mizzou punter Brock Harvey backed the Huskers up to their own two-yard line. On third down-and-six, Crouch was flushed out of the pocket in the end zone. After breaking a tackle, the Husker quarterback dashed back to the line of scimmage and found an opening and raced down field 95 yards for a touchdown to give Nebraksa a 22-3 lead and all of the momentum. The Husker defense held the Missouri offense in check while the Huskers scored two more fourth quarter touchdowns to clinch the victory.

RESHUFFLING THE SCHEDULE
Due to the attack on the United States on Sept. 11, the Missouri Tigers have reshuffled their schedule. The Tigers will makeup their game with Michigan State in East Lansing, Mich. on Saturday, Dec. 1. Missouri has also moved its' game against Kansas State to Nov. 24 to accomodate the Wildcats who will play Louisiana Tech on Nov. 17, the original date for the MU-KSU game. The last time Missouri had a football game postponed or cancelled was back in 1918. The entire season was cancelled due to an influenza epidemic.

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.

TIGERS LEAD THE NATION IN PASSING DEFENSE
Missouri enters Saturday's contest against Oklahoma State as the No. 1 passing defensive team in the nation. The Tigers have allowed just 120.73 passing yards per game.

12-GAGE
Junior wide receiver Justin Gage is Missouri's best offensive weapon. Gage is off to a very good start. He has recorded 16 receptions for 189 yards and a touchdown. Gage has scored two touchdowns on the season, the other coming on an 18-yard blocked punt return. His 9 receptions in the season opener vs. Bowling Green were a career-high. 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.

RICKER ON RIMINGTON
TROPHY WATCH LIST Sophomore center A.J. Ricker is among 21 players in the nation on the Rimington Trophy "watch list." The Rimington Trophy is awarded to the best offensive center in college football, and is presented by the Boomer Esiason Foundation. The Klein, Texas native started all 11 games as a redshirt freshman last year. He snapped the ball 654 times without committing a single penalty. He recorded 45 knockdowns and allowed just seven hits on the Tigers quarterbacks.

FARMER BACK IN THE HUDDLE
Junior quarterback Kirk Farmer returned to the starting lineup last Saturday against Nebraska for the first time since week four last year. Farmer, who has had to recover from hand and knee injuries so far this season, returned after 10 practices and completed 15-of-39 passes for 128 yards on Saturday. It was just the sixth start of Farmer's career. The Jefferson City, Mo. native split time with Jim Dougherty in 1999, starting one game before breaking his leg in week six. Last year, Farmer started the first four games of the season before going down with a seperated shoulder at Nebraska in week four, an injury that sidelined him for the rest of the season.

DYNAMIC DUO
Missouri linebackers Sean Doyle and Jamonte Robinson have become one of the best linebacking duos in the Big 12 Conference. In the Tigers' first three games, Doyle and Robinson have combined for 73 tackles. Doyle leads the team with 13.6 tackles per game. Robinson is averaging 10.6 tackles per game.

ROBINSON TACKLES HIS WAY INTO THE TOP 10
Senior linebacker Jamonte Robinson is climbing the career tackles chart at the University of Missouri. The St. Petersburg, Fla., native has 301 career tackles, ranking him 10th in school history. Robinson recorded 12 tackles last Saturday against Nebraska to crack the top 10 and became the 10th player in school history to record 300 career tackles. He needs 45 tackles to crack Missouri's all-time top-five.

TACKLES COME IN BUNCHES FOR DOYLE
Junior linebacker Sean Doyle racked up 17 tackles for the third time in his career last Saturday against Nebraska. The junior recorded 17 tackles in the season-opener against Bowling Green. It was the sixth time that Doyle has recorded double digit tackles. It was also the fourth time that Doyle has posted 15 or more tackles in a single game. Last year against Kansas, the Rockhurst High School graduate had 17 tackles. In his first career start in 1999, Doyle posted 15 tackles against Texas A&M. Doyle is averaging 13.6 tackles per game so far in 2001.

DEFENSIVE FRONT FOUR
Missouri's defensive front four was literally pieced together this past spring. Defensive end Antwaun Bynum is a former linebacker, defensive end Dan Davis is a former tailback and defensive tackle Keith Wright is playing inside for the first time in his career. Only Cedric Harden is playing his natural position. This group continues to get better and better with each week. By adding senior defensive tackle Chris Ryan and redshirt freshman Nick Tarpoff into the mix, Missouri's defensive front four have combined for 15 tackles for loss and four quarterback sacks. They have hit the quarterback eight times, forced and recovered a fumble, intercepted a pass and blocked three kicks.

HAMMER-TIME
Senior kicker Brad Hammerich is off to a great start in 2001. The Chesterfield, Mo., native is three-of-four in field goal attempts this season, improving his already impressive career numbers. Hammerich is 45-of-46 in his career in PAT attempts. He is 18-for-27 in field goal tries. Just one of those missed field goals has come on attempts of under 40 yards. He is 12-of-13 from inside 40 yards in his career and 7-of-15 from beyond 40 yards. Four of his eight misses beyond 40 yards have been from beyond 50 yards. He is 1-for-5 in his career from 50 yards out. Hammerich has a big-time leg, evident by a 56-yard field goal in the Black and Gold Game in the spring. His 51-yard field goal in the season opener against Bowling Green was the longest of his career.

JONES GETS A QUICK PICK
Junior cornerback R.J. Jones wasted little time in making a big play for Missouri. Jones, who has been sidelined with a shoulder injury, made his Tiger debut last Saturday against Nebraska and intercepted a pass from Eric Crouch on just his second play from scrimmage. Jones is a highly touted junior college transfer from San Francisco City College.

ROBERSON BURSTS ONTO THE SCENE
Freshman tailback Tyrone Roberson made his collegiate debut against Southwest Texas. Roberson carried the ball 13 times for 74 yards, averaging 5.7 yards per carry. Roberson's speed looks to be a positive addition to the Tigers' offense. The Missouri backfield looks to have a solid one-two punch with the power of Zack Abron and the speed of Roberson. The duo combined for 180 yards on the ground against Southwest Texas.

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."

MISSOURI BLOCK PARTY
The Missouri Tigers have blocked two PATs, one punt and one field goal in the first three games this season. The two blocked PATs belong to junior defensive tackle Cedric Harden, giving him four blocks for his career. The Missouri blocked punt was by sophomore cornerback Michael Harden. No relation to Cedric, Harden's blocked punt resulted in an 18-yard touchdown return by Justin Gage. Keith Wright blocked a field goal attempt by Nebraska last week.

JAMES AMONG NATION'S BEST IN PUNT RETURNS
Sophomore Marcus James enters Saturday's game against Oklahoma State ranked 18th in the country in punt returns. James is averaging 13.2 yards per return. He took over punt return duties midway through the 2000 season. He averaged 5.9 yards per return last season.

"TOUCHDOWN JOE" STRIKES AGAIN
Junior R-back Joe Chirumbolo earned the nickname "Touchdown Joe" two years ago after catching three touchdown passes as a fullback and rushing for another. It seems like every time Chirumbolo touches the ball, good things happen. "Touchdown Joe" is back in 2001. He has three receptions on the season, two of them are touchdowns. Against Bowling Green. Chirumbolo capped a 15-play, 80-yard drive with a two-yard touchdown reception in the corner of the end zone for the Tigers' first touchdown of the season. Against Southwest Texas, Chirumbolo pulled in a nine-yard touchdown pass from Darius Outlaw.

2001 TIGER CAPTAINS
Six seniors were voted captains by their teammates in the spring for 2001 season.