Rested Tigers Look To Bounce Back Vs. Troy State
9/24/2002 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 24, 2002
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| KICKOFF: | 1:00 p.m. (central time). |
| STADIUM: | Faurot Field/Memorial Stadium (68,349 - Natural Grass surface). Opened in 1927. MU is 208-155-20 there alltime, and has won 2 straight there. |
| RADIO: | Tiger Network (Mike Kelly, play-by-play/John Kadlec, color). Carried on 55 stations statewide, and on the Internet at www.mutigers.com. |
| TV: | No television for this contest. |
| POSTGAME HIGHLIGHT FEED: | 4:45-5:00 p.m. (CST) Saturday on: AMC-3 (GE3) KU Band, Transponder 15 (Full), Downlink Frequency 12000 (Horizontal) |
| RANKINGS (AP/ESPN-USA): | Neither team is currently ranked. |
| SERIES: | No previous meetings. |
RESTED TIGERS LOOK TO BOUNCE BACK AT HOME
The Missouri Tigers (2-1 overall) return to the friendly confines of Faurot Field, where they'll close out the 2002 non-conference portion of their schedule by playing host Saturday afternoon to the Troy State Trojans (1-3). Kickoff is set for 1 p.m., and Saturday will represent Family Weekend in Columbia.
The Tigers are looking to bounce back from their first loss of the season, a 51-28 setback at Bowling Green on Sept. 14th. Mizzou will have the benefit of two weeks of preparation for Troy State, as the Tigers were idle last Saturday.
Troy State, which has lost to 2 ranked teams, will be playing its third game at a Big 12 Conference school this season, as the Trojans have previously played at Nebraska and Iowa State. They are coming off a 42-12 loss at Iowa State last Saturday. 2002.
LAST TIME OUT...
Missouri missed out on a chance to start 3-0 for the first time since 1981, as the Tigers got ambushed, 51-28, at Bowling Green two Saturdays ago.
The Tigers, who had given up an average of 313.5 yards in total offense in their first two games, were torched for 577 yards by the Falcons, who scored on each of their first 6 possessions to jump out to a 34-14 halftime lead.
The Tiger offense, with no margin for error, couldn't keep pace with the high-flying Falcons. Freshman QB Brad Smith did his best, and was impressive despite being faced with obvious passing situations for 3/4ths of the ballgame. He ended the night 28-of-50 passing for a career-high 334 yards and 2 TDs. Smith connected with senior WR Justin Gage 16 times for 236 yards and 1 TD. The 16 catches broke MU's single-game receptions record, while the yardage tied Gage's own single-game mark.
Mizzou's rushing game, which had averaged 253.0 yards in its first 2 games, was held to a season-low 55 net rushing yards on 30 carries. Smith, who was averaging 121.5 yards rushing coming into the game, was held to just 14 yards on 12 attempts. He had a 42-yard TD run wiped out by penalty in the 3rd quarter, and was sacked 3 times, after not being sacked in his first 2 games.
BIG PLAYS PLENTIFUL
Missouri's offense had 7 plays of 20 yards or more (all passing) at Bowling Green, which represented a season high.
Unfortunately for the Tigers, Bowling Green amassed 8 plays of the same stature, 7 via the air, and 1 via the ground. BGSU assaulted the Tiger defense for gains of 26, 30, 34, 41, 49, 52 and 52 yards in the air, and added a 29-yard TD run. Those 8 plays added up to 313 of BGSU's 577 total yards on the night.
In MU's first 2 games, the Tigers had given up only 3 plays of 20 yards or more, with all 3 coming by Illinois in the air. Ball State gained nothing longer than 19 yards vs. the Tigers in week #2, while the Tigers totalled 11 plays on offense in those 2 games of 20 yards or more.
The Tigers really struggled in preventing the big play on 3rd down, as three of Bowling Green's big plays came on third down and long situations.
RUSHING FACTOIDS
Despite being held to a season-low 55 yards rushing last time out at Bowling Green, the Tiger ground attack was still able to get into the endzone twice.
Junior TB Zack Abron scored twice on carries of 2 yards, to give Mizzou 10 rushing TDs through 3 games. That total is just 1 behind the 11 rushing TDs that Mizzou produced in all 11 games last season.
The Tigers had particular trouble producing on first down via the rush at Bowling Green. Mizzou was held to an average of just 2.6 yards per carry on 16 first down rushing attempts. MU had been averaging 5.6 yards on first down rushing attempts in its first 2 games.
TIGERS TOP THE CHARTS
Through 3 games, Tiger individuals rank in top-10 of 4 different NCAA statistical categories. Junior TB Zack Abron leads the Big 12 Conference & ranks 3rd in the country in scoring, with an average of 16.0 points per game. His 8 TDs (7 rush, 1 rec.) already represents a career best.
Senior WR Justin Gage leads the Big 12 and ranks 4th nationally in receptions per game, with 9.3 catches per outing. He also ranks 2nd in the Big 12 & 9th nationally in receiving yards (118.7 ypg).
Freshman QB Brad Smith tops the Big 12, and ranks 5th in the NCAA in total offense.
GAGE CONTINUES CLIMBING CHARTS
Senior WR Justin Gage is quickly closing in on some prestigious pass catching records. Gage enters Saturday's game vs. Troy State needing 6 catches to break the school record for career catches. He enters the game with 146 career grabs, and trails Kenny Holly, who caught an MU-record 151 balls from 1990- 93.
Gage also is within striking distance of the school receiving yardage record. He enters Saturday's game with Troy State in 2nd place on the alltime MU chart, with 1,986 career yards. He needs 159 more to overtake Victor Bailey, who covered 2,144 yards in the air from 1990-92.
The Jefferson City, Mo. native has a shot at breaking Big 12 Conference records in both of those categories, as well.
COMMON NAME, UNCOMMON QB
Redshirt freshman QB Brad Smith might have a common name. But his play through 3 games this season has been anything but common. Despite being the first freshman to start the season opener in school history, Smith has simply been amazing thus far. The Youngstown, Ohio native has belied his youthfulness and led the Tiger offense like a crusty old veteran.
In 3 games, the 18-year old has committed just one turnover, has taken just 3 sacks, and hasn't committed a penalty. And it's not like he's just getting by on conservative play. Smith has the Tiger offense rolling in high gear, as MU ranks 28th in the NCAA in scoring offense (34.0 ppg), 30th in total offense (421.0 ypg) and 32nd in rushing offense (187.0 ypg).
Smith completed 28-of-50 passes last time out at Bowling Green for a career-high 334 yards and 2 TDs. All of that came despite the fact that MU was forced to scrap the running game after falling into an early hole. He threw his first career interception in the 4th quarter on a ball that went out of the hands of a Tiger receiver, and was picked off by the Falcons. He was also held to just 14 yards rushing, after averaging 121.5 in his first 2 games, on 12 attempts. Smith had a 42-yard 3rd-quarter TD run called back due to a Tiger holding call.
Smith had an impressive outing vs. Ball State, in which he tallied 281 yards of total offense. He completed 14-of-27 passes on the night (and was victimized by several drops by Tiger wideouts) for 176 yards and threw his first collegiate TD pass (2 yds. to Justin Gage). Smith also rushed for a team-high 105 yards vs. BSU on just 9 attempts, including a highlight- reel 39-yard TD run that came on a scramble after the pocket collapsed on a pass attempt.
After amassing 290 yards of total offense in his collegiate debut on Aug. 31 vs. Illinois, Smith was named the national player of the week by CNNSI.com, the co-Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week, as well as the national offensive newcomer of the week by ESPN.com. Smith led the Tiger offense to 437 yards of total offense and 33 points against the defending Big Ten Conference champions.
Smith completed 15-of-26 passes on the day for 152 yards against an Illinois secondary that includes a pair of All-American candidates. He also scampered for 138 yards rushing, which was the 2nd-highest single-game rushing total by a freshman in MU history. Brock Olivo holds the freshman rushing record, with 151 yards vs. Kansas State in 1994. Smith produced a horde of big plays on the day. He ran for 6 first downs and threw for 8, and had 5 plays of 20 yards or more, including runs of 20, 39 and 24 yards. Against Ball State, he produced 4 more plays of 20 yards or more (rushes of 39 and 34 yards and passes of 20 and 33 yards).
Despite his youth, Smith showed great decision making skills in his debut, as he went turnover and penalty-free, and avoided being sacked by a defensive unit that tallied 40 QB sacks a year ago. On 3rd and 4th down passing situations, Smith was 7-of-9 for 72 yards, converting 6 of those opportunities for 1st downs.
FRESHMAN COMPARISONS
Okay, we certainly don't want to get carried away with hyperbole, but those in the Tiger program certainly feel that freshman QB Brad Smith is arguably one of the top freshmen in the country. His play early on has done nothing that would lead people to think otherwise. Consider the following factoids:
