GROUND ATTACK RUNNING ON ALL CYLINDERS
After rushing for 362 yards and 6 TDs Saturday against Texas A&M (representing an opponent high this season against the Aggies), Mizzou enters the Kansas State game ranked 6th in the nation in rushing, averaging 235.0 yards per contest. The Tigers' per-rush average on the year of 5.50 yards also ranks 3rd in the country currently, trailing only Minnesota (1st - 5.60) and Oklahoma State (2nd - 5.53).

Mizzou's rushing total of 469 yards against Texas Tech on Oct. 25th continues to be the NCAA's single-game high in 2003, as does Brad Smith's individual total that day of 291 yards.

MU-TEXAS A&M NOTABLES

MIZZOU-KANSAS STATE SERIES NOTES
Mizzou and Kansas State will square off for the 89th time when they meet Saturday night in Manhattan, Kan. MU holds a solid 55-28-5 lead in the series, but that margin stood quite a bit more pronounced in Mizzou's favor prior to Kansas State's recent mastery. The Wildcats have won 10 straight over MU, with the last Tiger win a 27-14 affair in Columbia in 1992. Mizzou's last win in Manhattan was a 21-9 victory there in 1989. Since then, Kansas State has beaten MU 6 straight times at KSU Stadium, by a combined margin of 224-35. Tiger fans, don't read this next sentence: that is an average score of 37.3 to 5.8. Included in that stretch are 3 shutout wins by KSU: 32-0 in 1991, 30-0 in 1995 and 66-0 in 1999. Since the inception of the Big 12 Conference in 1996, the Wildcats have held the dominant hand in the series, as it has outscored MU 263-73 in winning all 7 games played to this date.

LAST YEAR: #10 KANSAS ST. 38, MISSOURI 0
Missouri entered the final game of the 2002 season needing a win to become bowl eligible, but 10th-ranked Kansas State didn't cooperate, as it rolled to a dominating 38-0 win that ended MU's season at 5-7 overall. Darren Sproles ran for 116 yards, and Kansas State got two second-half touchdown catches from Taco Wallace and outgained Missouri on the day by a 553-191 margin. Missouri was unable to get past midfield until the fourth quarter of play. MU redshirt freshman quarterback Brad Smith did make history for the Tigers, as he became only the second player in NCAA Division I-A history to pass for 2,000 yards and rush for 1,000 yards in a season. Smith entered the game needing just 1 yard rushing to join Clemson's Woody Dantzler, who first accomplished the feat in 2001, and Smith got to the milestone with a 3-yard carry late in the first quarter.

But K-State's vaunted defense held Smith and the Tiger offense in check all day, as Smith finished with 30 yards rushing and was held to to a 7-of-24 passing day for 126 yards and 1 interception. Smith's total offense figure of 156 yards represented a season low.

Terrence Newman got KSU off to a fast start with a 71-yard punt return for a TD with 14:16 remaining in the 1st quarter. The Wildcats upped the lead to 17-0 at halftime and pulled away with a pair of 3rd-quarter scores to hand Mizzou its first shutout loss at home since 1992.

FAST STARTS COMING AROUND FOR TIGER OFFENSE
As good as the Mizzou offense has been this year, the Tigers had been having a hard time getting going early in games, as MU did not score on its opening possession of a game in its first 7 games.

The Tigers have reversed the trend of late, however, as MU has scored on its opening drive in each of the last 3 games. Last Saturday against Texas A&M, the Tigers drove 71 yards in just 2:09 for a TD to take a quick 7-0 lead - marking the first time MU has scored a TD to open a game. Prior to that, MU got its first score on its opening drive in game #8 when it drove 57 yards before settling for a Mike Matheny field goal vs. Texas Tech. Mizzou did the same thing in game #9 at Colorado, driving 79 yards to the CU 1 yardline, before having to settle for a field goal.

On an aside, is anyone else tired of hearing the Rolling Stones' "Start Me Up" every time a game starts or the home team kicks off? How about playing a song that's been recorded in the past 20 years? Oh well, we'll get off our soapbox now, thanks for humoring us.

TIGERS MAKING A POINT WITH TURNOVERS
The all-important points off turnovers category is heavily weighted in Mizzou's favor through 10 games of the 2003 season. Mizzou enters the K-State game having scored 55 points this season off of 18 opponent turnovers, while foes have scored but 7 points this season off of 9 MU giveaways.

Part of the reason for the disparity of course lies rooted in the fact that Mizzou rarely turns the ball over (the Tigers lead the nation in fewest turnovers through 10 games, and led the nation last year with 12 in 12 games in 2002). A deeper look into MU's 9 turnovers shows that the Tigers haven't turned the ball over on its side of the field, as 8 of the 9 miscues have occurred in opponent territory. The only turnover MU has committed this year on its own side of the field was an interception at Colorado in the final 2 minutes of the game as MU faced a 4th-and-17 at its own 13 yardline. The only opponent to score thus far off an MU turnover was Nebraska, which had to go 74 yards for a TD after intercepting a ball at their own 26 yardline.

MISSOURI DOESN'T BEAT MISSOURI ON PINKEL'S WATCH
When Mizzou commits mistakes (turnovers, penalties, etc...), MU Head Coach Gary Pinkel often refers to that as "Missouri beating Missouri." Fortunately for the Tigers' 3rd-year skipper, that hasn't happened often at all. In fact, NCAA stats show that in Pinkel's time at Mizzou (from 2001 through games of Nov. 1st), MU has had the fewest turnovers in the nation, by far.

In the 33 games in the Pinkel regime, MU has committed just 37 turnovers. The next fewest during that same period is Alabama, with 49. The next best team in the Big 12 is Oklahoma, who rates 5th-best, at 51 turnovers. Please see the accompanying chart for more details.

Through 10 games this season, Mizzou leads the nation with just 9 turnovers lost, a year after MU led the nation with just 12 turnovers in 2002 - setting a school record in the process for fewest in a year.

The Tigers have not turned the ball over 6 times this season, including last week vs. Texas A&M. That came after MU had an uncharacteristic 4-turnover game at Colorado, as the Buffs recorded 2 interceptions and recovered 2 fumbles on the day. That marked the most turnovers in a game by a Pinkel-coached Tiger squad.

ABRON & SMITH TIE MORE MIZZOU RECORDS ON SATURDAY
From the "We-blew-it-by-not-noticing-this-after-the-game-last-Saturday" category:

NASH'S DASHES ARE MAKING SPLASHES
Oh doctor, are we pleased with ourselves for that headline!!
Anyway, Tiger fans have been waiting for the big-play potential of sophomore TB Damien Nash to surface, and the high school phenom is showing that he's starting to develop into the big-play guy that made him one of the nation's top recruits in recent years. After averaging 29.75 yards from scrimmage and scoring 1 TD in MU's first 8 games, Nash has really come on strong of late, as he has accounted for an average of 80.5 yards and has scored 3 TDs in his last 2 outings. He's coming off a 77-yard, 2-TD day against Texas A&M, as he rushed for 65 yards and 2 TDs (14-yard & 9-yard 4th-quarter scores that salted away the game) and added 2 receptions for 12 yards in MU's 45-22 win over the Aggies. That followed a nice day at Colorado when he made a big play late in the game to get the Tigers back in the game when he took a 4th-quarter swing pass from Brad Smith and weaved his way through myraid CU defenders for a 48-yard TD that pulled MU to within 21-16 with 5 minutes left in the game.

His brilliant maneuvering gave life to MU and showed that he can make some big contributions down the stretch. Nash finished the game with a career-best 84 yards from scrimmage, as he caught a career-best 4 balls for 63 yards and also carried 5 times for 21 yards. The TD catch was his first as a Tiger, and also served as the longest TD pass for Mizzou this season. The St. Louis, Mo., native is currently 3rd on the squad in rushing, with 299 yards on 66 attempts through 10 games, good for a per-carry average of 4.5 yards.

This has all been a very pleasing sight to see for MU Head Coach Gary Pinkel, who has pleaded with people all year long to have patience with Nash, as he continued to get better each day that he got further acclimated in his recovery from knee surgery last fall. Nash, who redshirted the 2001 season at Coffeyville, tore an ACL on the season-opening kickoff in 2002, and had surgery to repair the damage in the fall of 2002 - meaning he hadn't played in game competition since he was a senior in high school in the fall of 2000.

Marcus James BREAKS ONE MU CAREER RETURN RECORD; ONE MORE TO COME?
Senior WR/KR Marcus James has broken one long-standing MU career return record already this season, and is on the verge of claiming another. The diminutive one (he's 5-8, 174) broke the career record for combined returns when he returned the 112th kick of his career against Kansas on Sept. 27th. That broke the old standard of 111 set by former Tiger standout Mike Fink (1970-72). James is also just 22 return yards away from breaking Fink's career combined kick return record of 1,692 yards. He enters Saturday's game at Kansas State with 1,671 combined yards in returns, and that breaks down to 73 career punt returns for 850 yards (an average of 11.6 which is now ahead of the MU career record of 11.5 set by Roger Wehrli) and 46 kickoff returns for 821 yards (an average of 17.8 per return).

His season punt return average of 13.6 currently ranks him 16th in the NCAA. He had one return Saturday against Texas A&M, and took that for 17 yards. Previously, he had a big game in the return area at Colorado, where he averaged 19.7 yards on 3 punt returns, including big gainers of 37 and 32 yards that set MU up in CU territory. He also had a big 3rd-down catch for 6 yards on a 3rd-and-5 in the 3rd quarter against the Buffs.

A wonderful young man who is a great representative of the University, James is currently the President of the MU Student-Athlete Advisory Council. He spoke on earlier this fall (Sept. 24th) to nearly 200 athletic department staff members who attended the department's monthly full staff meeting.

TIGERS HAVE OWNED 4TH QUARTER OF LATE
Most every team in football focuses on how it plays late in the game, but Mizzou has really turned it up a notch, if you will, in the 4th quarter of late. Consider the fact that MU has outscored its last 5 opponents by a combined 79-20 in the 4th quarter, and you'll see we're just not whistling Dixie.
Here's the breakdown:

The late-game progress has been pleasing to see for Tiger fans, because the recent stretch of success started after MU lost at Kansas on Sept. 27th when the Jayhawks outscored the Tigers 22-0 in the final period to turn a 14-13 MU lead into a 35-14 KU win. After outscoring A&M Saturday 14-13 in the 4th period, through 10 games this season, MU holds a 115-51 scoring advantage in the 4th period. That's a nice improvement from the 88-68 edge they held in the 4th quarter during the 2002 season, and an otherworldly advance from an eye-popping 102-47 scoring deficit the Tigers faced in the 4th quarter in 2001.

MORE MR. SMITH BANTER
For those of you who are fans of the popular Matrix movies, you'll know Mr. Smith as the primary antagonist of the series. In the 2nd Matrix movie, Mr. Smith was seen replicating himself, as hundreds of Smiths appeared at the same time. You have to wonder if Mizzou's version of Mr. Smith has opponents feeling they've seen hundreds of him on the field, especially of late. Here's why, when reviewing his last 5 games, in bullet-point order:

CONTINUING WITH A FAMILIAR THEME
Just a few more bullet facts about Brad Smith:

THIRD-DOWN DEFENSE MAKING STRIDES
Early on in the season, even as MU was getting off to a 4-1 start, the Tiger defense was having trouble getting off the field, as opponents were converting over 49.4% of their 3rd-down opportunities against Mizzou (40-of-81). In MU's last 5 games, however, the Tiger defense has made huge strides in that category, as it has held its last 5 foes to a combined 36.5% on 3rd downs (27-of-74). Those weren't just any run-of-the-mill offenses either, as in October, MU went up against 10th-ranked Nebraska (6-of-15), #1-ranked Oklahoma (3-of-14) and Texas Tech (7-of-16), the latter of which featured the nation's top-ranked offensive attack in several categories, including 3rd-down conversion percentage. Mizzou followed by holding Colorado to 5-of-12 and Texas A&M to 6-of-17.

RICKER TO EXTEND SCHOOL RECORD WITH HIS 45TH STRAIGHT START SATURDAY
Senior center A.J. Ricker has been as dependable as they come. The Houston, Texas native, who was a pre-season candidate for the Rimington Award, has started all 44 games in his collegiate career for Mizzou. The last time someone other than Ricker started at center for Mizzou was 1999. He'll make it 45 straight starts when he takes the field Saturday at Kansas State.

That ironman feat established his name in the MU record books for consecutive starts, as he has broken the MU record of 42, co-held by Rob Riti (1996-99) and Mike Bedosky (1990-93). Since Ricker directly followed Riti, and Riti played center exclusively from 1997-99, that means that only two people have started at center for MU since 1997.

Ricker is the leader of an offensive line which currently ranks 6th in the nation in rushing, averaging 235.0 yards per game on the ground. MU recently had a game against Texas Tech where the Tigers ran for a 2003 NCAA single-game high 469 yards. Ricker has been invited to play in the East-West Shrine Game and the Hula Bowl all-star games following the current season.

MIZZOU IS NCAA'S ALLTIME OVERTIME KING
Overtime is becoming old hat around Mizzou. Since the rule was put into effect for the 1996 season, Mizzou is tied for the lead with 9 overtime games played. With MU's 41-40 OT earlier win against Middle Tennessee State, the Tigers improved to 6-3 alltime in overtime games, a win total which also is most in the NCAA.

Mizzou went 1-1 last season in overtime affairs, dropping a tough 42-35 home overtime game to #18 Colorado and the very next week winning a 33-27 double overtime thriller at Texas A&M, the week after A&M beat #1-ranked Oklahoma on the same field. Mizzou made some history with its consecutive overtime games - that marked the first time in NCAA history that a Div. I-A team played overtime games in consecutive weeks.

ZACK ATTACK ASCENDS TO TOP OF SCHOOL CHARTS
Senior TB Zack Abron entered the season having quietly amassed one of the best rushing careers in MU history. He's not the flashy, speed-burner type that wows people, and maybe that's why he's sort of flown under the radar, if you will. The fact is, however, that with 2,944 career rushing yards entering Saturday's game at Kansas State, Abron has a shot at becoming MU's alltime career leading rusher if he produces just 83 more yards this season. He entered the 2003 season ranked 8th on MU's career rushing chart, with 2,043 yards, and his current total puts him 3rd on the yardage chart, just 10 behind former All-American Devin West for 2nd and 82 behind career leader Brock Olivo.

Abron is coming off a performance that saw him carry 20 times for season-high 141 yards (just 6 yards shy of his career high). He also added a 1st-quarter TD from 2 yards out that made him the most prolific scorer in MU history, as the score gave him 234 career points and 39 career TDs, breaking the record of 228 and 38, respectively, held by former standout Corby Jones. Earlier in the year, Abron had a solid 139-yard, 3-TD rushing day against Texas Tech. His 3 TDs (from 3, 4, and 2 yards out) were historic, as they gave him career totals of 38 TDs (36 rushing/2 receiving) and 228 points - putting him in a tie for 1st place with former QB Corby Jones on the MU career charts.

Abron had a 112-yard day Sept. 27th vs. Kansas - marking his 2nd straight game over the century mark and the 9th of his Tiger career. He notched the 1st 100 yard rushing day of his 2003 season when he tallied a game-best 138 yards on 18 attempts vs. Middle Tennessee State. He added a 2nd quarter TD scamper from 8 yards out that put MU up 23-14. Earlier in the 2nd quarter, he raced 64 yards around left end - a gain that represented a career long.

A virtual lock to pick up short yardage situations, Abron is 7-of-9 on 3rd-and-1 situations on the year, and is 6-of-6 on 4th-and-1 tries thus far. He has also developed into a pass-catching threat, as he has caught 24 passes for 168 yards thru 10 games thus far, tripling his career total of 8 catches for 56 yards in his previous 3 seasons.

MATHENY HAVING SOLID YEAR
Senior PK Mike Matheny is quietly having a very solid year for the Tigers. Due to MU's impressive redzone efficiency, he's only been called on to attempt 10 field goals in 10 games this year, but he's delivered successfully 9 times so far, for a percentage of 90.0%.

He's also made 35-of-38 extra point tries thus far, and has a shot at breaking the MU single-season record of 43 extra points made by Scott Knickman in 1997. Matheny tied a career long when he nailed a 44-yarder last weekend against Texas A&M. He also went a perfect 4-of-4 on the day in PATs.

Matheny tied an MU single-game record on Oct. 25th when he went a perfect 8-of-8 on PATs against Texas Tech, as MU rolled to a 62-31 win at Faurot Field. That tied a single game record accomplished 4 times previously, most recently by Brad Burditt vs. Kansas State in 1984.

Matheny experienced quite a roller coaster ride of emotions earlier this year in MU's 41-40 overtime win over Middle Tennessee State. The Columbia, Mo. native, and former walk-on had his share of struggles during the game, as he had 2 extra point attempts blocked (one missed, the other went through the uprights), and twice kicked the ball out of bounds on kickoffs, giving MTSU solid field position which the Blue Raiders turned into a total of 10 points.

Matheny came up big in the clutch though, and went from "zero to hero" as he stated in the post-game interview room when speaking with reporters, as he calmly booted the game-winning extra point through the uprights in overtime to give MU the one-point win. Matheny's OT extra point was extra special, as it came from 36 yards away, due to a 15-yard penalty assessed the Tigers for excessive celebration after MU tied the game at 40 apiece.

Despite the extra distance, and an MTSU timeout in attempt to ice Matheny, he came through, and was subsequently mobbed by his teammates. Matheny also came up big in the 4th quarter, as he nailed a 25-yarder with 10:53 left in the game to pull MU to within 31-26. He also was good on a 21-yard field goal in the 2nd quarter.

Matheny made 9-of-13 field goals and 40-of-42 PATs for Mizzou after walking onto the squad prior to the 2002 season.

THE Brad Smith PAGE
His name might be common, but the considerable talents of MU sophomore QB Brad Smith are anything but. A pre-season "darkhorse" Heisman candidate by many outlets, Smith recently put his name among legitimate contenders for the prestigious award with his play of late, as he's led MU to bowl elgibility for only the 3rd time since 1983.

Smith is coming off a workmanlike outing, if you consider 225 yards of total offense a workmanlike day, as he led MU to a 45-22 dismantling of Texas A&M. He rushed for 136 yards (marking his 3rd straight 100 yard game) and 3 TDs against A&M and threw for 89 yards on a day in which Mizzou really didn't need to throw the ball. His TDs gave him 26 that he's responsible for on the year (15 rushing, 10 passing, 1 receiving), and that ties him with Corby Jones, who had 26 in 1997 (14 rushing, 12 passing) for the MU single-season record.

Smith enters the KSU game as the only player in the NCAA who is ranked in the top-20 in these categories: 9th in the NCAA in scoring (10.00 ppg), 10th in the NCAA in points responsible for (16.0 ppg), 16th in the NCAA in rushing (108.9 ypg) and 19th in the NCAA in total offense (264.8 ypg). He leads all the nation's QBs in both scoring and rushing.

Previously, Smith had a solid statistical day at Colorado, as he amassed 380 yards of total offense. He completed a career-high 29 passes (in 42 attempts) and threw for a season-best 278 yards and 2 TDs in the game, and added 102 yards rushing on the day. That marked the 2nd time in his career that Smith has thrown for 200 yards and rushed for 100 in a game (the other was vs. Troy State in 2002).

Previously, Smith turned in a monster performance against Texas Tech, as he rushed for an MU QB-record 291 yards and a school-record 5 TDs (covering 10, 27, 2, 41 and 61 yards, respectively) in MU's 62-31 win on Oct. 25th. He also added 128 passing yards on the day, and ended with a career-high 419 total yards, which ranked 2nd-most in MU single-game history. His rushing total was just 17 yards shy of the NCAA record for QBs - 308 by Stacey Robinson of Northern Illinois vs. Fresno State in 1990. Smith's ridiculous average per rush of 15.3 yards (on 19 carries) broke the Big 12 single-game record. His 291 yard outing also ranks as the single-game high in the NCAA thus far for 2003.

For his efforts, Smith was named national player of the week by such outlets as USA Today, Sports Illustrated, The Sporting News, and Fox Sports, among others, in addition to being named Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week for the 2nd time in 3 games. In his last 5 games (with 2 of them vs. top-10 teams, nonetheless), Smith is averaging 311.4 yards in total offense, a stark improvement from his average of 218.2 in MU's 1st 5 outings. Here's a look in chart form at how he's come on of late:

Prior to the Texas Tech game, Smith had 230 yards of offense at Oklahoma, and was giving the top-ranked Sooners everything they could handle, against an OU defense that ranks among the nation's leaders in most categories. He threw for 180 yards and ran for another 50, including a brilliant 26-yard TD scamper that tied the game at 10 apiece in the 2nd quarter, before OU pulled away. Prior to that, Smith had a steller performance against Nebraska, as he led Mizzou to its first win in 25 years over the Huskers. He had 303 yards of total offense (180 passing, 123 rushing) and tied a school record by scoring 4 touchdowns (3 rushing, 1 receiving). His reception was a 47-yard TD grab off a throwback pass from former QB Darius Outlaw. Smith was named Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week for his efforts.
A few quick career updates regarding Smith:

'THE OTHER' SMITH TURNING IN BIG NUMBERS, TOO
While redshirt freshman DE Brian Smith has the misfortune of having the same name as MU's all-everything QB Brad Smith, it is Mizzou's opponents who have gotten the short end of the stick more often than not when facing the Tigers' speedy rush end. "Smitty," as he's known by his teammates, has turned in quite a year to this point, and is a virtual lock for freshman All-American honors.

Thru games of Nov. 8th, Smith was leading all NCAA freshmen, and ranked 13th among all players this season, with his per-game sack average of .94 (8.5 sacks in 9 games). He also ranked 5th in the NCAA thru Nov. 8th by averaging .44 forced fumbles per game (4 in 9 games), which was also tied for 1st among the nation's freshmen. Entering the K-State game, Smith has 34 total tackles on the year, and in addition to leading the team in sacks and forced fumbles, he also has the most QB hurries (12).Smith is just 3 sacks away from the MU single-season sacks record of 11, set in 2000 by former All-American Justin Smith. Here's a look at the list:

MOSLEY MOSTLY MAKING A MAJOR IMPACT ON D-LINE
Much like offensive linemen, defensive tackles often toil in relative anonymity. Mizzou sophomore DT C.J. Mosley is doing his best to become more of a household name around these parts, based on his play this season. Mosley is coming off a performance Saturday vs. Texas A&M that saw him record a career-best 9 tackles, including 3 tackles for loss to raise his team-leading total to 15 TFLs on the year, which should put him among the top-30 among NCAA individuals when the latest set of numbers are released later this week.

In all, Mosley ranks 6th on the team through 10 games with 53 tackles, and he ranks 2nd on the squad in sacks (6) and QB hurries (7), as well. He's a big factor in why the Tiger defense ranks 39th in the NCAA against the rush, giving up on average 132.9 yards per game. That's a nice improvement from 2002, when Mizzou ranked 78th 167.75, and an even bigger jump from 2 years ago, when MU ranked 89th in 2001, giving up on average 198.73 yards per game on the ground.

TIGERS GAIN BOWL ELIGIBILITY WITH BIG WIN OVER TEXAS TECH
Mizzou's 62-31 win on Oct. 25th over Texas Tech was significant for the way the Tigers won the game, but it was even more significant because of the fact that it gave MU 6 wins on the year and made the Tigers bowl eligibile.

It marks the first time since 1998, and just the 3rd time overall since 1983 that MU is qualified to play in a post-season classic. Since 1983, the only 2 other times the Tigers went bowling were appearances in the 1997 Holiday Bowl and the 1998 Insight.com Bowl. Despite the recent bowl-game dry spell in recent years, Mizzou still ranks 30th alltime with most bowl appearances (21) and 29th alltime with in bowl wins (9).

CARDIAC' TIGERS HAVE PLATED 3 COMEBACK WINS ON THE SEASON
In the course of MU's win against Nebraska, Mizzou rallied from a 10-point 4th-quarter deficit to post the 41-24 win. The comeback win was the 3rd of the season for Mizzou. Here's a look:

SESAY LOST FOR THE YEAR WITH KNEE INJURY
Adding to the bad news of MU's 21-16 loss at Colorado on Nov. 8th was the fact that junior TE Victor Sesay was lost for the remainder of the season with a ruptured patellar tendon in his right knee. The injury occurred in the 3rd quarter when he took a hard hit as he was going for a ball thrown by Brad Smith. Colorado was flagged 15 yards for a blow to the head on the play, but it was Sesay's knee that was injured at the same time.

Sesay had been one of MU's biggest impact newcomers on the season, as he led MU's tight ends, and ranked 5th on the squad overall through 9 games, with 15 receptions for 154 yards and 3 TDs. He caught a 17-yard TD pass from Smith in the 2nd quarter of the game at Colorado.

Sesay caught arguably the biggest pass of the year earlier in the season when he hauled in a 14-yard TD pass from QB Santino Riccio on a fake field goal in the 4th quarter against Nebraska. His catch turned a 24-21 MU deficit into a 28-24 lead with 11:51 left in the game, and propelled the Tigers to their historic 41-24 win over the 10th-ranked Huskers. Sesay had successful surgery the next day and is expected to be ready for spring drills.

NUMBERS WERE DECEIVING VS. COLORADO
Sometimes numbers don't tell the truth, and one would have to think by looking at the numbers from MU's game at Colorado, that MU likely walked away with a win. Au contraire, mon frer (the liberal French translation to ESPN's Lee Corso's 'Not so fast, my friend').

Numbers that pointed to MU success show that the Tigers outgained Colorado by a 447-276 margin in total offense, had a 27-19 advantage in 1st downs, held a 5-1/2 minute advantage in time of possession (32:45 to 27:15) and were pretty well superior in all facets of the kicking game.

The big number is what the scoreboard says, as we all know, and MU hurt itself severely with a season-high 4 turnovers (2 interceptions and 2 fumbles) - the most by a Gary Pinkel-coached MU team. Mizzou had an NCAA low 5 turnovers on the year coming into the game, but were done in by 3 turnovers inside the CU 25 and a 4th late in the game deep in Tiger territory that sealed the game.

Mizzou lost a chance at putting the game away in the 2nd and 3rd quarters, when MU held the ball for 20 minutes and 12 seconds of the 30 minutes combined, but got outscored 14-6 during that stretch.