Mizzou Hosts Murray State in 2006 Season-Opener
8/29/2006 12:00:00 AM | Football
Aug. 29, 2006
Murray State Racers (0-0) at Missouri Tigers (0-0)
Sept. 2, 2006 — Memorial Stadium/Faurot Field — Columbia, Mo.
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MIZZOU HOSTS MURRAY STATE IN 2006 SEASON OPENER
The University of Missouri Tigers (7-5 overall a year ago) kick off the 2006 season Saturday evening, as they play host to the Murray State Racers, of Division I-AA's Ohio Valley Conference. Kickoff for the game is set for 6 p.m. at MU's Faurot Field/Memorial Stadium, and a crowd of around 50,000 is anticipated.
Mizzou Head Coach Gary Pinkel begins his 6th year guiding the Tigers with an MU record of 29-30 in his previous 5 years, and an overall record of 102-67-3 in 15 previous seasons as a head coach.
Murray State is in its first season under Head Coach Matt Griffin. The Racers are looking to improve upon a 2-9 record they posted in 2005, and are visiting Columbia for the first time ever.
R U READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL?
The 116th season of Missouri Tiger football gets underway Saturday as Mizzou hosts the Murray State Racers in a 6 p.m. kickoff at Faurot Field/Memorial Stadium. Mizzou is looking to build on its scintillating Independence Bowl win to cap the 2005 season – a 38-31 come-from-behind win over South Carolina in which the Tigers twice overcame 1st-half deficits of 21 points. The bowl win marked only the second post-season victory by MU since 1981, and the comeback was also the largest in both school and I-Bowl history.
ABOUT MIZZOU
Mizzou posted a record of 7-5 in 2005 – which was just the fourth winning season for the program since 1983. Under Head Coach Gary Pinkel, the Tigers have gone 20-16 over the past three years (8-5 in 2003, 5-6 in 2004 and 7-5 in 2005).
The 2006 Tigers return 17 starters from last year, but that number jumps to 19 when you factor in those who started in the Independence Bowl (including the positions of placekicker and punter). Even with the high number of returnees, Big 12 media picked the Tigers to finish in fifth place in the conference's North Division this year in a pre-season poll conducted over the summer.
ABOUT MURRAY STATE
The Murray State Racers hail from Murray, Ky., a town of 15,000 located near the Kentucky-Tennessee border that is just a little over a three-hour drive from St. Louis, Mo. The Division I-AA Racer football program is in its first year under the direction of Head Coach Matt Griffin (New Hampshire, '92), who spent the previous three seasons as head coach at Tennessee-Martin.
The Racers are coming off a 2005 season that saw them post a 2-9 record. Turnovers were a major problem for MSU, as the Racers committed 38 turnovers – the most in Division I-AA in 2005. Murray State returns 15 starters from a year ago, including eight on offense and seven on defense.
PINKEL CAN GET TO .500 AT MU WITH A WIN SATURDAY
Mizzou Head Coach Gary Pinkel begins his sixth season at MU with a career record of 102-67-3, good for a career winning percentage of 60.2% that ranks him 23rd in the nation among active Division I-A coaches with a minimum of seven years coached.
Pinkel, who has led MU to a combined record of 20-16 over the past three seasons, and to bowl games in 2003 and 2005, has a five-year record in Columbia of 29-30. With a team picked to finish fourth in the Big 12 North Division in 2005, Pinkel's Tigers tied for second place (winning all tiebreakers), and were playing for a chance to share for the division title heading into the regular-season finale at Kansas State – no small accomplishment for a program that has not won a conference title of any kind since 1969. Pinkel has now led MU to two bowl games, and that puts him in select company, as he joins Don Faurot, Dan Devine, Al Onofrio, Warren Powers and Larry Smith as the only coaches to guide MU to multiple bowl games. After beating Nebraska (41-24 in 2005) for the second time in three years, Pinkel became the first MU coach since Onofrio to defeat the Huskers twice.
A win Saturday over Murray State would draw him to the .500 mark at Mizzou. Pinkel has stood at the even .500 mark at Mizzou six different times, including records of 1-1, 2-2 and 3-3 in his first season (2001), 20-20 and 21-21 in season number four (2004), and 27-27 last year (2005).
Pinkel has driven Mizzou to a pair of winning seasons (8-5 in 2003 and 7-5 in 2005) in his five years at the wheel, with those representing two of MU's four winning campaigns dating back to the 1983 season. With a winning season in 2006, he would become the first MU coach since Powers to have three winning years.
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RETURNING STARTERS UNDER Gary Pinkel
It's always interesting to take a look back at how a team fares each year in relation to the number of starters it returns from the previous season. Here's a snapshot of what Gary Pinkel has had in returning starters each year at Mizzou, and how each season turned out for the Tigers…
WHAT RETURNS STATISTICALLY FROM 2005
Here's a look at what the Tigers have returning from a statistical production standpoint from the 2005 season…
- Rushing Yards – 47.1% (1,162-of-2,463)
◊ Top Returnee – Tony Temple (437)
◊ Top Loss – Brad Smith (1,301) - Passing Yards – 14.5% (390-of-2,694)
◊ Top Returnee – Chase Daniel (347)
◊ Top Loss – Brad Smith (2,304) - Receiving Yards – 78.2% (2,106-of-2,694)
◊ Top Returnee – Martin Rucker (567)
◊ Top Loss – Sean Coffey (448) - Punt Return Yards – 95.0% (246-of-259)
◊ Top Returnee – Marcus Woods (188)
◊ Top Loss – Sean Coffey (8) - Interceptions – 69.2% (9-of-13)
◊ Top Returnee – David Overstreet/Darnell Terrell (2)
◊ Top Loss – Marcus King (3) - Kick Return Yards – 92.1% (684-of-743)
◊ Top Returnee – Tony Temple (376)
◊ Top Loss – Arnold Britt (36) - Scoring – 66.4% (245-of-369)
◊ Top Returnee – Adam Crossett (81)
◊ Top Loss – Brad Smith (100) - Total Offense – 30.1% (1,552-of-5,157)
◊ Top Returnee – Tony Temple (437)
◊ Top Loss – Brad Smith (3,605) - Field Goals – 100% (14-of-14)
◊ Top Returnee – Adam Crossett (14)
◊ Top Loss - None - Punting Yards – 100% (2,581-of-2,581)
◊ Top Returnee – Adam Crossett (2,432)
◊ Top Loss - None - Total Tackles – 66.6% (705-of-1,059)
◊ Top Returnee – David Overstreet (100)
◊ Top Loss – Jason Simpson (88) - Tackles For Loss – 79.4% (81-of-102)
◊ Top Returnee – Brian Smith (17)
◊ Top Loss – Earl Stephens/Derrick Ming (5) - QB Sacks – 91.7% (27.5-of-30)
◊ Top Returnee – Brian Smith (9)
◊ Top Loss – Marcus King/Calvin Washington (1) - Passes Broken Up – 47.6% (30-of-63)
◊ Top Returnee – David Overstreet (8)
◊ Top Loss – Marcus King (13) - QB Hurries – 80.4% (41-of-51)
◊ Top Returnee – Brian Smith (12)
◊ Top Loss – Derrick Ming (4) - Forced Fumbles – 63.6% (14-of-22)
◊ Top Returnee – Stryker Sulak/Lorenzo Williams (3)
◊ Top Loss – Derrick Ming (4)
FORMER TIGER Mike Hayes RETURNS TO MIZZOU
One of Gary Pinkel's first team captains at the University of Missouri – former Tiger offensive lineman Mike Hayes – returns to the sidelines wearing enemy colors Saturday night. Hayes is in his first year at Murray State as offensive line coach. The Kansas City, Mo., was a three-year letterwinner at MU, and graduated after his final season of 2001. Hayes was a senior co-captain on Pinkel's very first Mizzou team in 2001 that went 4-7 overall.
After his Mizzou days, Hayes played in the 2001 Gridiron Classic and Hula Bowl all-star games, and then moved into the coaching ranks from 2002-04 at Dodge City Community College as offensive line and tight ends coach. He moved to Western Illinois for the 2004 season, coaching the defensive line, before directing the offensive line in 2005 at Tennessee-Martin, where his line paved the way for the Ohio Valley Conference's rushing champion – RB Don Chapman (1,396 yards).
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MU vs. DIV. I-AA OPPONENTS 2003 – vs. Eastern Illinois – W, 37-0 2001 – vs. Southwest Texas – W, 40-6 2000 – vs. Western Illinois – W, 50-20 1998 – vs. Northwestern State – W, 35-14 1992 – vs. Marshall – W, 44-21 |
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MIZZOU VERSUS THE OHIO VALLEY CONFERENCE
Mizzou has played only one game previously against teams currently comprising the Ohio Valley Conference. That came back in 2003, when MU opened its home season against Eastern Illinois, and came away with a 37-0 victory. Current league members include Eastern Kentucky, Jacksonville State, Murray State, Samford, Southeast Missouri State, Tennessee-Martin, Tennessee State and Tennessee Tech.
Additionally, against Div. I-AA opponents, Mizzou stands 5-0 alltime. In those five games combined, the average score in MU's favor has been 41.2-to-12.2 (206-to-61 in total points scored). Division I-AA was created in the year 1978, when the NCAA elected to split Division I into two different levels.
MIZZOU IN SEASON AND HOME OPENERS
In its previous 115 seasons of play, Mizzou stands 71-39-5 alltime (.639) in season openers. The Tigers have a winning streak of four straight season openers, with wins in 2005 against Arkansas State (44-17 in Kansas City, Mo.), 2004 against Arkansas State (52-20 in Columbia), and a pair of wins in St. Louis against Illinois in 2003 (22-15) and 2002 (33-20).
The last loss that MU suffered to open a season was in 2001, when Bowling Green won in Columbia (20-13) in Gary Pinkel's first game as Tiger coach. In all, MU has won eight of its last nine season openers, dating back through the 1997 season.
In home openers, MU has an alltime record of 81-30-4 (.722) dating back to its first season in 1890. Since the opening of Memorial Stadium in 1926, the Tigers have a home opener record of 51-26-3 (.656). Included in that total was a scoreless tie against Tulane in the very first game ever played at Memorial Stadium, on Oct. 2, 1926. Mizzou has won seven of its last nine home openers, but dropped its 2005 home opener by a score of 45-35 to New Mexico.
SATURDAY NIGHT LIGHTS
Saturday evening's game against Murray State will represent the 21st night game played by Missouri at Faurot Field. The first night game played at Faurot was a 6-0 loss to Colorado on Oct. 8, 1992 - with temporary lights brought in just for that ESPN game.
In the previous 20 night games at Faurot, Missouri is a break-even .500 overall - 10 wins and 10 losses.
Permanent lights were installed for the 1994 season, and Mizzou dropped its first game played under those lights, 20-17 against Tulsa on Sept. 3rd, 1994.
Overall, in all night games ever played by Mizzou, the Tigers stand 23-26-2 (.471) in 51 chances. That breaks down to 10-10 at home (.500), 11-14-2 on the road (.444), and 2-2 in neutral sites (.500).
WATCHING THE AWARDS LISTS
Several Tigers are included on the preseason watch lists for some significant national awards. Here's a look at Tigers that people are keeping their eyes on:
JOHN MACKEY AWARD (TIGHT END)
• Chase Coffman – 1st-Team Freshman All-American in 2005...
• Martin Rucker – Led MU w/567 receiving yards in 2005...
NAGURSKI AWARD (DEFENSIVE PLAYER)
• Brian Smith – Already owns MU career QB sack record w/24 entering the season...
RIMINGTON AWARD (CENTER)
• Adam Spieker – Has started 23 consecutive games entering his junior season...
JIM THORPE AWARD (DEFENSIVE BACK)
• David Overstreet – Led MU in tackles in 2005 w/a career-high 100 stops...
HENDRICKS AWARD (DEFENSIVE END)
• Xzavie Jackson – Had 11 TFLs & 6 QB sacks in 2005...
• Brian Smith – Led MU in 2005 w/17 TFLs and 12 QB hurries...
A NEW ERA BEGINS SATURDAY NIGHT
The most individually accomplished player in MU football history, quarterback Brad Smith, has graduated and has taken his electrifying game to the National Football League, where he was a fourth-round pick of the New York Jets in the 2006 NFL Draft. Smith took with him some 69 different MU, Big 12 and NCAA game, season and career records. (EDITOR'S NOTE – Mizzou's game notes should be much shorter this year, due to a lack of records to track anymore!)
Saturday night marks the beginning of a new era, and the quarterback looking to make his own history is sophomore Chase Daniel, who will start the opener against Murray State – making him the first QB other than Smith to start a game at MU since Kirk Farmer started the 2001 season finale at Michigan State (a 55-7 loss for MU on Dec. 1st).
While Daniel himself has said all along that he would never hope to achieve what Smith did in his time at Mizzou, the modest QB from Southlake, Texas has those in the program very excited about his potential. He gained invaluable experience as a true freshman in 2005, playing in 10 games and completing 38-of-62 passes (.576) for 347 yards and 1 TD (2 INTs).
Most notably, Daniel relieved an injured and ineffective Smith in the fourth quarter of MU's Homecoming game last year against Iowa State, and led MU from a 10-point deficit with just under 9 minutes left to a thrilling 27-24 comeback win. With MU's back squarely against the wall, Daniel belied his youth by calmly leading the Tigers downfield on consecutive drives of 75 and 87 yards, and hit WR Sean Coffey from 4 yards out for a game-tying TD with just 20 seconds left in regulation. After ISU failed to score on its OT possession, Daniel again directed a drive that culminated with PK Adam Crossett's game-winning 26-yard field goal.
Further fueling the excitement behind Daniel is his performance in Mizzou's three major scrimmages following the 2005 season. Adding together his stats from the 2006 spring game, and the first two scrimmages of this year's fall camp, Daniel had gaudy combined numbers of 42-of-52 passing (.808), for 492 yards, with 5 TDs against 0 INTs.
OFFENSE LOOKS TO CONTINUE HIGH-FLYING PACE
Despite the loss of Smith, and accomplished players in Tony Palmer (OG) and Sean Coffey (WR), Mizzou looks to improve its offensive attack in 2006. This will mark the second year in its current spread offensive system, and while time will tell in the end, generally, a new system gets better after its first year.
How good was MU's offensive attack in 2005? Consider the fact that the Tigers amassed 500 yards of total offense 5 times last year – 657 vs. Arkansas State, 549 at Oklahoma State, 523 vs. Nebraska, 514 vs. Troy and 504 in the bowl win over South Carolina.
The 5 times of 500 yards or more marked the most in school single-season history, with the previous mark being three times – occuring in 1969, 1976, 1984, 1988 and 1997.
The Tiger offensive attack ranked among the NCAA's top-25 in two categories a year ago, including rushing (17th – 205.25 ypg) and total offense (24th – 429.75 ypg). It also ranked 34th nationally in scoring, at 30.75 ppg.
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*-NOTE - Statistics are from the 2005 season. |
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RUCKER & COFFMAN ARE AMONG NATION'S TOP TIGHT-END DUOS
Mizzou has one of the top tight end duos in the nation heading into the 2006 season, in junior Martin Rucker and sophomore Chase Coffman.
Rucker and Coffman combined in 2005 to catch 94 passes for 1,070 yards and 5 TDs, and they are both pre-season candidates for the John Mackey Award, which goes annually to the nation's top tight end. Mizzou is just one of three schools to have two players listed on the Mackey Award Preseason Watch List, along with Arizona State and BYU.
Here's a look at how Rucker and Coffman compare to the tight ends at those schools from a year ago (as well as Maryland, who boasts one of the nation's best in Vernon Davis):
The numbers reflect that Mizzou's duo caught the most passes for the most yardage of any returning tight end combo in the nation, with a combined 94 catches for 1,070 yards.
Rucker led the Big 12's tight ends in catches and yardage for most of the year, before being surpassed by Texas' David Thomas, who played in one more game than Rucker. His 47 catches was only 8 shy of the MU single-season record for tight ends (55 by A.J. Ofodile in 1993), and his yardage was only shy of Ofodile's single-season tight end record of 589. In just 2 years of play, Rucker already ranks 6th on both the school career catches (66) and yardage (830) list for tight ends. He needs 36 catches to break the standing record of 101 by Andy Gibler (1979-82) and he needs 461 yards to break Gibler's yardage mark of 1,290.
Coffman was a 1st-Team Freshman All-American a year ago, as he led all the nation's freshmen tight end with his 47 catches for 503 yards, and added 4 TDs. He was as sure-handed as could be, as he made catch after catch that made the highlight reel, and caught virtually everything he got his hands on. His 47 grabs tied him for the team lead along with his running mate Rucker, and his 503 yards ranked 2nd on the team behind Rucker, while his 4 receiving TDs was tied for the most, along with WR Brad Ekwerekwu.
The Tiger passing attack could use the production that this dynamic duo put together late in the 2005 season. In the last two games of the year (at Kansas State and vs. South Carolina), Rucker and Coffman combined for 27 catches for 372 yards and 3 TDs. The games were mirror images of eachother, as the pair combined for 14 catches for 190 yards and 2 TDs at K-State, and followed up with 13 more catches for 182 yards and 1 TD in the Independence Bowl victory.
Both tight ends for MU have NFL bloodlines. Coffman's father, Paul, was a standout tight end for the NFL's Kansas City Chiefs (1986-87), and the Green Bay Packers (1978-85), after playing collegiately at Kansas State.
Rucker is the younger brother of Mike Rucker, who is a standout defensive end with the NFL's Carolina Panthers, and was an All-American collegiately at Nebraska.
EXPERIENCED DEFENSE LOOKING TO MAKE A NAME FOR ITSELF
Mizzou returns 7 starters officially from the 2005 team, but that number jumps to 9 when factoring in those who started in the Tigers' Independence Bowl victory over South Carolina.
The 2005 defense began the year as young and inexperienced, having lost 7 starters off the 2004 squad, but it showed improvement throughout the season and played a key role over the last half of the year – especially in the category of big plays, as the Tiger defense scored 5 TDs in the final seven games of 2005 (including a record 99-yard INT return by CB Marcus King that helped rally MU to the bowl win over South Carolina).
Heading into the 2006 campaign, the Tiger defensive line appears to be the strong suit of the squad. All 4 starters return from a year ago, and a 5th (DE Xzavie Jackson) has been a starter quite a bit in his career. In all 9 lettermen on the line return who made 48 starts in 2005.
Brian Smith IS NOT JUST ANOTHER B. SMITH
Senior DE Brian Smith might not have 69 records on the books that former Tiger QB Brad Smith had, but “Smitty” has one very prominent claim to fame – the MU career QB sacks record. Smith enters the 2006 season as MU's career record holder, wtih 24, including a career-high 9 turned in last year.
Smith became an every down player for the first time in 2005, and he turned in a career year in virtually every category. He had 66 tackles, and led the team with 17 tackles for loss (for 70 yards in losses) in addition to his sacks. Smith had 12 QB hurries and forced 2 fumbles on the year to boot, and was named a 1st-Team All-Big 12 by the Houston Chronicle.
A very focused and hard-nosed player, Smith showed toughness and desire to compete when he played in MU's bowl game against South Carolina last season after having his knee scoped just 2 weeks ahead of time to clean up a nagging injury he played with all season.
The Denton, Texas, native led all NCAA freshmen defenders as a redshirt freshman in 2003 with 8 QB sacks. He followed with 7 more as a sophomore, and added a career-best 9 in 2005. The MU single-season QB sack record is 11, set by Justin Smith in 2000.
OVERSTREET PUTS MONEY WHERE HIS MOUTH IS
Senior safety David Overstreet enters his final season as a Tiger looking to lead MU's defense to big heights. Named one of 4 team captains by his teammates, Overstreet has both the mouth and the game to do just that.
Referred to as “the mouth of the south” by many who hear him talking on and off the field all the time, Overstreet can back up his talk, as evidenced by his career year in 2005. Overstreet led Mizzou with 100 tackles a year ago and emerged as one of the Big 12 Conference's top playmakers in the secondary. He led the team with 5 turnovers gained, including 3 fumble recoveries and 2 interceptions, with the former tying for most in the league.
Overstreet had a stellar performance in 2005 against Nebraska, in a game in which he made numerous big plays that helped make the difference in MU's 41-24 win on Oct. 22nd.
Overstreet led MU's defense with a 10 -tackle performance against NU. He was involved in a number of game-changing plays, as he broke up a near TD-pass in the endzone to snuff out a Nebraska drive in the 1st quarter, and on consecutive possessions in the 3rd quarter, he recovered a fumble on the MU 3-yardline and intercepted a pass near midfield.
Overstreet, a native of Dallas, Texas, is the son of the late David Overstreet, who was a standout running back for the Oklahoma Sooners and in the NFL with the Miami Dolphins.
PLENTY OF EXPERIENCE RETURNS IN TIGER KICKING GAME
The Tiger special teams has focused for the better part of the last two seasons around the strong leg of Adam Crossett, and he's back for another season, as the junior triple-threat kicker hopes to handle all of MU's placekicking, punting and kickoff duties once again.
Crossett had an outstanding sophomore campaign, as he set the MU single-season scoring record for kickers, with 81 points in 2005. He made 70 percent of his field goals (14-of-20), and broke an MU bowl game record when he drilled a 50-yarder midway through the 4th quarter of the Independence Bowl to give the Tigers their first lead of the game.
Crossett also broke MU and Independence Bowl records for punting average, with an average of 45.8 yards on 5 punts. For the year, he averaged a solid 42.7 yards punting on 57 tries, which ranked him 21st in the NCAA. He also converted 39-of-42 extra points.
Challenging Crossett for punting duties during fall camp was senior Matt Hoenes, who has started 7 games over the last two seasons before giving way to Crossett each year. Hoenes has arguably the strongest leg on the team, and worked hard in the offseason to improve his consistency, and a strong fall camp had him jockeying for the number one spot at punter.
A newcomer to the scene this year is placekicker Jeff Wolfert. Wolfert originally came to Mizzou as a diver on the men's swimming and diving team, but the former high school kicker gave up diving into water for jumping into the fire of placekicking. Wolfert missed his senior year of high school football due to a hip injury, and wanted to give kicking one more try. He was very consistent kicking in fall scrimmages, and as of press time, was challenging Crossett for the starting placekicking job.
