Mizzou-Murray State Post-Game Notes
9/2/2006 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 2, 2006
Recap | Final Stats | Photo Gallery
Pregame Notes: MU captains were OL Mike Cook, WR Brad Ekwerekwu, LB Brock Harrington and S David Overstreet ... Murray State won the toss and deferred; MU received and defended the South end zone ... 77 degrees, partly cloudy, wind from NE at 6 mph.
Season/Home Opener Notes: Saturday's game marked the start of the 116th season of MU football ... MU is 72-39-5 all-time in season openers ... MU has won five consecutive, nine of its last 10 and 16 of its last 21 ... MU is 82-30-4 in home openers and has won eight of its last 10 ... previous penalty numbers for openers under Pinkel: 5-40 in 2001, 5-39 in 2002, 2-10 in 2003, 2-10 in 2004, 10-65 in 2005.
Series Notes: Tonight's game was the first-ever meeting between Missouri and Murray State ... MU is 6-0 all-time versus I-AA schools and 2-0 against teams from the Ohio Valley Conference (Eastern Illinois, 2003) ... MU is now 3-2 versus teams from the state of Kentucky (1-2 vs. Kentucky, 1-0 vs. Louisville).
Gary Pinkel Notes: Gary Pinkel is now 103-67-3 all-time in his 16th season as a head coach ... he is 30-30 in his sixth season at Mizzou and 19-12 in games in Columbia ... he improved to 5-1 in season openers and 5-3 in night games (5 p.m. or later kickoff) ... since 2003, Pinkel has led the Tigers to a 21-16 mark.
Offense Notes: Making his first career start, sophomore QB Chase Daniel completed 23-of-32 for 320 yards and five TDs ... he opened the game with completions on his first eight attempts, including a career-long 60-yard TD pass to Will Franklin on the sixth play from scrimmage and an eight-yard TD toss to Brad Ekwerekwu on the Tigers' second possession ... Daniel's previous single-game highs all came against Iowa State last season (16-for-23 for 185 yards and 1 TD) ... he also set a Missouri single-game record with five TD passes, while his 320 yards passing is tied for the tenth-highest single-game total in school history and third-highest by a sophomore behind Jeff Handy's 480 at Oklahoma State and 424 vs. Nebraska in 1992 ... Daniel's QB rating was 207.44.
Junior WR Will Franklin caught four passes for 138 yards a pair of TDs ... his yards receiving were a new career high, besting his 116-yard effort against Arkansas State in the 2005 opener ... he collected scoring strikes of 60 and 34 yards ... he now has five career TDs.
Junior RB Tony Temple rushed for a career-high 119 yards on 19 carries ... it marked the second 100-yard rushing game of his career - 100 yards on 17 rushes against Baylor in 2005.
Junior RB Marcus Woods carried the ball five times for 53 yards and one TD ... his 2-yard TD run in the second quarter was his first of the season and eighth of his career (six rushing, one receiving and one punt return for a TD).
Missouri tight ends Chase Coffman and Martin Rucker combined for 83 yards on 10 receptions and one TD ... Coffman's seven catches were one shy of his career-high eight against South Carolina in 2005 ... he also scored his fifth career TD in the first quarter.
Missouri scored 21 points in the first quarter, tying the most under Gary Pinkel (Arkansas State, 2004 and Nebraska, 2005) ... the 35 first-half points by the Tigers tied the most under Pinkel (Arkansas State, 2004) ... the 47 points scored are the fifth-highest under Pinkel ... Missouri ran 75 plays compared to 55 for Murray State ... in 2005, the Tigers averaged 81.7 plays per game ... in 2005, MU was one of 11 teams in the nation to average 200 yards rushing and passing per game - against the Racers, the Tigers had 333 yards passing and 256 yards rushing.
Defense Notes: Senior LB Marcus Bacon recorded a team- and career-high 12 tackles ... his previous high was 11 against South Carolina in the 2005 Independence Bowl ... he also recorded his first career fumble recovery in the second quarter.
Sophomore LB Brock Christopher had five tackles - three solo - and two tackles for loss.
Sophomore NG Ziggy Hood forced the first fumble of his career in the second quarter ... he also had a solo sack and three total tackles.
Senior SS Brandon Massey recorded his second career interception in the third quarter.
Murray State was held scoreless in the first half - in 2005, MU held Arkansas State and Baylor without any points in the opening 30:00 ... Murray State was held without a first down until the 7:40-mark of the second quarter - a span of 16 plays and 32 yards of total offense.
Special Teams Notes: Junior P Adam Crossett's first punt of the game came in the third quarter and was 33 yards and downed at the MSU 3-yard line.
RS sophomore PK Jeff Wolfert was perfect on all six PATs and 1-for-2 on field goal attempts ... he missed a 41-yarder in the second quarter before connecting from 38-yards in the third quarter.
Freshman LB Sean Witherspoon blocked his first career punt in the third quarter ... the ball went through the end zone for a safety - the first since 2003, when the Texas A&M punter took a knee in the end zone.
Next Week's Opponent - Ole Miss: Ole Miss faces Memphis on Sunday in Oxford, Miss. ... Mizzou leads the series, 3-1, with the last meeting coming in 1979 - a 33-7 Tiger win in Jackson, Miss. ... MU has won both games contested in Columbia (17-0 in 1973 and 45-14 in 1978) ... kickoff is set for 11:30 a.m. and the game will be carried live on FSN.
