Mizzou/Baylor Post-Mortem

That was close. 

Since the Great Expectation Adjustment of 2008, a three-point victory over Baylor is not that big a surprise.   The Tigers aren’t an elite team nor a great team.  The Tigers are a very good college football team appropriately ranked around 14 in the country.  There are worse things. 

Still, the Tigers looked like they were going to roll yesterday and the fact that they didn’t is a source of disappointment.  They were up 14-0, in the red zone poised to go up by three TDs, when Chase Daniel threw a pick.  The possibility of domination was gone.  Baylor had moved the ball well up to that point, but down by 21 Baylor may have had to leave its gameplan behind.  The only Baylor defender of whom I’d heard, Joe Pawelek, saved the game for the time being by intercepting that Daniel pass.  The rest was a battle of, seemingly, two evenly matched teams (as sad as that sounds).  

The ending was exciting!  Tied at 28 in the fourth quarter, Chase Daniel found a streaking wideout down the sideline with a perfect pass leading to the go ahead touchdown.  Oh wait, that was Colt McCoy.  Chase Daniel, with just seconds to play, made a bullet pass to his best playmaker, who tiptoed into the end zone for the six.  What?  Oh yeah, that was Graham Harrell. 

Chase Daniel led the team on a game-winning drive.  Sure, there were two Mike Kelly “Daniel’s pass is INTERCEPTED!!!!…but dropped” calls during that drive.  Sure, the Tigers didn’t actually get into the end zone, but the Unsung Hero came through big with the game winning kick.   

But, what of our Sung Hero Chase Daniel?  It is indisputable - to me anyway - that Daniel is the best QB in Tiger history.   As documented on these pages last week, he owns just about every QB record there is at Mizzou.  Never before has a Tiger player been invited to New York for the Heisman party.  His winning percentage as a starting QB is far and away the best of any Mizzou QB who has started a significant number of games.  As the greatest QB ever, what is his Tiger legacy beyond the numbers?  There’s still some of that book to write, but it’s worth discussing now.

What is Chase Daniel’s signature win?  This is a conversation we here at AT have been tossing around a lot this year.  Was it Kansas ‘07?  If that’s it, then that’s disappointing.  The Cotton Bowl?  No.  Arkansas wasn’t a real “team” and, besides, Daniel played poorly.  The two Illinois games?  Maybe, but meh.  Chase has had some chances to get the dramatic come-from-behind win, most notably this year against Okie State.  There he forced passes, got picked a couple times, and we lost.  Against Baylor, he threw two picks in the tight game and nearly threw one more with the game tied in the 4th quarter.  Is Chase Daniel just unclutch? 

In fourth quarters this season Daniel has thrown 4 interceptions v. 3 touchdowns.  For a guy with 26 TDs and 8 INTs that might be statistically significant.  In situations where the Tigers have trailed by 7 or fewer points, Daniel has thrown 3 INTs v. 0 TDs.  Seems rather telling to me.  Granted, we’re not talking about an overwhelming sample size.  For the sake of comparison, in ‘07, Chase threw 4 INTs v. 3 TDs in 4th quarters and, with the Tigers trailing in a tight game, he had 1 INT v. 4 TDs.  If nothing else, these numbers support the idea that last year’s Tigers were better than this year’s.

Northern Exposure  (I can do trite headings too).   The Mizzou/Baylor game added more evidence that there is a grand canyon of difference between the North and South.  Baylor, like Mizzou, is now finished with the opposing division portion of the schedule.  Mizzou has struggled mightily vs. the South.

Averaging scores of 55-9 against the North and 28-37 against the South.  Baylor has experienced the chasm too.

Though Baylor has a 1-2 record against the North, it averages a 29-24 score.  Against the South it’s 12 to 42.  Mizzou has to be ecstatic that its last three games are against its Northern brethren.   Likewise, Baylor must be bummed.

Tommy Saunders.  He got his second 100 yard game of his career and has already matched his 2007 reception total of 41.  His improvement hasn’t just come in catching the ball either as he’s gained nearly 200 yards more this year than last.  He’s also completed a couple passes and tabulated a passing efficiency rating that would make Phil Johnson blush.  Next week is Senior Day and while there are many seniors responsible for spreading joy these past few seasons, Saunders is a fan favorite whose farewell ovation will be long and loud.  He’s just gotten better every year and is deserving of the plaudits.

Chase Coffman.  Him again.  A walking circus catch. 

Baylor.  This year Barking Carnival, back before people were talking about Robert Griffin III, suggested that Briles would be best served putting the freshman in to run the Bears full time.  Scipio Tex wrote:

Truthfully, Briles may just say fuck it (actually, it’s Baylor, so he’ll say “Goosefeathers!”) and start true freshman Robert Griffin, who is a sensational athlete. Which is what I’d do. If Baylor Football can reach respectability by 2010 it will be because of Griffin. 

Well said.  Briles is a good coach with a potentially elite QB around whom to build.  I think Briles’ll get the job done.  What does that mean for Baylor?  It’s hard to imagine the Bears becoming a powerhouse, but it’s not hard to see them winning seven or eight games every couple years and seeing some bowl action.  After all, they do get to play three North teams a year. 

RG3 threw the ball well all day - so explained the radio crew - but only had one really good run.  Per the announcers, RG3 had many chances to run, but eschewed these chances for throwing the ball away and short throws.  He’s clearly the most valuable asset Baylor has so I imagine they’re coaching him not to get hurt.  On the flip side, he’s the best player on the team and shouldn’t be shy in taking a game over with his legs.  We Tiger fans know of the fine-line between runner and passer and if I were a Bear fan, I’d want RG3 running wild if the situation dictates.  For all I know, of course, RG3 never turned down the chance to run and Kelly and Kadlec were just messing with me.  It’ll be interesting to watch his progression.  Hopefully for Baylor, the coaches won’t have a new bright idea every few games that ultimately just messes with RG3’s head. 

Radio.  Dude, listening to the game on the radio sucks.  It’s hard to believe in this day and age that a ranked team playing against an exciting young QB can’t rate a television crew. 

 
Phenomenol Smith family just before Wolfert’s game-winning kick.

Mike Kelly and John Kadlec do an okay job, I guess.  Actually, how would I know?   For all I know they’re making everything up.  The killer is that the Tigers went from prime time four weeks in a row to a 2 pm kickoff with no TV at all.  Oh, how the mighty have fallen.  It’s frustrating listening to what Kelly proclaims is a great touchdown catch, barely inbounds, reaching high into the sky to make the grab, but not being able to see it.  Luckily for you, Atomic Teeth sent an artist to do courtroom-like renderings of the action.  As you can see from the drawing below, Coffman was in bounds. 

Next week the Tigers are again on prime time television (6 pm kickoff at Faurot). We will not have to resort to such relics as the radio and crude illustrations.

Conclusion. A win is a win. Style points for a two-loss team don’t matter - the W is all that matters. So, as far as that goes, it was a great day. More drama than should have been necessary, but who cares? And, if you want to be Polly Sunshine, and who doesn’t?, this game might have been just what we needed. Beating CU 58-0 might have erased too many of the memories of the Okie State and UT games. As Chet pointed out, Jaron Baston was making noise about how the Tigers could have beaten Texas with a little more focus. Yikes. The Tigers need to realize they could lose to anyone. It’s hard to imagine losing to either K-State or Iowa State, but the Tigers aren’t good enough to win playing its B game against anyone else’s A game.  Even K-State’s A game.  The Baylor game is a nice wake up call.