It wasn't a thing of beauty, but Mizzou's win over over Kansas State Saturday was just what the doctor ordered for the Tigers. It was senior day in Columbia and Missouri capped off a 6-0 record for the season to send them out in style. Blaine Gabbert wasn't spectacular but very efficient as he threw for 206 yards on a 17 for 26 performance with 1 interception which was more about a great play rather than a poor throw. Blaine added 91 yards rushing as Mizzou went for 227. The game wasn't as close as the final score of 38-28 indicated. It was 38-14 with less than 7 minutes remaining when K State scored it's 3rd touchdown and their final came with just over a minute left. The Wildcats rushed for 190 yards themselves, which is what they have done well all season and Daniel Thomas was held to 66 yards on 12 carries. Not a bad effort at all considering the Tigers are still without Dominique Hamilton and Luke Lambert in the middle as well as Will Ebner. Andrew Wilson filled in at middle linebacker and did well in his first start. I predicted the Tigers to cover the 13 point spread, which they failed to do, but this team needed a win badly and that's all that matters in the long run. The Tigers are 8-2 overall and 4-2 in conference play. A 10 win regular season is within reach which would made 3 of the last 4 seasons Missouri would have recorded double digit wins. In my view, today is a pretty good day.
For the week I went 4-2 straight up but just 2-4 against the spread. For the year I'm 65-19 straight up but fell to 37-39 against the point spread.
One of the games I whiffed completely on happened in Boulder, where Iowa State came in as a 2 point favorite over a Colorado team that hadn't won a conference game and fired their coach this past week. ISU quarterback Austen Arnaud was injured in the 4th quarter and likely won't be available to the Clones this week as they close out their season at home against my Tigers, needing a win to reach bowl eligibility. Next Saturday means a lot to both teams as the Tigers are now playing for a better bowl as well as keeping their slim (anorexic actually) hopes for a division crown alive.
My other strike happened in Waco as Texas A&M came to town facing a Baylor team that's qualified for it's first bowl game in 16 years. A&M has come a long way since the Missouri game as Ryan Tannehill has taken over as trigger man for the Aggies. They've moved their record to 7-3 and 4-2 in conference and host Nebraska next week. Baylor is now 7-4 and closes their season next weekend at home against Oklahoma. Then they can do something they haven't done since 1994. Sit home and wait to see which bowl selects them.
The other game I split on, besides the Tigers happened last night in Lincoln, where the kansas jayhawks continued their good play from last week in a 20-3 loss to the 9th ranked huskers. Hick nation sits at 9-1 and can claim the division title with a win at A&M next Saturday. kansas, despite the moral victory yesterday remains 3-7 on the season and closes out their home schedule next week playing host to Oklahoma State.
Speaking of Okie Lite, they moved to 9-1 yesterday, continuing this nightmare season for the Longhorns as they beat Texas in Austin by a score of 33-16. Changes will be coming following this season for a UT team that currently sits at 4-6 and needs to win out to become eligible for a bowl game. In Austin, they aren't familiar with the term "rebuilding".
The other game that I nailed was in Norman, where the Sooners brought Texas Tech back to Earth with a dominating 45-7 win. Next week the Sooners bring their 4-2 conference record to Waco, needing to win so their season finale at Stillwater is for the division title. Tech falls to 5-5, but should have no problem getting bowl eligible as their last 2 contests are at home with non conference opponents Weber State and Houston.
Once again, some big games next week as some teams are facing must win games if they want their seasons to continue after Thanksgiving. Have a great week and we'll talk again on Thursday.
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