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Missouri Tigers (2000: 3-8) The following team preview is provided by Blue Ribbon. For the nation's most comprehensive look at this and all Division I-A teams, be sure to order the 2001 Blue Ribbon College Football Yearbook, on sale now at 1-800-775-2518.
Coach and programWith every loss the groaning grew louder. Larry Smith, who had led Missouri out of the darkness with consecutive bowl appearances to end a 13-year streak of losing seasons, was now headed for a second straight awful season.The problems started early with an embarrassing 62-9 loss to Clemson. Then came an incident in the Michigan State game the next week. Smith decided to punt late in the game. The Tigers never got the ball back and lost by a field goal. As the losses mounted, Smith’s fate became inevitable. But in these days of rampant media speculation and college football’s recent trend of axing coaches with games remaining, it became excruciating to watch the Tigers in the final weeks of the season. No interview with Smith was complete without a comment on his future. Athletic director Mike Alden was quoted nearly every day about the situation. Media types were beginning to interview potential replacement candidates with weeks left in the season. TCU’s Dennis Franchione became a popular target. Meanwhile, the players and coaching staff had to find a way to block it all out. To their credit, they did just that. Missouri pounded Baylor in the 10th week, and the Tigers took Kansas State to the brink before falling, 28-24. Smith got the news the next day. Enter Gary Pinkel, a consistent winner at Toledo who opened everybody’s eyes with a dominating 24-6 victory at Penn State earlier in the season. The Rockets probably were the best -- certainly they were the most deserving team -- not to play in a bowl game last season. Pinkel’s charge is simple: get Missouri back to regular bowl status and go from there. He’s making no predictions about the Tigers’ success, offers no timetable. That’s not his style. “We don’t talk about the past, and I never talk about ‘We’re going to win this, we’re going to get this done or get that done,” Pinkel said. “I focus on the next game. I focus on the things necessary so that we can be the best we can be at that moment. I know that sounds boring. But I’ve done that every year I’ve been in coaching. “I have a one-day plan. That’s all.’’
OffenseJunior Kirk Farmer (6-5, 210) was to be the man here, but broke his hand in early August and will miss at least the first game.The Missouri depth chart had listed Farmer over junior Darius Outlaw (6-4, 192) coming out of spring, but Pinkel wasn’t ready to make a pronouncement during spring ball, and Outlaw now has a chance to win the job for good. The Z-backfield returns. Senior Zain Gilmore (6-1, 215) and sophomore Zack Abron (5-10, 228) are knocking heads for the starting tailback slot. Gilmore led the Tigers in rushing last season with 632 yards. He averaged 4.5 yards per carry and scored seven touchdowns. Abron gained 502 yards, owned a 3.8-yard average and found the end zone five times. Justin Gage (6-5, 200), a junior, could be on the cusp of stardom. The injury-depleted ranks gave him an opportunity to show his stuff last year and Gage didn’t disappoint. He caught 44 passes for 709 yards and four touchdowns, a year after he had been switched from quarterback. He’s also the most successful football-basketball talent in the Big 12, getting quality minutes off the bench for Quin Snyder’s team. Three returning starters and a pair of returning part-time starters give the offensive line a chance to be a team strength. Now, it a matter of picking up the new sets. The best of the group is senior right guard Mike Hayes (6-3, 308), a returning third-team All-Big 12 selection. He was the unit’s vocal leader a year ago and helped the Tigers finish in the top half among league rushing leaders at 154 yards per game.
Defense and special teamsThe candidates to replace All-American Justin Smith are a pair of junior college transfers who enrolled last season, juniors Antwaun Bynum (6-0, 240) and Keith Wright (6-4, 256). Bynum played three games at linebacker last season, a year after he was voted junior college All-America at Hutchinson (Kan.) Community College. Wright also was a junior college All-American in 1999 at Sacramento City (Calif.) Junior College. He was redshirted last season after choosing the Tigers over Arizona, Miami, Florida and Illinois.Senior linebacker Jamonte Robinson (6-2, 209) was on the Butkus Award watch list last fall, but a nagging ankle injury kept him from reaching his full potential. He finished fourth on the team in tackles with 79 and had four sacks. The backfield could be big trouble for the Tigers, who return only one scholarship cornerback from last year -- junior Cedric Duncan (5-10, 177). Duncan had four interceptions last season and broke up seven other passes. He starts at one corner in the new alignment that uses only three defensive backs -- two corners and a free safety. Place kicking is the one special teams unit that Pinkel inherited in reasonably good shape. Senior Brad Hammerich (6-3, 191) was rolling along well, having made 7-of-9 field goals and all of his extra points, until he went down with a broken collarbone making a kickoff coverage tackle against Texas in the seventh week.
Bottom lineIf nothing else, Missouri will be a better-organized team this season. Players seemed to have bailed out on Larry Smith in 2000, a true shame because the veteran Smith deserved better.Pinkel brings the excitement of a new regime and the promise of improved play. The best thing that could happen to the Tigers this season is to win the non-league home games (Bowling Green, Southwest Texas State), defeat the Big 12 teams it beat last year (Oklahoma State and Baylor) and find a way to defeat Kansas. If that happens, the Tigers will find themselves one victory away from a bowl game in Pinkel’s first year and Missouri athletic director Mike Alden will know he found the right man. |
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