Mizzou Game Discussion/Prediction Thread

[Falcon137]

I think it's realistic to hope they beat the spread and take the rest as a bonus. That's a damn good team, on the road, and like their guy said, there's going to be 70,000. It's not the half-empty Hines Field or the Metrodome.

Good for Missouri that they are expecting 70,000, but, BG is not going to lay over and die because of it. The seniors on this team have been to Ohio Stadium, East Lansing, Boston College and Laramie, Wyoming. This will not be BG's first OOC game in a big environment.

Missouri may win by 2-3 scores, but this team will not be in awe of Missouri or their crowd.

Don't forget the Smurf Turf.

+1. I don't know how I forgot the smurf turf.

[mutiger91]

Right now Missouri has shown they can beat a Illinois team that looked horrible out there against the Tigers. Whats to say if Illinois came to the Doyt that Bowling Green wouldn't have murdered them. I think the whole Big Ten in general doesn't have to much to offer this year.

Keep in mind Illinois has the whole our-coach-is-Ron-Zook factor. I'm not surprised at all that the Illini got embarrassed. Mizzou beat up badly on a team coached by a guy who has proven he can't consistently coach and was down their top playmaker on offense. Now in comes a BG team with a proven head coach and a loaded offense against a retooling Mizzou defense. I could see a shootout in this one. Could come down to who has more oxygen left over in the fourth quarter.

Zook is terrible, but what I saw Saturday was a Mizzou team that

• Had a lot more oxygen left over than Illinois starting in about the 3rd Q
• Consistently beat Illinois on the line of scrimmage on offense
• Kept Illinois contained on defense and got pressure when Illinois was in passing situations
• Didn't turn the ball over
• Took advantage of Illinois mistakes

If BG is going to have better results than Illinois, you will need to:

• Find a way to take advantage of having a generally more experienced team
• Do significantly better than Illinois did in generating a pass rush
• Force turnovers and not turn the ball over
• Test Mizzou's secondary (and to me this means you at least need to be somewhat of a threat to run it)

I don't understand earlier posts pointing to results of 2001/2002. You might as well talk about beating a Pinkel-coached Toledo team (except with worse talent). If you are expecting that Mizzou team to show up, it will be a very long day for you.

I'm in general agreement with the betting line on this one. I don't think it's going to be a really close game, but college football sometimes finds a way to surprise people.

[Jacobs4Heisman]

2 things - a little ridiculous to say we have a proven head coach at this point. I like his track record too, but he has exactly 1 FBS win to his credit. I'm as excited as anyone for the Clawson era, but he's about as far from proven as it gets.

Numero dos - I really like us to cover 18.5.

[Tricky_Falcon]

A little off topic but what happened to our Columbus radio affiliate? It's obviously been dropped but it was nice being able to listen to the game when not on tv or close to a computer. As for the game, BG will at least cover the spread.

[MarkL]

Maybe he's not proven with us yet, but he's a proven head coach when you look at the two national coach of the year awards. Yeah, they were in D1-AA, but a head coach is a head coach.

[LowryFalcon]

I totally agree with you MarkL.

[JH5]

Zook is terrible, but what I saw Saturday was a Mizzou team that

• Had a lot more oxygen left over than Illinois starting in about the 3rd Q
• Consistently beat Illinois on the line of scrimmage on offense
• Kept Illinois contained on defense and got pressure when Illinois was in passing situations
• Didn't turn the ball over
• Took advantage of Illinois mistakes

If BG is going to have better results than Illinois, you will need to:

• Find a way to take advantage of having a generally more experienced team
• Do significantly better than Illinois did in generating a pass rush
• Force turnovers and not turn the ball over
• Test Mizzou's secondary (and to me this means you at least need to be somewhat of a threat to run it)

I don't understand earlier posts pointing to results of 2001/2002. You might as well talk about beating a Pinkel-coached Toledo team (except with worse talent). If you are expecting that Mizzou team to show up, it will be a very long day for you.

I'm in general agreement with the betting line on this one. I don't think it's going to be a really close game, but college football sometimes finds a way to surprise people.

Well, I will say we did most of these things against Troy.

-We generated a pretty good pass rush against Troy, although there were times where Brown had a lot of time. This is the biggest key in the game--we have to come up with a good enough defensive scheme to keep Gabbert in check. Getting pressure will do it, but when you get pressure its risky as you don’t have as many people in coverage. If we get a lot of pressure from our front four we’ll win the game.
-We did force turnovers against Troy—including a pick six-- and IIRC we only turned the ball over once and it was in Troy territory. This was a problem for us last year..we would have a few games where we didn’t turn the ball over much and then there were games where we would turn the ball over a lot against teams we should have beat (see Minnesota). This will be the true test for the new coaching staff—consistency. If we can play like we did last week, it’ll be a close one.
-Our passing offense certainly looked a lot better than Illinois did and that’s why this one could be a shootout. Sheehan was effective and made some really good throws—it was defiantly a confidence boosting game for him. We didn’t run the ball all that well when we did (which wasn’t that much) but we were playing from behind in the first half and Troy couldn’t stop our passing attack so we didn’t really need to. Clawson has had success in the past running the ball and I think he could game plan enough runs if he feels that your defense is vulnerable to it.

I think we’ll surprise you at least and I think we could even win. I don’t have a prediction yet but I will say that we were a touchdown underdog last week and won by 17.

[JH5]

Maybe he's not proven with us yet, but he's a proven head coach when you look at the two national coach of the year awards. Yeah, they were in D1-AA, but a head coach is a head coach.

Yea, FBS is also FBS.

Proven head coach? Yes. Proven FBS coach? Not so much.

[mutiger91]

I think we’ll surprise you at least and I think we could even win. I don’t have a prediction yet but I will say that we were a touchdown underdog last week and won by 17.

Well, that's something we have in common. We were about a 7 point dog (not sure where the line closed) to Illinois and won by 28. As far as the "I think we could even win" part, of course you could. That's why they play the game. Nobody gets to mail one in and take the win. Just ask Ohio State. On the other hand, you're a good team and based on the series history, there is about zero chance we look past you. I expect you are going to see our A game.

[Falconfreak90]

BG will be ready to play. BG is 3-1 lifetime against Mizzou, 2-1 in Columbia.

Mizzou ripped Illinois last weekend...but I always like our chances against the Tigers. We've done very well against them over the years.

BG 27, Missouri 24.

GO FALCONS

[mutiger91]

BG will be ready to play. BG is 3-1 lifetime against Mizzou, 2-1 in Columbia.

Mizzou ripped Illinois last weekend...but I always like our chances against the Tigers. We've done very well against them over the years.

BG 27, Missouri 24.

GO FALCONS

The Mizzou team that you beat in 2001 & 2002 hadn't played in a bowl game since 1998 and didn't have any of the players that took them to that game on the squad. In fact, when Pinkel took over in 2001, there was only ONE scholarship CB on the roster. The BG team back then had Josh Harris and was coached by Urban Meyer - now recognized as one of the NCAA's elite coaches. Bowling Green was the better team and it wasn't even that close.

The Mizzou team you will play this weekend has won 30 games over the last 3 seasons and even made it as high as a #1 ranking in December 2007. We lost 6 of those players to the NFL draft last year, but we have been recruiting for 3 years with a team that has been performing at a very high level. Before the season, coach Pinkel said he has more overall athletic talent on this team than on any previous team he has coached. They are chasing their 3rd straight Big XII North title this year - something that the most optimistic of Tiger fans couldn't imagine doing even once back in 2002.

It isn't close to being the same team, so your logic is flawed.

[Falcon137]

BG will be ready to play. BG is 3-1 lifetime against Mizzou, 2-1 in Columbia.

Mizzou ripped Illinois last weekend...but I always like our chances against the Tigers. We've done very well against them over the years.

BG 27, Missouri 24.

GO FALCONS

The Mizzou team that you beat in 2001 & 2002 hadn't played in a bowl game since 1998 and didn't have any of the players that took them to that game on the squad. In fact, when Pinkel took over in 2001, there was only ONE scholarship CB on the roster. The BG team back then had Josh Harris and was coached by Urban Meyer - now recognized as one of the NCAA's elite coaches. Bowling Green was the better team and it wasn't even that close.

The Mizzou team you will play this weekend has won 30 games over the last 3 seasons and even made it as high as a #1 ranking in December 2007. We lost 6 of those players to the NFL draft last year, but we have been recruiting for 3 years with a team that has been performing at a very high level. Before the season, coach Pinkel said he has more overall athletic talent on this team than on any previous team he has coached. They are chasing their 3rd straight Big XII North title this year - something that the most optimistic of Tiger fans couldn't imagine doing even once back in 2002.

It isn't close to being the same team, so your logic is flawed.

Then you can also agree this is not the same team that beat Arkansas 37-7 and reached the #1 ranking. Missouri is pretty good this year, they are not the Missouri of the past 2 years. After one game you can't know that you have found a replacement for Chase Daniels or even someone like Chase Coffman.

Senior QB, nothing to lose on the road against a ranked opponent. I'm with Freak, I have a good feeling about this game. 1st road game of the year against an opponent ranked #25....I've read this story before.

[LowryFalcon]

Falcon 137 your right, We have nothing to lose. We have a lot more talent on this faster, stronger falcon team then people think. We got to a slow start with troy as it was the first game of the year but in the second half we dominated. I think we will only get stronger as the year goes on. I think the Falcons will pull off an upset and I think we will see a few more picks from our DBs. I think im gonna make a prediction here.
31-21 falcons win by 10

[Falconfreak90]

BG will be ready to play. BG is 3-1 lifetime against Mizzou, 2-1 in Columbia.

Mizzou ripped Illinois last weekend...but I always like our chances against the Tigers. We've done very well against them over the years.

BG 27, Missouri 24.

GO FALCONS

The Mizzou team that you beat in 2001 & 2002 hadn't played in a bowl game since 1998 and didn't have any of the players that took them to that game on the squad. In fact, when Pinkel took over in 2001, there was only ONE scholarship CB on the roster. The BG team back then had Josh Harris and was coached by Urban Meyer - now recognized as one of the NCAA's elite coaches. Bowling Green was the better team and it wasn't even that close.

The Mizzou team you will play this weekend has won 30 games over the last 3 seasons and even made it as high as a #1 ranking in December 2007. We lost 6 of those players to the NFL draft last year, but we have been recruiting for 3 years with a team that has been performing at a very high level. Before the season, coach Pinkel said he has more overall athletic talent on this team than on any previous team he has coached. They are chasing their 3rd straight Big XII North title this year - something that the most optimistic of Tiger fans couldn't imagine doing even once back in 2002.

It isn't close to being the same team, so your logic is flawed.

Logic? Well, ok. All BG has to do is play better for 60 minutes, which, after what I saw against Troy, BG can do. Do the last 3 years mean anything? If so, why do 2001 & 2002 not matter? After all, the last time BG played in a bowl game at that point was 1992. It's all in the past.

Seems every time we line up to play Mizzou we hear the same ole thing from Tiger fans. In addition, your esteemed leader Pinkel is 5-7 lifetime against BG.

Guess we'll find out Saturday night. I think BG wins. If they lose, I'll be the first to congratulate you.

BEAT MISSOURI

[kdog27]

I think Bowling Green keeps it close this week
BGSU 63
Missouri 6