Missou Preview

Similarly to last weeks batch of Tigers, Memphis, the Missouri Tigers have some good offensive players and run a very good spread offense. On the other hand their defense is lacking and capable of giving up a lot of points.

THE PLAYERS

The Tigers return a thousand yard rusher in Tony Temple but the offense's two real stars are quarterback Chase Daniel and tightend Chase Coffman. The Rebels traditionally have trouble with mobile quarterbacks and Daniel ran all over the Rebels last year. The Tigers have a much better control and players in their spread offense so expect them to score some points.

Their defense is headlined by safety Cornelius "Pig" Brown who had a huge 100 yard touchdown return off a fumble as part of collecting three turnovers against Illinois.

THE HEEL

The big weakness for the Tigers is pass defense. They gave up 316 yards passing overall to Illinois. Much of it came from the back up quarterback. However they only gave up 119 rushing. If Seth Adams has a good day early and the Rebels can keep up with the Tigers they can win. Its a tall order, but Seth will be the key to this game. He won't necessarily have to keep up with Chase Daniel but he has to keep the Rebels in the game. If he does and the defense makes a few stops the Rebels will stay in it till the end. If he doesn't then the Tigers will get up big early and the Rebels don't have the offense to come back with. Especially once they get one dimensional in catch up mode. If that happens, its as Yogi Berra says, "deja vu all over again."