Mizzou is #1

The last time I wrote that it was as an undergraduate for the basketball team in the middle of the season after beating KU. It was a l-o-n-g time ago.

Watching the Tigers' game on Saturday night with my brother and sister was marvelous and frightening and a bit unreal all it once. This is the best Tiger football team of my life. My brother is 12 years old than I am and this is the best Mizzou football team of his life. My 82-year-old Dad, also a Mizzou alum, was in bed so I couldn't ask him.

Beating KU in the biggest MU-KU game ever is already a great triumph, but these Tigers have a legit shot at beating OU on Saturday and going to what passes as a national championship game for the only NCAA division without a playoff. Mizzou is a serious contender for the national title. I never expected to write those words without any sarcasm. Of course, I never expected a KU game to count this much either. This team has serious talent and simply more quality receivers than any team has quality defensive backs. One of the Tigers' NFL projected tight ends sat out the 2nd half with an injury and one receiver had a real bad game with dropped balls and stupid penalties. They still scored 36 points because of their receiver depth, good running game, and truly great play by the QB Chase Daniel. Watching Daniel Saturday was like watching a Tom Brady in the current New England offense. He seemed to endlessly make the perfect throw or scramble to find the open guy. Please do it again on Saturday, Chase.

If you want to see the attitude of a Mizzou fan as the game played out, I recommend Rock M Nation's live blogging of the 2nd half. It has the appropriate level of awe for Mizzou success and looming fear of ultimate failure.

By the way, this is my favorite picture from the game: http://www.tigerboard.com/

Finally, I watched New England tonight and they are running their own version of the spread offense. This hasn't got lots of attention from those that cover sports, but I couldn't help but wonder if their success won't have more teams running it in the NFL. For example, it would be a perfect offense for Vince Young at Tennessee. It may even mean that an NFL team could take a chance on Chase Daniel who to date has been declared to be too short (maybe 6 feet) and a "system quarterback." I await for ESPN or another source of sports bloviators to give me the word.