No. 12 Missouri visits Iowa State in Big 12 action

Sports Network | November 12, 2008

Ames, IA (Sports Network) - The 12th-ranked Missouri Tigers have seemingly become an afterthought in the powerful Big 12 Conference, but they carry an impressive 8-2 record into this weekend's road clash with the Iowa State Cyclones.

Missouri has won its last three outings, including a 41-24 triumph over Kansas State last weekend. The only two losses thus far for the squad came in back- to-back weeks to Oklahoma State and Texas, a pair of strong league opponents. Only a neutral-site clash with Kansas remains on the regular season docket following this weekend's tilt, and wins in these last two games would ensure Missouri of a quality bowl berth, possibly a spot in a BCS game if the club can win the Big 12 North and capture a victory in the conference title game.

"We control our own destiny and we're not worried about everyone else, we're just worried about getting our job done," said Missouri standout Jeremy Maclin.

As for Iowa State, it beat South Dakota State and Kent State in succession to open the campaign. Since then, however, the Cyclones have lost eight in a row, including all six against Big 12 opposition. They managed to keep things close last weekend on the road against Colorado, but the result was a 28-24 setback.

The Tigers own a 57-34-9 series lead over Iowa State, including wins in four of the last five meetings with the Cyclones.

Missouri quarterback Chase Daniel was the favorite to win the Heisman Trophy through the first five games of this season. Sure, he has fallen out of the race since suffering two losses and throwing some untimely and uncharacteristic interceptions, but Daniel remains one of the top signal callers in the nation. He has completed a stellar 76.1 percent of his passes for 3,264 yards with 28 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. Daniel has plenty of talent on the outside, and the duo of Chase Coffman and Maclin are the best of the bunch. Coffman has made 73 catches for 819 yards and seven touchdowns, while Maclin has hauled in 71 receptions for 949 yards and nine scores. As for the ground attack, Derrick Washington has rushed for 781 yards and 14 touchdowns.

Missouri is averaging 45.1 ppg and 513.8 total ypg, numbers that would scare any opposing defense. Maclin showed off his tremendous all-around ability against Kansas State last weekend, as he hauled two touchdown receptions while also running for a 56-yard score. Maclin finished with over 200 yards of total offense, and Daniel offset two picks with the two scoring strikes and 271 passing yards.

Opponents are registering 23.6 ppg and 387.6 total ypg against Missouri, which is a mediocre defensive team. The Tigers can take pride in the fact that they are holding foes to 3.4 rushing yards per attempt, but they have allowed a rather high total of 30 touchdowns to opposing offenses. Opponents are making good on 41 percent of their third down conversion attempts against Mizzou, which has struggled in that aspect of the game. Sean Weatherspoon continues to lead the Tigers with 110 tackles, including 15.5 TFLs. Stryker Sulak has 6.5 sacks to his credit.

Missouri did yield 363 total yards and three touchdowns to the K-State offense last weekend, so the Tigers clearly were not dominant. Still, the defense did play well enough to win the game. "Our defense played exceptionally well against a good quarterback, and a football team that has done some really good things," said head coach Gary Pinkel.

"He's been stepping up to the plate, he is becoming a team leader," said Iowa State head coach Gene Chizik of his quarterback, Austen Arnaud, after the loss to Colorado. "He took a couple hard shots in there today, and got back up, and made some good runs in there." The offense posted 403 total yards against the Buffaloes and finished with three rushing touchdowns, but those figures were simply not enough. Arnaud completed 16-of-28 passes for 215 yards, and he ran for 70 yards as well. Alexan Robinson posted 101 rushing yards and two scores on 23 carries, as he proved capable of carrying the load.

Overall this season, Iowa State is averaging a respectable 25.4 ppg to go with 357.2 total ypg. Arnaud has thrown for 2,026 yards and 10 touchdowns while completing nearly 60 percent of his throws. He also had 307 rushing yards and five scores to his credit. R.J. Sumrall has 44 catches for 608 yards and five touchdowns.

Iowa State fell apart defensively in the fourth quarter against Colorado. "A debacle is exactly what it was," said linebacker Derec Schmidgall after the tilt. "We just lost it. It was a hard one." The Buffs scored a pair of touchdowns in the final 7:05 in the clash, both on drives that spanned at least 80 yards. The Cyclones permitted four passing scores in the tilt, the most obvious reason for the setback.

Shaky defense has been the downfall of ISU this season, as the club is surrendering 34.0 ppg and 448.6 total ypg. The club has given up 45 touchdowns to opposing offenses in 10 games, including 25 scores through the air. The fact that foes are gaining 13.5 yards per pass completion against Iowa State speaks to the weakness of the defense. Also, opposing rushers are gaining 4.7 yards per carry. James Smith paces the Cyclones with 80 total tackles, and Christopher Lyle is tops with five sacks.