When the Defense Roars: Missouri Tigers Dynasty

[Kcordloh]

BCS Bowl Pairings announced

BCS National Championship: #2 Michigan (11-2) vs #1 Missouri (11-1)
Missouri earned their way into this game by winning all but one game all season, and avenging that loss to then #2 Kansas with a win over then #1 Kansas in the rematch for the Big XII title.

Michigan got in by way of finishing strong, defeating #7 Ohio State to finish the regular season, and then #7 Rutgers to win the Big 10 title. Boise State lost, and Michigan moved from 3rd place to 2nd. 1 loss TCU, just a place behind Michigan, is highly annoyed, but Michigan played 6 ranked schools all year and went 5-1 against them. They also beat a bowl eligible Iowa. Their resume speaks for itself.

Fiesta Bowl: #4 Arkansas (11-1) vs #14 USF (11-1)
This pairing of 1 loss teams could be far from even. USF dropped a close game to Louisville (6-6), and almost didn't win the Big East. Had they not lost that game they would be playing Missouri or Michigan for the BCS National Championship.

Arkansas dropped one game all year, to #1 Missouri by the score of 52-24. However they didn't lost again despite finishing against decent SEC teams, and playing a total of 7 bowl eligible teams.

Orange Bowl: #23 Maryland (9-4) vs #7 Oregon (10-2)
Oregon dropped two games all year. To UCLA (10-2), and California (9-4). Oregon managed to work their way back into BCS contention thanks to several upsets, and now looks to win the Orange Bowl.

Maryland finished with the 4th best ACC record, but luckily was in the division where nobody else had a better ACC record. They beat Virginia for the ACC title, and now get a crack at a much better Oregon squad to try and win one for the ACC.

Sugar Bowl: #10 LSU (11-2) vs #16 Fresno State (11-2)
Identical records, but not identical at the same time. LSU lost to #3 TCU, and to a very good at times Mississippi State team.
Fresno State lost to Boise State, but also to San Diego State, a team that finished with one victory. Fresno did rebound by eliminating Boise State from BCS National Championship contention, and at the same time passed Non-AQ Middle Tennessee State by, which allowed Oregon to get into the BCS Bowls.

Rose Bowl: #6 Boise State (12-1) vs #3 TCU (12-1)
This seems familiar.
These two former non-AQ rivals, which helped the MWC get their AQ status before TCU bailed to the Big East and now the Pac-12, meet again.
Boise State and TCU have one other big bowl game against each other on the record books, when #6 Boise State played #4 TCU in the 2010 Fiesta Bowl.

The 2015 Fiesta Bowl will be a close game, but TCU is more battle tested, and Boise State did just miss out on going the national championship for the second time in three years.

Who got screwed?
#5 Kansas and #8 Michigan State were both left out of the BCS due to Kansas being the 3rd team from the Big XII, and Oregon getting chosen due to the fact they travel well. Kansas's exclusion was not the fault of the bowl's though, as Arkansas was automatically qualified for a spot due to being ranked #3 or #4 and being the highest ranking non-conference champion from an automatically qualifying conference.

Boise State was selected early because the Rose Bowl wanted a premier matchup, and Michigan State burned their bridges with the bowl last year by losing to Missouri and not traveling well. Despite the fact Michigan State played a classic with Missouri last year they were never in any serious contention for the bid. Ohio State was though, and apparently almost got it.

#9 Ohio State (10-2) was also offended at not getting selected as an at-large despite the fact they travel extremely well and were top 10. Their only two losses were to two well respected teams. #2 Michigan (11-2), and #11 Wisconsin.


Needless to say the Big 10 bowls are making off like bandits. They get #8 Michigan State, #9 Ohio State, #11 Wisconsin, #12 Rutgers, and #24 Penn State.

The entire bowl lineup will be updated tomorrow. Looks like a great bowl season despite the fact Kansas and four solid Big 10 teams with 2 loss records will not be in BCS Bowls.

[Kcordloh]

2014-2015 Bowl Season Lineup

2014-2015 Bowl Season Matchups
Bowl	Away Team	Home Team	Projected Winner
New Mexico Bowl	Toledo (6-5)	Florida State (6-6)	Florida State
Beef O'Brady's Bowl	Tulane (6-6)	Pittsburg (6-6)	Pittsburg
New Orleans Bowl	Akron (7-5)	#17 Middle Tennessee State (10-1)	Middle Tennessee State
Las Vegas Bowl	#19 Stanford (8-4)	#22 Houston (9-3)	Stanford
Poinsettia Bowl	Oregon State (6-6)	Nevada (7-5)	Nevada
Hawai'i Bowl	Kansas State (6-6)	Louisiana Tech (8-4)	Kansas State
Little Caesears Pizza Bowl	Purdue (7-5)	Northern Illinois (9-3)	Purdue
Belk Bowl	Georgia Tech (8-4)	Louisville (6-6)	Georgia Tech
Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl	West Virginia (6-6)	USC (7-5)	USC
Music City Bowl	Tennessee (7-5)	NC State (6-6)	Tennessee
Independence Bowl	Colorado State (7-5)	North Carolina (7-5)	Colorado State
Military Bowl	Miami University (7-5)	#20 Navy (11-1)	Navy
Champs Sports Bowl	SMU (7-5)	#18 Virginia Tech (9-3)	Virginia Tech
Humanitarian Bowl	#21 Ohio (11-2)	#25 Utah State (9-3)	Ohio
Holiday Bowl	Arizona (6-5)	California (9-4)	California
Sun Bowl	Utah (8-4)	Virginia (9-4)	Utah
Armed Forces Bowl	Army (8-4)	Air Force (6-6)	Air Force
AutoZone Liberty Bowl	Cincinnati (7-5)	Rice (8-4)	Cincinnati
Texas Bowl	#24 Penn State (8-4)	Oklahoma (6-6)	Penn State
Insight Bowl	Oklahoma State (7-5)	#8 Michigan State (9-2)	Michigan State
Chick-fil-A Bowl	Georgia (8-5)	#15 Miami (9-3)	Miami
Outback Bowl	Texas A&M (7-5)	#11 Wisconsin (10-2)	Wisconsin
Capital One Bowl	Ole Miss (7-5)	#12 Rutgers (11-2)	Rutgers
Gator Bowl	Auburn (6-6)	#9 Ohio State (10-2)	Ohio State
Ticket City Bowl	UTEP (6-6)	Iowa (6-6)	Iowa
Alamo City	Arizona State (8-4)	#13 UCLA (10-2)	UCLA
Godaddy.com Bowl	Central Michigan (10-3)	Arkansas State (8-4)	Central Michigan
AT&T Cotton Bowl	#5 Kansas (12-1)	South Carolina (6-6)	Kansas
BBVA Compass Bowl	Baylor (6-6)	Vanderbilt (6-6)	Baylor
Sugar Bowl	#10 LSU (11-2)	#16 Fresno State (11-2)	LSU
Orange Bowl	#23 Maryland (9-4)	#7 Oregon (10-2)	Oregon
Rose Bowl	#6 Boise State (12-1)	#3 TCU (12-1)	TCU
Fiesta Bowl	#4 Arkansas (11-1)	#14 USF (11-1)	Arkansas
BCS National Championship	#2 Michigan (11-2)	#1 Missouri (11-1)	Michigan

There are several hidden gems this year.
Las Vegas Bowl Stanford is 8-4 but a ranked team and very well respected. Houston is 9-3 and still looking for respect.

Humanitarian Bowl Ohio (11-2) and Utah State (9-3) are two ranked non-AQs that are both looking for respect and will try to show their stuff in front of a decent audience.

Most of the Big 10 vs Big XII, Big XII vs Pac-12, and Big 10 vs SEC matchups look very one sided. The Big XII is praying for upsets, as the Pac-12 and Big-10 are favored in most of their games against the Big XII.

[Kcordloh]

Matchup Preview *|* January 9, 2015
	@
#2 Michigan Wolverines (11-2, Away)		#1 Missouri Tigers (11-1, Home)
Offensive Stats Comparison 6062 (#34)) Total Offensive Yards 6360 (#27) 2516 (#18) Rushing Yards 2727 (#9) 3546 (#33) Passing Yards 3633 (#27) 37.0 (#24) Points Per Game 48.0 (#3) 30 Passing TD 32 32 Rushing TD 37 Defensive Stats Comparison 5321 (#86) Total Yards Allowed 5018 (#58) 2101 (#83) Rushing Yards Allowed 1306 (#1) 3220 (#80) Passing Yards Allowed 3712 (#108) 43 (#4) Sacks 51 (#1) 334 Points Allowed 274 9 Fumble Recoveries 9 Injury Report MLB D. Morgan Ankle Sprain- Probable RT. J. Ervin Concussion- Questionable Game Notes For the first time ever in the history of the BCS the National Championship will be a rematch. This is not the first time a rematch has occurred for the National Championship as in 1996 #2 Florida (11-1) avenged their only loss of the season against #1 Florida State (11-0) in the 1997 Sugar Bowl to win the national championship. #1 Missouri (11-1) played an amazing season, but had it not been for a few major upsets, they might not be playing for the BCS National Championship even if they had gone 12-0. #2 Michigan (11-2) is the second team to ever make the BCS National Championship with 2 losses, the other was the 2007 LSU team who won the national championship over #1 Ohio State (11-1). This is a rematch from the early season 22-17 game that Missouri won in Columbia. On a neutral field, with two starters returning from foot injuries, Missouri seems at a disadvantage. Look for the opportunistic Missouri defense to keep them in this one, but don't expect a Tigers win. The Wolverines are much better than they were four months ago. Michigan 32, Missouri 24

[Kcordloh]

Countdown to the National Championship
All other bowl results, Big XII under-rated?

One often hears the term Over-rated in athletics. Sports teams that are thought to be amazing turn out to be not that great, and simply got by playing weak competition. Well this year it looks like the Big XII conference might just be under-rated. They are currently 8-0 in their bowl games with just one left, and that includes four upsets.
Arizona, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Arizona State were supposed to be out-gunned in their matchups. Instead they pulled out solid victories, and their conference looks to continue its recent dominant streak by going for their 2nd straight BCS National Championship.

Bowl Results up to BCS National Championship

2014-2015 Bowl Season Matchups
Bowl Game	Winner	Loser	Final Score
New Mexico Bowl	Florida State (7-6)	Toledo (6-6)	31-16
Beef O'Brady's Bowl	Pittsburg (7-6)	Tulane (6-7)	42-35
New Orleans Bowl	#17 Middle Tennessee State (11-1)	Akron (7-6)	49-17
Las Vegas Bowl	#22 Houston (10-3)	#19 Stanford (8-5)	26-21
Poinsettia Bowl	Nevada (8-5)	Oregon State (6-7)	28-23
Hawai'i Bowl	Kansas State (7-6)	Louisiana Tech (8-5)	28-14
Little Caesears Pizza Bowl	Northern Illinois (10-3)	Purdue (7-6)	35-21
Belk Bowl	Louisville (7-6)	Georgia Tech (8-5)	41-35 OT
Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl	USC (8-5)	West Virginia (6-7)	38-7
Music City Bowl	NC State (7-6)	Tennessee (7-6)	20-14
Independence Bowl	North Carolina (8-5)	Colorado State (7-6)	31-21
Military Bowl	Miami University (8-5)	#20 Navy (11-2)	38-17
Champs Sports Bowl	#18 Virginia Tech (10-3)	SMU (7-6)	31-7
Humanitarian Bowl	#21 Ohio (12-2)	#25 Utah State (9-4)	24-17
Holiday Bowl	Arizona (7-5)	California (9-5)	43-36
Sun Bowl	Utah (9-4)	Virginia (9-5)	45-28
Armed Forces Bowl	Army (9-4)	Air Force (6-7)	49-30
AutoZone Liberty Bowl	Cincinnati (8-5)	Rice (8-5)	42-35
Texas Bowl	Oklahoma (7-6)	#24 Penn State (8-5)	31-24
Insight Bowl	Oklahoma State (8-5)	#8 Michigan State (9-3)	42-38
Chick-fil-A Bowl	#15 Miami (10-3)	Georgia (8-6)	49-42 OT
Outback Bowl	#11 Wisconsin (11-2)	Texas A&M (7-6)	42-17
Capital One Bowl	#12 Rutgers (12-2)	Ole Miss (7-6)	41-34
Gator Bowl	Auburn (7-6)	#9 Ohio State (10-3)	35-28
Ticket City Bowl	Iowa (7-6)	UTEP (6-7)	56-9
Alamo City	Arizona State (9-4)	#13 UCLA (10-3)	43-41
Godaddy.com Bowl	Central Michigan (11-3)	Arkansas State (8-5)	49-23
AT&T Cotton Bowl	#5 Kansas (13-1)	South Carolina (6-7)	68-35
BBVA Compass Bowl	Baylor (7-6)	Vanderbilt (6-7)	59-35
Sugar Bowl	#10 LSU (12-2)	#16 Fresno State (11-3)	45-17
Orange Bowl	#7 Oregon (11-2)	#23 Maryland (9-5)	31-14
Rose Bowl	#3 TCU (13-1)	#6 Boise State (12-2)	38-35
Fiesta Bowl	#4 Arkansas (12-1)	#14 USF (11-2)	45-41
BCS National Championship	#2 Michigan (11-2)	#1 Missouri (11-1)	January 9th, 2015

[Kcordloh]

Missouri Tigers add Middle Tennessee State and Ohio to 2015 schedule

In a bold move that few major teams make, Missouri has added not one but two non-AQ teams that has been making noise the past few years to their schedule for 2015.

Missouri will host Middle Tennessee State in 2015 in a one-off game, and play a home and home series with Ohio in 2015/2016.

Missouri will actually travel to Ohio in 2015, giving them the perfect opportunity to petition their way into the BCS National Championship should they go undefeated in 2015 and there be at most 1 team from automatic qualifying conferences.

Missouri is happy to provide two teams that don't usually get the spotlight with an opportunity to play a highly regarded opponent in 2015. Missouri also benefits, as their schedule is now considered the toughest in the country pre-season. With the Big XII's recent dominance and this addition to their schedule, Missouri will be hard to get past if they go undefeated or even suffer just one loss in 2015.

[J_Dub93]

URGH...the suspense....I read all of this in one sitting tonight...or..well...this morning and I love it. I can't wait to see the big game. I am a originally a Missouri boy myself (Ripley County, Missouri). Going to college in the middle of Sooner country though... So it is nice to see Mizzou kicking some rear.

[Kcordloh]

Missouri rolls over-rated Michigan 38-17

It was the rematch that nobody outside of Big 10 country wanted to see.
#3 TCU (12-1), #4 Arkansas (11-1), #5 Kansas (12-1), and #6 Boise State (12-1) were all sitting there with one loss as #2 Michigan (11-2) worked their way into the title game with a solid closing stretch after opening 0-2.

Despite all the arguments that Michigan deserved a second chance, the Missouri Tigers (11-1) wanted into the BCS National Championship hungry.
In 2007 the Missouri Tigers were #1 in the BCS but dropped the Big XII title game to Oklahoma and fell all the way to the Cotton Bowl.
In 2011 the 12-0 Tigers were passed over and sent to the Fiesta Bowl while the Big 10 and Pac-12 duked it out for the title.
In 2012 the Tigers were 11-1 and went to the Fiesta Bowl again as #2 Illinois got to go the BCS National Championship.
In 2013 the Tigers dropped the final game of the season to Kansas and settled for the Rose Bowl while their arch-rivals went on to win the BCS National Championship, the first such title for Big XII since Texas won it in 2005.

Pre-game

There was a bit of a buzz in the stadium when it was announced Nick Bailey had earned the start over sophomore Evan Torres for the quarterback position. Torres was returning from an ankle injury, and the coaches wanted to let him have some time off before getting onto the field.

The game started with Michigan kicking off to Missouri. Missouri marched the ball down the field very methodically, going 87 yards on 15 plays capped off by a 10 yard pass from Bailey to M. Smith for a 6-0 lead, soon 7-0 after the academic PAT by C O'Connor.

Michigan responded by using K. Fox to get down the field and make it a 7-7 tie after his amazing 23-yard run to tie the game.

K. Fox ties the game at 7-apiece after this 23-yard touchdown run

Missouri's offense went 3-and-out and the punt was muffed so the Wolverines walked onto the field in amazing position to score and take the lead in this controversial rematch.

Missouri's defense looked at the scoreboard, walked onto the field, and promptly shut down the Wolverines offense. For a group with so many underclassmen as members, the defense as a whole acted showed maturity not often witnessed in a college football team. They did their jobs, made their tackles, covered their assignments, and made the Wolverines earn every yard.

Missouri pressured Jackson all day, hurrying him 18 times

Michigan's passing game was extinct after the first quarter, forcing them to rely on K. Fox. It worked for a while, but he could not get them into the endzone after his first run as Missouri always had a man-lined up across from him.

A. Roach put the final nail in Michigan's passing attack with this interception

Michigan finally started relying on J. Hayes for running the ball, but even he could not get things going as Missouri put a big time hurting on him.

Missouri played spear the Wolverine with J. Hayes

At the end of the game, with 34 seconds left Michigan ran a fake that ended up with Hayes getting the ball, and he ran it in from 14 yards out to make it 38-17 for a somewhat less embarrassing loss.

Michigan did get the final score closer with J. Hayes 14yd touchdown run

Missouri ended up winning the game 38-17.

Missouri POTG
Nick Bailey: 20 of 21 for 205 yards and 2 TD.
G. White had 21 carries for 142 yards and a touchdown
D. Steele had 20 carries for 102 yards and a touchdown
M. Smith had 7 catches for 107 yards and a pair of touchdowns


L. Harris had 11 tackles, 6 for loss, and a sack
S. Ray had 8 tackles, 5 for loss, and a pair of sacks
A. Roach had 4 tackles, over 6 swats, and an interception

Michigan POTG
K. Fox had 19 rushes for 160 yards and a touchdown
J. Hayes had 15 rushes for 82 yards and touchdown

Michigan Wolverines at Missouri Tigers
Jan 9, 2015	1ST	2ND	3RD	4TH	SCORE
#2 Michigan Wolverines (11-2)	7	0	3	7	17
#1 Missouri Tigers (11-1)	14	14	7	3	38

Team Stats Comparison
	MICH	MIZZ
Total Offense	355	535
Rushing Yards	235	248
Passing Yards	120	287
First Downs	14	27
Punt Return Yards	0	14
Kick Return Yards	61	51
Total Yards	416	600
Turnovers	2	0
3rd Down Converstion	5-11	8-11
4th Down Conversion	1-1	0-0
2-Point Conversion	0-0	0-0
Red Zone Touchdowns/Field Goals	3-1-1	5-4-0
Penalties	1 for 10 yards	5 for 45 yards
Posession Time

Scoring Summary
FIRST QUARTER SCORING		MICH	MIZZ
4:57	(MIZZ) M. Smith 10 yard pass from N. Bailey(PAT)	0	7
1:15	(MICH) K. Fox 23 yard run (PAT)	7	7
0:00	(MIZZ) M. Smith 19 yard pass from N. Bailey (PAT)	7	14
SECOND QUARTER SCORING		MICH	MIZZ
3:19	(MIZZ) D. Steele 6 yard run (PAT)	7	21
0:13	(MIZZ) M. Wilson returned fumble 85 yards (PAT)	7	28
THIRD QUARTER SCORING		MICH	MIZZ
6:45	(MICH) M. Wile 30 yard FG	10	28
2:52	(MIZZ) G. White 1 yard run (PAT)	10	35
FOURTH QUARTER SCORING		MICH	MIZZ
3:11	(MIZZ) C. O'Connor 37 yard FG (PAT)	10	38
0:27	(MICH) J. Hayes 14 yard run (PAT)	17	38

[Kcordloh]

TCU, Kansas, Arkansas fans furious Michigan got the shot over them

#1 Missouri (12-1) did what they could, playing a vicious 2014 schedule.
They played #2 Michigan (11-3) twice, #5 Kansas (13-1) twice, and #4 Arkansas (12-1). They also played bowl eligible Arizona State, Arizona, Oklahoma, and Army. That's 5 games against top 5 competition, plus 4 other challenging games. Missouri went 12-1 against that schedule, and deserves the title of national champion.

#2 Michigan did not deserve their rematch against Missouri. They were one of two teams to play Missouri close, but they also lost to 5-7 Notre Dame.

#3 TCU (13-1) beat 2 ranked opponents, not to mention played 6 more bowl eligible teams, and their only loss was to #7 Oregon (11-2).

#4 Arkansas (12-1) only beat one ranked team. They only lost to Missouri though, and beat 6 other bowl eligible teams.

#5 Kansas went 12-0 in the regular season, but due to the pod-nature of the Big XII had to face then #5 Missouri again for the championship, and lost. Kansas only played one ranked opponent, that was Missouri twice (55-48 win, 58-36 loss). They played 7 bowl eligible opponents during the regular season, and the only close games they had were against Missouri. Besides that and a close call to Duke early on nobody came within more than 10 points. Infact besides Baylor, Duke, and Missouri, nobody finished without 20 points of the Jayhawks.