So apparently it was the defense's turn to shine yesterday at practice.  PowerMizzou has more, as does mutigers.com, Dave Matter, the KC Star, and

From the Star:

During 7 on 7 drills, [William] Moore burst through, leaped high and blocked a Chase Daniel pass.

“We got into it,” Moore said. “Coach called a blitzing play and there’s no o-line (in 7 on 7), so I’m free. He threw the ball and I swatted it down.

“He said, `What the hell are you doing?

“`He said (with an offensive line) you would have gotten cut.’

Moore spat back: “No I wouldn’t.”

Moore and Daniel engage in a lot of that sort of give and take.

“I talk as much noise as I can to him,” Moore said. “because I know he’s a competitor. He’s going to bring it right back.”

Chase Coffman: ready.

Kurtis Gregory: farmboy.

Jeff Wolfert: mental strongman.

Lorenzo Williams: difference-maker.

Gabe at PowerMizzou thinks about what he thinks:

I think Derrick Washington is going to be good…really good

Don't know if it will happen immediately, but I like the way the kid runs. He may not equal Tony Temple's rushing yards, but when you add receiving yards, I'd be willing to bet that Washington's total this year exceeds Temple's in either of the last two.

I think it's getting harder and harder to identify freshmen just by looking

I mean, I see a kid like Zaviar Gooden. He has to be 23 years old. Dan Hoch would make grown men cower. It's a good sign that the freshmen blend in more easily with the vets. It means the freshmen are better.

And while we're on the PM kick...MAILBAG!!!

Looks like this will become a daily habit...thank you, Trib...

I'm not sure who's winning, but there's quite a battle between Dave Matter and Gabe Dearmond for "busiest Tiger writer"...Matter lands a swift uppercut with the Pinkel-video-and-Dan-Hoch-interview 1-2 combination.

A quick basketball note (basketball? what's that?): the Puerto Rico Tip-Off bracket has been announced.  Mizzou plays a preliminary, doesn't-count-toward-the-bracket game against Chattanooga on 11/17, then starts the tournament against Xavier on 11/20.  Winner plays the winner of Virginia Tech-Fairfield.  Other first round games are Memphis-Chattanooga and USC-Seton Hall.  Steve Walentik has more...he also has a bit about Michael Snaer's recruitment if you're interested...

Finally, can't wait to hear what The Beef says about this...

1 - So I pointed out something I found interesting a couple days ago--we all say Gene Chizik's a good coach and he's doing a good job at ISU...but none of us actually includes ISU in any "future balance of power" conversations.  What gives?  What's Chizik's ceiling at ISU?

2 - Alright, give me an MU-ISU score.  And if this site had existed two years ago, I'd site everybody's predictions before the '06 game...pretty sure we all got that one massively wrong.  Except maybe Doug.

3 - Give me a record for ISU:

8/28: South Dakota State
9/6: Kent State
9/13: @ Iowa
9/20: @ UNLV
10/4: Kansas
10/11: @ Baylor
10/18: Nebraska
10/25: Texas A&M
11/1: @ Oklahoma State
11/8: @ Colorado
11/15: Missouri
11/22: @ Kansas State

4 - Ever been to Ames?

5 - So the mythical Rock M T-shirts are still on the table...and we've come up with three ideas for the back of the shirt.  They're all stupid, and they're all awesome.  So which one would you wear?  Billy Connolly's nunchuks, the watermelon balls of fury, Rock-Flag-Eagle...or something that incorporates nunchuks, watermelons, rocks, flags, AND eagles?  And if you say the last one, you're volunteering to help with the design.

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Bring on the jinx!

Day two of practice means...more practice reports!  PowerMizzou...

Part of that may be the crop of freshman defensive backs the Tigers have in camp. Zaviar Gooden, Kenji Jackson, Robert Steeples and Kip Edwards are as physically impressive as a young crop of defensive backs I have seen in the last five years here. Gooden especially just jumps out as a huge physical specimen, but he's got a lot of athleticism about him as well. I'm hoping to talk to all these guys and have more on them later in the week.

Dave Matter...

During 1-on-1 pass-rush drills, offensive linemen are having a tough time blocking Jacquies Smith, a sneaky defensive end whom some Missouri coaches compared favorably to former Tiger Brian Smith back on signing day. I can see why. Smith, the new version, slid up and under a block from Dan Hoch, easily getting to his target before Hoch could get a hand on him. The big freshman right tackle got a re-do and stonewalled Smith on the second try.

And the KC Star...

Missouri sophomore Derrick Washington appears to be in for a big year as the starting tailback.

On a pitch play Tuesday, Washington, a former Raymore-Peculiar star, was through the right side and downfield so quickly that four of five defenders in the area didn’t seem to know Washington had passed their way.

"Go get him!" yelled several angry defensive coaches.

Washington seems confident he can give the Tigers what Tony Temple did in gaining 1,000 yards each of the previous two seasons.

"Like the coaches have been telling us," Washington said, "we don’t rebuild, we reload."

Beyond the practice reports, The Trib has a nice story on new DE Brian Coulter and a quick conversation with Blaine Gabbert.  Plus, Dave Matter has a video interview with Gary Pinkel...

Very cool feature there from the Trib...

Gabbert also shared some time with The Missourian...and the KC Star.  Hey...whatever he can do to clear up Chase Daniel's schedule a bit...

Van Alexander may be injury-prone, but hey...at least he's also good at the miraculous recovery...

Noooooo!  Stepfan Taylor committed to Stanford yesterday.  Damn.  His film was my favorite of the RB prospects on our list.  I can never blame a kid for picking Stanford--if he's that smart, go for it--but this one still stinks.  He said he might still take his visits, but we'll see...

 And last, but not least....Mizzou golfer Julia Potter (a junior this coming season) has advanced at the U.S. Women's Amateur Championships, coming through the 2 days of stroke play in a tie for 6th place.  She advances to the match play portion of the tournament, teeing off today at 2:30 p.m. PACIFIC time against Dottie Ardina of the Philippines.  Potter carded a 143 over the two days, Ardina a 151.  This is a field of 64 played down, kind of like the NCAA tournament, but not exactly.  Potter starts as the #11 seed (they are seeded 1-64), and has a decent draw it seems.  We will continue to follow this as hopefully Ms. Potter advances along, and you should be able to follow the progress yourself here

You don't have to go too far "beyond the box score" to realize that ISU was a gritty...and bad...team last year.  But even so, onward we travel!

EqPts Scores

Iowa State 17.0, Kent State 18.9 (14-23)
Iowa State 21.6, Northern Iowa (FCS Tier 1) 25.1 (13-24)
Iowa State 6.6, Iowa 8.5 (15-13)
Iowa State 28.6, Toledo 24.3 (35-36)
Iowa State 18.6, Nebraska 24.1 (17-35)
Iowa State 9.4, Texas Tech 34.1 (17-42)
Iowa State 6.8, Texas 46.5 (3-56)
Iowa State 6.4, Oklahoma 22.0 (3-17)
Iowa State 24.9, Missouri 29.5 (28-42)
Iowa State 17.5, Kansas State 21.5 (31-20)
Iowa State 21.9, Colorado 23.3 (31-28)
Iowa State 7.8, Kansas 41.8 (7-45)

If you judge a coach by how his team maximizes its performance, I think you'd have to say Gene Chizik did a strong job in squeezing three wins out of this team.  They won three games they should have lost (Iowa, K-State, Colorado), while losing only one they should have won (Toledo).  From an EqPts perspective, they only outscored one team all season.  That's bad.  So while Chizik did a nice job in steering ISU to 3-9...the lack of talent on display had to be pretty alarming for ISU fans.  A lot of coaches struggle in their first year with somebody else's personnel, though, so surely there are some bright spots somewhere, right?

Stat Onslaught

Iowa State Offense (success rate / points per play / S&P)

Rushing: 34.5% / 0.21 / 0.560 (National Avg: 0.762)
Passing: 38.2% / 0.20 / 0.585 (Nat'l Avg: 0.697)
TOTAL: 36.3% / 0.21 / 0.572 (Nat'l Avg: 0.730)

Rushing (close): 32.0% / 0.17 / 0.487 (Nat'l Avg: 0.751)
Passing (close): 39.8% / 0.22 / 0.615 (Nat'l Avg: 0.701)
TOTAL (close): 35.8% / 0.19 / 0.549 (Nat'l Avg: 0.726)

Non-Passing Downs: 42.5% / 0.28 / 0.704 (Nat'l Avg: 0.845)
Passing Downs: 25.5% / 0.09 / 0.342 (Nat'l Avg: 0.483)

Redzone: 41.2% / 0.26 / 0.672 (Nat'l Avg: 0.866)

Q1: 42.3% / 0.18 / 0.601 (Nat'l Avg: 0.709)
Q2: 34.6% / 0.21 / 0.558 (Nat'l Avg: 0.759)
Q3: 32.1% / 0.21 / 0.534 (Nat'l Avg: 0.717)
Q4: 36.3% / 0.23 / 0.593 (Nat'l Avg: 0.734)

1st Down: 36.4% / 0.22 / 0.584 (Nat'l Avg: 0.766)
2nd Down: 30.6% / 0.14 / 0.450 (Nat'l Avg: 0.730)
3rd Down: 41.9% / 0.15 / 0.570 (Nat'l Avg: 0.730)

Pressure (Q4, within two possessions): 25.9% / 0.14 / 0.401

Line Yards: 2.42 per carry (Nat'l Avg: 2.89)
Line Yards (close): 2.48 per carry
Line Yards by Quarter: 2.78 (Q1), 2.57 (Q2), 2.53 (Q3), 1.77 (Q4)

Usually you see that even bad offenses were good at something...well...that doesn't appear to be the case.  As I've said before, Alexander Robinson looked good against Mizzou, and his progress over the course of November had to be a bit encouraging, but as far as team stats go, there was just not much encouraging here at all.

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Don't know what made me think to make this comparison, but...just for grins, let's go to the tale of the tape:

	vs
2007 51 carries, 375 yards (4 TDs) 80 catches, 1055 yards (9 TDs) 43 kick returns, 24.2 avg (1 TD) 25 punt returns, 12.3 avg (2 TDs)		1989 5 rushes, 11 yards 9 receptions, 136 yards (2 TDs) 12 kick returns, 22.7 avg 1990 5 carries, 58 yards 63 catches, 1025 yards (11 TDs) 17 kick returns, 29.6 avg (1 TD) 6 punt returns, 9.2 avg 1991 13 carries, 180 yards 62 catches, 985 yards (19 TDs) 15 kick returns, 27.5 avg (1 TD) 18 punt returns, 15.7 avg (1 TD)

So Howard averaged more yards per catch, albeit on fewer catches (and, to be fair, in fewer games), and more yards per kick return.  Combining his '90 and '91 numbers, he averaged about the same yards per punt return.  Most impressively, though, Howard scored 12 TDs in 91 touches in 1990 (1 TD per 7.6 touches) and 21 TDs in 108 touches (1 TD per 5.1 touches) in his 1991 Heisman campaign.  To have a legit shot at the Heisman, Maclin will probably need to improve on his 1 TD per 12.1 touches average (16 TDs total in 194 touches) and, honestly...he probably needs fewer touches.  Over 14 games, 194 touches (13.9 per game) is a ridiculous number.  Howard only averaged 9.0 per game his Heisman year, and he obviously didn't wear down much.  Maclin was limping from halfway point of the season on.

Anyway, just thought I'd throw that out there.

UPDATE (and Point of Clarification): Anybody who's played NCAA 09 and lost Maclin to injury knows that, at 13.9 touches per game, the injury risk on Maclin is somewhere between moderate and relatively high.  He hurt his ankle pretty badly against ATM (reaggravating an earlier tweak, I believe), and though it was to his credit that he still made big play after big play, I think the best-case scenario for Mizzou this year is that other major threats emerge (Derrick Washington, I'm looking in your direction) and Maclin doesn't need to touch the ball 14 times a game.  Get that down to the 9-12 range, limit his injury potential a smidge, and he's more likely to a) have better per-touch averages (which does, I think, make at least a little bit of difference...especially for WR/KR/PR types) and more importantly, b) be making the big-time plays late in the season that get Heisman voters' attention.  Maybe that's a stretch, maybe not.  And at the same time, Maclin's a bit bigger than Howard (6'1/200 vs 5'10/185), and that suggests he could possibly take at least a little more beating without wearing down, so hey...who knows...

PRACTICE REPORTS!!!  First up, from mutigers.com...

Danario Alexander and Steve Redmond wore red jerseys and sat out the day. Alexander is still on track for a full recovery right around October 1, while Redmond is recovering from knee surgery to remove cartilage and should be back within a week. Van Alexander wore a red bib, signifying no contact, but has been cleared 100 percent to play in what Coach Gary Pinkel termed a "miraculous recovery" from an ACL tear. Blake May also donned a red bib toward the end of practice, but should return.

Then PowerMizzou...

Only two players were not at practice as expected. Drew Temple and Aldon Smith are currently held up in the NCAA Clearinghouse. Pinkel said he fully expected both to be ready to go by the end of the week or early next week. Smith was at practice, but did not work out. Temple was not in attendance that I saw.

And Dave Matter...

Of all the newcomers in action on Monday, slot receiver Gahn McGaffie caught my eye the most. Playing Jeremy Maclin’s position with the third unit, McGaffie took a few short passes from Blaine Gabbert and ripped off some nifty runs through the heart of the defense. Missouri might be in need more of outside receivers — at least until Alexander is healthy — but it could be tough to keep McGaffie off the field.

Strangest sight of the day: A 6-foot-4, 225-pound D-linemen wearing No. 99 and slipping up, around and under offensive linemen. It’s going to take a while to remember that it’s the freshman, Jacquies Smith, and not Lorenzo Williams on the South Beach Diet.

Rare will you find a true freshman offensive tackle who looks the part of a Big 12 offensive lineman on the first practice of his college career. Hoch is a 6-foot-7, 295-pound exception. Still not sure if there’s a real need to press him into duty this season, but perhaps if he climbs to No. 2 on the depth chart, he can benefit from the practice reps and not necessarily play in the games.

And The Missourian...

One of the hardest adjustments for [Kurtis] Gregory was moving from small-time high school to the demands of Big 12 football. In high school, his coaches went with the keep everything simple method. In college, his coaches demand that he be able to read every defense and know what's about to happen.

"I've been watching a lot of film," Gregory said. "You see the saftey at 15 yards, he's not coming. When he's 6 yards away, that means he's coming,"

This season, if he missreads one play, it could result in Daniel pulling himself off the turf with a mask full of dirt and a sore body the next day.

"It's all about communication out there," Gregory said. "When you see us moving our arms around, that means we're talking."

And the KC Star...

On this steaming afternoon - it was 99 degrees when practice started at 3:45 - MU head of sports medicine Rex Sharp was reminded of when salt pills fell out of favor.

“That was probably about ’94 that we stopped using salt tablets,” Sharp said. “Some people just mis-took them. More was not necessarily better.

“The water in the body was attracted to the stomach to dilute the salt. So the fluids were not getting into the outer part of the body.”

Worse, that was a time when many coaches told players not to drink water until after practice. “We just weren’t very smart,” Sharp said.

That idiocy ended just about 10 years ago.

On Monday, players drank often from either Gatorade bottles or from water tanks placed around the practice fields.

“We’re smarter now,” Sharp said.

And the Post-Dispatch (whose story title gave me an excuse to post this):

Although it was only the first of 23 practices in the next three weeks, linebacker Sean Weatherspoon said something felt different.

"There's a sense of urgency already here,'' he said. "It took a while last year. It was a couple of weeks before we found out what we could do, but now we already know what we're capable of and we know what everyone is saying.''

Of course, Pinkel is trying to play down those things while approaching camp with the same workmanlike mentality as ever.

But in the back of his mind, he knows of the possibilities.

"We have some different goals, but No. 1 is to win the Big 12 championship,'' he said. "If anything else happens, it happens.''

Finally...Big Head shares some thoughts on the beginning of camp...

And no...not every Links post during camp will be nothing but camp blurbs...just the first one...

People treat Iowa State kind of funny right now.  We're all quick to say that Gene Chizik's done a good job so far, and that he could do some good things in Ames; and yet nobody even thinks for a moment that ISU will be involved in any future "balance of power" conversations.  Is that fair?  Unrealistic?  Totally realistic?  The 2008 version of ISU looks like it will somewhat resemble the second-half-of-2007 version: competent, tough...but not overtly talented enough to keep up with most Big 12 opponents.  At least that's what I think at the beginning of the week...we'll see what the Iowa State Week links, stats, roundtables, and Q&As do to change my mind...

First, last year's stats.  Distinct improvement for ISU over the last month, at least offensively.  The 'Clones averaged 24.3 PPG over that period after averaging just 15.1 before that.  The defense regressed slightly (to 33.8 PPG), though that had as much to do with playing three strong offenses (MU, KU, and KSU) as anything else.

A quick perusal of the stat sheet shows you that a) Iowa State has to replace some major contributors in '08--4-year starters QB Bret Meyer and WR Todd Blythe, do-it-all LB Alvin Bowen, etc.--but...well...most of them just weren't that good to begin with.  Blythe was the only true deep threat ISU had, though (only one other WR averaged even 10.0 yards per catch, much less Blythe's 15.0), and that's a major concern.  We see repeatedly just how important easy points are to any team, and I have no idea where those easy points are going to come from.

So who are the 'stars' for Iowa State in 2008?  Chris Singleton is a potential star at CB, coming off a season with 4 INTs and having started every game from the past two seasons.  Meanwhile, Phil Steele likes the other CB, Allen Bell, quite a bit.  Lord knows playing in the Big 12 will pretty quickly prove the value of your CBs.

Mizzou fans may view sophomore RB Alexander Robinson as a potential star (so do readers of Clone Chronicles, who voted for Robinson to start), what with his 149-yard explosion in Columbia last year; however, his game-to-game output leaves something to be desired.  Most projected JJ Bass to be the starter at RB, but he was suspended in the spring and then wasn't listed in this summer's media guide, suggesting his time in Ames is done.  He's still "suspended" instead of "kicked off the team", but...I mean, suspended guys still get listed in the media guide, right?

Anyway, there's uncertainty at QB as well, though in a slightly more healthy way.  No suspensions, just a battle between two youngsters, sophomores Austen Arnaud and the more boringly-named Phillip Bates.  Arnaud (a big boy at 6'3, 222) is slightly more experienced, getting quite a few snaps last year (he ended up with 37 pass attempts and 17 rushes) while Bates was a backup WR (5 catches, 73 yards); however, Bates looked a bit better in the spring.  From the Dubuque Telegraph-Herald:

"I'm really proud of both of them," Chizik said. "You can't have two quarterbacks with both being equally good at the same things. That's unrealistic. There's probably some things Austin is better at right now than Phillip, and vice versa.

"The job will cater more to the things that they are better at, but they still have to run the whole offense. That's the key. We still think, with either quarterback, we can run them. Not only can they run the football, our quarterbacks will have to run the football. That's no secret."

Arnaud is the hometown favorite and was Meyer's understudy the past two seasons. He saw action in six games in 2007, completing 20 of 37 attempts for 267 yards.

Playing receiver, Bates hauled in five receptions for 73 yards last season, including a key 38-yard catch that set up the winning field goal in Iowa State's 15-13 triumph over Iowa.

Say this about Chizik and his team: they're confident.

When you look at their 2008 schedule, it's important, I think, to look at two things: a) how many non-conference wins are available, and b) where are the most likely home upsets in conference?  The answer to (a) is anywhere between 1 and 4, honestly.  South Dakota State is more or less a gimme (though North Dakota State would be a different story), and Kent State should be (though they did lose to them 23-14 last year), as should the trip to UNLV (though road trips will always be a challenge).  That leaves the Iowa game.  ISU has covered the spread against Iowa each of the last four years, including straight-up upsets the last two games in Ames.  This one, however, is in Iowa City, so you figure Iowa will win, but...well, Iowa's program isn't all that healthy itself at the moment, so you never know.

As for (b)...you figure the upset potential of the home games, in order, is 1) Nebraska, 2) Texas A&M, 3) Kansas, 4) Missouri, but all are up for grabs somewhat, as rpt's EA simulation suggested.  Plus, a trip to Waco is in the works, and though Baylor will possibly be favored there...well...trips to Waco are never too daunting.  So I'd probably put the at-first-glance best-case scenario for ISU at 3-5 in conference, 6-6 overall.  I don't know if that would get them a bowl game, but you'd have to consider a 3-game improvement a rousing success.

Finally, camp has begun in Ames, and experience is the tagline from Day One.

As of 3:45 pm today...IT'S GO TIME.  The Trib takes a look at the four main storylines to watch as camp starts.

On his blog, Dave Matter finishes his Top 25 and makes an overall prediction I think most here will like.

* NCG: USC (No. 1/Pac-10 champ) vs. Missouri (No. 2/Big 12 champ)
One-loss Tigers hold off two-loss Florida in final BCS standings.

* Rose: Ohio State (Big Ten champ) vs. Georgia (at-large)
Rose gets its Big Ten team and nabs Bulldogs with first at-large pick.

* Fiesta: Oklahoma (at-large) vs. BYU (at-large)
Sooners face another BCS-buster in third straight Fiesta.

* Sugar: Florida (SEC champ) vs. Wisconsin (at-large)
Not crazy about putting Badgers here, but who else is there?

* Orange: Clemson (ACC champ) vs. South Florida (Big East champ)
Bulls, who play in Tampa, gets to actually play in South Florida.

SMQ's finished his Top 25 as well.  OU (#3) is among The Cream, Mizzou (#7) is on The Short List, Texas (#12) and Texas Tech (#15) are among The Dreamers, Nebraska (#21), Kansas (#24) and Oklahoma State (#25) are among The Wildcards.  Gotta love that the Big 12 has 7 of the Top 25 overall there, huh?

No replication for Mizzou in 2008.  Nope.

Could Mizzou replicate its 12-2 season of a year ago? The No. 4 final national ranking?

“I hope we don’t replicate it,” said Daniel, the Missouri senior quarterback picked as the preseason Big 12 Conference’s offensive player of the year. “Because then we’d lose in the Big 12 Championship game.

“We don’t want to replicate it.

No, the Tigers — who this afternoon gather for opening practice — want to beat Oklahoma this time. They want to carry the No. 1 national ranking earned last year by beating Kansas for the Big 12 North title right past the Sooners — or anybody else in the Big 12 Championship game in Kansas City — and on into the national championship game.

“I want to play in Florida,” Daniel said.

The coming season’s national championship game will be played at the Orange Bowl.

Judging by most of the preseason polls, prognosticators think Missouri will have that chance.

Also from the Star: Sean Weatherspoon's a confident man.

Speaking of Weatherspoon, the Post-Dispatch's Jeremy Rutherford takes a look at the defense and how it wants a piece of the spotlight for itself.

ESPNs Tim Griffin takes a look at the Big 12's Top WRs.  Bet you can guess who #1 and #2 are, huh?  He also looks at the conference's top clutch players.

Finally, today's recruiting links: 4-star CA RB/waterbug Daniel Jenkins is just about ready to set up his official visits, and he suggests that Mizzou will get one of them (though it's not entirely clear if he has a Mizzou offer...I believe he doesn't).  Meanwhile, 4-star TX WR Emory Blake has cut his list to 7, and Mizzou's still in good shape.  He says we're recruiting him as a WR or RB, as he apparently looks good with the ball in his hands, one way or another.