Adrian Peterson out for the season

[y_h]

Well, that was certainly an impressive performance by the Sooners on Saturday. And I'm never underwhelmed by the fantastic performance of the OU contingent that populates the SW corner of the stadium anytime the Sooners come to town. Nebraska may bring more fans to town, but no group of visiting fans represents themselves the way the Sooner faithful do - polite, knowledgeable fans with confidence but without the taint of arrogance. The K-State and Colorado bandwagoners and the UT frontrunners that pollute Columbia every few years could certainly take a lesson from you all.

And could someone please find Adrian some OU colors to wear on the sideline? As soon as the temp warmed up, he removed his letter jacket to reveal a green and blue polo shirt. I was certainly close enough to him that I should have thrown him my Sooner Football tee that I was wearing under my Brad Smith jersey!

[Easy180]

It was a good game with OU getting a lot of breaks (Which we need all we can get this year)...Daniel does look like he will be a good one...Turnovers did you guys in and the wide open drop by Coffman didn't help either

One question...They came out in the 2nd half w/ no huddle and drove it right down and scored...Why did they stop doing the no huddle again since it worked so well?...Seemed odd to me since we looked horrible on that drive

[MadMonk]

..Why did they stop doing the no huddle again since it worked so well?...Seemed odd to me since we looked horrible on that drive

I was wondering the same thing. I thought we were going to be in trouble if they kept it up. We do so many substitutions that it's hard to keep up with a no-huddle offence if you aren't prepared for it. Maybe the Tigers became tired and couldn't keep up that pace for very long, but I would think they could have used it effectively every other series or so. But, I'm not complaining.

[SoonerDave]

I believe Missouri's tailback suffered a bruised/injured shoulder and was unable to play in the second half, which reduced their run game to QB draws/sprints and allowed OU to play up in the underneath routes that the Tiger offense uses so effectively.

I think MU's loss of Smith really showed Saturday. I told some other friends that I expected OU to run right at MU, which is precisely what they did, and particularly to the side Smith vacated. The loss of a great DE like that will give an offense a chance to break containment on the corners (see Thompson's option TD run in the first quarter), or run play-action more than you'd otherwise expect.

The bottom line, however, in addition to the Tiger miscues, was that OU was just more physical up front than Missouri. Starting the 3rd quarter, OU's first drive ended with a Patrick Allen fumble around the MU 30, but in that drive Oklahoma set a tone in dominating the line of scrimmage - carving out big chunks of ground yardage - and I think was en route to what would have been a 23-3 lead. MU scored their only TD on the drive following that fumble recovery.

All-in-all, I think its one of the best preparation jobs Stoops and crew have done in a long time. They had a great game plan, executed it well, played it confidently, didn't make too many mistakes (very few motion penalties, etc), got lucky on a play or two, and came away with a really solid win. Any time you can go to Columbia and win by 16 points you've got to come away pretty darned happy.

Next question for MU fans: Will this year's performance save Pinkel's job? I had him pegged as a sure-fire lame duck this year. Chase Daniel is one tough kid; he got hit and hit, but kept punching...I personally *still* think MU wins the north because I believe Nebraska's defense is a fraud, and if Mizzou can be patient and overcome the early crowd/emotion at Lincoln this Saturday, they can win that game and take the B12 North.

-SoonerDave

[Easy180]

Yeah it was great to see Patrick hit those holes hard...The O-Line is looking really good and they are very young...Should help us next year with a new QB

Not going to get any easier this weekend at A&M...Their win at OSU looks a lot better now after what the Pokes did to Nebraska

[y_h]

Next question for MU fans: Will this year's performance save Pinkel's job? I had him pegged as a sure-fire lame duck this year. Chase Daniel is one tough kid; he got hit and hit, but kept punching...I personally *still* think MU wins the north because I believe Nebraska's defense is a fraud, and if Mizzou can be patient and overcome the early crowd/emotion at Lincoln this Saturday, they can win that game and take the B12 North.

-SoonerDave

Well, SoonerDave, that is the $64,000 question. My gut instinct says yes, largely thanks to the Brian Smith injury. Even if the Tigers finish 7-5 and wind up losing to say Rutgers in the Texas Bowl (not such a far-fetched possibility I regret to advise), I think GP gets a pass this year for a few reasons. First of all, I think that the Smith injury will provide somewhat of an excuse for a drop in the defense's performance. Clearly a weakened defense puts more pressure on the offense to perform and a pressured offense coughs up the ball more frequently - and there you have your excuse. Is it irresponsible to place the fortunes of an entire team on one player? You bet, however Mizzou is not yet blessed with the type of depth that a first tier D1A program has, so that type of excuse does have legs at this stage of the game. Second reason has to do with Chase Daniel. I think the athletic dept. would be reluctant to change coaches on the Little General when he seems to be very comfortable with the system that GP and Dave Christensen have set up. I don't think anyone wants to take a very capable QB and force him to learn an entirely new system in his junior year. Third reason - Mizzou is breaking in a new hoops coach this year, so I doubt they're looking to essetially start both of their bread and butter programs from scratch in such immediate succession. Fourth and final reason - Warren Powers. For those who recall the late 70's and early 80's, you'll remember that Powers took the Tigers to bowl games in 5 of his first 6 years, but then tripped up in 84, dropping to 3-7-1. Mizzou wasted no time in canning him and then didn't have another winning season for 13 years, hiring and firing 3 more coaches along the way.

Something tells me that this year's 6-0 start will keep GP at Mizzou for at least another two seasons, however if this fast start peters out and isn't replicated next year, perhaps the trigger will get pulled.

[y_h]

Oh, and by the way, notwithstanding the four turnovers and the shorthanded defense of Mizzou, the Sooners played exceptionally well. They won this game on their own merit and should wind up back in Dallas on January 1 for a hell of a game against the Hogs.