FanHouse GaryPinkel

Dude! We're awesome! Jeremy Freaking Maclin! Psst ... did last year really happen? And psst! Are we really ranked No. 6 in the preseason AP poll? Why yes, we are. Also: why didn't this happen a few years ago under Brad Smith?

Welcome to the manic world of Missouri football where, yes Virginia, it really did happen last year. But uh, let's try and beat Oklahoma this time boys?

Why They'll Win

Momentum. After years of frustration, of big tease 6-0 type starts before collapses, Missouri turned the corner last year. The psychological value of that is immeasurable.

A total of 14 starters return including Heisman Trophy finalist quarterback Chase Daniel and All America quality defenders William Moore and Sean Weatherspoon. Missouri showed a lot of poise in beating Illinois and Mississippi early, then hanging close to Oklahoma to open at 5-1. They never lost again until the Big 12 Championship Game.

The schedule actually lightens up a bit this year, as Oklahoma is replaced with Texas and the non-conference slate includes Southeast Missouri, Nevada and Buffalo.

First Gary Pinkel was scheduled to throw out the first pitch for the Cardinals on Opening Day. Then Chase Daniel and Jeremy Maclin had to take his place. Now another of the Big 12's coaching brethren has gotten his shot on the mound for a ceremonial first pitch. Kansas coach Mark Mangino got the call on Tuesday at the Kansas City Royals home opener at Kauffman Stadium. In addition, Gary Pinkel was actually involved in this ceremony as well, albeit only by way of the stadium's video board (that guy really needs to relax his off-season schedule).

"I'm honored that the Royals would even consider me for Opening Day," Mangino said. "When I was a kid I waited for Opening Day like you waited for Christmas."

Challenged by Missouri coach Gary Pinkel, who in a video presentation expressed his confidence that "coach Mangino will start the season successfully with a strike down the middle," Mangino met the challenge with a pitch down the pipe.

"It might have been a high strike to Frank Thomas," Mangino said. "Gary wanted one down the middle, but he's got to understand: A pitcher has to work the corners."

It sounds like Mangino's attempt fared better than that of Chase Daniel, who bounced his effort to the backstop. It's also good to see Mangino has a little baseball knowledge, although the Frank Thomas reference might have been a tad dated.

Update: Now with video-goodness. Thanks YouTube!

via The Wizard of Odds

Without a scholarship and without notoriety, hundreds of walk-ons are doing their best to carve out a spot on Division IA rosters. Spring practices, which take place without graduating seniors, and before the bulk of incoming freshman arrive, promise plenty of reps. If local media outlets are to be believed it seems a host of walk-ons are serving notice this spring in the Big 12.

At Oklahoma, tight end Trent Ratterree is living out his boyhood dream as he tries to earn the #3 spot on the TE depth chart.

"I'd been an OU fan all my life," Ratterree said. "I dreamed of it my whole life."

He came to Norman at 215 pounds and was thrown into Jerry Schmidt's boot camp.

"It's tough physically," Ratterree said. "Nothing can get you ready for Schmidtty."

But Ratterree got through it and was rewarded; he suited up for home games last season.

"I never felt, like you see in 'Rudy,' where they were pushing him around," Ratterree said. "They never made me feel like a low-down walkon. You're treated really good here."

"Rudy" was also mentioned at Missouri, where 5-foot-7, Titus Wonsey is trying to find a home in a crowded Tiger backfield. His efforts have not gone unnoticed by head coach Gary Pinkel (pictured at right).

Few players had a better season in 2007 than did Missouri's Jeremy Maclin. After all, Maclin gained 2,776 all-purpose yards, which was an NCAA Division I-A single-season freshman record, and was also the fifth-most ever by any player in a season in Division I-A history. He made just about every All-American team possible and gave Big 12 defensive coordinators and special teams coaches constant headaches. Now comes word that Maclin is only getting better as spring practices resume in Columbia.

"Jeremy Maclin is a lot better player right now than he was a year ago," [Missouri coach Gary] Pinkel said yesterday after the Tigers scrimmaged for nearly three hours on Faurot Field. "People go, 'Wow, how can that happen?' Well, Brett Favre was a heck of a lot better player his eighth year as a starter than he was his first year."

I'm not sure Pinkel's analogy makes a whole lot of sense, but certainly players do generally get better over time. In the case of Maclin, however, you have to wonder if he might be nearing some sort of ceiling effect? There just doesn't seem to be that much room for improvement when you look at his statistics. So, what is Coach Pinkel seeing on the practice field?

His 1-on-1 routes, he's improved dramatically," Pinkel said. "I also think that's where he's got to be demanding on himself for perfection because that's how good he can be. No single guy should ever be able to cover him. ...

"Last year was his first year, and we forget that sometimes. His work habits were good, but they weren't like Will Franklin's. They weren't like" Martin "Rucker's. Now, they're like they're supposed to be."

Now that's scary. With a Heisman finalist quarterback in Chase Daniel returning, along with a wealth of talent on the offensive side of the ball, Maclin just might continue to break records. As he progresses look for the Tigers to really separate themselves from the rest of the Big 12 North.

Missouri coach Gary Pinkel was scheduled to throw out the first pitch for the St. Louis Cardinals' Opening Day game on Monday. A delay in his return flight from Florida, however, forced the Tigers to go to their bullpen. As a result, it was quarterback and Heisman Trophy finalist Chase Daniel who got the call along with his battery mate wide receiver Jeremy Maclin.

Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned for Daniel.

The crowd gave a standing ovation to Daniel and one of his favorite wide receiver targets, Jeremy Maclin and in a nice touch, Daniel brought out a ball he was more accustomed to throwing...a football.

It certainly couldn't have been the pressure of throwing in front of a bunch of people, or the fact that the weather conditions weren't ideal, both of which Daniel is used to, so I'm going to blame the fact that Daniel BOUNCED the pitch/pass into Maclin from 60 feet 6 inches on standing on the mound.

So Daniel's pitch/pass missed Maclin and apparently rolled to the backstop eliciting boos from the Cardinal faithful. I don't expect many incompletions like that between the two this fall.

Interestingly one local writer went as far as to have a major league scout give his appraisal of Daniel's pitching prowess.

His analysis after the jump.

I have to tell you, I'm offended. It seems as though the University of Michigan is interested in everybody (Brady Hoke? Really?) as Lloyd Carr's replacement, and I want to know why nobody's called me. You should see me on my Playstation. I've won back to back national titles with Baylor, people. Baylor.

Still, apparently that's not good enough for the head honchos up in Ann Arbor, because my phone sits here silent. Instead they're trying to figure out a way to get Missouri's Gary Pinkel.

MU coach Gary Pinkel now could be coveted by many other schools seeking coaches, including Michigan, the winningest program in college football history.

So now we can add Pinkel's name to the list of candidates that once included Les Miles, and has had Greg Schiano's name floating around lately as well. Though just because Michigan's interested in Pinkel, it doesn't mean Pinkel is interested in Michigan, yet anyway. When asked about the job, Gary made that much clear.

"I'm not commenting on fiction," Pinkel told the Post-Dispatch, adding, "Nobody's contacted me."

Notice he never said that if Michigan did contact him, that he wouldn't listen. He'd be stupid not to, and Michigan would be stupid not to call Pinkel.

Over the last few years Pinkel has built a top program at Missouri, and has the team going to it's first New Year's Day bowl since 1970. Still, Pinkel is a loyal guy, so who knows if he'd really leave Missouri. Of course, loyalty is nice, but if Michigan drives a truck load of money up to his front door, Gary could survive without it.

The Black squad comprised of the offense, beat up on the Gold team made up of the defense ,72-27 in Missouri's Black and Gold Game on Saturday. The offensive effort is all the more impressive given that starting quarterback Chase Daniel played just two series in the first quarter. He finished the game 8-for-11 for 95 yards and a touchdown. Daniel seems ready to step up as a leader for the Tigers and he feels comfortable with the added pressure of being picked by some to win the Big 12 North.

"If they want to put expectations on us, then bring it on. I'm more than willing to take it on my shoulders, and I know this team is. We've been saying we're going to do a lot of stuff the last couple of years ... but now it's time to do it."

Daniel clearly has the starting job locked up, but it was Chase Patton who stole the show on Saturday. He completed 15-of-24 passes for 192 yards and two touchdowns. His efforts cemented his place as the Tigers' No. 2 quarterback come fall.

"Right now, Chase Patton is No. 2," Missouri Coach Gary Pinkel said. "Where it goes from there in terms of the rest of the depth, we'll see."

Missouri also saw steady improvement this spring from its wide receivers, a group that Pinkel believes his the best he's ever had in Columbia. Starters Will Franklin, Tommy Saunders and Danario Alexander combined for 11 catches and 127 yards in the spring game.

Last Year: (8-5, 4-4) Unranked.

Fans Are: Losing patience, if that's possible after a solid 8-5 season. Not much was expected of Missouri last year, but then the Tigers went out and won their first six games and very nearly a seventh behind a productive offense and stingy defense. Things fell apart soon thereafter as the Tigers went just 2-5 their last seven games including a last-second bowl loss to Oregon State. Coach Gary Pinkel's name has cooled a bit, but for several years he was a flight risk to more prime destinations.

Expectations: Don't repeat last year's heartbreak. Things were going good on both sides of the ball but both the offense and defense were never quite the same after a very winnable midseason 25-19 loss to Texas A&M. Junior quarterback Chase Daniel is one of the nation's best, so a quality offense is expected. The defense must rebuild but the hope is fresh faces can be more consistent than last year's sometimes dominant, sometimes porous unit.

Questions:

1. Can the offense carry this team?

Sure looks like it. A very good quarterback returns. He'll have both of his productive tight ends back. Tony Temple returns to help the running game. The starting line is loaded with juniors and seniors. This is about as good as it gets for an offensive coach and the Tigers back up their experience with a productive offensive scheme.

The goal for this spring should be to get everyone back on the same page and then start to look for next year's starters as these veterans have already proven themselves over the course of the last two seasons.

2. Can this season be a runaway success?

Absolutely. The schedule is difficult, but not daunting. The only elite opponents this year are Oklahoma and Nebraska and maybe Texas A&M. Every other game is categorically "winnable". Those games tend to come down to coaching and veteran poise. Last year Missouri won its winnable games in the first half of the season then lost them in the second half. If last year's players learned anything from those losses this season could be fairly special, in the range of 9-10 wins and a shot at the Big 12 Championship game if division rivals are taken care of.

3. Any closing thoughts?

Chase Daniel is awesome. He's a system quarterback, but he also has moxie and the ability to make plays with his feet. To date he's a better player than the more ballyhooed Brad Smith and should go down as one of the all time Missouri quarterbacks. Coach Pinkel is a quality coach but this season is fairly critical for him in that he must stay loose and avoid collapses like the one that happened last year. He is now the dean of Big 12 coaches and the last man to be named "dean" was soon pushed out the door (Iowa State's Dan McCarney).

In an affront to those who like to ritually get soused tailgating on Saturdays, the University of Missouri is comin' strong with the nyet!

The AP is reporting that University Policy will no longer permit "beer kegs and bulk quantities of alcohol" at football games. The majority of the Missouri fan base know an easier way to curb their consumption: hire a winning football coach. After two disappointing seasons where the Tigers went a combined 12-11 despite having one of the league's best talents in quarterback Brad Smith, the Mizzou faithful are losing their patience with coach Gary Pinkel.

The police's understandable but poorly timed move to curb excessive consumption probably isn't related to Pinkel, but it might as well be as many fans may be looking for any and all reasons to can the coach, be it high oil prices or this.