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FOOTBALL RIP Big Fella

Beautiful memorial and remembrance of DJ and all his philanthropic endeavors, in St. Louis today.
There was a who's-who's of folks around the region coming out to celebrate DJ's life, emcee'd by Randy Karraker and Frank Cuzmono; which included the Mizzou contingency--Coach Drink, Coach Gate, AD Desiree Francois-Reed, among many-many others, who made the trip. Chaifitz Arena was filled with chants of "MIZ!-ZOU!" in honor of the Big fella.

Best game today--Go Green Wave

Tulane is tied up at 14-14 with the University of Spoiled Children.

We are decked out in green with Mardi Gras beads, eating shrimp and red beans and rice soup. My husband is a proud 1982 graduate of Tulane. He earned both his BS ME and his BS MG, with much better grades in the latter.

Tulane beat LSU three out of his four years college and has not beaten them since then. They haven't played in a bowl game since 2002. Only won two games last year. Roll Green Wave.

NEW STORY TEN THOUGHTS FOR MONDAY MORNING

1) Let's start the new year by looking back at the old year. Here are my five individuals involved with Mizzou athletics who had the best 2022. I don't want to rank them 1 through 5 because that makes it too easy for people to tell me where I was wrong. But here would be my top five:

Dennis Gates--Got a new job at a 500% salary increase and thus far has crushed it at that new job

Keegan O'Toole--Tough to get much better than winning an individual national title, which O'Toole did at 165 pounds with a 6-5 decision over Shane Griffith of Stanford

Amari Celestine--Most of you are saying, WHO? Celestine scored a 9.925 on the floor exercise to clinch Missouri's spot in the NCAA Gymnastics finals by .025 over UCLA. Mizzou would go on to finish 5th in the finals.

Luther Burden III--Most will say "but his numbers weren't nearly as good as we thought." But Burden had nine touchdowns. That ranks fourth among all true freshmen in America. He had six touchdown catches, two touchdown runs and a punt return. He also got his face on a bag of potato chips. And should be viewed as one of the potential breakout players in 2023.

Kimberly Wert--Wert set Missouri's career-home run record with a solo shot to beat South Carolina 1-0 in early April. She finished the season hitting .307 with 17 home runs as the Tigers won 38 games and made the NCAA regional field, losing at home to Arizona.

2) Now how about five to keep an eye on in 2023?

Luther Burden III
--Yes, he makes both lists. With Dominic Lovett leaving Mizzou for Georgia, Burden should be the unquestioned No. 1 receiver on the team.

Sam Horn--Will it be Horn throwing those passes to Burden? We don't know yet. But with Brady Cook out for spring football, the freshman is going to get every opportunity.

Kobe Brown--How is a senior a breakout player? Well, he's scored 30 points in back to back games and Missouri has beaten two ranked teams. Brown has a good shot at all-SEC honors, is currently playing like a conference player of the year, and should find himself back in the NCAA Tournament.

Hayley Frank--Frank is averaging 15.9 points per game to lead a Missouri team that's off to a 13-2 (2-0) start. She's shooting 41.1% from three-point range. In a critical year for the program, Frank already has Missouri just five wins from matching last year's total.

Rocky Elam--Elam finished fifh in the country at 197 pounds in his freshman season and then fourth in his second year. He could be the next Tiger to find himself atop the podium at the NCAA Championships.

3) From new faces to familiar ones: On Sunday, Darius Robinson became the latest Mizzou defender to announce he'll be back next season. Robinson will join Jayden Jernigan, Realus George, Kristian Williams and Josh Landry in the middle of a line that now returns its top five defensive tackles. Add in the returns of Chad Bailey, Kris Abrams-Draine, Ennis Rakestraw, Jaylon Carlies and the anticipated returns of Ty'Ron Hopper and Trajan Jeffcoat and there's a lot of reasons to feel good about the Missouri defense. Mizzou jumped 72 spots (106 to 34) in total defense a season ago. They now bring back the vast majority of the production from that group.

4) Here is what Mizzou loses off its defense: Isaiah McGuire, DJ Coleman, Tyrone Hopper, Martez Manuel, Jalani Williams, Devin Nicholson. Those six players played at least 100 snaps last season. Let's take a look at the production Mizzou will have to replace:

Snaps: 1883 total snaps, 20.3% That's not bad. It means Mizzou returns 79.7% of the total snaps played on defense
QB pressures: 70, 33.8%. This is the biggest void. McGuire (35) and Coleman (20) were two of Mizzou's top three pass-rushers
Sacks: 13. 32.5%. McGuire (7) and Coleman (6) led the team
Tackles: 157. 20.3%. Right in line with the percentage of snaps.

Overall, losing McGuire and Coleman hurts. There's no question. Arden Walker and Johnny Walker Jr. are in line to start. The Tigers added Austin Firestone from the transfer portal and will probably look to get at least one or two more. Plus, you could see some of the interior guys slide out to play on the edge from time to time as you did in the bowl game. But in this day and age of college football, bringing back basically 80% of your defense is a huge win.

FOOTBALL Is this wacky football season an abberation? Or a sign of the times?

Wackiest season I can remember since 2007.

More parody has been needed in football for quite sometime.

Again..is this just a flukie year? Or a sign of the way things will be in the era of NIL and transfer portal?

I have said, like many, that NIL and the portal would ruin college athletics...but maybe not?

Also...for three quarters I though Stetson Bennett looked mostly terrible.

And now...he may be the first QB to lead his team to back-to-back National Championships...and we will look back at our near upset of them early this season

And if not Georgia...then the guy who started the season as the back-up QB for his team which was picked 7th in his own conference...will be crowned as champion.

We have all said that our own Tigers look years away from being a team that can compete...but now I'm thinking...MAYBE NOT?

These past few days have sure been fun to watch.

Here's to a happier and better 2023 for all my fellow Mizzou fans!

Citing long established NCAA precedent, an Alabama fan has confirmed that the Crimson Tide could indeed be crowned co-National Champs with a TCU win

Link


“After yesterday’s games, Georgia is number one in the Sagarin Ranking, with Alabama a close second and TCU 8th.

If TCU wins, Alabama will finish number one in Sagarin, with a transitive win over TCU. TCU won’t be able to jump Alabama in the Rankings.

Since we still recognize split National Championships in the CFP era, Alabama is going to be your 2022 National Champion if TCU beats Georgia.

It’s like win a Championship in the pre-coalition days.”

Before you dismiss this as too crazy, which it is, realize in the 1980s they claimed a National Championship in 1941 after going 9-2 and finishing #20 in the AP poll, based on a selector that was discontinued in 1958.

They are not beneath this. Also realize, the “source”
Is an Alabama fan. I would not take this too literally, and save your personal attacks on me for something stupider.

  • Locked
FOOTBALL LSU had a party at the SEC championship game.

Information is slowly leaking, but there was a "sex party" while in Atlanta involving:

- WR Kayshon Boutte (dismissed from team)
- On campus recruiting coordinator (she has resigned)
- Director of recruiting (soon to be fired)
- Cortez Hankton, WR Coach (soon to be fired)
- Associate director of player personnel (soon to be fired

This probably isn't enough to get Brian Kelly fired, but not a good look for a 1st year coach
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