Live Wire Blog

Dueling commanders

Posted on Dec. 1, 2007 by Chris Blose
Category: 2007 Big 12 Championship

Gary Pinkel often refers to Chase Daniel as a “battlefield commander” who has several “weapons” at his disposal. The metaphor makes sense in reference to Mizzou’s high-powered offense, with ranks fifth nationally in total offense and which is the only team in the country to score more than 30 points in every game in 2007.

Here are a few more stats to chew on before today’s game.

• Chase Daniel ranks second in the Big 12 and fourth in the NCAA in all of these categories: touchdown passes (33), completion percentage (70.5 percent), completions per game (29.08), total offense per game (350.75) and passing yards (3,951). He’s not far behind in several other categories.
• Martin Rucker has the most receptions per game (6.36) of any tight end in the country.
• Jeremy Maclin already holds the NCAA freshman record for all-purpose yardage (2,509).
• Jeff Wolfert is perfect in field goals and extra points in Big 12 play this year and, in fact, in his entire Big 12 conference career. That’s 87 straight kicks made.

With all that offense, though, the defense’s increasingly tough performance often gets overlooked. In Big 12 play, Mizzou ranks first in the conference in total defense. William Moore leads the Big 12 in interceptions (7) and has stepped up in the absence of a much-missed Pig Brown.

The team knows it faces a true challenge in Oklahoma, though. OU quarterback Sam Bradford has built some numbers like Chase Daniel’s, with 32 touchdown passes. Bradford leads an offense whose 43.83 points per game actually top Mizzou’s 41.92.

“Our guy has done pretty well,” OU Coach Bob Stoops said at the press conference yesterday. “For the first time being out there as a redshirt freshman, we couldn’t ask for much more.”

The Mizzou players also respect Bradford’s abilities. “He’s really poised in the pocket, especially for a freshman,” defensive lineman Lorenzo Williams said earlier in the week. “We’ve just got to get to him.”