Of meaningless goal line stands, starters and frivolous timeouts

Oct 30, 2024 | Uncategorized

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The Morning Commute for Wednesday, October 30th

Welcome to the Morning Commute

Today we’re talking about a stupid goal line stand.

I debated leaving this be, but what the hell, if nobody agrees with me on this take, at least it’ll serve as therapeutic to get it off my chest.

In Mizzou’s dismal 34-0 loss at Alabama last Saturday, the Tigers had a prime scoring opportunity in the final five minutes of the game to avoid the scarlet letter of a shutout. After a day of ineffectiveness by the Mizzou offense, the Tigers mounted a nice drive that started at its own 10-yardline and reached the Alabama 7-yardline where they achieved 1st-and-goal with a little over six minutes to play. We all know that Mizzou ultimately got held out of the endzone on four rushing attempts.

Watching the telecast, the announcers said that Alabama inserted their starters back into the game once the Tigers got to first-and-goal. I have no proof they did or didn’t, but if Alabama did as the announcers stated, and sent starters back out there to preserve the shutout, I think that’s pretty lame and a move that a championship-caliber program should see itself above making. And maybe even worse was the timeout they called when it was 4th-and-goal from the 1-yardline. I thought that timeout was especially bush league.

Has Alabama sunken so low that their reserves can’t bow up and defend their honor against an already defeated team that was trailing 34-0 in the closing moments?

Listen, I’m not saying that ‘Bama owed Mizzou anything or should take it easy on the Tigers. This is big-boy football and it’s on Drink and his forces to put up a respectable fight. And in the current playoff era, I also understand Alabama is fighting for their playoff lives, so I get that a shutout win over a ranked team would look much better aesthetically to the CFP committee than a “mere” 34-7 victory.

But come on, sending starters back out? And calling a timeout with four minutes left in a game with an outcome that was decided after the first drive of the third quarter? Those moves were completely unnecessary. Just let it play out and see what happens.

Do I blame Alabama for doing it the way they did? Begrudgingly, no.

At the same time, do I think it was complete weak sauce? Why, yes. Yes, in fact I do.

You want to call it sour grapes on my part? That’s fine, I can live with that assessment. I might just be old-school enough in that I don’t think we would have seen the same move conducted by former Tiger coach Gary Pinkel. He would have let the reserves fend for themselves, in my opinion.

Anyway, congrats to Alabama for their precious little shutout. I hope it lifts their program to new unseen heights.

At least I’m not bitter about it. And thanks for letting me get that off my chest.

This week’s SEC Shorts video was pretty clever if I do say so myself (and I do). Maybe not the funniest one ever but it is worth a watch…

Yesterday at Rock M and Rock M+

Nate Edwards broke down Mizzou’s performance at Alabama in Beyond the Box Score. Spoiler alert: it wasn’t pretty…

Mizzou went 3-and-out five times on the day, including the first two drives, and threw 3 interceptions. That’s 8 of your 12 possessions essentially covering very little ground or absorbing any time at all for a game plan that, I’m assuming, was geared around a ball-control, low possession, grind-it-out approach.

The season ultimately comes down to the final four games remaining and just how the Tigers will handle business going forward – with or without their starting QB.

The weekly Revue by Josh Matejka laments the hurt that Mizzou football puts on us diehards every so often…

And even though I don’t love the circumstances of this game or this season, I still do love this team. I have to! It’s an extension of my fandom. I hope they win the rest of their games 1,000,000 to nothing, even if they have played some pretty breathtakingly disappointing football this year. I love this Mizzou Football team, even if watching them sometimes feels more like dental surgery.

The psychology of fandom is something else. We get our hopes up, those hopes get dashed, leaving us sad and wishing we didn’t care so much. Then, we jump right back in the next year. Because, college football!

Tuesday’s Morning Commute by Sammy Stava featured football kick time news, an exciting recruiting addition to the Tiger hoops team, and more awards for the volleyball squad, which is having a very nice 2024 season.

The best sport at Mizzou right now? That may very well be volleyball. At 15-5 overall and 6-2 in SEC play, the Tigers come in at No. 24 in the latest RPI rankings and are receiving votes in the latest polls.

You can catch the Mizzou volleyball team live at 9th-ranked Texas this Friday evening at 8 pm (central time) on the SEC Network.

Hoops season is essentially upon us, and Sam Snelling continues his Mizzou basketball opponent season previews, this time detailing the Tennessee Volunteers.

Rick Barnes has elevated Tennessee basketball, can he take the next step and get them to a Final Four?

The Vols brought in one of the highest-scoring transfers in the country for the 2024-25 season, but a ton of roster turnover has Sam and others taking a wait-and-see approach with Barnes’ team this season.

Over at Rock M+, we’re talking about hoops’ exhibition vs. Lincoln and of course all the analysis inherent with it.

It’s nice to see Mitchell’s assertiveness early, because Dennis’ offense works best when he has a four-man who can shoulder the load. And like Watkins noted this summer, this roster has a surplus of possessions/usage. Ideally, Dennis can trim down or redistribute some Tamar’s touches. They can sand out Tony’s inefficient mid-range pull-ups. Obviously, this is Lincoln, and we’ll see actual resistance applied in a week, but it’s heartening to see some familiar trends return.

Let’s all hope for an exciting and much-improved year on the hardwood.

Rock M Radio: Shifting expectations after Alabama game

Later this week, I’ll be recording the next episode of the MO Show on Rock M Radio with special guest Laird Veatch, Mizzou’s new-ish Director of Athletics. Be sure to look for the episode in the next week where you get your podcasts.

Subscribe to Rock M Radio on Apple Podcasts. Or stream episodes through Megaphone or Spotify. Have a question for us? Leave a 5-star review with your question and that show just might answer it in an upcoming episode!

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