issouri vs. Buffalo
On the back of an offense that looks capable of scoring every time it touches the ball, Missouri is tearing through its early season schedule. Last weekend, they tied a school record with 69 points in a landslide win over Nevada. With Chase Daniel at the helm, they have scored in their last 13 trips down the field, 12 touchdowns and one field goal on the way to a 3-0 record and the No. 5 national ranking.
But Daniel is not always under-center for Missouri these days, as his work is often done with more than a quarter of the game to spare.
Against Nevada, even the backups piled more misery on after Daniel had exited in the third quarter, having thrown four touchdowns and reached Brad Smith’s school record in passing yards, now set at 9,513 by the Heisman candidate.
“`We want to score every time we touch the ball,’’ Daniel said. “We know that’s probably not going to happen.”
They came close Saturday, putting together eight scoring drives to start the game, including seven touchdowns, before Daniel made way.
Wide receiver Jeremy Maclin was Daniel’s favored target Saturday, as he has been for much of their career together. The speedy wide-out’s 80-yard touchdown catch early in the first quarter broke the game open and set Tigers’ new passing record.
“I’m doing everything I can to get Chase back to New York. That guy deserved it last year, and he deserves it so far this year,” Maclin said. “He’s the best quarterback in the country. By far.”
In leading the Tigers to the Big 12 Championship game last season, Daniel was honored by being among the Heisman Trophy nominees, but lost out to Florida’s Tim Tebow.
The Tigers, boasting the No. 1-ranked offense in the nation, look to continue their scoring dominance Saturday against a Buffalo (2-1) side that squeaked out a 30-28 win over Temple last weekend in the dying seconds.
Kansas vs. Sam Houston St.
On the other side of the border war, No. 19 Kansas did not fare as well as its higher-ranked rival, falling 37-34 in a titanic struggle on the road to No. 12 South
Florida.
The bold decision to avoid the cupcake schedule of fellow Big 12 powers backfired on the Jayhawks, who despite giving the Bulls all they could handle, fall to the bottom of the Big 12 North standings before conference play even begins.
But while Missouri was putting up record numbers with minimum effort against Nevada and Southeast Missouri State, the Jayhawks braved a hostile Florida crowd, but saw their comeback fall just short.
Junior quarterback Todd Reesing lost for just the second time in his career, the other being last season’s decider against Missouri on neutral ground, despite throwing three touchdowns and looking almost unstoppable in the first half.
Kansas returns to nonconference norms this weekend though, hosting Division-II Sam Houston State before embarking on Big 12 play with a trip to Iowa State in early October.
Lining up under-center for the Bearkats will be a familiar face, former Oklahoma quarterback Rhett Bomar. The Bearkats had little trouble in their season opener, a 58-14 win over East Central in which Bomar tossed four touchdown passes and the offense combined for 474 total yards. They will expect to get a tougher test Saturday against the Jayhawks.
Baylor at Connecticut
After losing their opener against No. 23 Wake Forest, the Bears (2-1) have won their last two games, including a 45-17 trouncing of Washington State last Friday. In last week’s win, true freshman quarterback Robert Griffin was the true star — running for a Baylor record 217 yards on only 11 carries. Griffin also threw for 129 yards and added a touchdown in the air to the two he had on the ground. The Bears will need another huge game from Griffin if they want to take down Connecticut (3-0) on the road Friday night.
The Huskies, who have emerged as a football program in the past few seasons, won a share of the Big East title last season, and with this season’s perfect start they are looking for an outright Big East title and a BCS bowl berth.
Since Griffin has taken over the starting role from Miami transfer Kirby Freeman — who started in the loss to Wake Forest — the Bears are undefeated, winning two games and scoring more than 40 points in each win — something that Baylor has not done for 14 years.
Baylor becomes the second straight Big 12 team to head on the road to face a Big East opponent on a Friday night. The Bears hope they can avoid the outcome Kansas faced last week when South Florida upset the Jayhawks on a last-second field goal. If the Bears want to avoid falling to the Huskies, they will have to slow down Connecticut’s powerful running attack — the Huskies average 297.7 yards a game, which ranks them fifth in the NCAA.
While Griffin’s best asset may be his legs — against Washington State he averaged a Big 12 record 19.7-yards per carry — the freshman has been a strong passer for the Bears. Griffin is completing 62.3 percent of his passes, has thrown for four touchdowns and has yet to throw an interception.
Miami at Texas A&M
Last year’s 34-17 loss at the hands of the Hurricanes may have been the nail in the coffin of former coach Dennis Franchione’s stint as the Aggies’ leader. In his first season, Mike Sherman needs a win over Miami; Not to pay back the Hurricanes for last season’s embarrassment, but to get his team’s season back on track.
After a shocking opening loss to Arkansas State, and the loss of senior quarterback Stephen McGee to injury in the first quarter against New Mexico, Sherman’s first two games as the Aggies’ general have been hectic. But with last week off, the Aggies (1-1) were able to regroup, returning to Kyle Field on Saturday looking for a big win over Miami (1-1).
With the week of rest, McGee, who left the New Mexico game — which the Aggies ultimately won 28-22 — with a sprained shoulder, returned to throwing footballs this week, but Sherman has yet to decide on who will start for on Saturday.
“I’m feeling pretty good,” McGee told The Associated Press on Monday. “I’m just looking for improvement every day, just taking it day by day. I’ve been making big strides these last three days.”
While McGee has been slowly improving, sophomore Jerrod Johnson, who stepped up in McGee’s absence — throwing for three touchdowns in the New Mexico win — is growing more comfortable in his new role at quarterback. Before McGee’s injury, Johnson was splitting practice time at both receiver and quarterback, and whatever McGee’s status is Saturday, Johnson knows he will be ready.
“I’m going in with the intention of playing quarterback,” he said. “If I am prepared for that then I can play any other positions I need to play. I feel pretty confident in my skills at receiver. Whatever they need me to do, I’m ready.”
Massachusetts at No. 11 Texas Tech
Heading into their final warm-up before Big 12 play begins, Texas Tech is still trying to work out the kinks.
Though the No. 11 Red Raiders (3-0) are undefeated so far, in two of the three wins they have looked less than stellar — especially in their 35-19 win on the road against Nevada early this year. In the Nevada win, quarterback Graham Harrell struggled. He completed only 19 of 46 passes, failed to break the 300-yard mark and threw more interceptions than touchdowns — something Harrell had only done three times before in his whole career. After a five-touchdown, no-interception outing against SMU last week, Harrell appears to be back on track — but head coach Mike Leach wants to see more from his squad, especially this week against playoff subdivision Massachusetts (2-1).
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