Missouri (11-2) vs.
Arkansas (8-4)
Jan. 1st,
11:30 a.m. ET, Fox
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 |
|
National
Rankings |
|
Missouri |
Arkansas |
|
Total Offense |
|
5th 492.69 ypg |
16th 457.42 ypg |
|
Total Defense |
|
59th 380.31 ypg |
45th 357.83 ypg |
|
Scoring Offense |
|
7th 40 ppg |
9th 39.83 ppg |
|
Scoring Defense |
|
44th 24.54 ppg |
49th 25.58 ppg |
|
Run Offense |
|
46th 164.92 ypg |
3rd 296.75 ypg |
|
Run Defense |
|
26th 118.85 ypg |
54th 146.67 ypg |
|
Pass Offense |
|
7th 327.77 ypg |
112th 160.67 ypg |
|
Pass Defense |
|
100th 261.46 ypg |
36th 211.17 ypg |
|
Turnover Margin |
|
14th 0.85 |
26th 0.50 |
|
Missouri
Illinois
W 40-34
at Ole Miss
W 38-25
West Mich
W 52-24
Illinois St
W 38-17
Nebraska
W 41-6
at
Okla L 41-31
Tex Tech
W 41-10
Iowa State
W 42-28
at Col. W 55-10
Tex A&M
W 40-26
at
Kan St W 49-32
Kansas
W 36-28
Big 12 Champ.
Oklahoma L 38-17 |
Arkansas
Troy
W 46-26
at
Alabama L 41-38
Kentucky
L 42-29
North Texas
W 66-7
Chatt.
W 34-16
Auburn L 9-7
at
Ole Miss
W 44-8
FIU
W 58-10
S Carolina
W 48-36
at
Tenn. L 34-13
Miss State
W 45-31
at LSU W 50-48 3OT |
|
Position
Ratings
relative to each
other |
|
M |
5
highest
1 lowest |
A |
|
5 |
Quarterbacks |
3 |
|
3.5 |
RBs |
5 |
|
5 |
Receivers |
3 |
|
4 |
O
Line |
4 |
|
3.5 |
D
Line |
3.5 |
|
3.5 |
Linebackers |
3.5 |
|
3 |
Secondary |
4 |
|
4 |
Spec
Teams |
2 |
|
4 |
Coaching |
2.5 |
|
There's the possible No. 1 pick in the
2008 NFL Draft, or at least one of the top three, in Darren
McFadden, there's a Missouri team that was No. 1 in the nation for a
cup of coffee before losing to Oklahoma and being put on the
pay-no-mind list by the BCS. It's one of the most prestigious of the
non-BCS bowl games, and always on the must-watch list of New Year's
Day games, but the biggest figure looming over the game won't even
be there.
With all the craziness surrounding the
Bobby Petrino hiring at Arkansas, there's still a whale of a matchup
in what might be more entertaining and better than any of the BCS
bowls other than the championship. How can you not have fun with the
nation's seventh (Missouri) and ninth (Arkansas) ranked scoring
attacks with the two teams combining to average close to 80 points
per game?
Missouri has the biggest BCS beef going 11-2, with both losses to
Oklahoma, along with wins over big-game invitees Illinois and
Kansas. The Cotton might be seen as a consolation prize, but it's
still an important game for the future of the Tiger program as many
are wondering if this season was a bit of a fluke, or if it was a
signal that it's here to stay as a Big 12 powerhouse.
Consistency hasn't exactly been the norm around Columbia, but a win
here would likely mean a certain preseason top ten ranking, if not
top five, and would continue to make this college football's hot new
team. If Missouri wants to prove to the world that it belonged in
the Orange Bowl, it should come out roaring against an Arkansas team
that's shown glimpses of greatness mixed in with a few total
clunkers.
Call this a period on the end of a very interesting, very tumultuous
era of Arkansas football. Reggie Herring will be the interim coach
while Petrino gets settled in and tries to avoid interviewing for
another job, and he'll get the honor of coaching McFadden in his
final NFL game. While the two-time Heisman runner-up has said he
hasn't made up his mind yet about leaving early, let's be serious
here. Everyone will be tuning in to see if he can make a little more
magic on a big stage, while the pro scouts will be watching and
praying he gets through it in one piece.
The SEC has owned the Cotton Bowl recently with four straight wins,
but the following season, the winning team has been less than
scintillating. Ole Miss beat
Oklahoma State in 2004, and then the Rebels went 4-7 the next year.
Tennessee blasted Texas A&M in 2005, and then went 5-6. Alabama beat
Texas Tech in a surprising defensive struggle, and then went 6-6 and
canned head coach Mike Shula. Last year, Auburn beat Nebraska in a
yawner, and then had a mediocre 8-4 season.
Four of the last six Cotton Bowls have been decided by seven points
or fewer, and while there are a slew of great early games on New
Year's Day, this one deserves at least a few moments of undivided
attention.
Players to watch: It's not hard to find marquee names to
start the year off with two Heisman finalists in Darren McFadden
and Chase Daniel. For McFadden, this is a final showcase
game to up his stock and his cachet even more after rushing for
1,725 yards and 15 touchdowns. He was the big name last year in the
Capital One Bowl loss to Wisconsin, but after running 19 times for
85 yards, the biggest highlight came when he was caught from behind
on a breakaway run by Badger CB Jack Ikegwuonu.
Daniel should be one of the leading Heisman contenders going into
2008, assuming he doesn't make an ill-advised decision to leave for
the pros early. Returning to his native Texas, he'll try to end the
season on a positive note after being held to 219 yards and for the
first time all year, no touchdowns, in the Big 12 title loss to
Oklahoma. The Arkansas pass defense might be fifth in the nation in
pass efficiency defense and 36th in pass D, but it lost to the two
top passers it faced, Kentucky's Andre Woodson and Tennessee's Erik
Ainge, and needed an all-timer of a rushing day from McFadden to get
past 364 yards from South Carolina's Blake Mitchell. Watch for
Daniel to come back with one of his most efficient and focused games
of the year.
Looking to make yet another national statement, and be considered
among the top returning players in 2008, is burgeoning Tiger star
Jeremy Maclin, who came up with 77 catches for 1,023 yards and
nine touchdowns, with 27 grabs over the last three games of the
year. The coaching staff tries to get the ball in his hands in every
way possible with 349 rushing yards and four touchdowns on 46
carries, while he's also a devastating kick and punt returner. The
Arkansas defense will do everything possible to keep him contained,
which should open things up for Mizzou's pair of All-America tight
ends, Martin Rucker and Chase Coffman. Rucker, a
senior, led the team with 81 catches for 815 yards and eight
touchdowns, while Coffman struggled through bone spurs in his ankle
and struggled over the final few games. Despite being a top pro
prospect with 156 career catches and 20 touchdowns, the junior is
expected to return for his senior year
While Arkansas might be all about McFadden, Felix Jones and
the running game, it should finally have top receiver Marcus Monk
as healthy as he's been all season long. A dangerous matchup
nightmare, the 6-6, 220-pound senior hasn't been right from day one
after undergoing knee surgery just before the year began. While he
made 12 catches for 116 yards and three touchdowns over the second
half of the year, he was hardly the same weapon who averaged 19.24
yards per grab with 11 touchdowns in 2006.
Arkansas will win if...
it stuffs the run. Daniel is a tremendous talent who can get out of
bed and throw for 350, but he tends to press if the Tiger ground
game isn't going anywhere. He was fantastic as a sophomore, too, but
as the season went on, he tried to make more and more plays happen
on his own and the attack bogged down way too often. In the two
games against Oklahoma, Mizzou was held to 57 rushing yards and 98,
two of the three times all year it was kept under 100 yards. The
other time was in the season opener against Illinois, and that was
the one other near miss. This isn't a great Hog run defense, but
it's strong enough to focus just on Tony Temple and make Daniel try
to exorcise the Oklahoma demons on every play.
Missouri will win if... Casey Dick stinks. Arkansas will
run on everyone, but if it's not getting an efficient game from its
starting quarterback, forget about it. Dick is auditioning for the
new coaching staff after coming off two of his strongest
performances of his career, completing 14 of 17 passes for 199 yards
and four scores in the win over Mississippi State, and hitting ten
of 18 throws for 94 yards and a touchdown in the win over LSU. He
completed more than half his passes in each of the eight wins, and
completed under half his throws in three of the four losses
completing 48% of his throws with six of his nine interceptions
coming in the defeats. The Tiger secondary gives up 261 yards per
game but is decent at forcing mistakes. It needs to make more big
plays than it gives up.
What will happen: Before all the coaching wackiness, this
seemed like a perfect chance for Arkansas to make a big statement
for the SEC and run past the Tigers in a shootout, and while Herring
will do a great job, the loss of Houston Nutt might be just enough
of a distraction to tip the scales in a relatively even game. The
Arkansas defense isn't good enough to handle the Missouri offense if
all the parts are working, with not enough of a pass rush to screw
up Daniel. Arkansas will run for over 250 yards, but it won't be
enough to overcome 350 passing yards and four touchdowns from
Daniel.
Line: Missouri -3.5 ... CFN Prediction:
Missouri
38 ... Arkansas 28
2008 Cotton Bowl History, Each Team's Best Bowl Moments, & More