Using Golfstat and Golfweek/Sagarin numbers: Last 4 in: Colorado, La Tech, Mizzou & BYU... First 4 out: Ohio St, UTA, Miss. St & Charlotte

-- Lance Ringler (@GolfweekRingler) May 3, 2012

The reason there is any doubt is because of the Tigers' relatively poor performance at the John Burns Intercollegiate in Hawaii back in mid-February. Mizzou finished in a tie for 15th place out of 18 teams at the tournament; what's notable about the team's play was that they did so without junior All-American Jace Long, who was held out due to a violation of team policies.

As you can see from Ringler's tweet above, one of the teams Mizzou is battling against for a spot in the field is BYU. Ringler has the Tigers in above BYU in his metrics, but there are ranking systems that have the Cougars ahead of Mizzou. In college golf, head-to-head results are weighted heavily in the rankings. Leroux's crew finished 13 strokes behind BYU at that tournament. There are two specific mitigating circumstances that came together to inaccurately reflect the quality of the Mizzou program at that tournament. While there's no guarantee that changing either result would have altered Mizzou's standing in Hawaii, they cannot be ignored.

First off, a scorecard error by senior Tommie Wuennenberg negated a sparkling 70 on the first day. The scorecard error moved Mizzou from a 5th-place tie after the round down to 15th. The scores were already posted for the day, and the team discovered the mistake after their team meal around 8:30 p.m. "Tommie came to me and said, 'I think there's a mistake on GolfStat. They have me down for a 5 on the 12th hole, and I made 6,'" said Leroux. "We contacted the host coach and SID to confirm; sure enough, we had signed for an incorrect score.

"Mizzou did the right thing and self-reported the mistake. Like any coach or player would do, we brought the error to the committee and made it right."

Restoring that round into the team score alone would have dropped the Tigers' final tournament score by 12 strokes, just one behind BYU. At that point, Long's absence from the tournament is felt. It's completely reasonable that replacing your team's sixth-best golfer with an All-American is worth more than the two strokes Mizzou would have needed to leap the Cougars.

It will be interesting to see if the Men's Golf Committee affords Leroux's team the same consideration the Women's Basketball Committee did in 2004. I was in my third season as Cindy Stein's media relations contact that year, and entering the Big 12 Tournament (back when it was still called a tournament and not a championship), the Tigers had a relatively unimpressive 16-11 record and a No. 7 tournament seed.

As I had noted in my game notes heading into the final weeks of the season, there was an asterisk attached to that record: The team had been beset by injuries all season long, and rarely played with its preferred starting five intact. With a cobbled-together lineup, the Tigers lost five conference games at home -- including three to top-11 teams -- by an AVERAGE of 3.6 points per game. While it might have been a stretch to say Mizzou would have won all five, if just three of those games would have been switched over to wins due to a healthy lineup -- another completely plausible scenario -- the Tigers would have entered the Big 12 Tournament with an RPI of 10. Folks, that's a flat-out lock every year to make the tournament.

The NCAA has done a good job in recent years of pulling back the curtain relative to its selection of teams to the Men's and Women's Basketball tournaments. Its annual mock selection committees have revealed many facets of the selection process to the public that were previously unknown, among them that specific committee members are assigned to specific leagues. I was introduced to that item one morning as I was walking through the lobby of our hotel in Dallas as we prepared to play our first-round Big 12 tournament game. My cell started ringing just before I got to the bank of elevators.

It was the Senior Woman Administrator at Drake University on the other end; as a member of the Women's Basketball Committee that year, she was assigned to the Big 12, and she wanted to verify some of the information she'd read in my game notes. Yes, ma'am, if the team we're about to put on the floor in Dallas had played together all season long, there would be no doubt that it was among the best 64 teams in the country.

It didn't hurt that we won our first-round game to advance to the Big 12 quarterfinals, but in no small part to the committee's knowledge that there were mitigating circumstances in our at-large candidacy, we made the bracket.

I'll be curious to see if the Men's Golf committee takes similar stock in the circumstances surrounding Mizzou's performance in Hawaii. If they do, it's a no-brainer that the Tigers will be in the field.

Using Golfstat and Golfweek/Sagarin numbers: Last 4 in: Colorado, La Tech, Mizzou & BYU... First 4 out: Ohio St, UTA, Miss. St & Charlotte

-- Lance Ringler (@GolfweekRingler) May 3, 2012

The reason there is any doubt is because of the Tigers' relatively poor performance at the John Burns Intercollegiate in Hawaii back in mid-February. Mizzou finished in a tie for 15th place out of 18 teams at the tournament; what's notable about the team's play was that they did so without junior All-American Jace Long, who was held out due to a violation of team policies.

As you can see from Ringler's tweet above, one of the teams Mizzou is battling against for a spot in the field is BYU. Ringler has the Tigers in above BYU in his metrics, but there are ranking systems that have the Cougars ahead of Mizzou. In college golf, head-to-head results are weighted heavily in the rankings. Leroux's crew finished 13 strokes behind BYU at that tournament. There are two specific mitigating circumstances that came together to inaccurately reflect the quality of the Mizzou program at that tournament. While there's no guarantee that changing either result would have altered Mizzou's standing in Hawaii, they cannot be ignored.

First off, a scorecard error by senior Tommie Wuennenberg negated a sparkling 70 on the first day. The scorecard error moved Mizzou from a 5th-place tie after the round down to 15th. The scores were already posted for the day, and the team discovered the mistake after their team meal around 8:30 p.m. "Tommie came to me and said, 'I think there's a mistake on GolfStat. They have me down for a 5 on the 12th hole, and I made 6,'" said Leroux. "We contacted the host coach and SID to confirm; sure enough, we had signed for an incorrect score.

"Mizzou did the right thing and self-reported the mistake. Like any coach or player would do, we brought the error to the committee and made it right."

Restoring that round into the team score alone would have dropped the Tigers' final tournament score by 12 strokes, just one behind BYU. At that point, Long's absence from the tournament is felt. It's completely reasonable that replacing your team's sixth-best golfer with an All-American is worth more than the two strokes Mizzou would have needed to leap the Cougars.

It will be interesting to see if the Men's Golf Committee affords Leroux's team the same consideration the Women's Basketball Committee did in 2004. I was in my third season as Cindy Stein's media relations contact that year, and entering the Big 12 Tournament (back when it was still called a tournament and not a championship), the Tigers had a relatively unimpressive 16-11 record and a No. 7 tournament seed.

As I had noted in my game notes heading into the final weeks of the season, there was an asterisk attached to that record: The team had been beset by injuries all season long, and rarely played with its preferred starting five intact. With a cobbled-together lineup, the Tigers lost five conference games at home -- including three to top-11 teams -- by an AVERAGE of 3.6 points per game. While it might have been a stretch to say Mizzou would have won all five, if just three of those games would have been switched over to wins due to a healthy lineup -- another completely plausible scenario -- the Tigers would have entered the Big 12 Tournament with an RPI of 10. Folks, that's a flat-out lock every year to make the tournament.

The NCAA has done a good job in recent years of pulling back the curtain relative to its selection of teams to the Men's and Women's Basketball tournaments. Its annual mock selection committees have revealed many facets of the selection process to the public that were previously unknown, among them that specific committee members are assigned to specific leagues. I was introduced to that item one morning as I was walking through the lobby of our hotel in Dallas as we prepared to play our first-round Big 12 tournament game. My cell started ringing just before I got to the bank of elevators.

It was the Senior Woman Administrator at Drake University on the other end; as a member of the Women's Basketball Committee that year, she was assigned to the Big 12, and she wanted to verify some of the information she'd read in my game notes. Yes, ma'am, if the team we're about to put on the floor in Dallas had played together all season long, there would be no doubt that it was among the best 64 teams in the country.

It didn't hurt that we won our first-round game to advance to the Big 12 quarterfinals, but in no small part to the committee's knowledge that there were mitigating circumstances in our at-large candidacy, we made the bracket.

I'll be curious to see if the Men's Golf committee takes similar stock in the circumstances surrounding Mizzou's performance in Hawaii. If they do, it's a no-brainer that the Tigers will be in the field.

The way we won that game got me to wondering, when was the last time the Tigers won a game on a goal-line stand?  If it seems like it's been a little while, you're right, it has been, at least in terms of a true goal-line stand.  The last time Mizzou won a game with a defensive stop on a play that originated from inside the MU 10-yardline was back in 2004 at Iowa State.  The other instances I have found from the Big 12 era include two other overtime games - 1997 at Oklahoma State and 1996 vs. Oklahoma State in Columbia.  Again, this is only on plays that were snapped from inside the MU 10-yardline, and don't count game-saving/game-ending interceptions or other types of plays such as the 2008 Alamo Bowl when William Moore batted down a desperation Hail Mary by Northwestern in the endzone to end that overtime win.  It also doesn't include another last-minute win in 2008, when Brock Christopher intercepted a Baylor pass on the Bear 34-yardline with 1:40 to play to preserve a 31-28 win.  There are many other last-minute wins over the years, but I'm talking about the ones which truly count as a goal-line stand.

Here's a look back at those instances, dating back through the Big 12 era...

2011 vs. Texas Tech - Leading 31-27 (after trailing 14-0 in the 1^st quarter, and 27-17 entering the 4^th), Mizzou saw Tech march downfield quickly into the redzone, and with a full complement of time outs, the Red Raiders had a 1^st-and-10 at the Tiger 11-yardline with :44 seconds left.  A short pass in the left flat went for four yards and Tech was forced to used its first timeout (a key development) as two Tigers were there to stop the play for a four-yard gain to the MU 7, with :37 seconds left.  What happened next would send joy throughout Memorial Stadium, as Tech QB Seth Doege's attempted pass over the middle was deflected at the line of scrimmage by the big paws of DT Dominique Hamilton and intercepted at the 4-yardline by DE Michael Sam.  Mizzou took three knees, as Tech used their two remaining timeouts, but the third snap burned the clock and gave Mizzou its sixth win to attain bowl eligibility for a school-record 7^th straight season...

2004 at Iowa State - This was Brad Smith's junior season, and the year had turned into a disappointing one.  The Tigers opened the year 4-1 but a five-game losing streak ensued to knock that record to 4-6 and put the team out of bowl contention (the schedule was only 11 games that season).  With nothing left to play for but pride, the Tigers went to Ames, Iowa, to take on the Iowa State Cyclones, who needed only a win to claim the Big 12 North Division title outright and gain a berth into their first-ever Big 12 Championship Game.  The Cyclones were heavy favorites, but the Tigers were game from the start, and held a 14-7 lead midway through the 4^th quarter before ISU tied it up, and then later missed a 24-yard field goal to force overtime.  In the extra period, Mizzou had the ball first, and got as far as the Cyclone 7-yardline before having to settle for a 25-yard field goal from Adam Crossett to take a 17-14 lead.  Iowa State took four plays to reach the Mizzou 3-yardline, where they had a 1^st-and-goal and tons of momentum, just three measly yards away from their first conference title of any kind in football since 1912.  Mizzou safety Nino Williams crashed hard on a run by ISU RB Stevie Hicks to hold him to no gain on 1^st down, and then safety Jason Simpson forced Hicks out of bounds on the edge on 2^nd down for what was a three-yard loss.  Facing 3^rd-and-goal from the 6, QB Bret Meyer tried to hit TE Jon Davis in the right corner of the end zone, but Mizzou's A.J. Kincade snagged the ball for an interception to end the game, dash Iowa State's title game dreams, and send the Tigers out on a high note in what was a tough last month of the season...

1997 at Oklahoma State - One of the classic games in the last half-century of Tiger football, as the Tigers went to Stillwater and upset the 12^th-ranked Cowboys in double overtime by a 51-50 score.  It was a game of huge momentum swings, as the Tigers gave up the first score of the game but then scored 30 straight points to hold a commanding 30-7 lead after a 23-yard touchdown run by Corby Jones to open the 3^rd quarter.  But the Cowboys wouldn't go away, and they put up 30 straight points of their own to take a 37-30 lead with about two minutes to play.  Jones answered though, and hit Ricky Ross on a 38-yard TD pass with around :30 seconds left to send it into overtime.  After the teams traded TDs in the first overtime period, Mizzou got the ball first in the second OT session, and took a 51-44 lead on a 15-yard run by Corby Jones, followed by Scott Knickman's PAT.  The Cowboys answered with a 6-yard TD run to pull to withing 51-50, and here's where the goal-line stand came into play: OSU chose to go for two points and the win.  The Cowboys lined up for two in a swinging gate formation, but as OSU's Tony Lindsey dropped to pass, he was flushed out of the pocket by Tiger DE Marquis Gibson.  Fellow linemen Donnell Jones and Brian Cracraft were able to hem Lindsey in and tackle him short of the goal line as he tried to run it in for the game-winning score.  Instead, the Tiger defense had made a game-winning stop to improve to 5-3 on the year and win on the road against a ranked opponent - a feat which wouldn't be accomplished by a Tiger team until 2011...

1996 at Oklahoma State - Mizzou claimed a 35-28 win in the first overtime game ever played at MU.  The overtime rule had been put in place for the 1995 bowl game season, and it was adopted in full for the 1996 season.  Had it not been in place, this game would have ended in a 28-28 tie when the Cowboys tied the game up at 28-28 on a 15-yard TD pass from Tone Jones to Andre Richardson with :37 seconds left in regulation.  Mizzou got the ball first in overtime and scored in three plays, as Corby Jones ran for four yards, and that was followed by a 13-yard run by Brock Olivo, and then an 8-yard score by Olivo for a 35-28 lead.  Oklahoma State took over, needing a TD and PAT to tie, or a TD and 2-point conversion to win.  They quickly got into position, as they reached the Tiger four-yardline.  Eventually, OSU faced a 4^th and goal from the 4.  On the 4^th-down play, the Tigers caught a break when Jones threw the ball in the flat toward a wide-open Richardson, who only had to catch the ball and waltz into the endzone.  Richardson, however, just flat out dropped the ball, and when the pigskin fell harmlessly to the grass, the Tigers were victorious in their first overtime game.  Fast forward to 2011, and Mizzou's 10 alltime overtime wins is most in the NCAA...