SIX 1ST-TIME STARTERS GET THE NOD IN OPENER
Three starters on each side of the ball made their first career starts last Saturday versus Arkansas State, as the Tigers cruised to a 44-17 win.

Making their first career starts in the game on offense were WR Will Franklin, OL Mike Cook and OL Joel Clinger.

Making their first career starts on defense that day included LB Derrick Ming, DL Lorenzo Williams and DL Earl Stephens.

THREE TRUE FRESHMEN SEE FIELD AGAINST ARKANSAS STATE
It appears that at least three true freshmen will not take redshirts this season, as three first-year Tigers saw action last Saturday against Arkansas State.

The trio includes TE Chase Coffman, DL Ziggy Hood and QB Chase Daniel.

Coffman, who grew up in the Kansas City area, entered the game on MU's second offensive possession and promptly caught a 16-yard pass from QB Brad Smith to get his feet wet. He later caught a 6-yard pass and capped his solid debut by making a beautiful leaping grab in the back of the end zone in the 4th quarter from Smith to notch his first career TD, from 14-yards out. Coffman made his collegiate debut in the same stadium where his father, Paul Coffman, played professionally. Paul was a standout tight end for the NFL's Kansas City Chiefs (1986-87), and the Green Bay Packers (1978-85), after playing collegiately at Kansas State.

Hood, a defensive tackle who hails from Amarillo, Texas, entered the game on MU's second defensive series as well. Ziggy (that's what he prefers to be called - it's a nickname derived from his grandmother, who could not pronounce his given name Evander) did not record any stats on the day.

The final true freshman to play last week was QB Chase Daniel. The Southlake, Texas, native came in with 6:49 left in the 3rd quarter, and MU leading 37-0. He didn't have the type of debut that was indicative of the fall camp that he put together that prompted his move to No. 2 on the QB depth chart, but Daniel certainly got his feet wet to the collegiate game. In all, Daniel completed 4-of-11 passes for 23 yards and 1 interception. He also rushed 6 times for 22 yards. For you trivia buffs, his first collegiate pass attempt was completed to WR Arnold Britt for a gain of 3 yards.

IN MEMORY OF A.O.
Hearts will be heavy all season on the Tiger sideline, for while MU's team looks to focus on the football side of life, weighing on everyone's mind will be the loss suffered over the summer of redshirt freshman linebacker Aaron O'Neal.

On July 12th, O'Neal participated with his teammates in a voluntary workout in Columbia. He collapsed after the workout and efforts to save him were unsuccessful. His tragic death was later determined to be due to complications arising from Lymphocytic Meningitis (viral).

While the loss was devastating for everyone in the program, the team has resolutely decided to dedicate its season to A.O.'s memory. A helmet decal is being worn to honor the St. Louis, Mo. native. A moment of silence is planned prior to Saturday's game between MU and New Mexico, as well.

Additionally, several other means of honoring Aaron are planned throughout the 2005 season, and beyond. Here's a listing of the planned tributes...

TIGERS WELL-REPRESENTED ON PRE-SEASON AWARD LISTS
While nothing much exciting happens in the off-season, good things were happening for at least five Tiger players, in terms of earning national recognition for the upcoming season.

Five Tigers - all on the offensive side of the ball - earned mention on very prestigious pre-season award watch lists, including QB Brad Smith, OL Tony Palmer, TE Martin Rucker, OL Adam Spieker and WR Sean Coffey. Here's a quick look at who is up for what:

Tigers on Award Watch Lists

Brad Smith TURNS IN SIZZLING 2005 DEBUT; NAMED BIG 12 PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Those wondering how graduate QB Brad Smith (he earned his bachelor's degree in business administration in May of 2005) would take to MU's new offense had all of their questions answered last Saturday, as Smith was dazzling in leading Mizzou to a 44-17 season-opening win over Arkansas State.

Smith had a statistical output of 412 yards of total offense, as he passed for 317 and a career-high (and school-record tying) 4 TDs on the day (6, 1, 7 and 14 yards). Additionally, Smith was MU's leading rusher, as he ran for 95 yards on just 12 carries (7.9 avg.). He did all of this despite playing only 1 series in the final quarter-and-a-half of the game.

Smith completed 29-of-37 passes on the day, without an interception. His single-game QB rating of 186.0 was the 2nd-highest of his career.

On Monday morning, Smith was named the SBC Big 12 Conference Offensive Player of the Week for his efforts. It marked the 5th time that he has won the award, with the other instances coming after performances in 2002 vs. Illinois, in 2003 vs. Nebraska and Texas Tech, and in 2004 vs. Iowa State.

Smith moved into 2nd-place on the MU career rushing chart, as his 95 yards Saturday gave him 3,083 for his career. He moved into 2nd place (past Brock Olivo [3,027 yds.]) and now trails only Zack Abron who stands first, with 3,198 yards.

Smith's 412 yards of total offense was just 7 shy of his personal best, when he amassed 419 in 2003 against Texas Tech (291 rushing, 128 passing)...

Smith's 317 yards passing were the 2nd-most of his career, trailing only the 334 he put up as a redshirt freshman in 2002 at Bowling Green...

LET THE Brad Smith WATCH BEGIN
It seems just like yesterday that a relatively unheraled redshirt freshman QB named Brad Smith ran roughshod over an unsuspecting Illinois team in the 2002 opener. It's actually been three years now, but for Tiger opponents, it probably seems like a decade.

With each game, Smith - who is a graduate student after graduating in May of 2005 with a business degree - continues to draw closer to milestones and records, all the while continually smashing records he's already set.

Smith, already the MU career leader in total offense, has a career total offense number of 9,895 yards in 37 career games. He continues, with every yard, to obliterate the previous record of 6,640 set by Jeff Handy, from 1991-94.

He also already owns the MU career record for TD passes (47), a record he grabbed last year after throwing for a personal-best 17 scores.

The next big records that he's on pace to own include school marks for career passing yards and rushing yards. With 6,812 passing yards entering Saturday's game against New Mexico, Smith stands just 147 yards shy of Jeff Handy's record of 6,959. In the rushing category, Smith currently stands 2nd overall, with 3,083 yards. He moved into 2nd on the list last week, and stands just 115 yards shy of record-holder Zack Abron.

SMITH MOVES INTO TOP-10 ON NCAA ALLTIME LIST
As mentioned above, Smith enters the New Mexico game with 3,083 rushing yards in his career. Every rushing yard he accumulates this year will get him closer to the top of the NCAA rushing record for a quarterback. Smith ranks 10th alltime on the NCAA QB rushing list, as the chart below indicates.

He's still got quite a bit to go to reach the record of 3,895 set by Antwaan Randle El of Indiana (1998-2001), but he has a shot to reach it. Given that he is 812 yards shy of the record entering Saturday's game, and with his career average of 83.3 yards rushing per game, he needs just under 10 more games to break the mark.

Smith's rushing total of 1,406 yards during the 2003 season was the 4th-most ever in a season by a quarterback, behind only Beau Morgan of Air Force (1,494 in 1996), Stacey Robinson of Northern Illinois (1,443 in 1989) and Jamaal Lord of Nebraska (1,412 in 2002).

SMITH ONLY 3RD QB IN NCAA D-I HISTORY TO ACHIEVE 6,000/3,000 FEAT
With 95 rushing yards last Saturday against Arkansas State, Brad Smith passed the 3,000-yard plateau for his career in that category. That put MU's signal caller in rarified air from a national perspective, as he became only the 3rd player in NCAA Div. I-A history to achieve at least 6,000 yards passing and 3,000 yards rushing. In fact, only 4 others altogether have ever achieved the 3,000/3,000 feat.

As we all know, as a redshirt freshman in 2002, Smith became only the 2nd player in NCAA D-IA history to throw for 2,000 yards and rush for 1,000 yards in a single season, when he threw for 2,333 and rushed for another 1,029. He just missed that feat a 2nd time in 2003, when he threw for 1,977 yards and rushed for 1,406.

MORE Brad Smith QUICK SLANTS
We'll try to wrap up the homage to Brad Smith with a few more quick facts...

HARRINGTON LEADS DEFENSIVE CHARGE IN OPENER
Junior LB Dedrick Harrington was quite impressive in the season opener last Saturday against Arkansas State. The Mexico, Mo., native led the Tiger defensive charge that had ASU shut out for the game's first 41 1/2 minutes as the Tigers built a commanding 37-0 lead.

Harrington was credited with 5 tackles on the day, but made several big hits and plays that made him stand out. He grabbed the 2nd interception of his career (his 1st since 2003) in the 3rd quarter when he made a highlight-reel one-handed diving catch over the middle as he leapt to his right to cover an ASU receiver.

"Deke" as he's called by teammates, also registered 1 TFL on the day and was credited with 1 QB hurry as well.

'WILL THE THRILL' ENJOYS CAREER DAY IN OPENER
Sophomore WR Will Franklin displayed his game-breaking skills early and often last week in MU's opener against Arkansas State, as the St. Louis, Mo., native caught 8 passes for 116 yards (both career-highs) and 1 TD (the 2nd of his career).

Franklin's yardage was the most in a game for an MU receiver since former great Justin Gage had 123 in 2002 against Texas A&M. It was also only the second 100-yard receiving game by a Tiger since Gage's '02 game against A&M. Sean Coffey had the other, with a 113-yard outing in 2004 against Arkansas State.

Franklin had 3 plays of 20 yards or more against ASU, including gains of 42, 30 and 22 yards on the day. He got his TD with 8:27 left in the 2nd quarter, on a 6-yard shovel pass, making the score 19-0 in favor of Mizzou.

Franklin also caught a 2-point pass from Smith later in the 2nd quarter - the first conversion of his career. His yardage total ranked 2nd in the Big 12 and 16th nationally, and his 8 catches led the Big 12 (along w/teammate Brad Ekwerekwu) and ranked 17th nationally.

Brian Smith MOVES UP THE QB SACK LIST
Junior DE Brian Smith continued his move up the Mizzou career QB sack list, as he recorded 1.5 more sacks last Saturday versus Arkansas State. Those sacks bumped his career total to 16.5 and moved him past former Tiger C.J. Mosley into 6th-place on the MU charts. His next sack will put him in third place on the list, and he stands only 6 away altogether from the record established by former Tiger All-American DE Justin Smith (22.5 from 1998-2000).

In all, Smith recorded 5 tackles on the day, and 1 QB hurry. His sacks totaled 10 yards in losses.

The Denton, Texas, native led all NCAA freshmen defenders as a redshirt freshman in 2003 with 8 QB sacks. He followed last season with 7 more as a sophomore.

'DYNAMIC DUO' OF WOODS AND TEMPLE SHINE IN OPENER
Mizzou's talented sophomore tailback tandem of Marcus Woods and Tony Temple looked quite comfortable in MU's new offense Saturday against Arkansas State, as the pair of scatbacks scooted and eluded for 152 yards and 2 TDs on only 16 attempts (9.5 yards per rush).

Woods drew first blood, as it were, when he took a pitch and broke through the left side of the line, broke a couple of tackles and raced into the endzone for a 23-yard TD at the 6:10 mark of the 1st quarter to give MU its first score of the 2005 season. It was the longest TD run of Woods' career, and was the 3rd of his career. Woods ended the day with 90 yards rushing on 9 carries (a 10.0 avg. for those of you without a calculator).

Temple, a Kansas City, Mo., native, played before what he estimated were around 100 family and friends in the crowd of over 32,000. He didn't disappoint, as he gained 62 yards on 7 attempts (8.9 avg.), and scored the 1st TD of his collegiate career with 56 seconds left in the 1st quarter on a highlight-reel 6-yard run.

On the play, Temple took a pitch and raced around left end, where he was met at the 5-yardline by a couple of ASU defenders. Temple juked before being wrapped up by one defender as the other fell to the ground. Temple kept his feet and spun out of the tackle attempt, rolled on the back of the fallen defender - all the while never having his own knee touch the ground - and regained his balance to trot into the endzone for the score.

SIMPSON LEADS TIGER DEFENSE INTO 2005 SEASON
Senior S Jason Simpson is the top returner on a defense that was one of the nation's most improved units in 2004. Mizzou ranked among the NCAA's top-25 last season in four major categories, including pass defense (3rd - 149.27 ypg), pass efficiency defense (12th - 104.28 rating), total defense (14th - 301.36 ypg) and scoring defense (23rd - 19.55 ppg).

Simpson was a major reason for MU's upward swing on defense in 2004, as the then-junior enjoyed a breakout year that saw him record a career-high 98 tackles and a team-best 15.0 tackles for loss. He also broke up 6 passes on the year (ranked 2nd on the team) and tied for the team lead in forced fumbles (2), in addition to grabbing his first career interception - a 2nd-quarter heist at Baylor that turned the game in MU's favor for good.

The outspoken and always hard-hitting safety has been signaled out by his teammates for his leadership, as he was voted by the team to serve as a captain for the 2005 season.

Here's a couple of more quick hits about Jason Simpson, who was named a pre-season honorable mention All-American this summer by Street & Smith's...

SPREADING THE WEALTH
Mizzou's new offensive spread attack proved very potent and very generous in its 2005 debut last Saturday against Arkansas State - in terms of getting the ball to many different people. A total of 10 different Tigers caught passes in the game, as MU completed 33-of-48 passes overall for 340 yards and 4 TDs (with 1 INT). Leading the way were WRs Will Franklin (8-116, 1 TD) and Brad Ekwerekwu (8-31, 2 TDs). Ekwerekwu's scoring grabs were the first of the junior's career. Senior WR Sean Coffey caught 4 passes for 82 yards and appeared on his way to a big day before leaving the game midway through the 2nd quarter with an injury to his left shoulder. He was unable to return to the game and could miss an undetermined amount of time. True freshman TE Chase Coffman made quite a debut, as he caught 3 passes for 36 yards, including a beautiful leaping 14-yard TD grab late in the game to account for the final score of the day. Four others caught multiple balls on the day, including TE Martin Rucker (2-23), WR Arnold Britt (2-16), WR Tommy Saunders (2-11) and TB Tony Temple (2-10). The catches for Britt, Saunders and Temple all were career firsts. Also catching one pass on the day were TB Marcus Woods (1-8) and WR Jason Ray (1-7).

MIZZOU-ARKANSAS STATE REWIND
Mizzou opened its 2005 season with a solid 44-17 win over Arkansas State on Sept. 3rd in a game played at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo. Here are a few various and sundry notes from the contest...

MISSOURI USUALLY DOESN'T BEAT MISSOURI ON PINKEL'S WATCH
When Mizzou commits mistakes (turnovers, penalties, etc...), MU Head Coach Gary Pinkel often refers to that as "Missouri beating Missouri." Fortunately for the Tigers' 5th-year skipper, that hasn't happened often at all.

In fact, NCAA stats show that in Pinkel's time at Mizzou (from 2001), MU has had the fewest turnovers in the nation.

In the 48 games in the Pinkel regime, MU has committed 62 turnovers. The next fewest during that same period is Minnesota, with 66. The next best team in the Big 12 is Oklahoma and Oklahoma State, who both have given up 79 turnovers in that stretch.

The Tigers had an uncharacteristic 3 turnovers in the 2005 opener versus Arkansas State, as MU lost 2 fumbles (both by WR Sean Coffey after big gains) and 1 interception (by true freshman QB Chase Daniel). Despite the miscues, the Tiger defense allowed only 7 points to result from the turnovers as MU cruised to a 44-17 win.

Mizzou led the NCAA with fewest turnovers lost in each of the 2002 and 2003 seasons (12 and 13, respectively). In 2004, that total upped to 18 overall (11 INTs and 7 fumbles), which still ranked the Tigers 28th nationally. The 12 turnovers lost for MU in 2002 set a school record.

Under Pinkel, Mizzou has committed zero turnovers in 15 of 48 ballgames. Here's the breakdown by year:

GAMES UNDER PINKEL WITH NO TURNOVERS BY MIZZOU
2005 - (0) - N/A
2004 - (2) - Ball State, at Baylor
2003 - (7) - Illinois, at Ball State, Middle Tennessee, at Kansas, Texas Tech, Texas A&M, Iowa State
2002 - (4) - Ball State, at Nebraska, at Texas Tech, Kansas
2001 - (2) - Nebraska, at Oklahoma State

TIGERS LOOK TO RE-ESTABLISH 4TH QUARTER DOMINANCE
Mizzou will look to get back to its winning ways in 2005, and one ever-important area in which it will need to improve from last season is its play in the fourth quarter of games. Overall, MU was outscored 69-46 in the fourth quarter in 11 games last season. That reversed a trend that had seen the Tigers improve significantly in the final period in the first three years under Gary Pinkel. In 2003, the Tigers were absolutely dominant in the fourth quarter, outscoring foes by a whopping 136-54 margin. That was an average of 10.5 points scored for MU in the fourth, while the 2004 squad averaged just 4.2. Here's a quick look at how MU has fared in the fourth since 2001:

4th Quarter Scoring
2001 - MU 47, OPP 102 (MINUS 55)
2002 - MU 88, OPP 68 (PLUS 20) / (Net change of +75)
2003 - MU 136, OPP 54 (PLUS 82) / (Net change of +62)
2004 - MU 46, OPP 69 (MINUS 23) / (Net change of -105)
2005 - MU 7, OPP 14 (MINUS 7) / (Net change of +16)

In MU's six losses last season, the Tigers were within two scores in five of those games, including two games in which they led entering the final 15 minutes. However, in those six losses, Mizzou was outscored 55-23 in the fourth quarter. See below for details.