The Missouri Tigers are 8/1 odds favorites to win the BIG XII title game and have a 25/1 odds chance to win the BCS National Championship according to oddsmakers at SportsBetting.com.The Mizzou offense returns nearly intact from an explosive unit that showed it can score on almost any team, any where at any time. If Coach Gary Pinkel can find answers in shoring up the Missouri defense the team should find itself on the fast track to the league championship game in December.
Coming into the new season, the offense isn’t the subject of concern with the return of record setting junior quarterback Chase Daniel . Joining Daniel are his most reliable weapons from The Missouri Tigers are picked by the media to win the BIG XII North primarily because the 2006 campaign including the top rusher Tony Tucker and possibly the best tight end combination in the league in Martin Rucker and Chase Coffman. Daniel can also feel secure that he has four returning senior starters on the offensive line.
Now to the question at hand; how bad is the Mizzou defense and what will be needed to bring it up to league standards? According to Pinkel, the defensive situation isn’t as bad as it seems.
“Most of the players that are replacing the starters that we lost, have played a lot or have started games,” Pinkel expressed to the media in the July meetings.” So I think we have more experience than what might appear. I think we're young in some of our back-up spots. But I think we've also got some talent.”
Fortunately for Pinkel, his defense has two starters returning on the defensive line in senior all-conference tackle Lorenzo Williams and junior Ziggy Hood. The linebacker corps will see two new starters and both defensive ends must be replaced. Currently there is plenty of competition in camp for who will get the starting nod at those positions.
Mizzou does not have the luxury of having two or three cupcakes on the schedule to provide a warm-up prior to its conference opener with Nebraska on October 6th. The Tigers open the season against Illinois in St Louis on September 1st and then must travel to face an improving Ole Miss team in Oxford the next week. If Mizzou comes out of those two games unscathed, they should be 4-0 going into the Nebraska game with only Western Michigan and Illinois State to face.
