I need to bring the board down in order to launch a new look and feel. The board will be down at midnight for around 10-15 minutes.
2008 Tigerboard Football Prediction Contest Open!
Posted by Nick - 8/24 6:11pm
You can now start submitting your score predictions for the 2008 Tigerboard Football Prediction Contest. Pretty much everything is the same as in years past except we are paying 3 places this year. $300 for 1st, $150 for 2nd, and $50 for 3rd.
This guest article comes to us from CorpusTiger. Thank you CorpusTiger!
Missouri Tiger football fans are indeed "strangers in a strange land" as we approach the 2008 football season. Tickets for the "Arch Rivalry" game in St. Louis are impossible to get (and those that are found are purchased through the Illini website); seats for the away game at Texas are being rationed severely as portions are halved and halved again; recruits who formerly snubbed Mizzou are staying home and lining up for the chance to take a place in the Tigers' offensive and defensive systems; multiple Tiger players (Chase Daniel and Jeremy Maclin) are mentioned as candidates for the 2008 Heisman trophy; national magazines proclaim the Tigers' William Moore to be the best college safety in America; these same magazines also list Missouri as one of a handful of teams likely to play in the FedEx National Championship game on January 8, 2009. Something or someone has turned the college football world upside down in just a few short years, and we don?t have to search far for who it is.
Three years ago Chase Daniel rode north out of Texas, looking for a coach who believed in him and who would give him the opportunity to fulfill his potential. Credit Coach Pinkel for recognizing Daniel to be the game-changer and touchdown-maker that he is, but credit Daniel for being the person that he is, and for setting an extraordinary example that has been followed by his teammates up and down the line. Those of us who have played organized sports on at least the high-school level know that, in truth, more often than not, the stars of the team set both the tempo and the attitude that their teammates and the coaching staff have to follow. Imagine, if you can, Chase Daniel with a bad attitude, and imagine how destructive he could be. The fact that opposing coaches and players marvel at Missouri?s "team attitude" and "one-for-all" spirit is a credit to Coach Pinkel and his staff, but it is more of a credit to Daniel, who, as perhaps the greatest player in college football today, chooses to remain a "team player". A tip of the cowboy hat to you, Chase, for being the person and player that you are, and for bringing hope and joy to legions of Missouri fans who had begun to believe that they would never see the good football times again. We shall not see your kind ride by again anytime soon.
A tip of the cowboy hat, also, to Chase Patton, the home-town hero from Columbia Rock Bridge who has chosen to follow his heart and to play backup quarterback for Ol' Mizzou rather than trade in his Division I status for a couple of snaps at a subdivision school. Patton is probably the third or fourth-best quarterback in the Big 12, but his candle remains dimmed because he plays behind the best college football player in America today. Chase Patton, we thank you for your service, we?re proud of you, and, as always, we hope we never find out how good you really are.
Now for the upcoming season. I?m going to resist the "drug high" that we were all on during the 2007 season by being decidedly pessimistic about the Tigers' schedule. Of the three toughest games that face us this year (Illinois in St. Louis, Nebraska at Lincoln, TEXAS at Austin), 2.5 of them are "away" games. We'll be lucky to win one of these games, and may in fact lose all three of them (of course, in actuality, Chase will throw for a hundred touchdowns and a zillion yards in Austin, as he gets his one chance to show Mack Brown what a real college quarterback looks like, so we can tuck this one in our back pocket). The Huskers' butts still hurt from the kicking we gave them last October in Columbia, so they and the 90,000+ fans that cheer them on in Lincoln will be eager for the rematch. And as for Illinois, well, the Zooker is building a Big Ten dynasty, every year laying on better and better players, and the Illini don't like to lose in St. Louis.
The remainder of the schedule looks only slightly less difficult, as Colorado, K-State and Okie State look tough in Columbia, the season-ending match with KU in Kansas City is no walk-over, and any trip to Ames, Iowa is an adventure. The only "gimmees" on the schedule look to be Baylor and the three blind mice that someone scheduled as home games in September.
Overall, I see us winning the Big 12 North again with a 10-2 record, and, since the Big 12 Championship game in Kansas City is a home game for us, defeating either Texas or Oklahoma in that game. On a neutral field, Oklahoma would take us (as they did twice last year), but 85-90% of the fans in attendance at Arrowhead that night will be rooting for the Tigers, so I'll give us the game there.
The BCS will not want to snub us again, so, yes, we will play in the FedEx National Championship game on January 8, 2009, even with two losses (as did LSU last year). As for who we play, and who wins the game, I?ll let you decide.
These are unforgettable days to be a Tiger fan. Let's enjoy them with class. We lost for years and tried to maintain our dignity. Let's try to maintain our dignity this year as we pummel opponent after opponent. Let's show America that we can win with class as well as lose with class. We've earned these good times; let's enjoy them with grace and dignity as we watch THE MISSOURI TIGERS, THE BEST COLLEGE FOOTBALL TEAM IN AMERICA, school opposing players and coaches on how to play the game. GO TIGERS !!!!
