When Pinkel coached at Toledo, under a 11 game schedule, he used to play 3 nonconference opponents, and 8 league games. To prepare for league competition, he would play 3 different kind of teams:

1. A team you should beat (ex: a FBS or a traditionally bad FCS team)
2. A team that you shouldn't beat to see where you can make improvement and measure yourself by. (a top 25 FBS like team)
3. A 50/50 toss up competitive game to test the team's will to win.

What category do you think Pinkel would put Toledo on Mizzou's schedule???

(09-05-2014 08:23 AM)Terry Wrote:  When Pinkel coached at Toledo, under a 11 game schedule, he used to play 3 nonconference opponents, and 8 league games. To prepare for league competition, he would play 3 different kind of teams:

1. A team you should beat (ex: a FBS or a traditionally bad FCS team)
2. A team that you shouldn't beat to see where you can make improvement and measure yourself by. (a top 25 FBS like team)
3. A 50/50 toss up competitive game to test the team's will to win.

What category do you think Pinkel would put Toledo on Mizzou's schedule???

In what year was this game scheduled? If it were late Stutz/early Beckman era, you'd probably have to take 1.

Gary and our Athletic Director, Mike Alden, have made it very clear to Mizzou fans that this is their non con recipe:

1. An FCS team every year
2. A MAC/Sun Belt/Non "Power" 5 conference team every year
3. A "Solid Power 5" team... Really, a weak one... Indiana, Purdue in a couple of years, etc.
4. The fourth game is a wild card. It's usually been a Conference USA, Mountain West, Sun Belt, MAC school. I know many Mizzou fans would like to see Mizzou start scheduling some of the traditional powers in a home/home.

(09-05-2014 09:46 AM)MizzouBob Wrote:  Gary and our Athletic Director, Mike Alden, have made it very clear to Mizzou fans that this is their non con recipe:

1. An FCS team every year
2. A MAC/Sun Belt/Non "Power" 5 conference team every year
3. A "Solid Power 5" team... Really, a weak one... Indiana, Purdue in a couple of years, etc.
4. The fourth game is a wild card. It's usually been a Conference USA, Mountain West, Sun Belt, MAC school. I know many Mizzou fans would like to see Mizzou start scheduling some of the traditional powers in a home/home.

I'll take being called "the wild card".... that's our style.

This year is Toledo tougher on the road, or UCF at home? Probably equal. But Mizzou WANTS to be 4-0 every season before conference play. If the don't take all 4 then making a bowl gets risky. I personally see Mizzou as a 6/7 win team this year. Better than Kentucky but not a contender in the SEC East. I'm going with over-rated at #24. They really don't return a lot to make noise IMO. Then again last season they started slow and then got rolling...

(09-05-2014 02:06 PM)UofToledoFans Wrote:  This year is Toledo tougher on the road, or UCF at home? Probably equal. But Mizzou WANTS to be 4-0 every season before conference play. If the don't take all 4 then making a bowl gets risky. I personally see Mizzou as a 6/7 win team this year. Better than Kentucky but not a contender in the SEC East. I'm going with over-rated at #24. They really don't return a lot to make noise IMO. Then again last season they started slow and then got rolling...

I'm far more nervous about playing you all than playing UCF at home. Then again, Holeman look mighty good against Penn State in the second half... Still, IMO, the Rockets pose a far more serious threat - road game against a very experience team.

I would tell you if Mizzou only wins 6 or 7 that people will not be happy. I think even the most realistic Mizzou fans would say this team should win 8 to 9 games... going into this season. That's a number I'm not willing to give up on just yet.

And this notion that "we're not bringing much back from last year" has been contrived by the media and isn't truthful. Yes, we lost a lot of talent, but the starters we have this year played a LOT last year.

On offense, only our guard Mitch Hall saw little action. The other 10 starters played major minutes against major SEC competition.

On defense, only LB Michael Scherer and CB John Gibson didn't see valuable minutes. The other 9 current starters saw major PT.

The key to Mizzou's success is Maty Mauk's maturity. If he can settle down, stay in the pocket, increase his completion percentage a bit, and get better on 3rd downs, Mizzou will be very good... and should meet fans expectations.