Weekend Leftovers – Palmyra, Culver Stockton, Mizzou, Rams & Chiefs

Good to see Palmyra break through and get into the win column with a 21-12 win over South Shelby. Solid effort. For the most part, the Panther defense was crisp with lots of gang tackles and good hitting.

South is going to be a tough customer for everyone on their schedule regardless of enrollment and they’ll be a tough out again come November. Hated to see Wes Mefford leave with an apparent knee injury on the fourth play of the game. He’s a great talent and a huge part of the Cardinals football team.

Things that make a difference-Fumbles.

I saw two college football teams combine for ten fumbles (six resulted in turnovers) in a game played on a dry field with pleasant early fall weather Saturday afternoon. Culver Stockton lost three of their seven fumbles. Wildcat QB’s threw two interceptions. (This comes after I watch two games in downpours last weekend and a game in Palmyra on Friday night played on a sopping wet field following late afternoon & early evening rain. Both those games passed with minimal turnovers.)

Turnovers made a huge difference in Missouri’s loss to Georgia. An interception and a fumble by QB James Franklin turned a very close game into a 21 point win for the Bulldogs in a hurry. Georgia did not want to be in a one possession game down the stretch with the ability Mizzou receivers have to get behind the defense.

The Georgia fans—and there were a lot of them in the usual corners for visitors started a chant of “Grown Man Football” late in the game. Obviously a response to Sheldon Richardson’s pop off early last week.

I did notice that on a couple series, Mizzou’s offense ran some plays with unbalanced lines, three offensive tackles (Looked like they may have had four OT’s out there on at least one play..) and a couple other traditional running offense looks. Old Man Football?

I’ve been a regular at Mizzou football games since 1988 and I’ve never seen anything like the scene around Faurot between 6 p-m and midnight. The crowd was huge, and wound up. Not sure how they got all those people into Memorial Stadium, but they did. The atmosphere exceeded the big Nebraska and Oklahoma games in the last few years before the original Big 12 breakup.

At least no Mizzou fans reacted to the loss like our new conference neighbors did. Thanks to the good folks at Saturday Down South for pointing this out.

No one in Lawrence reacted to losing NCAA basketball tournament games in this manner…at least so far as I know.

Things that make a difference—Being smart.

MEMO to Rams WR Brandon Gibson. It isn’t wise to shove a defensive back to the ground in front of an official after the play is dead. Yes, they are replacement officials, but they’re going to be observant enough to notice that.

Being Smart Part II.

Know what you’re ingesting. Tamba Hali of the Chiefs had to sit out the Falcons game for a minor violation of the NFL substance abuse policy. Not having Hali took a huge chunk out of the pass rush ability for the Chiefs against a QB who must be pressured. The lack of pressure made even more trouble for the Chiefs secondary which was missing a starting corner and a starting safety. The replacements weren’t good enough against a solid Falcons passing game.