Fighting the Illinois Fighting Illini: Previewing the Missouri Tigers, Part I
By Editorial Staff
Each week, Writing Illini will preview the Illinois Fighting Illini football team’s upcoming opponent, including a recap of the 2009 season, an examination of recent games played between the universities, and a preview of the key individual and team matchups heading into this year’s contest.
Up first is the Missouri Tigers, which the Illini will face at 11:40 a.m. central time on Saturday morning at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis, Missouri.
How Missouri Fared in 2009
The Tigers went 8-5 in 2009, finishing second in the Big 12 North behind soon-to-be Big Ten member Nebraska.
Missouri had a disappointing stretch in the middle of its schedule, where it lost 4 of 5 games to Big 12 opponents, but was undefeated in its regular season non-conference schedule.
The Tigers entered the ’09 season with some big-time question marks after the departures of 23 seniors, including star quarterback Chase Daniel and All-American wide out Jeremy Maclin.
Sophomore Blaine Gabbert was given the keys to the offense and never looked back, winning Big 12 offensive player of the week honors after his first career start against Illinois and continuing his stellar play throughout the rest of the season.
While the Tigers had a winning season in 2009, their youth showed at times, particularly late in the year.
Missouri’s first three losses came in tough games against top-25 opponents. However, the Tigers were stunned at home by a 4-8 Baylor team late in the season, and an unranked Navy team crushed the Tigers in the Texas Bowl.
Coming into 2010, the tables have turned in the Illinois-Missouri rivalry.
The Tigers return 16 starters, including Gabbert, who is on the preseason Davey O’Brien award watch list for the best collegiate quarterback.
As for Illinois, the Illini are starting a redshirt freshman quarterback in Nathan Scheelhaase, dealing with some difficult injuries and facing much scrutiny with head coach Ron Zook on the hot seat.
Tigers Look to Stick It to the Big Ten
Anyone who follows college football knows about the summer drama with conference expansion.
As detailed in Writing Illini’s Top 5 Offseason Headlines, the Big Ten added Nebraska to the conference, and the Cornhuskers will begin competing in the conference at the start of the 2011 season.
Now what does this have to do with Missouri?
Well, the Tigers were the first Big 12 team to publicly admit that they would be open to talks about joining the Big Ten. This happened very early on in the expansion process, and the fact the Tigers were so open and willing to publicly consider the Big Ten upset many Big 12 members.
The Big Ten remained very mum on the subject, but the media had a field day guessing how the expansion would go. The general consensus was that no matter how many teams were added, Missouri would be one of them.
However, due to Colorado’s departure to the PAC-10 and the national fear that the Big 12 would fall apart, Nebraska was invited into the Big Ten instead of Missouri, which left the university in a very uncomfortable situation with the rest of the conference due to its past comments and uncertain future.
Missouri felt that it had been led on with promises of an invitation to the Big Ten simply to lure Nebraska out of what it considered an unstable situation.
Missouri is now stuck in a conference that its administration has publicly referred to as inferior to its own school.
Don’t think that the rest of the Big-12 conference has forgotten.
While Nebraska is bound to be the team-to-beat on every Big 12 school’s schedule this season, the Tigers will not receive any warm receptions from their conference brethren in the near future.
While the Arch Rivalry has always been a heated albeit one-sided matchup, Missouri will be sure be motivated to to beat an Illinois team from a Big Ten conference that left it out to dry.
Not that the Tigers have had a hard time getting motivated in the past, or beating the Illini.
Arch Rivalry History
Illinois and Missouri play a rivalry game in both basketball and football.
While the Braggin’ Rights game for basketball has been a regular fixture for 30 years, the Arch Rivalry did not officially come about until 2002.
Illinois and Missouri have played each other 5 times since then, always at the neutral Edward Jones Dome in St. Lewis.
The Tigers are 5-0 in the official Arch Rivalry games, and 16-7 all time against the Fighting Illini.
After the 2010 matchup, both schools have declared that the rivalry will take an indefinite hiatus.
Both schools claim that the neutral site takes away a home game and revenue from the programs.
If the rivalry was to continue in the future, it would be a home-and-home series like the Michigan-Ohio State or Alabama-Auburn rivalries.
Below are short recaps of the past 5 official Arch Rivalry games.
August 31, 2002
Missouri 33, Illinois 20
The first official Arch Rivalry game was much closer for most of the game than the final score would have you believe.
The two teams were tied 7-7 after the first quarter and 14-14 early in the third quarter before disaster struck for the Illini late in that quarter.
Missouri recovered a fumble and returned it for a touchdown and, despite missing two consecutive 2-point attempts, posted 19 unanswered points in under 9 minutes.
Illinois scored again with 11 minutes left in the game to make it 33-20, but the Illini failed on a 2-point conversion and did not score again.
August 30, 2003
Missouri 22, Illinois 15
Missouri scored a late touchdown to steal this one from an Illinois team that had held it in check for most of the game.
After being unable to find the end zone in the first half, Illinois went into halftime trailing 14-6.
However, Illinois stormed back in the second half, taking a 15-14 lead early in the fourth quarter and appearing in control before Missouri got the ball midway in the fourth quarter and went on a 6 minute scoring drive to snatch a victory from the Illini.
The rivalry would take a 4 year hiatus after this game.
September 1, 2007
Missouri 40, Illinois 34
In 2007 the Arch Rivalry would resume with Illinois now coached by Ron Zook.
After digging themselves in a 37-13 hole late in the third quarter, the Illini would come storming back under backup quarterback Eddie McGee and star back Rashard Mendenhall.
With just under 14 minutes left in the fourth, Illinois narrowed the gap to three points at 37-34.
After Missouri made a field goal with under three minutes left in the game, Illinois took over from its own 30-yard line and drove down the field before a McGee pass was picked off at the Missouri 1-yard line to end the game.
Illinois would go on to make the Rose Bowl in 2007 while Missouri would finish the season 12-2 and ranked 4th in the nation.
August 30, 2008
Missouri 52, Illinois 42
This highly-anticipated game featured both teams ranked in the top 20 and, while the result was disappointing for Illini fans, the game itself did not disappoint as Illinois quarterback Juice Williams passed for a career high 451 yards and 5 touchdowns.
Illinois again was down big at the half, with Missouri enjoying a 31-10 lead, before both sides came out shooting after halftime, combining to score 94 points.
Despite losing the game, Illinois would remain in the top 25 until Penn State knocked them out four weeks later.
September 5, 2009
Missouri 37, Illinois 9
By far the ugliest of the Arch Rivalry games and the most disappointing from Illinois’ standpoint, Missouri was a young and inexperienced team going up against an Illini team that some were calling the most prolific offense in the nation in the preseason.
A young Blaine Gabbert exposed a weak Illini secondary as he threw for 319 yards and 3 touchdowns and rushed for a fourth while Illinois was kept out of the end zone until the fourth quarter.
This loss would set the tone for Illinois’ disappointing 2009 season.
Alright.
Coming tomorrow, Part II of the Missouri preview.