Here's my thoughts. I live in Columbia and all my family are Tigers fans and have been telling me about that team all year. I've also seen them play 5 times this year.
Gabbert is usually sharp, but there has been three games this season where he was not, especially at Texas Tech, where he was completely atrocious. Tiger fans wanted their backup, Franklin, to play, which happened at Nebraska when Gabbert was off. If our D line shows up to play, we can stop their running game, however, unlike in years past it is a pretty good one with three guys that can show you different looks. If Gabbert is sharp, our D line will get no help from the linebackers stopping the run and further there is no way our linebackers can cover Mizzou's wide outs if they end up in that coverage on the pass. It all comes down to Gabbert, because if he is sharp, they will both run and pass on us. Our only hope if that happens is some great stops in the red zone (rare this year) and at least three Mizzou turnovers (also rare).
Offensively, to have a chance to win, we must pound the ball on the ground old fashioned Big Ten style, with Coker and Robinson both contributing to mitigate fatigue, and without a single turnover. Stanzi to Reisner is our best bet to offset the run.
We will have a very, very good idea after Mizzou's first possession of our chances to win. If Mizzou takes the ball and marches down and scores on the first possession, forget it. If we stop them in either the first or second 4-down series, watch out, that's would be a HUGE sign.
That was long, sorry.
