Missouri - Northwestern

the Valero Alamo Bowl Monday, December 29th, 8:00pm San Antonio, Texas

Missouri (9-4)______Big12______198.41 Wk Opp oPts Score 1 Illinois -34.66 W, 52-42 2 SE Missouri State -426.13 W, 52-3 3 Nevada 34.12 W, 69-17 4 Buffalo 91.13 W, 42-21 6 Nebraska 152.75 W, 52-17 7 Oklahoma State 216.63 L, 23-28 8 Texas 445.80 L, 31-56 9 Colorado -63.26 W, 58-0 10 Baylor -102.00 W, 31-28 11 Kansas State -95.57 W, 41-24 12 Iowa State -312.39 W, 52-20 14 Kansas 81.58 L, 37-40 15 Oklahoma 528.65 L, 21-62

Northwestern (9-3)______Big10_____163.02 Wk Opp oPts Score 1 Syracuse -173.35 W, 30-10 2 Duke -80.04 W, 24-20 3 Southern Illinois -426.91 W, 33-7 4 Ohio -164.35 W, 16-8 5 Iowa 150.39 W, 22-17 7 Michigan State 220.54 L, 20-37 8 Purdue -107.74 W, 48-26 9 Indiana -210.04 L, 19-21 10 Minnesota 19.39 W, 24-17 11 Ohio State 310.08 L, 10-45 12 Michigan -203.81 W, 21-14 13 Illinois -34.66 W, 27-10 ____ ____ ____ ____

Lots of things went right for Missouri this year, but they were expected to do more after the success they had last season. On the other hand, Northwestern had a great season, exceeding their expectations. Both beat some good teams, but lost to the big conference ones they faced.

Stats Matchup
Team	Missouri	Northwestern
Points (rank)	198.41 (#27)	163.02 (#32)
Record	9-4	9-3
Opp. Points (rank)	516.63 (#29)	-700.52 (#96)
Opp. Record	83-64	60-73
Points (% of Opp. Avg)	43.2 (154%)	24.5 (101%)
dPoints (% of Opp. Avg)	27.5 (78%)	19.3 (83%)
Rush Yds (% of Opp. Avg)	157.1 (112%)	147.6 (96%)
dRush Yds (% of Opp. Avg)	128.9 (75%)	127.7 (92%)
Pass Yds (% of Opp. Avg)	340.4 (138%)	209.4 (103%)
dPass Yds (% of Opp. Avg)	285.3 (116%)	215.3 (113%)
Tot Yds (% of Opp. Avg)	497.5 (128%)	357.0 (100%)
dTot Yds (% of Opp. Avg)	414.2 (99%)	343.0 (104%)
ST Yds (% of Opp. Avg)	129.8 (96%)	96.3 (81%)
dST Yds (% of Opp. Avg)	163.2 (137%)	116.8 (91%)
Penalties / Pen. Yds	4.0 / 37.8	4.5 / 43.3
TO's / TO Margin	1.8 / -2	2.3 / -5

All the stats are in the Tigers' favor - they should be able to overpower the Wildcats pretty easily.

The Line: Northwestern +12.5

The Call: Missouri by 17

The Result: Missouri 30-23 (OT)

And that's why you can't base picks on stats and that's why they play the games. Daniel had an off game and the Mizzou offense suffered because of it. But they had enough in the tank to take care of the Wildcats, who seemed to implode a bit in the second half. Good game overall. (I can do without the umpteen shots of Daniel's family in the stands though - jeez.)