Miami (Ohio) @ Missouri preview
Faurot Field at Memorial Stadium
Last Saturday, No. 24 Missouri was 51 seconds away from being stunned at home by San Diego State.
This week, the unbeaten Tigers host Miami (Ohio) in their last chance to make improvements before heading into league play.
Missouri (3-0) has a bye next week and will open Big 12 Conference play at home against Colorado on Oct. 9.
San Diego State looked like they were on the verge of a major upset, holding a 24-20 after Tigers junior quarterback Blaine Gabbert threw two interceptions in the last 10 minutes.
But Missouri got the ball back with just over a minute left and Gabbert threw a short sideline pass to wide receiver T.J. Moe, who dodged Aztecs defenders along the way to a 68-yard touchdown, giving the Tigers the 27-24 win.
Gabbert (28 of 51) struggled throughout the game with his accuracy, but he was able to find Moe and sophomore tight end Michael Egnew a combined 20 times. Moe and Egnew rank third and fourth in the nation in receptions with 30 and 29, respectively.
Miami (2-1) didn’t have nearly as much trouble last week with Colorado State, scoring 31 unanswered points in a 31-10 rout. The win already put the RedHawks ahead of last season’s 1-11 record.
Sophomore quarterback Zac Dysert was extremely accurate against the Rams, completing 18 of 22 passes for 231 yards and three touchdowns. However, he’s thrown five picks on the year, including four in the RedHawks’ first game against Florida.
Miami hung around against the Gators, pulling to within 21-12 in the fourth quarter on four Trevor Cook field goals, before Florida came back with two touchdowns to win 34-12.
RedHawks senior running back Thomas Merriweather was taken out of last week’s game with blurry vision and is listed as questionable for the Missouri game.
Merriweather was ejected from the Florida game for apparently throwing a punch and had just five carries for minus-2 yards. But after sitting out the first quarter and part of the second against Eastern Michigan, he came back to rush for 105 yards and three touchdowns in a 28-21 win.
Missouri has been working on establishing its running game in the absence of Derrick Washington, who was kicked off the team.
Carries have been split between junior De’Vion Moore, sophomore Kendial Lawrence and freshman Henry Josey. Josey was rewarded with the most carries against San Diego State after a breakout performance against McNeese State, in which he ran for 112 yards and three touchdowns on just seven carries.
The Tigers will be without sophomore defensive end Aldon Smith, who apparently suffered a broken fibula in his right leg in the San Diego State game.
Coach Gary Pinkel ruled him out, but Smith told local media that it was just a big bruise and he was hoping to go this weekend. Smith leads the team with three sacks and set a school-record with 11.5 sacks his freshman year.
Although Missouri and Miami have never met, Pinkel was 3-3-1 against the RedHawks during his time at Toledo. The Tigers have won 20 straight non-conference regular-season games.