Friday Night Recap: Missouri @ Nevada

The Tiger offense was a little sluggish at times, but they picked it up when necessary and moved to 4-0 with a 31-21 victory at Nevada.

Nevada came out pumped out forcing Missouri to a quick 3-and-out, but a muffed punt gave the Tigers new life and they converted that into 3 points.  Nevada came back with a first quarter touchdown, but the Tigers answered with a field goal and a late second quarter tochdown to take a 12-7 halftime lead.

Nevada Quarterback Colin Kaepernick opened the 3rd quarter with an 11 yard scamper, but less than a minute later, Missouri took control with a 74 yard touchdown pas from Blaine Gabbert to Danario Alexander.  The Tigers stretched the lead to as high as 31-13 before Kaepernick added a late touchdown pass for the final margin.

Early on, the running of Nevada, led by Luke Lippincott, looked to be in control.  Lippincott carried 23 times for 114 yards. 

What we learned:  the "rebuilding" Tigers are for real this year.  And Blaine Gabbert is for real.  Gabbert went 25-40 for 414 yards and 3 touchdowns in the win.  His counterpart Kaepernick didn't do so bad either (17-28 146 yards 1 TD).  But the story of the night was Gabbert and the receiver Alexander.  Aleander had 9 grabs for 170 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

Expect Missouri (4-0) to make an apperance in the top 25 next week.  But now the schedule gets very difficult for the Tigers.  After a week off, Mizzou hosts Nebraska on a Thursday game on October 8th, then they travel to Oklahoma State, and host the Longhorns and back-to-back-to-back weekends.  The next four games look very winnable (Colorado, Baylor, Kansas State, Iowa State) before a last weekend showdown with Kansas that could possibly decide who represents the Big 12 North in the conference title game.

As for the Wolfpack,  UNLV should be just what they need to right the ship before a friday night tilt against La Tech and then two very winnable games against Utah State and Idaho.  Hawaii, San Jose State follow before a major test against Fresno State before a sandwich game @ New Mexico State before the big showdown:  @ Boise State.

Upcoming this week:  WE HAVE THREE MIDWEEK DAYS OF COLLEGE FOOTBALL!  Look for a new segment, Wild Wednesday leading up to Hawaii @ La Tech