Mizzou Basketball in Columbia, Missouri:

Mizzou Basketball in Athens, Georgia:

A look back at the season that was in Missouri football.

Note: Video may require Quicktime

Photos courtesy: MU Athletic Department, Columbia Daily Tribune, The Maneater, Kansas City Star, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Associated Press

Disclaimer: Rather than the typical bullet point analysis, this post will be a long and meandering string of thoughts I forced into prose. Hang with me here as I give you a summation of my thoughts from four rows up in the Alamodome end zone.

Having been what appears to be one of the select few of RMN regulars who made it down to San Antonio for the Alamo Bowl, there's not much that hasn't been said here that I can add. More than anything, for as disappointing as the season was, it seemed like a season of moderate disappointment was bookended in similar fashion. Missouri began the season with a shootout with a Big Ten team that was fueled by a Maclin return in the first half and Sean Weatherspoon's dominance in the second half. Substitute "shootout" with "slugfest," and you have the exact recipe of Mizzou's Alamo Bowl victory.

Before I delve too deeply into Missouri's end of the equation, I first want to send some love the way of Evanston, Ill. As the 2008 campaign progressed, I was highly enamored with the coaching jobs done by the men in charge of two of Missouri's opponents: Buffalo's Turner Gill and Oklahoma State's Mike Gundy. You can now add Pat Fitzgerald to that list. I've always loved his fire, but after last night, I now respect the man's ability. It should have come as no surprise to me how disciplined NU was defensively and how solid the unit was in pursuit and in wrapping up ballcarriers.

Secondly, I think this game swings far more in favor of Missouri had Tyrell Sutton not been able to go. Before the game, it was clear from highlights that Sutton added a different dynamic to the NU offense, one I asked Lake the Posts to try and quantify last Thursday. Between outstanding balance, great hands (despite one being in a cast), a never-ending motor, and some quick burst, Sutton proved himself as the perfect scat back for NU's style of offense.

The atmosphere at the game seemed very reflective of the attitudes of each school entering the game. The Northwestern players and fans looked absolutely thrilled to be in San Antonio, while the Missouri players and fans looked somewhat determined to redefine the word "complacency." The warmups seemed uninspired, the drills seemed rusty. As ghtd36 passed on in the game thread, the team found motivation from the one man we knew we could count on to try to light a fire: Tommy Saunders (love that kid).

More rambling after the jump.

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Who: No. 25 Missouri Tigers (9-4) vs. No. 22 Northwestern Wildcats (9-3)
Where: Alamodome (Capacity 65,000)
When: 7:00 p.m. CST
Line: Missouri by 12.5

VS.

Radio: Tiger Radio Network (Mike "To The House" Kelly, John Kadlec, Chris Gervino)
TV: ESPN HD (Ron Franklin, Ed Cunningham, Jack Arute)
Weather: N/A
Online trackers: CSTV, ESPN
Northwestern Online: Lake The Posts

Make Rock M Nation your base of operations tonight and weigh in with your predictions, questions, worries, bold statements and observations by signing up for a free account. 10 wins and a hell of a send off for a special senior class are still on the table in San Antonio. What kind of performance does Mizzou have in store for the conclusion to the 2008 campaign?

Fight Tigers... Rock, Flag and Eagle!

LIVE BLOG AFTER THE JUMP.

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Mizzou Basketball in Columbia, Missouri:

With Mizzou basketball hopping into the Top 25 and then proceeding to pummel Mizzou fans in the babymaker worse than a French skiing accident by laying an absolute egg against Illinois, you may have forgotten: We're very quickly approaching kickoff for the Alamo Bowl.

Obviously, the big news out of the Northwestern camp is the availability of halfback Tyrell Sutton, whose presence adds a separate dimension to the Wildcat offense. For a homer perspective of what this means to Northwestern, we turned once again to our friends from Lake The Posts:

"Tyrell Sutton in the lineup is the single most impactful change to our offense you could have. The poor kid has been plagued by injuries for most of his career. After capturing Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors in 2005 he has lost a step, but not his passion. Our O-line's run blocking is below average and thus, when he was in there it appeared as though he was having a down year. Not true. He has been lauded as the best receiving RB in the nation and it is this dual-threat that makes our offense really click. If you want to see the best example of this watch the Iowa highlights.

Sutton is amazing at catching the ball in the flat and making players miss. He is a warrior between the tackles and has a motor that never quits. In year's past he even had the breakaway speed that had him on track to shatter every NU rushing record. He won't since he missed a full season of games during his junior and senior seasons, but most NU fans have been willing him to return in hopes that our offense can get its old self back again, but also so he could have a chance to go out with the ultimate last game experience - a bowl win.

The true question is whether or not he will even resemble himself. His left wrist was reportedly a mess and considering I'm not a doctor I have no idea what impact it will have on his game. I get the sense he won't be 100%, but any NU fan will take a 75% Sutton over a 100% Simmons (no disrepect to Simmons)."

For those of you with soft spots for numbers (cough*The Boy*cough), here are Sutton's cold, hard stats: