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Was at the McNeese vs Mizzou game in Columbia that the Tigers won 50-6.

Talked to several McNeese fans before the game and asked about Lamar v McNeese. Consensus was that (a) Cowboys did not execute well in their first game and (b) Lamar has some very good athletes. They were impressed by what they saw from Lamar.

As to the game vs Mizzou, Cowboys generally just did not have the speed necessary to keep up. That is not to say McNeese was slow....the Tigers have some very fast guys on both sides of the game.

One thing McNeese did very well was sure-handed tackles in the open field on isolation passes to the WRs. For those of you who do not seem to like the Bears not throwing downfield often, watch Mizzou. My guess is that 75% of their plays are some sort pf screen, behind the line pass to a RB or a pass to a wide out or slot receiver just trying to get a 1-on-1 isolation. Cowboys defended the iso plays and the RBs passes very well....don't expect to run past Cowboys with those type plays. The screens were a different matter, especially tunnel screens. Much of Mizzou's passing offense came on those type plays.

McNeese could not keep up with Mizzou's wideouts down field and got burned a couple of times pretty good. Tigers did not have to go deep to win and I suspect they just did not open the playbook much.

On offense, McNeese has some weapons not to be overlooked. They have two QBs with good arms and willing to stay in the pocket. Their issue with Mizzou was the Tigers have big, rangy DEs and DTs (6'5 " types) who were in the QBs face alll the time and made it very hard to see receivers...ie, interceptions on ill thrown balls.

McNeese could not seem to get a KO return past the 20 and a couple of times had some sort of return penalty that put them starting inside the 10. One of those led to a safety when the QB had the ball stripped in the endzone. Generally Cowboys had poor field positon after punts and KOs all night. This was 2nd game in a row Tigers had downed punt inside opponents 1.

Cowboys have a couple of RBs who run hard, slippery to tackle and good speed when in the open. Someone without Mizzou's team speed will have some issues with those guys.

All in all, Mizzou played lights out (15 of 15 passes to start the game) and really dominated with speed. Cowboys score was a very nicely thrown and caught fade route in corner of Tigers endzone, much to Mizzou's chagrin as they had the WR well covered...perfectly thrown ball.

sounds like they had fun just getting to Mizzou...

http://www.kplctv.com/global/story.asp?s=13139643
MSU plane passengers share experience
Posted: Sep 12, 2010 12:56 PM CDT Updated: Sep 12, 2010 10:37 PM CDT
by Brandon Richards bio | email

LAKE CHARLES, LA (KPLC-TV) – More than 48-hours later, many questions remain about why a plane carrying the McNeese State University football team blew a tire as it took off from Lake Charles Regional Airport on Friday afternoon.

According to a preliminary report by the FAA, the plane clipped runway lights as it lifted off.

"To us, it was like hitting a pothole in the road," said Tom Hoefer, the MSU play-by-play announcer, who was one of 137 passengers on the plane. "It really didn't seem like too big of a deal. Everything seemed to be fine."...