Mizzou QB wins ‘huge’ one for seniors

By Chuck Woodling     Nov 26, 2006

? Chase Daniel chased, but he didn’t catch Kent Kiefer.

Daniel, Missouri University’s slinging sophomore quarterback, passed for 356 yards in the Tigers’ 42-17 victory over border rival Kansas University on Saturday, but he fell nearly 100 yards shy of Kiefer’s school record of 444 yards set against KU in 1989.

Not that Daniel cared. This one, the MU signal-caller stressed, was for the seniors.

“It’s huge,” said Daniel, a 6-foot, 225-pounder from suburban Dallas. “A lot of them are from Kansas City, and it’s huge for them. It’s huge for this team to beat (Kansas).”

Although Daniel seemed to have difficulty finding a more descriptive word than huge, he had no problem shredding the Kansas secondary, completing 26 of 38 passes and hurling four touchdowns.

Those numbers would have been even higher if Daniel hadn’t had a 75-yard touchdown pass nullified by a curious instance involving the officials and the replay booth that resulted in offsetting personal-foul penalties.

Daniel shrugged that one off by continually frustrating KU defenders with his ability to escape pocket predicaments – the Jayhawks had only one sack – and his skill at throwing accurately with hands in his face or arms wrapped around him.

“He’s a tough son of a gun,” Kansas coach Mark Mangino said. “He takes his hits and keeps getting up. He also has deceptive speed.”

Daniel ran for 39 yards. Meanwhile, tailback Tony Temple gave the Tigers just enough of a running threat to keep the Jayhawks guessing. Temple finished with 72 yards on 21 carries and a touchdown.

Missouri knocked off Kansas for the first time since the 2002 season.

“We weren’t going to let them beat us again,” said tight end Martin Rucker, who caught one of Daniel’s TD aerials. “Especially coming in here. There was no way.”

Missouri also snapped out of a late-season funk. The Tigers had won their first six games, but then dropped four of their last five, including a 21-16 loss at Iowa State last week that was exacerbated a few days later when the Big 12 Conference conceded an official had made a phantom holding call against Mizzou in a critical situation.

“I’m certainly proud of my football team and my coaches,” MU coach Gary Pinkel said. “With the adversity we had a week ago, we were able to come back and battle today. I’m thrilled for my players and for my coaches.”

Missouri (8-4) is bowl-

eligible. The only postseason question is when and where.

“I’m looking forward to getting ready for that,” Pinkel said.

PREV POST

The Fifth Quarter: Missouri 42, Kansas 17

NEXT POST

22676Mizzou QB wins ‘huge’ one for seniors