Kool-Aid drinking Mizzou fans be warned: You won’t like what you are about to read. After watching Chase Daniel struggle in the fourth quarter on Saturday against OSU, I started thinking about some of his other clutch (or not-so-clutch) performances. There’s no doubt that Chase Daniel is a legit Heisman contender, a tremendous quarterback, and one of Mizzou’s all-time greats. But for all of his accomplishments, Chase has sometimes struggled to perform when the chips are down. By my count, Mizzou is 4-6 in close games in which Chase Daniel has started, with four of those being “artificially” close games where the defense gave up a bunch of points late in the game. That means the Tigers are 1-5 under Daniel in closely contested nail-biters. This is not an indictment, just an observation. Interpret it as you will.
Blowout wins (more than 10 points)
Record: 21-0
List: Murray State ’06 (47-7), Ole Miss ’06 (34-7), Ohio ’06 (31-6), Colorado ’06 (28-13), Texas Tech ’06 (38-21), Kansas State ’06 (41-21), kU ’06 (42-17), Ole Miss ’07 (38-25), Western Michigan ’07 (52-24), Illinois State ’07 (38-17), Nebraska ’07 (41-6), Texas Tech ’07 (41-10), Iowa State ’07 (42-28), Colorado ’07 (55-10), Texas A&M ’07 (40-26), Kansas State ’07 (49-32), Arkansas ’08 (38-7), SEMO ’08 (52-3), Nevada ’08 (69-17), Buffalo ’08 (42-21), Nebraska ’08 (52-17)
Stats: 6,213 yards, 59 TDs, 12 INTs
Per game: 295 yds/game, 2.8 TDs/game, 0.6 INTs/game
What do these numbers mean?
When Chase Daniel is on his game and given time to throw, he is one of the best quarterbacks you will ever see. The numbers are actually less gaudy than I expected, but two factors account for that. First, Chase spent a lot of time on the bench in the fourth quarter (and sometimes the third quarter) of these games. Second, a few of these games (i.e. Texas Tech ’07,
Artificially close games (defense lets them back in it)
Record: 3-1
List:
Stats: 1,373 yards, 11 TDs, 1 INTs
Per game: 343 yds/game, 2.75 TDs/game, 0.25 INTs/game
What do these numbers mean?
If you’ve been following Mizzou during the Chase Daniel Era, you know exactly how this story goes. The offense builds a huge lead in the second half, only to see the defense collapse late in the game. Usually the Tigers hold on (thanks largely to timely plays by Chase on offense), but it came back to bite them in the 2006 Sun Bowl when the Tigers blew a double-digit lead in the second half. As the numbers show, Chase is typically brilliant in these games.
Truly close games
Record: 1-5
List:
Stats: 1,774 yards, 5 TDs, 8 INTs
Per game: 296 yds/game, 0.83 TDs/game, 1.3 INTs/game
What do these numbers mean?
Here’s what has begun to concern me about Chase. He is an amazing quarterback who truly shines when things are going his way. The question is what happens when faced with adversity. The numbers show that his game slips when the chips are down in a close game. The anecdotal evidence bears this out. Chase has only led one game-winning or game-tying fourth quarter drive in his career, and that was his freshman year, when he came in for an injured Brad Smith against
Blowout losses (more than 10 points)
Record: 0-2
List:
Stats: 528 yards, 2 TDs, 5 INTs
Per game: 264 yds/game, 1 TD/game, 2.5 INTs/game
What do these numbers mean?
There’s not too much to learn here. You can’t really tell if Mizzou got blown out because Chase didn’t play well, or if Chase didn’t play well because Mizzou got blown out. It’s only happened twice in his career, and Mizzou was pretty clearly outclassed in both games. Bottom line is still the same, though: If you can stop Chase Daniel, you stop Mizzou.