For the whole story on the importance of Chase’s chase, see:

Part 1.

Part 2.

Part 3. 

It’s been a spirited battle between a college football superstar and a has-been-if-there-ever-was-one that all comes down to the Alamo Bowl.  Only the Northwestern Wildcat defense stands in the way of Chase Daniel’s quest for fame, fortune and the respectable achievement of unseating a QB who holds a record by throwing just 109 passes.  I mean, that’s two freaking games for Our Hero, yet Handy’s Towel Boy walks around with the record.  Tell you what, if Chase Daniel does not break the record this year, I will petition the NCAA and Mizzou to have an asterisk included in the books.  That’s right – I’ll Roger Maris Phil Johnson’s ass.

Not really.  Limited attempts aside, Phil Johnson’s passer efficiency rating was pretty impressive for the day.  The game has changed considerably from 1990 and trumped up ratings are par for the course.  Consider this:  in 1979, when the metric was created, it was geared based on historical data from the previous few years so that an average QB rated a 100.  This season Tennessee is ranked 107th in the country in passer rating – its rating?  99.80.  The median passer rating is 125.33.  Heck, our favorite water boy’s 154.3 rating would be good for 15th best in the country, just ahead Mel Kiper’s pin-up boy Matthew Stafford. 

Phil Johnson left Mizzou after Jeff Handy took his job and Dana Stubblefield took his dignity.  Or vice versa.  He found less efficient waters in Springfield, MO where his passer rating was 115.1 over 233 attempts.  Phil’s probably lucky he only had 109 attempts in 1990.

Enough about numbers – it’s time to reveal the big news.  After months of research and thousands of dollars of expense, I have tracked down important information on Baby Zeus.  The story has some holes in it because my FOIA request came back heavily redacted, but the government did include the following photograph.

What could it mean?  From what I could piece together, while Kennedy’s assassin was jailed he took a lover.  A guard presumably.  A female guard, no less.  Nine months later, Miklasz’s dream boat was born.  You must admit the resemblance is striking.  The link is made more obvious considering Phil Johnson’s excellent completion percentage of 65%.  Accurate just like his old man.  

Most importantly, the Pass Efficiency Champion of Mizzou has been tracked down, thanks to the efforts of Atomic Teeth, and the athletic department has asked him to be on hand to bestow upon Chase Daniel the greatest honor of his life.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.  Chase has not harpooned this trophy yet.  With each game, Chase inches closer to Baby Joe.  Here are the stats as of today.

If the Tigers had three more games, Phil might have a chance.  Unfortunately for Phil, Chase would have to have the worst game in his career to lose the record.  Chase would have to have the worst game in Jim Dougherty’s and Ryan Douglass’s careers.  If Chase goes 5 for 33 for 40 yards, no TDs, and 4 interceptions, he and Phil will be tied.  You can run the numbers for yourself on Euclid’s Predictawhale.

It certainly looks like Chase Daniel will catch his white whale.  Even if he goes all Arkansas and coughs up a 70 passer rating like the bowl game from a year ago, Chase will still be the new Mizzou Efficiency expert.  So, what of Phil Johnson?  Will his life be over?  If he had one, I’d say yes.  As it stands, he will likely slink back into his cave and cling to his Certificate of Participation Achievement in the hopes the Official Scorers of the NCAA don’t show up and try to take it from him.  You have to hand it to Phil, though – it was a nice 18 year run. 

Congrats to Chase in advance.