Football Articles
The Curious Case of Chase Daniel (MU-Northwestern PM)
Posted by Phenomenal Smith on December 30th, 2008 under Football
It’s the end of an era and I feel fine. Tigers win, which is all that really matters. Winning ugly is still winning. Losing to that Northwestern team would have been the pinnacle of an embarrassing season where Mizzou adorned preseason mags as a fave for the national championship. Seriously, those Wildcats aren’t that much better than the Big 12’s Wildcats. Losing would have been devastating – to me anyway. It would have ruined me. I would have gone all Matthew Modine, refusing to come out of my room and talking to birds and shit. It would have been terrible.
We lost to Northwestern?????
Turns out the Tigers are not an elite team. The reasons the 2008 Mizzou Tigers are not elite are plentiful and better left to a 2008 post mortem. While 99% of the fandom will point to the defense, it’s really not that simple. The offense was downright awful at times, led by a man whose career took a curious turn.
Chase Daniel’s regression from experienced signal caller to frightened pup is reason number one for this suckitude. His precipitous decline is the stuff of movies. Next year his girlfriend will be burping him and changing his diapers.
In 2006, Chase’s first as a starter, he played like a grizzled veteran – spreading the ball around to his playmakers and, above all, taking care of the ball (just ten picks, or an interception on just 2.2% of his passes). In the games we arguably should have won, but lost - A&M, Iowa State, Oregon State – Chase played well enough to win and certainly wasn’t the reason we lost.
The grizzled veteran Chase Daniel in 2006.
In 2007, Chase Daniel played like a great QB in his prime. Against Oklahoma in Norman, the star played his ass off going 37 for 47 for 361 yards against a wildly talented team. Against other BCS bowl teams – Illinois and KU – the BMOC QB1 went a combined 77 for 103 with six TDs and no picks. That, my friends, is what an elite QB does for your team against top teams. He put the Tigers on his shoulders, made plays, did not make mistakes, and won the game. His interception rate on the year dropped to 2%. For his efforts he got a trip to NY to hang with other elite QBs. He was The Man. He was Joe Montana in 1984.
Chase in 2007, all studly and whatnot.
His regression arguably started at the tail end of 2007 when he epically failed against OU and Arkansas. Early in 2008, Chase was able to rely on two of the best receivers in the country and an up-and-coming running back to hide his slip into immaturity. For the most part this year, Chase played like a frightened rookie, especially in games where the Tigers needed him to step up. The Okie State and KU games were lost mostly by the offense (especially OSU). Against KU the offense didn’t even show up in the first half and against Okie State the offense wasted a great defensive performance. Against OU and UT the Tigers were simply outclassed in every phase of the game. Simply put, if Chase had played like 2007, the Tigers would be looking at another 12-2 season (bowl game notwithstanding). Chase turned the ball over 6 times against KU and Okie State. Cut that in half and we’re likely 12-2.
Chase Daniel, 2007 Heisman finalist, threw more interceptions than 111 college football teams in 2008. Chew on that. Nearly 3.5% of his passes were intercepted, a 75% increase from the heady days of aught seven. Thankfully Chase did not redshirt in 2005 – think of his 2009 season at Mizzou! Yikes.
Awwww, ain’t he cute! Throws lots of picks, but adorable.
But, hey, the Tigers are 10-4 and just won a second tier bowl game. I’ll take it. Chase played one of his worst games of his career, but luckily the Tigers were playing Northwestern and were able to overcome it. If the Tigers had been matched up with Ole Miss, Oregon or Clemson, it wouldn’t have ended so well.
Jeremy Maclin is a stud.
“Maclin is the best fair catcher in the league.”
“Maclin’s return prowess is 99% media driven.”
Those are two of my finer quotes – said with about a minute remaining in the first half as Northwestern was preparing to punt. Without Maclin’s return, do the Tigers win the game? I doubt it. Obviously the game would have played out differently, but that seemed to give the Tigers a spark. Maclin gave the Tigers what they needed when they needed it. The offense was busy doing its best Detroit Lions’ impersonation sitting on three points and two interceptions when Maclin changed the game. A giant PHEW after that. The Tigers got dominated in the first half and go into the break tied.
I’ve said it before and will say it again, but any discusson of Greatest Tiger Ever must include Jeremy Maclin’s name. If he comes back for 2009, he can put an end to any such discussion, and people can talk about the second greatest Tiger all they want.
Chase Coffman is a stud. He had seven catches and many were on passes that were off-target. He will be missed. I’m sure Andrew Jones will be a good TE, but there will not be another Chase Coffman for a long long time. He ends the year with 90 catches (and he missed two games!) and his career with 247. I miss him already. Would it be odd if I moved to his NFL city just to be close to him?
Jeff Wolfert missed a 44 yard kick that would have won the game in regulation. Sure, that sucked. Still, I wonder if there’s a better way to wind down the clock than to have Chase Daniel cower behind the line of scrimmage losing four yards on two plays. Wolfert might have missed a 40 yard kick too, but it’s silly that we lost yardage by design just before the big kick. Wolfert finishes a fine career for the Tigers, whose fans for years wondered why Mizzou couldn’t find a reliable kicker.
The defensive line was all over the Wildcats’ QB. The entire defense stepped up and won the game for the Tigers, who could only muster about 300 yards of offense. After the first half, the Tigers gave up just 150 yards. Eighty of that on the first drive of the second half. The Wildcats only gained 3.5 yards a play in the second half. The d-line had a huge hand in stopping the Wildcats – Ziggy, Stryker, Baston, Smith, and Coulter spent a good portion of the game in the backfield. They also kept the Wildcats to under 2 yards a carry, forcing them into passing downs and allowing the boys to pin their ears back.
Spoon and the linebackers also had a huge role in stopping the runaway train that the Wildcat offense resembled at the beginning of the game. Spoon had 12.5 tackles, 2.5 for loss. If he stays for next year – and I’m betting he will – I’m pretty excited about the defense. His compadre Christopher had a huge pick that resulted in a Wolfert field goal.
The secondary wasn’t great, but it hasn’t been this year. Willy Mo and Gettis each suffered broken ankles brought on by mediocre wide receivers resulting in big play TDs. Kenji Jackson faded back on a ball, misread it on the warning track, and futilely jumped short which resulted in a TD. Throw in a handful of missed tackles and you get pretty ho-hum results. There are reasons to be optimistic, though. During the second half I saw a lot of Trey Hobson and Kevin Rutland, and of course, the second half was great for the Tiger D. A lot of that was the Wildcat o-line couldn’t stop the Tigers and the QB was running for his life, but the secondary tightened up and did its part.
We’ve made a lot of noise about the defense’s inability to get the bad guys off the field. The opponent’s third-down conversion rate is through the roof – and last night the Wildcats converted on 9 of 13 attempts in the first half. Ugh! This, along with the offense’s ineptness, resulted in a 20-10 TOP disparity. After the first half, though, NU only converted on 2 of 8. That was huge. The defense really played well in the second half/OT and gave the struggling offense a chance to put up some points. The defense should be commended. I hereby commend them.
Thank god Gary Pinkel won that game. Imagine the noise if he’d gone 0-3 after signing that giant contract extension. He’s got a lot of work to do and a huge challenge ahead, but I believe he’s the right man to keep the Tigers at a top 20 level with occassional forays in the top five and a chance at the greatest glory. 2009 will be a big year for the Pinkel Era.
Mizzou did its part for the Big 12 even though it wasn’t how I thought it’d be. I expected the team to come together for one last hurrah, putting up 500 yards and 50 points. That didn’t happen. Still, it was an exciting football game and we won. And I won’t be left to sitting on my bed naked talking to birds, which wouldn’t be good for anyone.
Thanks to the ‘08 Tigers for an exciting double digit victory season.
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Chet Gristler said:
December 31st, 2008 at 1:39 am
Coulter spent a good portion of the game lining up in Northwestern’s backfield too.
Earlier this season I was worried about the unreasonable expectations that would be on QB09. Chase was so great, and Mizzou nation was so spoiled, that even a functional QB would be seen as awful compared to Daniel. Funny nough, it was Daniel himself that suffered by the comparison to himself.
I will never understand what happened to him. Earlier this year (pre-Okie St) I told someone in casual conversation that he was the best college QB I had ever seen. I meant it. He NEVER made a bad decision. He was grotesquely accurate. I actually believed that HE made Maclin and Coffman (to some degree) look great because they caught every pass in stride, and not only in stride, but right where the ball needed to be to make a move downfield. Last night, on the last 15 snaps he took as a Tiger, I was terrified he was going to screw up. Like Izzy in the 9th, Phil on 18, Cloris Leachman on DWTS terrified. I would have let Chase deliver my baby in September, and last night I wouldn’t have trusted him to change a diaper. If we had lost there would have been Ankiel comparisons.
I don’t buy any mental excuse either. Kid has had a huge head since junior high and was never rattled. Just a total reversal of everything that made Chase Daniel Chase Daniel.
I blame the cutey with the bouncy rack. That’s the only logical explanation, unless he was playing with a separated shoulder for 3 months, in which case Chase Patton should have been playing.
Gene Claude said:
December 31st, 2008 at 8:36 am
Special thanks to the Tigers for giving me reasons to go to strange locales and enjoy the local pubs.
Roberto Frankfurter said:
December 31st, 2008 at 2:32 pm
Phenom, way to finish strong on your final PM of the season. You are Kate Blanchett to Chase’s Brad Pitt, which is suppose to be a compliment.
I have been fighting a lot of conflicting feelings about Chase Daniel over the last few months and, more recently, about the departure of Dave Christensen.
There is no doubt that Daniel has elevated the program and I am very thankful to him for that, but I am also ready to “Turn the Page” (thank you Bob Seger).
I don’t know if there’s an answer to the decline of Daniel from 2007 to 2008, but here goes my top 5:
(5) Cutey with bouncy rack (I agree with Chet)!
(4) Okie State hangover.
(3) Danario Alexander was hurt and/or not healthy for the entire season and Coffman was hurt most of the second half of the season.
(2) Christensen became way too predictable and never figured out a way to have a credible running threat with talented options (D. Wash, Daniel, Maclin and, yes Slim, Jimmy Jackson).
(1) Martin Rucker and Wil Franklin in the NFL.
Phenom, thanks again for all of your great work during the season.
Happy New Year and I am very much looking forward to the .09 version of the Tigers!
Gene Claude said:
December 31st, 2008 at 3:37 pm
Have you guys heard the injury rumor? Namely, that Chase had some sort of injury in the NU game that was aggravated in the OSU game? If so, why was Patton not playing?
Phenomenal Smith said:
December 31st, 2008 at 4:37 pm
When Pinkel is loyal to someone, he’s loyal to a fault. If Daniel were injured but said he could play, he’s going to play. Anyway, I don’t buy that injury stuff.
Boo Radley said:
January 1st, 2009 at 11:02 am
Chase changed after Okie State. It was almost like he tried to make up for that loss, and put a ton of pressure on himself. I also think he is just not the same guy facing defensive pressure, and that is the reason I am not sure he can play in the NFL. One defense of him is that our line just didn’t play very good against the good teams. We took for granted how good they were last year.
My biggest criticism of Daniel/Christinasen was the lack of production down the field. It became very clear to me the last few weeks that Chase is not comfortable throwing the deep ball. He consistently threw balls out of bounds on the sidelines or underthrew the receivers. I think coaches decided to stuff the run, make us beat them deep, and send a ton of pressure. With so many guys cheating on the short stuff it was more difficult to make the quick throws.
My criticism of the spread is that defense with a lot of talent and speed can eliminate the advantage the spread is suppose to create: get playmakers the ball in space. Maclin is just so good he is able to make plays whenever and wherever. I just think teams sold out on the short stuff, and when he couldn’t make quick reads, Chase struggled with the pressure. With Coffman hurt, he did not a have a safety valve.
Chase Daniel helped put on us on the national stage, and I will always think happy thoughts about his time. Disappointment is that I think the team underachieved, but I will never cry over 10 wins.
Phenomenal Smith said:
January 1st, 2009 at 2:34 pm
My criticism of the spread is that defense with a lot of talent and speed can eliminate the advantage the spread is suppose to create: get playmakers the ball in space.
That’s an unfair criticism of the spread. The spread actually gives a team with lesser talent a fighting chance. A “defense with a lot of talent and speed” relative to its opponent will stop any type of offense – throw in good coaching and the offense will struggle. The spread has, if anything, leveled the playing field. Defenses will catch up, but probably not for another three to five years.
I also think our offensive line was just as good, if not better, in ‘08. The yards/carry skyrocketed in conference play from 3.88 to 4.92. Over a yard more! That’s good line play, in addition to a better running back.
Also, Mizzou allowed fewer sacks in conference play in ‘08 – 1.44/game – than in ‘07 – 1.67/game. Tackles for loss allowed – ‘08 it was 5.33/game, ‘07 it was 6.83 (second worst in conference).
Plenty of teams got pressure on Chase in ‘07 – he was just much better at dealing with it then.
Mr Pink said:
January 1st, 2009 at 3:19 pm
I hear there is a new offense called the split T that the Tigers should look into. I don’t think anyone will know how to defend it.
Boo Radley said:
January 1st, 2009 at 8:39 pm
That’s my point though Phenom. I don’t think a spread team with lesser talent can consistently beat a great team, and that is the problem to me. Does it make them competitive? Yes it has made us competitive the last 4 years. But, look at the games where TTU and MU have struggled the last few years..OU and UT. Those are elite teams, but you get the point. Great speed neutralizes a spread. Stoops and venables always said that if we had a running game, it would have benn much harder to stop us. It makes you competitve, but not elite unless you have eltie talent all over the offense. I am looking at it from a championship standpoint, not just 8-10 wins a year. I am happy with that, just making the point as to an ultimate goal.
I think the yards per carry and tackles for loss has a lot more to do with Washington not losing yards the way Temple did on seemingly half his runs. I would also suggest the schedule was much tougher last year.
Phenomenal Smith said:
January 1st, 2009 at 8:48 pm
But that still isn’t a complaint about the spread offense, that’s a complaint about the level of talent. If we had elite talent all over the place and ran the spread we’d be like Florida in the title game. If we had elite talent all over the place and ran a pro style offense, maybe we’d be in a BCS game too like USC.
Great speed does not neutralize the spread. It neutralizes less than elite talent. Doesn’t matter what offense if on the other side.
I was using conference schedule stats. This year we played OSU, OU, and UT. Last year it was TT and OU twice. Not sure it was much tougher last year.
I just didn’t see much to make me think the O-line was any different from a year ago.
Gene Claude said:
January 1st, 2009 at 9:43 pm
I thought the o-line was pretty clearly bettert this year than last, subjectively. I think Barnes is an upgrade at center, Gregory is going to go to the NFL, and Fisher is the most talented young tackle we’ve had in a long time. Also, Wuebbels ended up beating out (sort of) Madison this year.
Gene Claude said:
January 1st, 2009 at 9:44 pm
I totally whiffed on predicting this year. I was concerned about o-line and punter, thought the secondary would be a huge strength. Ugh.
The only one with a brain said:
January 7th, 2009 at 3:24 pm
Chase Daniel didn’t cost this team you fuckin’ idiots.
And it’s convenient for you to leave out the most important details of the Ok State game..
1. First interception was 100% Danario Alexander’s fault. bounced off his fucking helmet. (ps. that accounted for 7 of his picks, bouncing off recievers hands or face)
2. 2nd interception was 95% Jared Perry’s fault for running the wrong route, and making his cut opposite of where he was supposed to be… that only came out weeks later in the paper.
3. 3rd interception was a terrible pass… so bad, that it hit the ground and should have been called incomplete.
Other than that… he compelted 80% of his passes for 400 yards.
it’s a common misconception that he played bad in the game.
And BTW… the reason he went downhill is because of our piece of shit O-Coordinator… Ok State figured out how to pressure our line by rushing only 3 or 4 lineman… that means we had 5 receivers going out, covered by 8 or 9 defenders… makes it almost impossible NOT to throw some picks. And we, of course, neglected the running game.
Boo Radley said:
January 7th, 2009 at 4:27 pm
Uh, did anyone say he cost the team? I just said I thought he changed after the loss and played with more pressue on himself.
If you get pressure with 3 guys, then the O line has issues. I would hope as a coordinator that when only 3 guys rush, 5 should be able to handle that number.
Phenomenal Smith said:
January 7th, 2009 at 5:22 pm
I’m just glad “the only guy with a brain” didn’t blame it all on the defense. As for the O-Coordinator, I’m really looking forward to seeing what Yost can do.
As far as the Okie State game, I didn’t just leave out the most important details, I left out all the details.
A lot of picks are the result bad hands and routes – if you’re going to compare QBs using the INT stat, you’d have to account for this for every QB. AT doesn’t give me that kind of resources. Several of Chase’s 2007 picks were the result of bad hands and routes. Shit happens. It all evens out in the end.
Atomic Teeth » Blog Archive » QB Chases’ Free Agent Journeys said:
May 2nd, 2009 at 6:57 pm
[...] he’s actually got a pro contract. That’s cool. I was a little rough on him with the Curious Case of Chase Daniel nonsense,* but I do love the guy and everything he did for the Tigers. Selfishly, I wouldn’t [...]