It’s that day of the week.
The atmosphere and environment of Friday’s matchup against ASU may not be typical of a week two college football game, yet the Missouri Tigers refuse to treat this game any differently.
“We’ll just prepare like we normally do,” Missouri coach Gary Pinkel said.
The nationally televised game will certainly attract a lot of attention, but the No. 21 Tigers (1-0) will try to ignore the hype as three members of their offense, including the left side of the offensive line, will be making their first career road start.
Sophomore left tackle Justin Britt and junior left guard Jack Meiners will join sophomore quarterback James Franklin as the trio of new offensive starters.
Missouri may be breaking in new starters at key positions, but overall they are a very experienced football team as they return 16 starters from their 2010 squad.
Pinkel acknowledged the youth of his line, but is confident in their abilities as they take on the ASU (1-0) defense.
“They did a lot of good things in the game (last week, but) we will look for a little more consistency from them,” Pinkel said.
Offensively, the Tigers will rely on the dual threat abilities of Franklin.
In his first career start, a 17-6 win over Miami (Ohio), the young signal caller completed 17 of his 26 passes for 129 yards and a touchdown. He also rushed for 72 yards and a touchdown.
Missouri will certainly look to utilize Franklin’s ability to make plays with both his arms and legs, but they acknowledge it will be difficult against the ASU defense.
“We are playing a very good Arizona State defensive football team,” Pinkel said. “They have great players on defense. They run well.”
The Tigers may have trouble with the Sun Devil defense, but they know their defense is talented as well. They allowed the fewest points in the Big 12 last season and have only allowed six points so far this year.
Senior defensive tackle Dominique Hamilton is among the leaders of the unit as he recorded eight tackles in the season opening win.
Despite Missouri’s defensive strength, the Tigers are aware of ASU’s offense and know that they will need to slow them down in order to be successful.
“Their quarterback is a really good player,” Pinkel said. “Their receivers have great speed. They have a good running back. They are impressive with their offense.”
While the Sun Devils will have home field advantage, the Tigers are not complete strangers to Sun Devil Stadium as this will be their second trip to Tempe in their last three games.
Missouri lost to Iowa in the 2010 Insight Bowl, played at Sun Devil Stadium.
Arizona State may have the fans on their side, but their Big-12 counterparts have history on theirs.
Missouri has won three of the five meetings between the two schools including a 30-9 victory in 1990, the last time they met.
The Tigers have also won 22 straight non-conference games, and six straight road openers.
Reach the reporter at william.boor@asu.edu Click here to subscribe to the daily State Press newsletter.
