Missouri Tigers despite set backs selected for 3rd place in Northern Division preseason polls

The Missouri Tigers were named third in the NCAA Division-I preseason polls and earned 3 first place finish votes, an honor for any team… and definitely an ego boost for a team that will face tough competition while they claw their way to the top in the upcoming season.

The Missouri Tigers roster has taken some hits recently, losing 3 big players from the defensive line (all for various reasons, most of which center around eligibility). However, the losses won’t be really felt for a few season because all 3 players were a part of the 2009 recruiting class and had yet to fully mature into their Mizzou jerseys. Some critics say that with the senior leadership the Tigers have currently, the underclassman will learn enough to carry the team and keep the Missouri Tigers in the top 3 of the Big 12 Northern Division for quite some time.

In this season, the Missouri Tigers will have to come out ready to win if they are going to hold onto the 3rd place slot. The Tigers start their season September 5th against Illinois and open the season at home September 12 against Bowling Green. Watch this season as the Missouri Tigers prove that they deserve to be on the top of the Northern Division.

Iowa State Cyclones is looking at a tough road to the postseason

ESPN’s Tim Griffen, a staff writer and Big 12 enthusiast recently released an interesting set of predictions for the Iowa State Cyclones. The first was that although ISU recently hired a new head coach, Paul Rhodes, the change in leadership will not be enough to pull the Iowa State Cyclones out of the bottom of the rankings. Mr. Griffen feels that within the Big 12 Conference there will be little room for anything less of perfection and that there will have to be some big changes if the Cyclones want to see a postseason bowl game.

Among his other predictions, although Jerome Tiller was given lots of praise at the camps and preseason practices, returning quarterback Austen Arnaud will continue to be the starting quarterback on the Iowa State Cyclones roster. Mr. Griffen did predict that Tiller will see some playing time giving Arnaud the break he did not see last season. Griffen also predicted that the fate of the Cyclones season will rest in their first conference game, which is against the Kansas State Wildcats on October 3rd. Griffen feels that if the Cyclones can pull out a victory in Arrowhead Stadium, they may be able to keep themselves off of the bottom of the Big 12 conference polls.

Like all other pre-season predictions, no one can really say what will come for the Iowa State Cyclones this season. It is clear that their ISU football schedule is a rough one and they are going to have to come out swinging early on if they want to see postseason play. Check back for more updates about the Cyclones and their new head coach Paul Rhodes.