Rock M Digest: Vol. 2, Issue 10

A weekly list of fantastic stories (and quotes) you may have missed this past week at Rock M Nation dot com

Welcome to Rock M Digest, a weekly column where I, Madame Editor, share with you my must-read picks for the Rock M Nation content of the week. These stories made me think (sometimes too much), laugh, smile, cry… you get the picture. We’ve got a talented bunch of writers at this site, and since I have the distinct pleasure of reading all of it — I love reading it all, I swear — I want you, the readers, to know what you should be checking out if you don’t have time to read all the content. There was so much content; we put out 54 stories this week alone. And that’s not including podcasts (which I’ve linked to below) and Rock M+ content, which isn’t found on the main RMN page.

At the bottom, I’ve gathered up my favorite quotes of the week presented them with no context. There is a link to the story included, and I highly recommend reading the stories that go along with them.

And, as always I’ve gathered all the podcasts for you and put all my fave photos from the best photo team into a gallery for your viewing pleasure.

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Rock M Recs

Schreacke’s career night leads Mizzou WBB to victory

Look, I don’t know how many dubs Mizzou WBB is going to get this season — for the record, despite my curmudgeonly view on Majority Rules, I hope they get it together — so it’s important to recognize it when they’re doing good work. And as Dylan wrote from on the road in Macomb on Friday (such dedication!), the Tigers and specifically, Quincy, Ill. sophomore Abbey Schreacke, did nice work for Mizzou’s first road win since Vandy last January. This was, of course, despite way too many turnovers and mental lapses and still with much of the team searching for an identity. A good read.

Florida snaps Mizzou Volleyball’s winning streak, dominates fifth set

For the first time in over a month, the Tigers lost, and man, it was an exciting and explosive matchup between the high-flying play of Mizzou and Florida. In front of the biggest crowd for a volleyball match at Hearnes in over a decade, Dawn Sullivan’s squad, as Matthew writes, capped the opening frame on a 4-1 run, clinching the 25-15 victory on a Colleen Finney kill. The Gators fought right back to take set two 25-21 and set three 27-25 before the Tigers emerged in set four victorious, 25-22, to force a deciding set five. While the Tigers’ win streak was ultimately halted by the Gators, that doesn’t diminish the awesomeness of the night, these photos, or this recap.

Mizzou Football’s best moments against South Carolina

Welp. Saturday’s game surely would have made this list in following years had the results held, but alas, we are left to re-live some of the team’s best moments in Quentin’s new history piece. I love these, and I know he really enjoys writing them. Because I spent so many years in NC and U of SC (never to be called Carolina, ya hear me?!) was a popular destination for my high schoolers and yacht club coworkers, I have been riveted by this matchup and The Mayor’s Cup. Make sure you check out #1, which features a play-by-play from J-School alum and former colleague Brandon Kiley’s 2005 game story. #Memories

Beyond the Box Score: Pynetyme

The subhead here alone makes Nate Edwards’ piece worth the read: “Raise your hand if you expected this outcome. Put your hand down.” I certainly can’t say it better than Nate, so I’ll let him do the heavy lifting here in this analytics masterpiece.

Like this gem— “I’m still not convinced of Eli Drinkwitz’s alleged ‘body blow’ theory of offensive management in this game, wherein he and Kirby schemed up a ton of runs they knew would go nowhere in order to soften the Sooner defense up for bigger passing plays later in the game. It feels a lot like revisionist history for a boxer who spent the first five rounds getting repeatedly decked in the face and, after a late round surprise knock out, say that it was the plan all along to get repeatedly smashed in the kisser.”

And this— “The goal was 8 scoring opportunities with at least 3.5 points per opportunity to get to 24 total points and Mizzou finished with 6 scoring opportunities and a robust 5 points per scoring opportunity for 30 total points. That is the most points they’ve scored in regulation against a P4 opponent all year. Against Oklahoma. With a backup quarterback.”

What are you waiting for? Read the damn article. Thank you!

Hu Back to The Zou

My column, my rules! Because I was on sportswriting hiatus and didn’t have a Digest last week, I’ll take this opportunity to plug my November 6 feature on Helen Hu, who returns to Mizzou Gymnastics after a year-long journey of self-discovery in a dozen-plus countries. What I loved most about how this piece shaped up was it wasn’t just about the gymnastics, of which that is obviously important, but the story of what she learned about herself and what to do in her time away and how it brought her back to gymnastics. Besides being a fabulous athlete, the original H-squared also seems like a wonderful human! Have a read.

Tobias Sixteen: Rivalry Renewed

Cal shot so many events the first full week of November that he had to include way more than ten photos. Have a look; there’s some real beauties in there. Including this one, which landed our dear head photog on the twitter account @ArtButSports for the second time!

Quotables

“Luther Burden III had largely been shut down by the Gamecock defense all night. With 1:22 left in the game, he had seven catches for 32 yards. Then came the fourth and five to go, one-armed basket catch down the sideline, the stop on a dime, and the trot into the end zone to give the Tigers what could have been the game-winning touchdown.” —Nathan Hurst, Five Takeaways from the crushing 34-30 loss to S. Carolina

“Charles Dickens once wrote, ‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.’ I have to imagine Dickens, who wrote almost exclusively commentary about class in Great Britain, didn’t have access to any of MI6’s future-telling technology because of his critical view of the government. If he did, he might have taken it back knowing I would use that line in this column, a decision so heinously bad that it would take back any cultural good that the book did in the first place. But here’s the thing: I’m tired and only somewhat creative. So I’m using this line because it makes too much sense for this game. I don’t know that I’ve seen a Mizzou game played so poorly as the first half against Oklahoma. And I don’t know that I’ve seen a more exciting game than the second half (fourth quarter?) against Oklahoma. It was simultaneously the worst game I’d watched in 10-plus years and the best game I’d watched in 10-plus years.” —Josh Matejka, The Revue

“Mizzou Arena reached peaked nervousness in the opening minute of the game. Mark Mitchell had a layup blocked out of bounds with 0.1 seconds left on the shot clock; the Tigers didn’t execute the ensuing baseline out-of-bounds, and Alvin Stredic knocked down a jumper on the other end for the game’s first points. That’s about as high on the mountain as the Delta Devils got, as Mizzou proceeded to rip off a 14-0 run and never looked back. MVSU couldn’t do much of anything on either end of the court, as the Tigers proved to be too much from a skill and physicality standpoint.” —Quentin Corpuel, Mississippi Valley State gamer

“Wease’s 98th percentile in the VAT this week is actually the best single week offensive performance of the season from this team. He was lethal in pretty much every category, and the entire country got to see how much of a threat he is in the contested catch game. Considering that these numbers are against his former team and a fanbase that booed him when he was announced as a starter, this had to be sweet for Theo.” —Adeen Rao, Week 11 Analytics MVPs

“As DataMizzou has noted, good performances against lower tier teams can be an indicator of better things than the other way around. You can learn a lot from these types of buy games. You can learn what type of team the Tigers are building, you can learn how they want to play.” —Sam Snelling, Study Hall: Mississippi Valley State Study Hall

“Just when most people start counting the Tigers as dead in the water, they find a way to grind out wins. None of it has been pretty, and that’s what makes this season strangely unimpressive to outside observers. But if they can pull off a shocker this Saturday in the lesser Columbia, they’ll have a chance to stay in the playoff conversation. No matter whether things look pretty or clunky, that’s all we can ask as fans.” —Chad Moller, South Carolina Pregamin’

“Through the first five years of Drink’s tenure, his program has a few readily identifiable hallmarks. His high school recruiting and portal work are both masterful, perhaps the best in school history. He has a habit of putting his foot in his mouth when in front of a microphone. On the field, the search for a gamebreaker quarterback continues to shape the program.” —Dan Keegan, A Fan’s Notes: A Culture Win

Hot Shots

HOLY SHIT, Cal was busy this week! Starting with most recent: On Saturday he shot the gymnastics intrasquad, on Friday Mizzou v. Florida volleyball and on Thursday it was men’s hoops vs. Mississippi Valley State. On Tuesday it was women’s hoops vs. Tulane and Monday was men’s hoops vs. Eastern Washington. On Sunday it was women’s hoops vs. Norfolk State. Mike handled the volleyball duties vs. South Carolina later that day. Enjoy! There’s SO much action to flip through! What are your faves?

Listen Up!

Here’s what you may have missed podcast-wise on the Olympic Sports and football fronts.

• My show, Majority Rules, recorded a new show with in-depth updates on all your favorite Mizzou Olympic sports, including volleyball, swim & dive, women’s hoops, cross country, gymnastics, wrestling and baseball.

• Matthew recorded a new episode of Over the Net with Mizzou middle blocker, Regan Haith. Love it! And that the VB team enthusiastically promotes it.

• On a new episode of Before the Box Score, the Nates chat about Drew Pyne and how he ate the Sooners for breakfast (LOL) last weekend.

• The Nates also previewed Saturday’s matchup with #21 South Carolina in another ep of Before the Box Score!

Mizzou Sports this Week (plus some):

• Wed, Nov. 20: WBB vs. SLU, 6:30pm
• Wed, Nov. 20 – Fri, Nov. 22: S&D AT Georgia Invitational (Athens, Ga.), tbd
• Fri, Nov. 22: WBB vs. Little Rock, 11:30am | MBB vs. Pacific, 6:30pm | VB AT Ole Miss, 6:30pm
• Sat, Nov. 23: FB AT Mississippi State, 3:15pm
• Sun, Nov. 24: MBB vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff, 4pm | VB AT MS State, 2pm
• Mon, Nov. 25: WBB vs. Syracuse (Destin, Fla.), 5pm
• Tues, Nov. 26: WBB vs. Wichita State/Creighton (Destin, Fla.), tbd
• Wed, Nov. 27: MBB vs. Lindenwood, 5:30pm | VB vs. Kentucky, 7pm