Mizzou Links, 9-6-07

• The Big 12 is getting really good at admitting its officials' mistakes. They seem to have to do it on a weekly basis. I know "the game's getting faster" and all that, but...can we please stop the downward spiral of officiating? In the last three games Mizzou's played, 1) they've been denied a win because of a holding call that didn't actually exist (Wyrick tried to hold but didn't even come close), 2) they forced a fumble at their 1-yard line that wasn't called (and of course, couldn't be replayed), 3) they were denied a successful on-side kick because Adam Crossett "touched" the ball when he didn't (just as ASU was denied a successful on-side kick because of a legal "illegal" formation...and just as Oregon was given a successful on-side kick when Oklahoma actually recovered the ball), 4) they lost the ball on a fumble that occurred when Chase Daniel's arm was moving forward (and no, friend of mine who told me it was a good call because the Tuck Rule doesn't exist in college...the Tuck Rule didn't even remotely apply)--a call that officials reviewed on replay (with a clear angle of his arm moving forward) and still got wrong, and 5) they gave up a 30-yard pass on 4th down when the ball was clearly snapped after the play clock expired and the Illinois QB was clearly trying to signal timeout. And that's just the calls that have gone against Mizzou--I'm not even going to pretend that they're alone in getting screwed. I realize that there will always be incorrect calls--I was an intramural ref myself, and not a particularly amazing one--but the missed calls have been getting more and more blatant and more and more preventable. It's time to do something. I'm not sure what, but I'm not getting paid to figure it out either. Give me some money, and I'll come up with a helluva solution.
  
• Another award for Pig Brown: the Bronko Nagurski National Defensive Player of the Week Award. He's handling the attention well.
• Dave Matter talks Ole Miss with ESPN the Magazine writer Bruce Feldman, who apparently just wrote a book about Ole Miss Football.
• Mike Dearmond profiles Jeremy Maclin and pressure. Speaking of pressure...the running game's gonna need to get significantly better, and everybody knows it.
  
• Jeff Gordon says Mizzou and Illinois still have lots of work to do. Well...yeah.
• In Powered Up, Gabe says you know, you don't know.
  
• Glen Dandridge, Lambuth Eagle.
  
• Mizzou Volleyball (3-2 despite having outscored every opponent) is preparing for the Texas State CenturyTel Premier this weekend against TSU, Houston, and CS-Fullerton.
• Mizzou golf's new coach is an old (well, not that old) player.
  
• The Mizzou X-Country team begins its season this weekend with the Missouri Cross Country Challenge against Murray State.
• And finally, Interim Big 12 Commissioner Dan Beebe is now...Big 12 Commissioner Dan Beebe. Seems like an uninspiring choice, but I don't actually know anything about any of the candidates, so I probably deserve much of an opinion.