Independence day - Missouri, Arkansas battle in bowl game

SHREVEPORT, La. -- When Arkansas coach Houston Nutt watches Missouri on game film, it's almost like watching a mirror image of his own team. The same goes for the Tigers' Gary Pinkel.

The participants in the Independence Bowl tonight have loads of similarities. Both teams are 8-4 after 4-0 starts. Both teams were once ranked but no longer. Both teams are among the best rushing teams in the nation, 1 yard apart in production.

And both teams lean on big-play quarterbacks.

"They're not the biggest; we're not the biggest, but both of us play with a lot of emotion and play fast," Nutt said. "They have a running quarterback; we have a running-type quarterback."

Missouri has elusive sophomore Brad Smith, who is 178 passing yards shy of becoming the first quarterback in NCAA history with two 1,000-yard rushing, 2,000-yard passing seasons. Smith, who joined Woody Dantzler of Clemson last year as the only players to do it once, is the biggest reason the Tigers are in a bowl game for the first time in five years.

As Smith goes, so goes Missouri. This season he's run for 17 touchdowns, averaging 6.8 yards per carry, and passed for 11.

"There's no question, people are going to circle him and say we've got to stop No. 16," Missouri offensive coordinator Dave Christensen said. "And you know what, they're absolutely right."

Arkansas' answer is the tandem of Ryan Sorahan and Matt Jones. Sorehan, a dropback passer, will get his fifth start in six games.

But it won't be long before Jones, who is 6-6 and 237 pounds and is a dual threat, is in the game. Jones has thrown 18 touchdown passes and run for seven, and has seen playing time at wide receiver.

"They give you two different worlds," wide receiver George Wilson said. "It's a two-headed monster."

Arkansas is ranked seventh in the nation in rushing with 237 yards per game, and Missouri is eighth with 236. Cedric Cobbs has 1,179 yards for the Razorbacks while the Tigers have Smith (1,310) and senior tailback Zack Abron (1,018).

Defenses take a back seat at both schools. Arkansas is averaging 34 points after scoring a school-record 409 points, and Missouri is averaging 32 points.

The Tigers' strongest suit is holding on to the ball. They have only 10 turnovers all season, fewest in the nation.

The one major difference between the teams is postseason pedigree. Arkansas is bowling for the sixth straight season under Nutt, while Missouri has been only three times in the last 20 seasons.

The Tigers were 4-7 and 5-7 in Pinkel's first two years. They've won eight regular-season games for the first time since 1980.

"He brought discipline, and that's what we really needed," said senior center A.J. Ricker, who'll be making his school-record 47th consecutive start. "What better way to go out than going to a bowl and finally getting a little bit of respect around the nation."

Until he got to Missouri, Pinkel had loads of success. He was 73-37-3 in 10 seasons at Toledo, including a victory in the 1995 Las Vegas Bowl, earning the Missouri job, and before that went to 11 straight bowls as an assistant at Washington.

With a victory today, Pinkel will have a .500 record (18-18) at Missouri.

"The last two years, sitting back in Columbia watching other teams play was very difficult for me," Pinkel said. "I feel very good that we're here and we have an opportunity."

Arkansas has the bowl thing down pat, except for one thing: The Razorbacks have lost the last three and 10 of the last 11 overall.

The last three postseasons they've totaled 31 points. This year Nutt has changed it up with more practice time and a more stringent curfew.

"Bowls, for whatever reason, the tradition has not been good," Nutt said.

This is the first meeting in 40 years between schools that share a border. It'll be Missouri's first game against an SEC opponent in 19 years, while Nutt is 2-1 against the Big 12 -- two of the games in bowls.