The chatter
A big reason Missouri led the SEC in defense this season is going to leave Columbia.
Dave Steckel, long-time assistant to coach Gary Pinkel, will serve as defensive coordinator for the Tigers’ Citrus Bowl matchup with Minnesota before taking over the head coaching spot at Missouri State. Steckel, 57, said he only made up his mind to take the job on Sunday afternoon after the Tigers held practice.
Missouri led the SEC in total defense and Steckel was a finalist for the Broyles Award as the top assistant in the nation. This will be his first head coaching job. He promised to make Missouri State, an FCS program with five straight losing seasons, “the biggest bears in the woods.”
This is a significant loss for Pinkel’s program. After practice, several Missouri players spoke in glowing terms about Steckel, saying he was a big reason they chose Missouri.
“If you don’t want to play for Coach Stec, you don’t want to play for anybody,” defensive end Markus Golden said.
So very hard to go
Two years ago, Brent Venables, the defensive coordinator at Oklahoma, decided to leave the program for the same position at Clemson. But before he reached to the South Carolina border, he began to waver.
He ran into the wife of OU Athletic Director Joe Castiglione at the Oklahoma City airport and she began to bawl while saying goodbye. When he changed planes at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, Venables continued to exchange texts with Sooners coach Bob Stoops.
“I almost turned around,” Venables told The Oklahoman newspaper. “Not because of anything other than it’s scary and you’re wondering what you’re taking your family into.”
Turns out, Oklahoma will be coming after him on Dec. 29, when Clemson and the Sooners meet in the Russell Athletic Bowl in Orlando. Venables has coached Clemson (9-3) into the nation’s No. 1 defense (259.6 yards per game) while OU (8-4) dropped from a No. 4 preseason ranking to out of the top 25.
For Venables, two years haven’t lessened those emotions of leaving OU.
“Initially, the emotions of it are, it’s a guy (Stoops) you hate facing and a guy that you are really close with, that you have incredible respect for,” Venables said. “I love those guys.”
They said it
"Over the second half, Dak (Prescott) showed what we already knew: Extremely talented, but could use another year of seasoning before he's ready for what the NFL will throw at him." — CBS Sports draft analyst Dane Brugler to The Jackson (Miss.) Clarion-Ledger on the Mississippi State quarterback's option for leaving college a year early for the NFL.
By the numbers
5
The number of bowl games scheduled for Saturday, the kickoff date for the 39 postseason games that will be played by the Jan. 12 CFP game.
1
The number of ranked teams to play in Saturday’s opening salvo. No. 22 Utah faces unranked Colorado State in the Las Vegas Bowl.
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