The Missouri Tigers clinch the Big XII North for the 2nd straight year after defeating Iowa State 52-20 up in Ames. Jeremy Maclin, Derrick Washington and Chase Daniel all had very strong games, and William Moore added his first INT of the season and returned it for a TD. Moore is the first player in Mizzou history to return 4 interceptions for TDs and is also the first in Mizzou history to score defensive TDs in 4 straight seasons.

Jeremy Maclin and the MIssouri Tigers did to Iowa State exactly what they were supposed to do. They were up 31-7 at the half and didn’t let up, giving them a final score of 52-20.

Maclin accounted for 6 of those points when he scored on a 43 yard pass from Chase Daniel. Jeremy ended the game with 8 receptions for 103 yards plus one touchdown. That gives him back-to-back 100 yard receiving games, and 100-yard performances in 3 of the last 4 games. It also puts him over the 1,000 mark on the season.

With the win, the Missouri Tigers also captured the Big 12 North title. “I am excited that we are Big 12 North champions again and I think our football team has high expectations for themselves and we have more football still,” Coach Pinkel said.

Kansas is the last remainging regular season game on their schedule. “Guys are still hungry for that KU game. It’s definitely a big rivalry game, so we’re not going to take them lightly,” Missouri receiver Jeremy Maclin said.

Looking at his stats, you will see that Jeremy has blown up statistically every other week. This week is scheduled to be his off week. I however don’t believe in this pattern. I think Jeremy will continue on his tear.

Missouri is still going to the Big 12 Championship game so they have something to play for. They will likely be playing upset to whatever team comes out of the South. A win in the Big 12 Championship will knock someone out of the BCS National Championship game.

Jeremy Maclin is an integral part of the Tigers offense and they’ll continue to showcase him this week against a terrible Iowa State team (0-6 in the Big 12, 2-8 overall).

With two games left, Jeremy Maclin sits at 71 receptions for 949 yards and 9 touchdowns. In 2007, he had 80 receptions for 1055 yards and 9 touchdowns. So he’s all but guaranteed to surpass last year’s receiving stats.

Now on to rushing… this year he has 27 rushes for 190 yards and 2 touchdowns. In 2007, he had 51 rushes for 375 yards and 4 touchdowns. So his rushing numbers are down a bit, but they still look good for someone who isn’t a running back.

Now on to returning… I hope you didn’t forget Jeremy Maclin returns punts and kicks. His kick return numbers are down some this year, but that’s only because they don’t run him out on every return now. But he still has 26 kick returns for 658 yards and a touchdown (99 yards).

So I agree with the bleacher report article. Jeremy Maclin is not having a down year. In fact, he’s improved his stock and will be a 1st round drfat pick in 2009.

Maclin finished the game with 4 rushes for 84 yards and a touchdown, plus 8 receptions for 118 yards and 2 touchdowns. This is the monster game everyone wanted to see. It’s something we’ve come to expect on a weekly basis from Maclin. “J-Mac, what can you say?” Daniel said while reading the statistics off a sheet. “It’s unbelievable, the things he can do with a ball in his hands.”

Jeremy was making a fool of the Kansas State defense all day and earned their respect. “In this business we use the word great too often, but he is a great player,” Prince said. “He does so many things and you set the coverages to deal with him, and then all of sudden one guy is out of position and he’s gone.”

For those of you who missed the game, I’ll be sure to get some highlights up later this week.

Last year against Kansas State, Jeremy had one of his best games. He had 143 yards receiving and scored two touchdowns. Thats the type of performance we need to see out of him again… of course that is all contingent on Chase throwing him the ball.

If Maclin wants to be a first round pick and go pro, he’ll need to start having some good games. I’m sick of seeing Missouri struggle against mid-tier Big 12 teams. It’s time to start dominating team again. Can we please see Jeremy catch9 balls for 130 yards and a touchdown?

The question is… will Jeremy be a first round pick? Based on the above quote, we’d have to assume that he will return to Missouri if he isn’t. Maclin is currently ranked No. 7 overall by Scouts Inc.’s Top 32 list on ESPN.com. NFLdraftdog.com projects Maclin as the 27th pick of the first round and FootballFutures.com has him as the 13th pick.

Those are all pretty good indications that he will be a first round pick. Maclin is very similar to Ted Ginn Jr. a few years ago. Ginn even busted his ankle up in the final game of the year and was still a first round pick. Plus with Chase Daniel leaving, there’s no telling what will happen to Mizzou next year.

All my money is on Jeremy heading to the pros.

The coaches are extremely impressed with the way Jeremy has been playing this year. “He’s playing a lot better than he was a year ago,” Pinkel said. “He’s stronger, faster, quicker. He knows the game better.”

He contributes to the team in all facets of the offense and on special teams. He’s one of the most versatile players in all of college football. Baylor is 3-5 overall and 1-3 in the Big 12. They’ll try to focus in on Maclin,l but they just don’t have the talent or speed to stop him. I wouldn’t be surprised at all with another Missouri 58-0 win and if Jeremy Maclin has 150+ yards of offense.

Maclin finished the game with 11 receptions for 134 yards and two touchdowns. His longest catch of the game was a 35 yarder. Jeremy also had 17 yards on 3 rushes and 41 yards on two punt returns.

After his awesome performance on Saturday, Jeremy is now in a prime position to surpass his receiving statistics from 2007. I’ll be sure to post some video highlights of the game later this week.