Each Wednesday, PowerMizzou.com publisher Gabe DeArmond will answer questions from subscribers in our Tiger Mailbag. This feature will allow for longer, more in-depth answers than you may get on the message board on a daily basis. To have your question in next week's mailbag, send an email to Gabe at powermizzou@gmail.com. On to this week's inquiries:

tigersf19 asks: With the snapping,holding and kicking issues do you see us gameplanning on 3rd down to go for it on fourth down. ie/ if its 3rd and 4 or less maybe under center and two runs to get the yards so not to risk a sack or bad snap and put us out of range to even try the kick or go for it?

GD: Within reason, yes. I mean, they're not going to go for it on their own side of the 50 or anything, but if they're between the 25 and the 40, I think they will go for it about 95% of the time (the exception being end of half or end of game situation). I just don't think you can trust you can make a field goal of 40 yards or more. At this point, I'm not sure you can trust you can make any field goal. And before anyone takes that as a shot at Andrew Baggett, it's obviously about more than the kicker.

NewtFH asks: I have always felt that the best player should play, but it doesn't always seem like that's the case.   A pro team might want to play their first round draft pick over the third round pick just because of the position they were taken in the draft or a senior might start overa  redshirt freshman because he has put in more time in the program.  With this in mind, there has been quite a bit of discussion of the utilization of DGB so far this year.  I keep hearing how loaded we are at wide receiver, then hear the same folks complaining that DGB isn't being used. It makes sense to me that if we truly are loaded at receiver, it makes sense that a true freshman would have a harder time getting involved in the passing game.  What are your thoughts on how DGB has fit into the offense so far this year and what should change in the coming weeks?

GD: I see both sides of the DGB debate. First of all, he does have a lot of guys in front of him who have been around a while and probably know the offense quite a bit better. In addition, he's a very raw true freshman who is all of three games into his college career. At the same time, this is the No. 1 high school player in the country (according to pretty much everyone, not just Rivals). At some point, you've got to force feed him the ball. He is on pace for 20 catches for 156 yards. Fair or not, that's not enough for the #1 player in the country. Opposing coaches will absolutely use that against Mizzou on the recruiting trail. Flipping back over, as Pinkel said yesterday, Andy Hill has coached five all-Americans and Missouri has proven capable of developing receivers. You have to give it a little bit of time, but the production has to improve as well.

SCGatorTiger asks: I've seen several comments about how this game is all but chalked up as a loss. From someone who watches SC every week, I'm just curious what you see that is so dominant from this team (besides the obvious answer in their Defensive Ends). In what other areas do you feel they have a big advantage?

GD: The defensive front is very, very good. And that matches up exactly with Missouri's biggest current weakness. In addition, the game is on the road. If Missouri falls behind in this one, Spurrier will just run Marcus Lattimore again and again and give the Tigers few chances to come back.

There are reasons to think Missouri has a chance. Swearinger is out, the quarterback is questionable and the Gamecocks don't blow a lot of teams out. But I think a lot of Tiger fans are looking at SC's game against Vandy as proof that Missouri can win. First off, the Tiger offense isn't great right now. Second, that's how South Carolina wins games. They don't put up 40 points. They score 17 or 24, get a lead and grind it out. Also, the game is in South Carolina's Columbia, not Missouri's. Can Mizzou win? Yeah, but in my opinion, it's the second toughest game on the schedule.



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