Welcome to Rock M Digest, a renewed weekly column where I, Madame Editor, share with you my must-read picks for the Rock M Nation content of the week. These stories made me think (sometimes too much), laugh, smile, cry... you get the picture. We've got a talented bunch of writers at this site, and since I have the distinct pleasure of reading all of it -- I love reading it all, I swear -- I want you, the readers, to know what you should be checking out if you don't have time to read all the content. After all, we did put out 41 stories this week alone (if I'm counting correctly). And that's not including podcasts (which I've linked to below) and Rock M+ content, which isn't found on the main RMN page.
At the bottom, I've gathered up my favorite quotes of the week and presented them with no context. There is a link to the story included, and I highly recommend reading the stories that go along with them.
Let's begin. And apologies, it's very football-forward this week.
In this walk down memory lane, Quentin ranks some of Mizzou's top moments against the Mid-American Conference, which includes highlights of Corby v. Eastern Michigan, Chase (Patton) v. Western Michigan, Bud vs. Toledo, Markus Golden v. Terrance Owens/Toledo, Chase (Daniel) vs. Buffalo and Michael Sam vs. Miami (OH). For longtime Mizzou fans, this is super entertaining.
Ahh, I have missed the absurdity that is Josh's Revue column. In this season's inaugural piece, Josh goes after horse movies, reminds us that we will more often than not see LB3 featured in the Disrespectful Play Index -- he's just that good, guys, offers an NIL deal for Mizzou's Thinner Kicker, and comes up with a new award based on RMN cult fave, "I Think You Should Leave."
Our resident photographer is back and better than ever after spending the summer in Charlottesville shooting everything from nature to city happenings to athletic events. In his first piece of the new school year, Cal captured his eight favorite football photos to go along with two each from soccer and volleyball.
In a weekly piece that is new to Rock M Nation this football season, former longtime Mizzou Athletics comms staffer Chad Moller takes us around the football world in four quarters -- first about Mizzou, then to the SEC's performance, which featured five teams who won by 60+ points in Week 1, then to the national landscape, before finishing up (in the "4th quarter") by talking about the success of Mizzou's athletic department promoting this team.
In this new weekly piece -- we're really upping the original content around here -- Josh examines where our heads are at after Week 1, telling us that he thinks the floor for this team might have changed ever so slightly, as all the contributors lost in the offseason haven't made that much of a difference thus far in this Tigers team performance, while saying that his ceiling is the same.
"Toward the beginning of the fourth quarter, Drinkwitz did a TV spot with ESPN. When asked what Mizzou could do better, he mentioned that the offense needed to play a cleaner game. "The penalties are annoying," he emoted before uttering a lackluster "M-I-Z." -- Josh Matejka, Five Takeaways from Mizzou's 38-0 win
"Two bold rest of season predictions from me: I believe Corey Flagg, Jr. and Joshua Manning will supplant Chuck Hicks and Mookie Cooper by the end of the season. -- Dan Keegan, A Fan's Notes: Racing Past Murray State
"Power conference teams usually have setters who distribute lower sets to their hitters, making the time from set to hit much quicker. The slower pace of Northern Kentucky compared to Mizzou's higher quality opponents during the opening weekend seemed to throw off the team's timing on the block." -- Matthew Gustafson, Mistakes Slow Down Mizzou VB in Win over NKU
"You think I find factory farming and open fields beautiful because you paid Kurt Russell $15 million to talk in a vaguely ole-timey Western accent? I know he was born in Massachusetts and raised in Los Angeles; you can't fool me." -- Josh Matejka, The Revue
"Cook showed that the kitchen was somewhat cleaner this week in the air coupled with two touchdowns on the ground, headlined by a rumbling 31-yard run where he flipped into the endzone." -- Adeen Rao, Stern defensive showing leads to 38-0 victory over Buffalo
"If Mizzou hopes to make a push in the SEC, they will need that through-the-roof offensive production from Simmons yet again. My belief is that if you just get one, it takes the monkey off your back and the goals will start to flow from there." -- Dylan Heinrich, Tiger Targets: SEMO & Duke
"In a sense, the Tigers practiced, as (Colts OC Tom) Moore might've put it, f***ed. But there's a sensible flip side to it: practicing the backups is necessary. The inevitable attrition that football season brings often calls upon those waiting in the wings. The nature of certain position groups, such as the interior defensive line and linebackers, requires more than just the starting pair to generate success over a full game." -- Quentin Corpuel, Mizzou's Legitimate Second Line of Defense... & Offense
"The coaching staff showed a knack for developing players last year, as the team showed significant improvement from the beginning of the season to the end, so I'm excited to see what they can do with a full offseason coaching up such a promising, young player like Sierra Dudley." -- Matthew Gustafson, VB Review: Setter
"If you didn't experience a moment of pure, eye-popping joy at Florida getting their throats caved in by an in-state rival on their home turf, then you're probably a Gainesville native. Maybe they can fix the program if Ben Sasse can fly in all of his buddies on private jets to form an opulently-funded and well-catered brain trust." -- : -- Josh Matejka, Pregamin' Buffalo
We've been real busy on the airwaves this past week.