After the Missouri Tigers left the crumbling Big 12 for the richer life in the SEC, the Mizzou college football program lost its only real rivalry with the Kansas Jayhawks. I mean the states of Missouri and Kansas even had a mini Civil War in the battle known as “Bleeding Kansas.” Now that’s a rivalry with history. Today, they have nothing. Many believe Mizzou will form a border war with Arkansas, but heading into the program’s second season in the SEC, Mizzou is still yet to play the Razorbacks.
It is hard to start a rivalry when you do not play. Oh and starting 0-4, going 2-6 in the SEC, didn’t help much either.
Mizzou to get EXCITED! ALL CAPS! Well, they’re not playing games in St. Louis anymore, so that’s a GREAT THING! The Stl. is America’s 3rd biggest murder capital, and a place much much worse than Detroit and Baltimore combined. The run defense was okay last season, I guess. And with six defensive starters return, there’s belief that they’ll be better. There should be better stability in the quarterback position now. Hopefully. The punt and kickoff return units count be very good. I know, how exciting! They have Dorial Green-Beckham
Mizzou reasons to be worried :( The move from the NASDAQ to the Dow Jones, from middle class to the upper crust has been very rough. And this year, they’ll have the toughest conference slate of all. Well, they would if they had ‘Bama on the docket. Luckily for them they don’t. I really see only two winnable SEC games on the schedule. The offense was a horrific 96th in the nation in total yardage last season. But hey, at least they were quite balanced. 88th in rushing, 76th in passing. So there’s that!
The placekicking (4 missed PATs last year) and the punting is a potential train wreck; and the WRs will probably not live up to their potential. Sure you have Dorial Green-Beckham, but you also have his “character issues,” and off-the-field problems to deal with. Losing top recruit Chase Abbington to JUCO was a huge blow as well.
Mizzou key games: Look at their first four: 4-0 written all over it. Then October 5th at Vanderbilt we learn if there’s anything to this team or not. Their SEC schedule includes Texas A&M, Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. Good luck with that!
Mizzou bottom line: 5-7 to 7-5ish with an appearance in a fourth tier bowl. Maybe. The Mizzou football program needs better fan support. Last year was the first losing season since ’04 and Gary Pinkel hasn’t had back to back under 6-6 seasons since he first took over the gig. The Tigers need to fill the eventually expanded Memorial Stadium, which will be 77,000 in seating capacity. Mizzou can not afford to keep losing and then have empty seats any longer, look at their ex-rival Illinois. Look at all the empty seats at Illini games. Mizzou must sell-out every game, just like the other powers in the SEC do, on a regular basis. And with this prospectus, and next year’s…..yeeeeeesshhhhhh.
Key & Peele East/West College Bowl Roster: Kentrell Brothers, Connor McGovern, L’Damian Washington, Keric Lickerman
the 2013 College Football rankings 1-51
#76 Kansas Jayhawks
#70 Minnesota Golden Gophers
#58-#52, due to time constraints, were skipped.
Paul M. Banks is the owner of The Sports Bank.net. (“Quasi-endorsed” by Philadelphia Eagles Coach Chip Kelly) He’s also an author who also contributes regularly to MSN, Fox Sports , Chicago Now, Walter Football.com and Yardbarker
Banks has appeared on the History Channel, as well as Clear Channel, ESPN and CBS radio all over the world. The NFL, NBA expert does a weekly spot for 95.7 The Fan. President Barack Obama follows him on Twitter (@PaulMBanks), like him on Facebook