If the Missouri Tigers are in fact for real, then they’ll run the table into the SEC Championship game. And if college football has taught us anything since 2006, it’s the the SEC title game is the de facto national title game.
The Missouri Tigers may in fact be the biggest obstacle the Alabama Crimson Tide have to get yet another national championship. Although I’m sure the Oregon Ducks and Florida State Seminoles have something to say about that.
No one expected Mizzou to be this good, and awfully presumptive to put them in this spot now. Yet here the Missouri Tigers are, ranked #5 in the initial BCS standings.
CBS College Football analyst Gary Danielson:
“Alabama is now going to start to feel the pressure to win out. It appears that a one loss SEC Champion doesn’t have an automatic path to the BCS. With the improvement of Tennessee and Auburn, and a dangerous likely opponent in the Missouri Tigers in the SEC Championship, the Tide’s once easy schedule is looking more foreboding.”
Both the Missouri Tigers and Texas A& Manziel have now adjusted to life in the SEC just fine. Sure, it’s rougher than in the Big 12, but they can handle it.
Danielson on the Missouri Tigers and Texas A& Manziel:
“The success of Missouri and Texas A&M have pierced the invincibility bubble that the SEC had been riding for a long time, and it makes a statement that there are going to be much tighter contests in the future. The days of the elite teams rolling their helmets out there and getting guaranteed wins are likely over.”
For Bama, the biggest obstacles left to the SEC Title game, really the only true threats, are LSU and their hated in-state rivals, a very improved Auburn team.
For the Missouri Tigers, they still face a really tough test on Saturday in South Carolina. And an Ole Miss team you need to watch out for. And Manziel in the season finale.
Paul M. Banks is the owner of The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports. He’s also a regular analyst on news talk radio stations across the world; with weekly segments on NBC and Fox Sports Radio. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks) and RSS