Watch Out for Missouri

Did everyone forget that Missouri played for the SEC championship less than a year ago?

Last season, the third Tigers of the SEC finished 12-2 with a Cotton Bowl win, when all was said and done. Gary Pinkel and Co. did a wonderful job rebounding from a 5-7 debut the year before, and all of a sudden, Missouri was nationally relevant again.

Until the 2014 preseason, that is.

Before the August 28 season kickoff, the story of the SEC East was whether Georgia or South Carolina would win the division. Georgia was supposed to be the scary good team of the division, and the Gamecocks were returning enough talent and experience from last year’s team to be heavily favored.

There was also talk of Florida and Tennessee being improved, and making some noise. But no one was talking about Missouri.

Perhaps most people thought Missouri couldn’t replicate its success in 2013 after losing its senior quarterback, quite a few playmakers at the skill positions, and key contributors on defense. And it seemed like they were right.

Missouri seemed on schedule for another mediocre year, maybe 7-5 or 8-4.

But what most people discounted was the playmaking ability of Maty Mauk, a young quarterback who continues to show his poise each week. The Tigers also have plenty of young talent at their skill positions and on defense.

I’ll admit I was one of those people. I thought that South Carolina would win the SEC East, contested tightly by Georgia. I didn’t think that Missouri would have a bad season, in fact, I always considered them to be a dark horse contender for the championship game.

But I just couldn’t get over the hype created for South Carolina and Georgia. And like everyone else, I forgot about Missouri.

Let’s not forget, however, they don’t make a lot of noise to begin with.

Since the end of last season, Missouri has been flying under the radar, quietly taking care of business; and it could earn them a second straight trip to Atlanta.

Anyone paying attention to the SEC East should realize Missouri now has the best chance of anyone to win the division. Did anyone realize that Missouri is the only East team still undefeated in the conference?

Granted, they’ve only played one game, but that one game, a win over South Carolina, put them in as good of a position as they could have asked for in this muddled up East division.

Their win over the Gamecocks gave them a unique ability to run the SEC East table at the beginning of October, despite having one loss. Right now, Missouri is in control of its own destiny.

If the Tigers win out, they play in the SEC Championship Game. If they beat Georgia, they can even afford to lose a game. South Carolina needs Missouri to lose three times as it goes undefeated the rest of the way.

Florida, Tennessee, and Kentucky are all sitting on one SEC loss right now, and will all be making their cases for a spot in the conference title game, but I don’t foresee any of them finishing with a better record than Missouri.

The Tigers only have two ranked teams remaining on its schedule: a home matchup against 13^th-ranked Georgia next weekend, and a trip to now sixth-ranked Texas A&M in November. Every other team on the docket is an unranked conference opponent.

The way this season has played out so far, there are no absolutes. Missouri could very well drop a game on the road against Florida or Tennessee, and combined with a loss to Georgia and/or Texas A&M, the East becomes even more wide open.

But the way Georgia and Texas A&M both played this past weekend (close wins over Tennessee and Arkansas) tells me that every game on Missouri’s schedule is very winnable.

And their win in Columbia this past Saturday told us just as much about Missouri as it did about South Carolina.

Missouri is tough. They’re gritty, they’re resilient. They can win ugly games. They can win even when trailing most of a game with absolutely no spark on offense.

They don’t have to blow the experts away with their performances. As it is for every SEC team this season, a win is a win.

And it’s a good thing, because Missouri hasn’t exactly been overwhelming thus far. Their most convincing win was a 38-10 win over UCF, which was followed swiftly by a 31-27 home loss to Indiana the very next Saturday.

But they responded perfectly, as they always do, and burst back into the Top 25. Beating South Carolina in such a dramatic fashion proved that they can play with anybody, and they don’t care how they have to do it.

Watch out for Missouri, college football world.

They’re just as dangerous as any team in the nation, especially when no one is paying any attention to them.

Gary Pinkel and his team are in control of their own destiny, and they are perfectly content taking the season one game at a time.

They’ll stay out of the spotlight, taking care of business each week. And they’ll continue to fly under the radar, all the way to Atlanta.