We all know that The Missouri Tigers move to The Southeastern Conference
was money driven, but at what cost to the football program? The Tigers
have always been a middle of the road team formerly in The Big 8 and Big
12 Conferences. Under head coach Gary Pinkel, The Tigers would be happy
to finish the season with a record of 8-4 while accepting a bowl
invitation to either The Alamo or Independence Bowls to represent The
Big 12. Now that Tigers are in The SEC, this season could be headed for
the toilet bowl.
Through six games, The Tigers have a record of
3-3 while they are 0-3 against The SEC. The Tigers got The Georgia
Bulldogs in Columbia, Missouri to kick off SEC play, but they fell 41-20
to The Dawgs on September 8. The Tigers fell to The South Carolina
Gamecocks by 21 points on September 22 while they lost at home last
Saturday to The Vanderbilt Commodores.
This Saturday, Missouri will host The Alabama Crimson Tide who are
the top-ranked team in the country. The Tide appear to be on a mission
as they are looking for their second consecutive BCS Championship and
Alabama head coach Nick Saban will not take it easy on the new kids on
the block in The SEC even if he and Pinkel were teammates in college at
Kent State.
The Tigers haven’t been the offensive juggernaut that they were when
they were members of The Big 12, largely in part to the tenacious
defense that is played in The SEC. In three conference games this
season, Missouri is only averaging 15 points per game. In The Big 12,
The Tigers faced teams such as The Baylor Bears and The Oklahoma Sooners
where they would consistently put up 40 points as defense wasn’t the
calling card of the league where the spread offense was the king.
The Tigers have never consistently brought top-tier recruits to
Columbia, but in The SEC recruiting is key. The SEC is so deep with
talented teams and talented coaches that a team can be 12-1 one season
and slip to 8-5 the following year. For example, The Tide went 14-0 in
2009 en route to The BCS Championship. The following season they went
10-3 and they were still one of the best teams in the country, but they
lost three tough SEC road games that season. The Tigers left The Big 12
along with The Texas A&M Aggies, but The Aggies appear to be more
SEC ready. The Aggies hired former Houston Cougars head coach Kevin
Sumlin. With Texas being a more fertile recruiting area than Missouri,
it has been an easier transition for The Aggies which is evident by
their 4-1 mark to start the campaign.
It won’t get any easier for The Tigers this season. After
Saturday’s game against ‘Bama, The Tigers still have road games against
The Florida Gators and The Tennessee Volunteers in consecutive weeks.
They also finish the regular season on the road at Texas A&M.
Missouri’s home stadium Faurot Field has a seating capacity of 71,004.
Tigers athletic director Mike Alden will look to upgrade those
facilities in order to keep up in The SEC. Since The SEC went to the two
division format in 1992 only Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, and South
Carolina have won The SEC East with Florida winning the division ten
times. The Commodores and The Kentucky Wildcats have never won The SEC
East and Missouri appears to be a step behind these two programs.
Missouri chancellor Dr. Brady Deaton saw the money of The SEC, but
he didn’t see the struggle that would come along with it. 8-4 in The Big
12 can easily become 5-7 in The SEC and The Tigers and Gary Pinkel are
on the road to finding that out the hard way.
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