Yes, Mizzou has won the East again. I don't know what implications that might have for Nebraska in the Big 10, but here's my take on why it's turned out this way for Mizzou...
The SEC is a good conference with several good teams and one really good team, Alabama. That said, it's not as good as the pundits say it is, and not nearly as good as SEC fans believe it is.
On the flip side Mizzou is better than they thought it would be. MU's record has highlighted both these realities and it has provoked a lot of hatred and hostility among the old guard. They thought that by allowing MU to join the conference, they would get another Vandy, just with 6 million TV sets.
The Indiana loss was awful, but it's worth noting that Marcus Golden was out for that game, and the Hoosiers still had their starting QB at the time (I think they're on their 2nd or 3rd stringer now, and have been for a while). The horrible IU everyone has seen the past few weeks isn't the one MU faced.
The ugly truth is Mizzou looked past IU and got punked for it. Even if MU wins the SEC title, it's going to pay for that loss when bowl season rolls around, and that is appropriate. It was a terrible, terrible loss.
The loss to Georgia was on Mauk. The kid threw six picks and our defense was gassed by the 3rd quarter. Mauk single-handedly lost that game. Painful lesson for him.
Mizzou is competing in the SEC, but it's not doing it as a Big-12 team. It's doing it with an offense that favors the run, and betting that our defense will take us where we hope to go.
Did any of you watch today's game? We started slow, but by the 3rd quarter our DL was in command and by the 4th quarter or OL was dominating. Remind you of anyone? Maybe Big-8 era NU? The main difference being you guys did that from the opening kickoff.
Pinkel is getting better. Game day is his weak spot. Always has been, always will be. His genius lies in the system he has put in place to develop players and the metric he uses to recruit for it. I don't think it overlaps much with Rivals or the conventional ranking systems. He uses his own criteria and you can't argue with the results. By the time they're juniors and seniors, 2 and 3-star recruits are performing at 4 and 5-star level. In recent years many of them have gone on to the NFL.
Pinkel also develops them between the ears. More than anything, this year's team has poise and is mentally tough. They just don't panic when things aren't going well. That was evident again tonight.
Mizzou will never be Bama or ever field a team as dominant as the '95 Huskers, but it's on to something. I think our D gives us a puncher's chance in Atlanta, but we'll need to do everything else right. Anything can happen. That is why they play the games, and that's why I'm booking a trip to Atlanta.
Best of luck to you going forward...
