So hey...at least we're not the Dallas Cowboys right now...
For the first time ever, I'm starting The Links with a soccer link. Why? Because it's Positivity Week for Mizzou Links posts, and Mizzou Soccer just whooped #6 Texas A&M in College Station, 3-0, that's why. With three conference games remaining, they sit at 5-2, just one game behind 6-1 Colorado. The Missourian has more.
So before I wrote my "Day After" post yesterday, I guess I could have just saved some time and linked to this relatively similar piece posted hours earlier by Gabe from PowerMizzou.
Missouri is still, in my estimation and most others, the class of the Big 12 North. I realize some of you will say that's like winning a beauty contest for ugly women. I don't really agree, but that's neither here nor there.
We have heard for a long time how good the leadership is on this team. Players like Chase Daniel, Tommy Saunders and Ziggy Hood have been praised for their leadership. It's time for that to show up next week.
The Tigers lost any chance at the national title on Saturday. There is not one possible way Missouri gets back in that discussion. But other than that, they didn't lose much. Mizzou has five games left. Four of them are against Big 12 North teams. If Mizzou wins those four games, it is mathematically impossible for them not to win the Big 12 North. At that point, the Tigers will have a chance to become what has been the haunting of the Big 12 Conference for a decade: The ultimate spoiler in the league title game.
Listen, Missouri is better than Colorado. They are better than Iowa State and Kansas State. They have proven they are far better than Nebraska. They were better than Kansas last year and I still happen to think they're better than the Jayhawks again this year, no matter what yesterday might have said.
(Technically, if they win those four North games but lose to Baylor, it is indeed mathematically possible to not win the North...if Kansas wins all of their other games. Won't happen, but I'm just sayin'...mathematically possible.)
Time for one last cleanse before we move on to Colorado: Dave Matter empties the notebook.
Classy gesture by ESPN’s Chris Fowler after the game. Between live interviews with McCoy and Texas Coach Mack Brown, Fowler ran halfway across the field during a commercial break to give Daniel a hug as the Tigers filed into the locker room. He probably needed it.
I confess I missed the offsetting personal foul penalty late in the fourth quarter while I was taking the elevator down to the field level, but at least Austin Wuebbels was showing some fight — something his teammates didn’t bother with in the first half.
There has been some speculation that redshirt freshman defensive end Chris Earnhardt has quit the team. A team official told me on Sunday that Earnhardt was a late scratch from the travel list, but nothing has been made official about his status with the team.
Don't know why Earnhardt would quite now...with major "give them a boost" depth chart changes on the horizon, but as I usually say when somebody (possibly) quits...if they didn't want to be here anymore, then it's not a very big loss. But I'll hold off on saying more until we find out if it's true.
So in case anybody's forgotten, here's one thing we've got going for us: we've got the best tight end in the country, and to me it isn't even close.
Better days ahead! Still a shot at the Big 12 Title game! The KC Star and Post-Dispatch both going with the RMN-approved positive spin! Positivity week, people!
And finally...to basketball! Mike Anderson has his players running.