We could lose.

The thought stops me now and then.  I'll be going about my day, plain as always. And my thoughts will slide to how Stryker's knee wil hold up, or how many yards Maclin will get this season, or if Danario can finally get off the damn injury list. I'll think about how it'll feel to march into Lincoln and march out with their nuts decisevely removed, crying about how good they used to be and how they'll definitely be back, they'll be back they say!  I think about putting Reesing's face to the turf again.  I think about what would have to happen to get to the national championship game (let's go Texas Tech!).  And the thought hits me.

We could lose.

Not that we didn't lose last season.  Lord knows I wouldn't just call what happened against Oklahoma losing.  I would define losing as what happened in Norman and San Antonio.  But they were the only team to beat us. They were the only one.  And they were clearly the better team.  And i think about how amazing that was for our program.  To not fall to a lesser team.  To not have any slip-ups.  The National Champion lost to a team we smashed into smithereens in the Cotton Bowl, for God's sake. And clearly LSU was a better team than us.  But it doesn't change the fact that at no point did we actually slip. We all waited for it, whether we want to admit it or not.  We waited for the Pinkel factor.  We waited for the inevitable moment where we stood, stunned and angry, looking at each other like "Why? Why did we ever believe anything else would happen?"  We waited for the loss that wasn't just inexplicable, it was embarrassing. And it never came.  Not against Colorado. Not against K-State. Not against Kansas.

This year, we're better. We're better at almost every position except offensive line, and that unit's starting to gel.  We're faster, bigger, more confident, more polished.  And above all, we're confident.  This is the first time I've ever walked into a season of any of the sports teams I call my own and have said "I expect us to contend for a championship."  And it feels good. But it's also terrifying.

The schedule looks daunting one minute and a cake walk the next.  Juice gave us fits last year.  But Mendenhall's gone.  Our history in Lincoln is the stuff of nightmares.  But we beat them so bad they thought they stole something last year, and there's even more turnover this year.  We took care of business last year.  That was last year. I go back and forth.

The absence of Oklahoma from the schedule heightens the feeling.  Because it's there.  Texas is a great program, and a good team, to be certain.  But really, there is a reason they're being widely regarded as overrated.  Even in Austin, it's a game that we should win.  And outside of that, is there another game we're even near likely to lose until the Big 12 Championship?  Illinois? K-State? Iowa State?  No. And that makes it even worse.  Because last year, if we lost, well, it would have catastrophic, but no more so than any other season where we blow our chance for redemption, our shot at the national stage.  This year?  It's disaster unknown.  If one of the non-cons give us trouble outside of Illinois, it'll be gut wrenching.  And if K-State should have one of those days, or if Iowa State decides to make their stand against us, or if miracle against miracle, the Nebraskans are actually right, and their program just has that much talent in its system... Catastrophy.  Pure castastrophy. 

Last season was the coming out party.  And we played with no regard for what we had on the line.  This year, we have everything on the line.  One more season to possibly cement ourselves in the top programs in the country.  Succeed, and they're going to rename College Avenue "Pinkel Ave." and Maryland will be "Daniel Street."  Fail, and we're the same Mizzou everyone thinks we are.

So the question then becomes, how much would a loss, two losses, (gasp) three losses suck?  I remember thinking last year that if we only lost twice i would go bonkers.  And hey, we did! Only one of them was the Big 12 freaking championship.  But this year, two losses would be a disappointment, especially if they were outside fo the Big 12 Championship.  The losses last year were respectable, understandable.  "Sure, it's Oklahoma."  The fact that one was in Norman and the other in heavily-Oklahoma supported San Antonio didn't hurt, either.  This is not to say the losses weren't decisive.  But they were respectable.  A loss to anyone oustide of Texas would be embarassing, and a loss to Texas would be a pretty big letdown.

We no longer get to play with nothing to lose.  We're a top ten program in the country, going in.  We have a relatively easy schedule.  We have enough SoS to make it into title contention, especially if we run the table.  And it's possible we can do all of it without facing Oklahoma (come on, Tech!).  But the idea of having all of that fall away, to be come irrelevant again, is crushing.

But then I think about how far the program, this coach, this quarterback, this fanbase, this team has come.  I remember that every time this team has faced a challenge that people said they couldn't reach, they've gone out and done damn near everything to overcome it (unless it's Oklahoma, which is a demon organization wrought from Hell).  This team has balls (Golden Watermelon ones of Fury, to be exact). And they can see the biggest chance they could possibly have, staring them in the face.

So yeah, we could lose.

But we could also win.