FanShot

At the same time, however, the insecurity has been stoked, dramatically and repeatedly. Fans from...

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At the same time, however, the insecurity has been stoked, dramatically and repeatedly. Fans from their former conference, with a sneer on their faces, have not hesitated to tell Mizzou fans just how much their team is about to get its butt kicked. Fans from their new conference, with a welcoming grin on their faces, have not hesitated to tell Mizzou fans just how much their team is about to get its butt kicked. The step up in competition is both clearly definable and drastically overstated (the Big 12 is a really strong conference, and one that plays nine conference games instead of just eight), but the good news for fans is that games begin in fewer than two weeks. At that point, for better or worse, Mizzou will begin to learn exactly what it got itself into in leaving its old conference rivals for a spate of new ones.

My Mizzou preview is up at the SBN mothership.