A few weeks ago, while sorting through one of those boxes that seem to accumulate random items during a move, I came across my copy of the 2010 Missouri Football Preview. Newer members of RMN might not be familiar with this wonderful and, sadly single, annual Mizzou Football preview but the cover credits "Bill Connelly and Ross Taylor of RockMNation.com" and many of our beloved site's usual suspects contribute a little something.

Among those contributions is A Missouri Fan's Letter to God, by our very own Greg Tepper. Giving this a quick read and remembering the days leading up to the 2010 season I decided that it would be nice to put together a new sermon for the SEC.

True Sons (and Daughters) join me in prayer for our beloved Tigers. Let God know what you are hoping for this football season and why our Mizzou Tigers are deserving of his grace.

I know that I could probably crash the site if I were to list all of the things that I want for my Tigers this year but the point is to give everyone a chance to voice their prayers so I'll keep mine simple: Respect.

The move to the SEC has been fraught with predictions from conference mates both old and new that Mizzou is going to struggle in their new conference. For most Mizzou fans its merely the same old story, a lack of respect for a program that has come a long way in the last ten years. The only way to earn that respect in the SEC is with wins so please, please give us at least eight wins this season as anything less is likely to merely reinforce the notion that Mizzou is a poor fit for the SEC and that it will be decades before we are able to compete with our new conference brethren.

Why is Mizzou deserving? I could say as redemption for the Fifth Down, the Flea Kicker and the insult of the 2007 decision to take those fictional birds to the west over the significantly more talented Tigers. What I'll settle on is the fact that this school has been portrayed as the waitress lifting her skirt during conference expansion and when the SEC did take us many simply pointed to the media markets and discounted the improvements in the football program over the last decade. Please let us start our tenure in the SEC with a modicum of respect now that we've left the conference that only seems to recognize the accomplishments of teams named after livestock and land thieves.