Never minds what the nerds say: Missouri players are reacting well to Barry Odom’s post-Auburn rant

So by this point, you probably know how we at Rock M Nation tend to feel about Barry Odom’s post-Auburn rant and the validity of his sudden “This was a rebuild!” narrative. The stats don’t really back up what he was saying, and it sure seems like convenient spin to some degree.

It also doesn’t matter in the slightest how we feel about it. The players’ responses are infinitely more important, and with players back in front of media mics this week following the bye week, we’re learning what they have to say.

“Going off” is how Witter described Odom’s speech. He found Odom’s passion motivating, but the moment was also sobering. The speech meant Mizzou — 1-3, thus far helpless against FBS teams and approaching its first road game at Kentucky this weekend — had reached a dark place.

So players feel as though they owe Odom a greater effort, but they also understand they cannot bother themselves with worrying about the intimidating task of restoring their record to a respectable place. That can’t occur in a single week.

“He’s done his part,” Witter said of Odom. “Everyone needs to do their part also.”

If Odom’s spin gets guys a little more focused on doing their part and getting better, then Missouri will probably improve a little bit. Screw what the nerds in their mothers’ basements have to say.

More Football Links:

• Emanuel Hall is obviously the most direct beneficiary of Dimetrios Mason’s departure — the plan was for him to split snaps with Mason, 50-50, before he got hurt against South Carolina — but Nate Brown has moved up in the pecking order again, too.
• Mizzou commit Kam Scott visited Columbia during Auburn weekend and liked what he saw.

More Links:

• Remember how great Sophie Cunningham was last year for Mizzou Women’s Basketball? Yeah, she was miserable the entire time with a back injury that was probably much worse than any of us realized. It was so bad that she almost had postseason surgery that would have led to her missing 2017-18.
• Another women’s hoops link: the person most directly responsible for getting the Porter family to Columbia is looking at pretty high expectations this year.
• Speaking of the Porters, two tweets:

That’s crazy, amazing JR Smith being impressed with the Porter family story.

That’s Alec Lewis putting to rest the sudden buzz of Michael Porter Jr. saying he probably isn’t a one-and-done on social media. It was a fun five minutes.

• Mizzou Men’s Golf made a late run to jump from eighth to sixth at the Jackrabbit Invitational in Nebraska. Rock Bridge product Matt Echelmeier led the way for the Tigers.
• Meanwhile, Mizzou Women’s Golf cruised to another Johnie Imes Invitational win in Columbia, its fourth straight, finishing six shots ahead of second-place East Tennessee State and 16 ahead of Middle Tennessee.