A bad offense with a plan is better than a bad defense without one. Or something like that.

At the end of a Missourian article about offensive consistency, Josh Heupel gave a very Gary Pinkelian quote:

Missouri’s success hinges on its ability to involve its key contributors successfully. Heupel knows his offense can work, he just has to find a way to establish the consistency that yields those Oregon-type numbers.

“You believe in the things you’re trying to instill,” Heupel said. “You believe in your personality, your characteristics, your traits of what you’re trying to implement in the program. You stay true to that, and, sooner or later, things will take off.”

Granted, a quote like that will get you called STUBBORN! very quickly if things aren’t working out, but I deeply prefer it to the alternative.

I think this quote gets to why I think I feel far more okay about Missouri’s offense than others do. Or, to put it another way, it gets to why I’m far more worried about Missouri’s defense than its offense. The Tiger offense has an identity, one that we’ve seen work in college football. They are very organized in between snaps, and they go from end of play to beginning of play better than just about anybody in college football.

That doesn’t matter if you aren’t doing much from beginning of play to end of play, obviously. And it doesn’t matter if guys aren’t actually improving enough as players. But knowing what you want to do and how you want to do it — that counts for something. The Mizzou defense has, to date, had no idea what it wants to be.

I have recently immersed myself in the words of T. Boone Pickens for an SB Nation piece out soon, and I think he has a pretty good quote that applies here: An idiot with a plan is better than a genius without one. We know the offense’s plan, and when that’s the case, I’m much more okay (in the short-term) with slow growth.

More Football Links:

• Beat South Carolina, nearly beat Florida, try really hard to lose to Eastern Kentucky and Eastern Michigan. The Trib’s Nick Kelly spoke with a Kentucky beat writer about, among other things, the Wildcats’ ability to play directly to the level of competition.
• The fundamentals of blocking vs. the fundamentals of tackling. How well Kentucky runs the ball will determine whether Missouri has a chance or not.
• Rock M Nation’s been around quite a while now, which means my Wednesday appearances on The Closers have, too.

More Links:

• Need a rebound? Or a pass? Or a block? Or a 3-pointer? Or a hustle play? Jontay Porter is your man.
• Martin Rucker, Missouri (not Mizzou) hall of famer.
• Sixteen days to Homecoming ... and 16 days to Gin Blossoms. 1994 Me is so psyched.

• Jordan Frericks, injured last year, is healthy as Mizzou Women’s Basketball gears up for 2017-18. Bri Porter, not so much.
• Welp, if Mizzou Soccer is going to turn things around, this weekend would be a good time to start. The 5-7-1 Tigers continue maybe their most rugged schedule ever with a trip to No. 9 Florida on Thursday, then welcome No. 21 Tennessee to town on Sunday. Guh.
• Another day, another award for Alyssa Munlyn: the Mizzou middle blocker was given player of the week honors from PrepVolleyball.com. That’s what more than two blocks per set will get you. In addition, Tiger senior Melanie Crow was named one of 30 candidates for the 2017 Senior CLASS Collegiate Volleyball Award.
• The Maneater continued its deep dive into Mizzou Wrestling by looking at its marketing arm.
• Remember Wren Baker, the former Mizzou interim athletic director whom many of us thought could make a pretty good full-time AD? Yeah, don’t mess with Wren Baker.

Before:

After:

• New PAPN! I talked about Bob Stull and mentioned one name I’d love to see on a potential Mizzou coaching candidates list (on the still-less-than-50% chance one ends up necessary).