It was the fall of 1945.
V-J Day was just about a month in the rearview mirror. The Joan Crawford noir vehicle Mildred Pierce was spellbinding cinemagoers. Perry Como’s “Til the End of Time” was making people swoon the country over.
And, in Columbia, Missouri, Tigers football coach Chauncey Simpson was having a bit of a problem.
His gridders had started off the season with consecutive road drubbings at the hands of Minnesota (34-0) and Ohio State (47-6).
Whatever the PowerMizzou of that day was (a couple guys sitting at the soda counter?) was surely clamoring for the heads of Simpson and the rest of his staff. Or maybe not, since he was merely a former Don Faurot assistant filling in as head coach while the “Thin Man” served in the Navy during World War II.
Either way, Simpson and the Tigers got things turned around, winning six of their next seven games -- including a 14-6 upset of No. 14 Oklahoma — for a Big Six title on their way to a Cotton Bowl loss to Texas.
Why do I mention Joan Crawford, Perry Como and Chauncey Simpson? What does that have to do with Barry Odom, Drew Lock and daggum Missouri Tigers 2017 FUHBAW?!?!
I mention it because 1945 is the most successful team in the 128-year history of Missouri Tigers football record-keeping that has started the season off with at least two losses of at least 17 points. It’s one of only two such teams to end the season with a winning record.
I mention it because the 2017 Missouri Tigers are one of only nine teams in that said history to have started off the season with at least two losses of 17 points or more in the first three games of the season, making them sister squads with 1993, 1989, 1954, 1950, 1945, 1933, 1932 and 1893.
So how bad are things, historically speaking? And how bleak, historically speaking, does the future look for Missouri teams that have started thusly?
Let’s just say there aren’t a lot of conference championships to go around...
How Bad Is It?
The Tigers are one of 46 teams in program history to start the season off 1-2 or worse, including last year’s team. Before last year, it hadn’t happened since 2001.
The 2016-17 Tigers are one of 14 groups of teams in program history to start 1-2 or worse in at least two straight seasons. They join 2000-01, 1992-96, 1989-90, 1984-86, 1954-56, 1949-52, 1943-45 (poor Chauncey), 1937-38, 1930-34, 1914-15, 1901-03, 1896-97 and 1892-93.
As I mentioned earlier, this year’s Tigers are one of only nine teams to lose at least two of their first three games by 17 points or more, joining 1993 (73-0 at Texas A&M, 35-3 at West Virginia), 1989 (24-7 at Indiana, 38-7 vs. Miami), 1954 (31-0 at Purdue, 25-6 vs. SMU), 1950 (34-0 vs. Clemson, 21-0 vs. SMU), 1945, 1933 (26-6 vs. the hated Kirksville Teachers, 33-0 vs. Kansas State), 1932 (27-0 at Northwestern, 65-0 vs. Texas) and 1893 (28-0 vs. Baker in Kansas City, 40-0 vs. the powerhouse Denver Athletic Club).
How Bad Could It Get?
If you take the win-loss-tie record of all those other 45 teams in program history who started the season off 1-2 or worse, you get 153-273-18, or a win percentage of .365. That would translate to about a 4-8 record for this year’s team if it followed suit.
Only 11 of those 46 teams -- 1964, 1958, 1952, 1949, 1947, 1945, 1938, 1914, 1902, 1896 and 1893 — ended up with a record of at least .500. On the flip side, nine of those teams — 1989, 1985, 1971, 1955, 1934, 1933, 1932, 1931 and 1903 -- ended with a win percentage of .250 or worse, or a 3-9 record for this year’s team.
The other eight teams in program history to start the season with at least two losses of at least 17 points ended up with a cumulative record of 25-48-4, or .351 percent. Again, translating to about a 4-8 season.
The two to end with a winning record were 1945 and 1893. The three to end at .250 or worse were 1989, 1933 and 1932.
That 1893 team — they look like a bunch of hearty lads, don’t they? — rallied to beat Missouri Valley College and Nebraska before ending the season strong with wins over Pastime Athletic Club and Kansas. One of those schools still holds a connection to a Power-5 football program. The other is Kansas.
(I kid, I kid, I kid. Just offering red meat to my base...)
How Long Could It Be Bad?
When Missouri checked in at 4-8 last year, it marked the first time the program had endured consecutive losing seasons since 2001-02.
Put more simply, when the Tigers have gone through rough seasons recently, they’ve usually been able to bounce back very quickly.
But what if this season ends in another losing record? How often have the Tigers endured at least three straight losing seasons, and how soon have they been able to snap out of it?
Glad you asked. It’s happened four times:
1999-2002
Overall Record: 16-29 (.356)
The last two years of the Larry Smith era give way to Gary Pinkel, who takes two more years of losing before getting back to winning ways in 2003.
1984-1996
Overall Record: 41-98-5 (.302)
This run of iniquity chews through more than a decade and three coaches — Warren Powers, Woody Widenhofer and Bob Stull — before Smith finds a way to reverse it in his fourth year.
1954-1956
Overall Record: 9-19-2 (.333)
Faurot’s second tenure ends with a whimper before Frank Broyles comes in and pilots a 5-4-1 team in his first (and only) year.
1930-1934
Overall Record: 6-36-4 (.174)
This particular half-decade of losing dispatches of two coaches — Gwinn Henry and Frank Carideo — before Faurot takes over and gets things straightened out.
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The good news for this year’s Tigers? Two-year losing streaks don’t usually turn into three-year streaks in the annals of Missouri football history.
The bad news? When they do turn into three-year streaks, they also tend to extend to four...or five...or 13.
And involve a coach leaving or two or three.