I’m a little unsure of what to say here at this point. Five weeks ago, I was as on board with the current coaching staff and the direction of the program. Everything was right. Through a bunch of bumps over the ensuring games a lot has changed, including where I fall on the bandwagon.

If Rock M Nation — with me at the helm — was steering the bandwagon before, I’ve merely taken to following along behind, still kind of holding the rope that’s tied to the back hitch. There are some within the Mizzou fanbase who are still steering the wagon, but here the tone has changed. It’s become defiant. But I’m holding on enough because I’ve only come to the realization that I think Barry Odom should get another season.

There’s no doubt this year has gone in the complete opposite direction for what we hoped. The last 4 games have taken the fan base through nearly all the stages of grief.

1. Denial and isolation - This was Wyoming. The game looked like an outlier early in the season, it was a flukey game where a bunch of weird things happened including a nightmarish quarter.
2. Anger - This was the reaction to Vanderbilt. Vandy is a legitimately bad team who Missouri had no business losing to and they did. Fans had a right to be irate following this game.
3. Bargaining - This was the reaction to Kentucky, in trying to figure out what happened and giving the coaching staff a few weeks to figure it out after a bye week.
4. Depression - This is how things played out with Georgia. We tuned in and went into a dark place, and it went as we expected.
5. Acceptance - Post Florida, we’re here. Accept it. You knew today was coming and there was nothing you could do to stop it.

But here’s the deal, we know Missouri isn’t Alabama, or Georgia, or even in the upper tier of the SEC when it comes to supporting their football program. When it comes to spending, Mizzou ranks 13th in the league and is only ahead of Vanderbilt. The Head coach salary ranks 13th, tied with Mississippi State (and that was only after his recent extension bumped his salary up a bit) for last in the league.

Now I’m not here to say that Barry Odom’s work has warranted more, but even with his recent slide he’s still outperformed coaches making vastly more money. Will Muschamp is making $4.4 million dollars to kick field goals down 30 points in the 4th quarter. Chad Morris got fired making $4 million. The SEC is another animal all together and Missouri is going to win through being more prudent in their spending, being more patient with a struggling program, and still wildly outperforming their peers. Even then, it still might not be enough.

We know, even at this stage, nobody wants to do more or be more for Missouri than Barry Odom. I don’t know if he’s the answer, but I know he understands his job and his role more than just about anyone else in college football. We also know he can fix the defense. Under Odom he’s climbed the defense each year, and this season lost their top playmaking middle linebacker and are still holding steady at 15th in SP+. From 85th in year one to 15th in year four with a steady climb each season, the progress has been there. It’s something Missouri can hang their hat on.

The problem is the offense has gone the other direction. Last season they were the 8th ranked SP+ ranked unit, this year they’ve tumbled all the way to 74th. And even that feels high considering the work over the last four games. With most of the same cast of returners, outside of the quarterback, the offense should have been decent. And they’re just awful. Granted looking bad against Georgia and Florida is easy, but the Tigers offense was rescued more often than not with the play of the defense in the early going. The defense routinely flipped the field and provided scoring opportunities for the offense, and that’s now dried up.

The timeline for Odom’s tenure was looking to be incredibly long just a short while ago. I know a lot of commenters on #here and on Twitter and Facebook seem to think he should have been fired approximately three days after he was hired (if not sooner). But I think he should get next year.

So I know things are bad, but I want to give Odom a chance to fix his football team. There’s a lot of work to do, and even beating Tennessee or Arkansas to become eligible for a bowl (should the ban get overturned) isn’t going to automatically fix the disaster of the last four weeks of football. That’s a much longer process which should extend well into the offseason. But at least beating Tennessee and Arkansas would make us feel a little better.

I’d just like to see them score a touchdown.

Here’s the box:

Other SEC Scores:

• LSU 58, Ole Miss 38
• Georgia 21, Auburn 14
• Alabama 38, Mississippi State 7
• Kentucky 38, Vanderbilt 14
• Texas A&M 30, South Carolina 6

Yesterday at Rock M Nation:

• Missouri vs Florida football GameDay: info, where to watch, predictions
• BOTTOMS UP: What are you drinking for Florida vs. Missouri?
• GAME THREAD: Mizzou Football vs the Florida Gators
• Mizzou falls to Gators 23-6
• Five takeaways from Mizzou’s loss to Florida
• Odom and his players still have faith they can finish the season strong

GameDay Links:

• Mitchell Forde’s post-game video and story
• Dave Matter’s game story
• Ben Fredrickson was on site and provided his takeaway
• KCStar’s Souichi Terada’s Game Story
• Columbia Missourian Nick Kelly’s game story
• If you’re looking to sign up for ESPN+, Rock M Nation now has an affiliate link: click Here for ESPN+ Now! (** RockMNation has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, though RockMNation may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links.**)
• Also, a heads up: The FanPulse emails should be out by now, if not now they will be soon. Regardless of how you feel, vote.