Technically speaking, the Missouri Tigers still control their own destiny to finish atop the SEC East despite those bad (very bad!) losses to Vanderbilt and Kentucky. With an outcome of winning out, Mizzou would finish atop the division for the third time since joining the conference. Laugh all you want, but this is a factual statement, believe it or not.
In my last piece, I wrote about that this season is going downhill and now I’m writing about them controlling their own destiny. Both of these are true. Funny how things work, right?
Now, like most (or pretty much all of you), I have very little confidence that they will be able to accomplish this feat. But you know what? It’s still there for the taking, and that’s all you can ask for at this point. Especially since things aren’t exactly positive around the program right now.
This is a weird team, and college football is a weird sport. Anything can happen. Through eight games, we’ve seen the highest of highs and lowest of lows with Missouri. Being undefeated at home and winless on the road will do that.
With four games remaining, a 5-3 team still has a shot, albeit slim – of finishing in first place in their division. Not a lot of teams with that same record can say that right now. That’s not supposed to make anybody feel better, and it shouldn’t, but if there’s anything left to play for this season – this is it.
And look, for a season that has already lost its luster, it’s difficult to build up any excitement for these remaining four games. It just doesn’t seem like the fan base is necessarily concerned about the bowl ban anymore, and I totally get that when everybody was expecting bigger and better things from this group.
Entering this season, Georgia and Florida were the two most anticipated games on this schedule. Unfortunately, that’s just doesn’t seem to be the case right now and rightfully so – but it’s still going to be a major opportunity for this Missouri team. If Missouri can play the way like they did during their five-game home stand, maybe they’ll at least stand a chance against Georgia and Florida.
Barry Odom’s teams are at their best when their backs are against the wall and when almost everybody has counted them out. Once again, that is the scenario with this team heading into the month of November, where the Missouri head coach has a combined 10-2 record. And there’s something that can be said for that.
“Every month is November,” – Odom said back at SEC Media Days. Which begs the question, why wasn’t October?
So yes, it might be too little too late to truly call this season a successful one, but one last opportunity stands for this team in their final four games. For what it’s worth, Missouri still controls their own destiny in the SEC East, as weird as that sounds.