STARK: Mizzou makes SEC, national statement

Published 12:35 am Wednesday, October 16, 2013

When Missouri switched conferences two years ago, SEC commissioner Mike Slive said the following: “Let me say to the entire Missouri nation, welcome to your new home.”

When it comes to football, the grand welcoming might’ve seemed more like Michael Myers allowing folks to stay Halloween weekend at his pad. Most figured Mizzou’s experience in the nation’s toughest conference would be maligned with spooks and splatter, among other calamities.

A funny thing happened, however, in the time since Mizzou joined Texas A&M in saying so long to the Big 12. Though the season is only midway finished, the Tigers have risen into the nation’s top 15 and currently preside over the SEC East standings.

Last week’s 41-26 victory against then-No. 7 Georgia improved Mizzou to 6-0 on the season and 2-0 in conference. It gave the Tigers more wins than during their inaugural SEC season, which featured a 5-7 mark (2-6 in conference) and blowout losses to Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama and A&M.

Mizzou has played like the bowl-eligible team it’s become during the past two weeks, rolling at home against Vanderbilt (51-28) and making a statement between the hedges at Georgia (full disclosure: the Bulldogs played at partial strength because of injuries).

That being said, the Tigers have six regular-season games remaining before they can punch their first-ever pass into the SEC championship game.

They’ll no doubt learn a great deal about themselves during the next three weeks, which feature home games against No. 22 Florida (4-2, 3-1, No. 11 South Carolina (5-1, 3-1) and Tennessee (3-3, 0-2).

They could teach us a lot more, too.

This weekend, both Florida and Mizzou will be without their normal starting quarterbacks as Tigers senior James Franklin is expected to miss the next three to five weeks with a shoulder separation. He suffered the injury during the fourth quarter against Georgia after entering the game third in the SEC in total yards.

Franklin’s absence has handed the offensive reins to redshirt freshman Maty Mauk, who played the rest of the fourth quarter last week and will surely face the toughest challenge of his young career in his first start. But should Mauk pilot the SEC’s fourth-rated offense effectively and get help from a Michael Sam-led defense that ranks second in sacks, Mizzou could be one of college football’s biggest surprises come November.

But if not, the Tigers could find themselves drifting away from the Great Eight (the number of SEC teams in this week’s rankings, which is a record).

Imagine a pair of former Big 12 foes (Mizzou and Texas A&M) colliding in Columbia during the final week of the regular season with SEC and national title hopes on the line. That would be pretty cool for SEC haters, unless one of those teams ended up representing the conference in the final BCS title game.

But let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves. Instead take this a brief look a few intriguing matchups this weekend:

No. 5 Florida State (5-0) at No. 3 Clemson (6-0): The ACC takes the over the big stage this weekend with the nation’s highest-profile game, which some have labeled the biggest game in conference history (though I’m pretty sure that’s just recent revisionist speak). ESPN’s College GameDay will be on hand to feature the matchup between Heisman hopeful quarterbacks Jameis Winston of Florida State and Tajh Boyd of Clemson. Florida State is favored by 3.

USC (4-2) at Notre Dame (4-2): Talk about teams that switched places last season. The longtime rivals meet for the 85th time inside college football’s most legendary building. Last season USC became the first preseason No. 1 to finish unranked in the BCA era, while Notre Dame entered the BCS championship game against Alabama ranked No. 1. As Irish coach Brian Kelly said this week: “This is our rivalry game.” Pick’em.

No. 6 LSU (6-1) at Ole Miss (3-3): Despite the road loss to Georgia, LSU’s has become everyone’s pick to challenge Alabama for the SEC West behind nationally emerging quarterback Zach Mettenberger, who has the conference’s top quarterback rating. In this rivalry game, Ole Miss will be looking to snap a three-game losing streak since that win against Texas in Austin. LSU is favored by 9.

No. 9 UCLA (5-0) at No. 13 Stanford (5-1): This would’ve been the week’s second matchup featuring a pair of top 10 teams, but Stanford messed that up with last week’s loss to Utah. Regardless a great deal will be at stake in the Pac-12 when Los Angeles invades the Bay Area. Stanford is favored by 7.