Right now, it looks ugly. Which sucks, because I love college football and I feel like the entire year is wasted if we get enough wins to qualify for a bowl. Any bowl. I'll take it. Please.
What are we relying on to get there?
1) "Odom improved the defense from week one to week two, he can make this team better."
Not sure I'm buying this. Every team should get better throughout the season. Are we thinking that BO is a good enough coach to improve this team FASTER than the other teams in the league? Unlikely. Since he has taken over, we aren't seeing the hallmarks of his past defenses: We rarely get the turnovers when we need them, and the defense just doesn't seem as "tough" as it used to be.
2) "We just had a bad game." This is possible, but still unlikely. I don't think S. Car had an athletic advantage, they just played better football. Good teams find ways to win, bad teams seem to find ways to lose. I am just not seeing the success of the superfast offense. As a matter of fact, one could argue that speeding up causes more mistakes. Our all-world QB threw 2 Int and had a pretty bad day. I'm officially worried here.
3) "S Carolina is better than we think?" If I had to pin my hopes on anything, it's this. But that is pretty desperate. I find it hard to believe that a Muschamp team is really that good.
In short, Mizzou is the team that lacks discipline. We seem to have the penalty at the wrong time, the interception at the wrong time, and haven't been able to make "the play" for two years now. As a matter of fact, our fourth and one was almost devastating Saturday and we were the beneficiary of a generous spot. It could have been worse.
I'm hopeful, will still hang my flag on my house for the Purdue game, but will probably throw a few bucks at Purdue +8.
What are we relying on to get there?
1) "Odom improved the defense from week one to week two, he can make this team better."
Not sure I'm buying this. Every team should get better throughout the season. Are we thinking that BO is a good enough coach to improve this team FASTER than the other teams in the league? Unlikely. Since he has taken over, we aren't seeing the hallmarks of his past defenses: We rarely get the turnovers when we need them, and the defense just doesn't seem as "tough" as it used to be.
2) "We just had a bad game." This is possible, but still unlikely. I don't think S. Car had an athletic advantage, they just played better football. Good teams find ways to win, bad teams seem to find ways to lose. I am just not seeing the success of the superfast offense. As a matter of fact, one could argue that speeding up causes more mistakes. Our all-world QB threw 2 Int and had a pretty bad day. I'm officially worried here.
3) "S Carolina is better than we think?" If I had to pin my hopes on anything, it's this. But that is pretty desperate. I find it hard to believe that a Muschamp team is really that good.
In short, Mizzou is the team that lacks discipline. We seem to have the penalty at the wrong time, the interception at the wrong time, and haven't been able to make "the play" for two years now. As a matter of fact, our fourth and one was almost devastating Saturday and we were the beneficiary of a generous spot. It could have been worse.
I'm hopeful, will still hang my flag on my house for the Purdue game, but will probably throw a few bucks at Purdue +8.
