First of all, let me say that you guys have earned the right to go off the deep end tonight. I haven't read the board and I don't plan on reading the board. I'd ask you keep it civil. Don't insult each other. But vent till your heart is content. I'm not gonna spend any time moderating it.
As for the game: Jesus.
Sorry, that might offend some. But Lord, how does that happen? Even worse, how does that happen twice in a season? Frankly, this loss was far worse than the loss against South Carolina...something I could not possibly have imagined typing after that game, much less only four weeks later.
Let me get the rainbow and unicorns crap out of the way early: If this team can somehow find a way to pull itself up off the mat and go win next week at Florida, I'll praise the hell out of them. I really don't see how that could happen right now, but football is weird, so we'll go ahead and go cover the game in case it does.
Now for the real talk. Games like this lose coaches jobs. Games like this that happen twice in a season lose jobs more often. Barry Odom's not going to get fired before Missouri plays Florida or before the end of the season. But for those who think he should, I can't tell you you're wrong tonight. This was unforgivable.
The margin between success and failure is ridiculously thin. With about eight minutes left, I had a column written about how Missouri made fewer mistakes than Kentucky and played a relatively clean game and finally got the proverbial monkey off its back against ranked teams. I had actually written this sentence: "We can put aside the talk of Barry Odom getting fired because that's not going to happen."
Eight minutes later, I deleted it all because it was all false. Firing is absolutely on the table because Odom's teams simply don't make enough plays to win close games. Even the one they won this year, they blew a 17 point lead and gave up 600 yards of offense. In the majority of games, one team is just better. And the better team usually wins. A lot of games do not turn on a handful of plays. The games that define coaches and teams, the games that either earn extensions or cause firings, are the close ones. In games decided by seven points or less, Barry Odom is now 3-5 at Missouri.
He lost to UGA in 2016 on a fourth and 20. He lost to Middle Tennessee in 2016 in a game Mizzou gave up 51 points to a mid major. He beat Arkansas 24-20 in a game that I still have no idea how Missouri won.
In 2017, Missouri lost 40-34 to Kentucky and beat an Arkansas team that FIRED ITS COACH ON THE FIELD 48-45.
In 2018, they beat Purdue (aforementioned 17 point blown lead), lost to South Carolina in a game they dominated and lost to Kentucky in a game that three hours later I still can't really figure out how they managed to lose.
That's 3-5 in swing games (and doesn't count things like getting blown out by Purdue a year ago and being non-competitive against LSU, Florida, Alabama and Auburn). That's not good. If the close games define coaches, Odom is earning a reputation as a guy that can win when he clearly has the better team most of the time, but if the talent margin is against him he's going to get blown out and if it's equal he's going to lose more often than not.
I don't know what's going to happen. I can't predict the future. Whatever it is, we'll cover it. Thanks for reading.
As for the game: Jesus.
Sorry, that might offend some. But Lord, how does that happen? Even worse, how does that happen twice in a season? Frankly, this loss was far worse than the loss against South Carolina...something I could not possibly have imagined typing after that game, much less only four weeks later.
Let me get the rainbow and unicorns crap out of the way early: If this team can somehow find a way to pull itself up off the mat and go win next week at Florida, I'll praise the hell out of them. I really don't see how that could happen right now, but football is weird, so we'll go ahead and go cover the game in case it does.
Now for the real talk. Games like this lose coaches jobs. Games like this that happen twice in a season lose jobs more often. Barry Odom's not going to get fired before Missouri plays Florida or before the end of the season. But for those who think he should, I can't tell you you're wrong tonight. This was unforgivable.
The margin between success and failure is ridiculously thin. With about eight minutes left, I had a column written about how Missouri made fewer mistakes than Kentucky and played a relatively clean game and finally got the proverbial monkey off its back against ranked teams. I had actually written this sentence: "We can put aside the talk of Barry Odom getting fired because that's not going to happen."
Eight minutes later, I deleted it all because it was all false. Firing is absolutely on the table because Odom's teams simply don't make enough plays to win close games. Even the one they won this year, they blew a 17 point lead and gave up 600 yards of offense. In the majority of games, one team is just better. And the better team usually wins. A lot of games do not turn on a handful of plays. The games that define coaches and teams, the games that either earn extensions or cause firings, are the close ones. In games decided by seven points or less, Barry Odom is now 3-5 at Missouri.
He lost to UGA in 2016 on a fourth and 20. He lost to Middle Tennessee in 2016 in a game Mizzou gave up 51 points to a mid major. He beat Arkansas 24-20 in a game that I still have no idea how Missouri won.
In 2017, Missouri lost 40-34 to Kentucky and beat an Arkansas team that FIRED ITS COACH ON THE FIELD 48-45.
In 2018, they beat Purdue (aforementioned 17 point blown lead), lost to South Carolina in a game they dominated and lost to Kentucky in a game that three hours later I still can't really figure out how they managed to lose.
That's 3-5 in swing games (and doesn't count things like getting blown out by Purdue a year ago and being non-competitive against LSU, Florida, Alabama and Auburn). That's not good. If the close games define coaches, Odom is earning a reputation as a guy that can win when he clearly has the better team most of the time, but if the talent margin is against him he's going to get blown out and if it's equal he's going to lose more often than not.
I don't know what's going to happen. I can't predict the future. Whatever it is, we'll cover it. Thanks for reading.
