1. Hell of a win for Cuonzo Martin's team yesterday. It wasn't always pretty (there was about a six minute scoring drought in there) and it's not going to be pretty with this team. They are not great offensively. Martin said after the Temple game he thought his team would eventually become tough enough defensively to overcome some of the problems it was having on offense. I'm not going to say they did that based on one game, but it was definitely a step in the right direction. UCF is probably a tournament team and that's a nice win to have on the resume.
2. Jordan Geist has become my favorite player. It's human nature among some of us (especially those of us that cover the team) to really root for the guys fans seem to pile on. And make no mistake, many have piled on Geist in the last year or two. He's not an all-American or anything, but he's tough and he's never one to shy away from the moment. His three at the buzzer was obviously the biggest play of the game. He's the leader of this team. He's not going to make every late shot by any means, but he's going to have the ball in his hands and good for him for making that one.
3. Robin Pingeton's team got a nice win of its own. The Tigers moved to 6-2 with a 68-51 win over West Virginia led by a monster 28 point, 13 rebound effort from Amber Smith. I don't know anything about the Mountaineers and whether they're supposed to be good, but you don't sneeze at road wins over Power Five teams. It is a bit concerning that Sophie Cunningham fouled out with four points in 18 minutes, but if this team can win by 17 with her doing that, it's actually a really good sign. Pingeton said before the season she thought this was a team that would go through some struggles early in the year. They have, but they've got a couple nice wins in a row and look to be playing good basketball heading down the non-conference stretch.
4. Let's talk about the bowl game. I'm not going to try to convince you that the Liberty Bowl is the greatest bowl you could have hoped for, but there's no giant SEC conspiracy or anything. Mississippi State got the Outback and the Bulldogs had a season that is right about on par with Missouri's. They had a decent road win at Kansas State (similar to Mizzou's at Purdue), solid wins over A&M and Auburn and losses to Florida, Kentucky, LSU and Alabama (four of the top 15 teams in the rankings). A&M had an 8-4 season with three losses to top 20 teams and then Auburn (very similar to Mizzou's losses). The Aggies beat Kentucky and LSU and South Carolina. The resume is a little stronger than Mizzou's if we're being honest, so them going to the Gator Bowl isn't an insult to Missouri. The only bowl you can argue Missouri should have gotten that it didn't is the Music City Bowl. I don't know how the SEC is supposed to convince the Music City Bowl not to take Purdue. I don't exactly understand the fascination with doing so, but once they made up their mind on that, Mizzou wasn't going there. First off, if you want to say that the Music City Bowl is somehow a far superior spot to the Liberty Bowl, okay I guess, but it really isn't. You're playing a middling Big Ten team vs a middling Big 12 team. What's the difference? I like Nashville better, but that's not really a factor in the selection. The Tigers were only really victims of one thing: The SEC had eight eight-win teams this season. That hasn't happened since 2015 when NINE teams won eight or more. And it's not a hard argument to make that of the eight, Missouri's season was the eighth best. Lastly, I see a lot of complaints that Missouri just played Oklahoma State five years ago. Michigan and Florida are playing in a bowl game for the third time in four years. Talk about boring.
5. What the bowl bid has done is make me realize how awful the Internet is. I've got people swearing at me on Twitter, we've got people sniping at each other on here. It's like a contest to see who can be the most outraged. The Internet is a haven for negativity. I can't imagine being this angry about things all the time. And I can't imagine that most of the people that say these things would actually say them to people in real life. If they would, I wouldn't want to know them in real life. This has nothing to do with Mizzou, but man it's hard to log on some days (and it's not like the Liberty Bowl is the most controversial topic of conversation on the Internet).
6. A previous Mizzou trip to the Liberty Bowl was 1978. The Tigers beat LSU to cap an 8-4 season in which Warren Powers' first team finished in the top 15 in the country. Mizzou beat LSU, Notre Dame and Nebraska that season. They lost to Alabama and Oklahoma (both of whom were ranked No. 1 at the time). I'm not sure how to figure this out exactly, but I've got a hard time believing there is another team in the history of college football that played Alabama, LSU, Notre Dame, Oklahoma and Nebraska in the same season. That team was led by Phil Bradley, Kellen Winslow and James Wilder. How's that for an offense? I'm hoping to track those guys down and do a story on the 1978 team between now and the game.
7. I think the all-SEC teams will come out today (might be later in the week). Here are Missouri players I'd vote for if I had a vote:
1st team: Tre'Vour Wallace-Simms, Cale Garrett
2nd team: DeMarkus Acy, Emanuel Hall (he probably won't get this because he didn't play a third of the season), Albert Okwuegbunam
3rd team: Corey Fatony, Yasir Durant, Paul Adams, Drew Lock
8. Let's talk about Kelly Bryant. I'm going to send out some last minute messages this afternoon and see where things stand. I don't care what Bryant has said publicly, this is viewed as a Mizzou or Auburn situation. There are a ton of football reasons for him to pick Missouri. They bring back a lot on offense, they won eight games this year, they're not in the SEC West, the offensive coordinator isn't being rumored to be leaving and there isn't a five-star freshman QB on the commit list. But I'm not sure he will. If I had to bet today, I'd probably bet on Auburn. Bryant is not your typical 17 year old kid going through recruiting, but he's still young and impressionable. It's really hard for young people to pass up the "cool thing." In a college football contest between Mizzou and Auburn, especially in the Southeast, Auburn is the cool thing and Mizzou is the "really?" thing. People will get mad at me for saying that, but it's true. So we'll see. I think Missouri has a shot. But it won't surprise me if he commits to Auburn tomorrow.
9. I'm still under the assumption a new deal with Barry Odom gets done this week. If it doesn't get done this week, I'll start to wonder why it isn't done.
10. This isn't about Mizzou, but I didn't have a chance to do the ten thoughts on college football. In lieu, here are the bowl games I'm actually interested in watching (outside of the college football playoff and the Liberty Bowl because we'll all watch those for the most part, at least until they get ugly):
New Mexico Bowl: North Texas vs Utah State. Wren Baker's the AD at UNT and David Yost built that offense at Utah State. Since I know both those guys I'll pay some attention.
Music City Bowl: Purdue vs Auburn. It's a decent matchup.
Alamo Bowl: Iowa State vs Washington State. This is one of the best non-New Year's six bowls out there.
Citrus Bowl: Kentucky vs Penn State. Two very good teams who are a step below great teams. Could be a real good game.
Fiesta Bowl: LSU vs UCF. Josh Heupel didn't have much luck the last time he faced LSU. The Tigers' defensive backs are always elite and have a way of shutting down these video game offenses. Geaux Tigers.
Sugar Bowl: Texas vs Georgia. I hope Georgia stomps them. Just don't let Kirby Smart call any fake punts.
2. Jordan Geist has become my favorite player. It's human nature among some of us (especially those of us that cover the team) to really root for the guys fans seem to pile on. And make no mistake, many have piled on Geist in the last year or two. He's not an all-American or anything, but he's tough and he's never one to shy away from the moment. His three at the buzzer was obviously the biggest play of the game. He's the leader of this team. He's not going to make every late shot by any means, but he's going to have the ball in his hands and good for him for making that one.
3. Robin Pingeton's team got a nice win of its own. The Tigers moved to 6-2 with a 68-51 win over West Virginia led by a monster 28 point, 13 rebound effort from Amber Smith. I don't know anything about the Mountaineers and whether they're supposed to be good, but you don't sneeze at road wins over Power Five teams. It is a bit concerning that Sophie Cunningham fouled out with four points in 18 minutes, but if this team can win by 17 with her doing that, it's actually a really good sign. Pingeton said before the season she thought this was a team that would go through some struggles early in the year. They have, but they've got a couple nice wins in a row and look to be playing good basketball heading down the non-conference stretch.
4. Let's talk about the bowl game. I'm not going to try to convince you that the Liberty Bowl is the greatest bowl you could have hoped for, but there's no giant SEC conspiracy or anything. Mississippi State got the Outback and the Bulldogs had a season that is right about on par with Missouri's. They had a decent road win at Kansas State (similar to Mizzou's at Purdue), solid wins over A&M and Auburn and losses to Florida, Kentucky, LSU and Alabama (four of the top 15 teams in the rankings). A&M had an 8-4 season with three losses to top 20 teams and then Auburn (very similar to Mizzou's losses). The Aggies beat Kentucky and LSU and South Carolina. The resume is a little stronger than Mizzou's if we're being honest, so them going to the Gator Bowl isn't an insult to Missouri. The only bowl you can argue Missouri should have gotten that it didn't is the Music City Bowl. I don't know how the SEC is supposed to convince the Music City Bowl not to take Purdue. I don't exactly understand the fascination with doing so, but once they made up their mind on that, Mizzou wasn't going there. First off, if you want to say that the Music City Bowl is somehow a far superior spot to the Liberty Bowl, okay I guess, but it really isn't. You're playing a middling Big Ten team vs a middling Big 12 team. What's the difference? I like Nashville better, but that's not really a factor in the selection. The Tigers were only really victims of one thing: The SEC had eight eight-win teams this season. That hasn't happened since 2015 when NINE teams won eight or more. And it's not a hard argument to make that of the eight, Missouri's season was the eighth best. Lastly, I see a lot of complaints that Missouri just played Oklahoma State five years ago. Michigan and Florida are playing in a bowl game for the third time in four years. Talk about boring.
5. What the bowl bid has done is make me realize how awful the Internet is. I've got people swearing at me on Twitter, we've got people sniping at each other on here. It's like a contest to see who can be the most outraged. The Internet is a haven for negativity. I can't imagine being this angry about things all the time. And I can't imagine that most of the people that say these things would actually say them to people in real life. If they would, I wouldn't want to know them in real life. This has nothing to do with Mizzou, but man it's hard to log on some days (and it's not like the Liberty Bowl is the most controversial topic of conversation on the Internet).
6. A previous Mizzou trip to the Liberty Bowl was 1978. The Tigers beat LSU to cap an 8-4 season in which Warren Powers' first team finished in the top 15 in the country. Mizzou beat LSU, Notre Dame and Nebraska that season. They lost to Alabama and Oklahoma (both of whom were ranked No. 1 at the time). I'm not sure how to figure this out exactly, but I've got a hard time believing there is another team in the history of college football that played Alabama, LSU, Notre Dame, Oklahoma and Nebraska in the same season. That team was led by Phil Bradley, Kellen Winslow and James Wilder. How's that for an offense? I'm hoping to track those guys down and do a story on the 1978 team between now and the game.
7. I think the all-SEC teams will come out today (might be later in the week). Here are Missouri players I'd vote for if I had a vote:
1st team: Tre'Vour Wallace-Simms, Cale Garrett
2nd team: DeMarkus Acy, Emanuel Hall (he probably won't get this because he didn't play a third of the season), Albert Okwuegbunam
3rd team: Corey Fatony, Yasir Durant, Paul Adams, Drew Lock
8. Let's talk about Kelly Bryant. I'm going to send out some last minute messages this afternoon and see where things stand. I don't care what Bryant has said publicly, this is viewed as a Mizzou or Auburn situation. There are a ton of football reasons for him to pick Missouri. They bring back a lot on offense, they won eight games this year, they're not in the SEC West, the offensive coordinator isn't being rumored to be leaving and there isn't a five-star freshman QB on the commit list. But I'm not sure he will. If I had to bet today, I'd probably bet on Auburn. Bryant is not your typical 17 year old kid going through recruiting, but he's still young and impressionable. It's really hard for young people to pass up the "cool thing." In a college football contest between Mizzou and Auburn, especially in the Southeast, Auburn is the cool thing and Mizzou is the "really?" thing. People will get mad at me for saying that, but it's true. So we'll see. I think Missouri has a shot. But it won't surprise me if he commits to Auburn tomorrow.
9. I'm still under the assumption a new deal with Barry Odom gets done this week. If it doesn't get done this week, I'll start to wonder why it isn't done.
10. This isn't about Mizzou, but I didn't have a chance to do the ten thoughts on college football. In lieu, here are the bowl games I'm actually interested in watching (outside of the college football playoff and the Liberty Bowl because we'll all watch those for the most part, at least until they get ugly):
New Mexico Bowl: North Texas vs Utah State. Wren Baker's the AD at UNT and David Yost built that offense at Utah State. Since I know both those guys I'll pay some attention.
Music City Bowl: Purdue vs Auburn. It's a decent matchup.
Alamo Bowl: Iowa State vs Washington State. This is one of the best non-New Year's six bowls out there.
Citrus Bowl: Kentucky vs Penn State. Two very good teams who are a step below great teams. Could be a real good game.
Fiesta Bowl: LSU vs UCF. Josh Heupel didn't have much luck the last time he faced LSU. The Tigers' defensive backs are always elite and have a way of shutting down these video game offenses. Geaux Tigers.
Sugar Bowl: Texas vs Georgia. I hope Georgia stomps them. Just don't let Kirby Smart call any fake punts.
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