1. Let's just start with the elephant in the room. I had written in a post ready to send after the game ended that Barry Odom's job was secure and we can stop talking about it. Then the last six minutes happened and I wasn't confident in that statement anymore. Had Missouri won--even won ugly--Odom had done enough to shut up the talk about his future. But the fact that it lost--and lost largely because of errors Odom and his staff made--opened that can of worms wide once again. I know we have to make judgments RIGHT NOW after every game, every quarter, every series. And I know the popular judgment among Missouri fans right now is that Odom is gone and we need hot boards and lists and we need to talk about who the next coach is going to be. That's not realistic. There are four games left. No decision is going to be made before those four games are played. Here are the scenarios:
8-4: He's back, no questions asked
7-5 with a loss to Florida: I think he'd be back. There wouldn't be a lot of momentum and a lot of fans wouldn't be excited about it, but I'm pretty sure he'd stay.
6-6 or worse: Uh oh. I sure wouldn't sleep very well the night after the Arkansas game if I were Odom.
2. Our vantage point is often skewed when we think, talk and write about something every single day. I got this text from someone that covers and follows college football nationally on Sunday afternoon: "There's no way they fire Odom, right? As long as they make a bowl game?" I said I wasn't sure, laid out the counter points and he admitted it was worth considering. But I'm telling you, outside the state of Missouri, the view of most is that there's no way Barry Odom deserves to lose his job assuming they don't just collapse down the stretch. Again, at 5-7 or worse, nobody will argue if Jim Sterk fires him. At 6-6, I think the verdict would be somewhat split. At 7-5, I think the national narrative would definitely be "What the hell is Missouri doing and who the hell do they think they are?" I'm not saying it's necessarily right, but I know enough of these people and talk to enough people that have a national viewpoint and not a Mizzou-centric one that I'm telling you that would be the reaction. Cue the "I guess you're fine with mediocrity" crowd murdering its collective keyboard.
3. One last thing to think about here, and it goes back to how thin the margin is between success and failure. Now, I have said that I do not believe the officials are to (solely) blame for Missouri losing to South Carolina and Kentucky. I think they made some bad calls and particularly against Kentucky, one of them was so glaring and on the last play of the game that it changed the outcome. I do not think officiating changed the outcome of the South Carolina game, but stick with me. If you would keep Odom at 8-4 (and I think pretty much everyone would), let's say they finish 6-6. If you fire him there, are you saying that if DeMarkus Acy isn't called for pass interference and if Damarea Crockett's TD isn't reversed at South Carolina and Missouri wins both games, you'd have kept him? Ultimately, that's why the record is only a part of the determination. What this comes down to in the end is "Does Jim Sterk think Barry Odom is the guy to take Missouri football to the next level?" Or two levels or three levels or whatever. If he does, he should keep him at 6-6 or worse. If he doesn't, he should fire him even if Missouri is 8-4. I don't know what the answer is and I'm glad I don't have to make the call. But you have to look much deeper than just what the final record is. All those things we aren't really talking about are going to be the factors that make Sterk's decision. Not the number of wins.
4. I appreciated the comments from Brandon Lee and Damarea Crockett on Saturday night. Usually after a loss, you get a lot of "Just got to come back stronger and keep working and not let this happen again." And we got some of that on Saturday. But Lee was blunt and said Missouri lost that game by doing stupid things and he admitted it's going to be really tough to get everybody back up to play well this weekend. Crockett admitted it was going to be really hard and said this loss could either pull Missouri together or splinter it apart. I have no idea which will happen. But the answer will be telling. I don't think Missouri has to win at Florida to save Odom's job. But I think it has to play well. Because if the Tigers come out and get beat 34-10 and aren't competitive, I could easily see this being a team that quits (like Florida did last year after Missouri jumped up early). And if that happens, 4-8 or 5-7 is most definitely in the picture and if Odom loses the team almost no one would argue you have to bring him back. If the Tigers show guts and fight, even if they lose a close game, there's reason to hope they win the last three and get to 7-5 and move forward with the current regime. The result is important. But this week, how the result is achieved might be just as important.
5. I really, really wanted the Drew Lock critics to be wrong. I really like the kid. I think he's got a lot of talent. But Saturday night kind of validated what all his critics have said. When he's facing a team that just doesn't have as much talent, he's great. But when the talent is equal or against him, he's not able to elevate his team to a point where it wins the game. I don't know exactly what's missing, but it seems like something is. And let me say again, it's not all on Drew by any means. Jalen Knox flat dropped a first down pass. Another long pass went off his fingertips. Lock didn't throw a perfect ball to Albert O down the middle on the run, but Albert got his hands on it and could have caught it. On the 3rd down prior to when Mizzou threw on third and 2, Johnathon Johnson caught a pass with a lot of space around him and I thought he had a first down pretty easily. He ended up about a yard short of it. Alex Ofodile nullified a touchdown. In other words, there were a lot of other players that could have made plays too. And none of them did it either. But QB gets a different level of scrutiny and at this point, it's kind of hard to argue with those who believe Drew is a great stat compiler, but not a great quarterback.
Thinking about this led me to think about something else. Look at the Mizzou quarterbacks of the last 18 years. If you're told you are down four points and need a quarterback to lead one drive to win the game, who do you take? Here's my ranking:
1) Chase Daniel--he's the best by any measure and while he didn't have to lead a lot of comeback drives, I'd take him
2) James Franklin--I think he's the toughest QB Mizzou has had since 2000
3) Brad Smith--He just had a level of athleticism that allows him to make something out of nothing
4) Maty Mauk--I wasn't a fan of his play at quarterback the vast majority of the time, but he's kind of the opposite of Lock. He didn't put up great numbers and didn't even look very good most of the time, but when it counted, he often came through
5) Blaine Gabbert--He takes more heat than Mizzou fans than he should. He had a four-star career. But since he was ranked as a five-star and didn't go on to NFL stardom, people think of him as an underachiever, which I don't think is fair. If you wanted to put him above Mauk, I wouldn't argue.
6) Drew Lock--See analysis above. The simple fact is, he's only really done it once or twice in three full seasons as a starter
8-4: He's back, no questions asked
7-5 with a loss to Florida: I think he'd be back. There wouldn't be a lot of momentum and a lot of fans wouldn't be excited about it, but I'm pretty sure he'd stay.
6-6 or worse: Uh oh. I sure wouldn't sleep very well the night after the Arkansas game if I were Odom.
2. Our vantage point is often skewed when we think, talk and write about something every single day. I got this text from someone that covers and follows college football nationally on Sunday afternoon: "There's no way they fire Odom, right? As long as they make a bowl game?" I said I wasn't sure, laid out the counter points and he admitted it was worth considering. But I'm telling you, outside the state of Missouri, the view of most is that there's no way Barry Odom deserves to lose his job assuming they don't just collapse down the stretch. Again, at 5-7 or worse, nobody will argue if Jim Sterk fires him. At 6-6, I think the verdict would be somewhat split. At 7-5, I think the national narrative would definitely be "What the hell is Missouri doing and who the hell do they think they are?" I'm not saying it's necessarily right, but I know enough of these people and talk to enough people that have a national viewpoint and not a Mizzou-centric one that I'm telling you that would be the reaction. Cue the "I guess you're fine with mediocrity" crowd murdering its collective keyboard.
3. One last thing to think about here, and it goes back to how thin the margin is between success and failure. Now, I have said that I do not believe the officials are to (solely) blame for Missouri losing to South Carolina and Kentucky. I think they made some bad calls and particularly against Kentucky, one of them was so glaring and on the last play of the game that it changed the outcome. I do not think officiating changed the outcome of the South Carolina game, but stick with me. If you would keep Odom at 8-4 (and I think pretty much everyone would), let's say they finish 6-6. If you fire him there, are you saying that if DeMarkus Acy isn't called for pass interference and if Damarea Crockett's TD isn't reversed at South Carolina and Missouri wins both games, you'd have kept him? Ultimately, that's why the record is only a part of the determination. What this comes down to in the end is "Does Jim Sterk think Barry Odom is the guy to take Missouri football to the next level?" Or two levels or three levels or whatever. If he does, he should keep him at 6-6 or worse. If he doesn't, he should fire him even if Missouri is 8-4. I don't know what the answer is and I'm glad I don't have to make the call. But you have to look much deeper than just what the final record is. All those things we aren't really talking about are going to be the factors that make Sterk's decision. Not the number of wins.
4. I appreciated the comments from Brandon Lee and Damarea Crockett on Saturday night. Usually after a loss, you get a lot of "Just got to come back stronger and keep working and not let this happen again." And we got some of that on Saturday. But Lee was blunt and said Missouri lost that game by doing stupid things and he admitted it's going to be really tough to get everybody back up to play well this weekend. Crockett admitted it was going to be really hard and said this loss could either pull Missouri together or splinter it apart. I have no idea which will happen. But the answer will be telling. I don't think Missouri has to win at Florida to save Odom's job. But I think it has to play well. Because if the Tigers come out and get beat 34-10 and aren't competitive, I could easily see this being a team that quits (like Florida did last year after Missouri jumped up early). And if that happens, 4-8 or 5-7 is most definitely in the picture and if Odom loses the team almost no one would argue you have to bring him back. If the Tigers show guts and fight, even if they lose a close game, there's reason to hope they win the last three and get to 7-5 and move forward with the current regime. The result is important. But this week, how the result is achieved might be just as important.
5. I really, really wanted the Drew Lock critics to be wrong. I really like the kid. I think he's got a lot of talent. But Saturday night kind of validated what all his critics have said. When he's facing a team that just doesn't have as much talent, he's great. But when the talent is equal or against him, he's not able to elevate his team to a point where it wins the game. I don't know exactly what's missing, but it seems like something is. And let me say again, it's not all on Drew by any means. Jalen Knox flat dropped a first down pass. Another long pass went off his fingertips. Lock didn't throw a perfect ball to Albert O down the middle on the run, but Albert got his hands on it and could have caught it. On the 3rd down prior to when Mizzou threw on third and 2, Johnathon Johnson caught a pass with a lot of space around him and I thought he had a first down pretty easily. He ended up about a yard short of it. Alex Ofodile nullified a touchdown. In other words, there were a lot of other players that could have made plays too. And none of them did it either. But QB gets a different level of scrutiny and at this point, it's kind of hard to argue with those who believe Drew is a great stat compiler, but not a great quarterback.
Thinking about this led me to think about something else. Look at the Mizzou quarterbacks of the last 18 years. If you're told you are down four points and need a quarterback to lead one drive to win the game, who do you take? Here's my ranking:
1) Chase Daniel--he's the best by any measure and while he didn't have to lead a lot of comeback drives, I'd take him
2) James Franklin--I think he's the toughest QB Mizzou has had since 2000
3) Brad Smith--He just had a level of athleticism that allows him to make something out of nothing
4) Maty Mauk--I wasn't a fan of his play at quarterback the vast majority of the time, but he's kind of the opposite of Lock. He didn't put up great numbers and didn't even look very good most of the time, but when it counted, he often came through
5) Blaine Gabbert--He takes more heat than Mizzou fans than he should. He had a four-star career. But since he was ranked as a five-star and didn't go on to NFL stardom, people think of him as an underachiever, which I don't think is fair. If you wanted to put him above Mauk, I wouldn't argue.
6) Drew Lock--See analysis above. The simple fact is, he's only really done it once or twice in three full seasons as a starter
