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1) Missouri's biggest football game in nine years is here. This is the biggest game the Tigers have played since the 2014 SEC Championship Game against Alabama. It's the biggest regular season game since the win over Arkansas in the 2014 finale that clinched the SEC East. It used to be a thing that happened around here quite a bit, but that was two coaching staffs and nine recruiting classes ago. Bud Sasser now works for Mizzou, L'Damian Washington is now a full-time college coach, James Franklin has played in and retired from the CFL and Evan Boehm has played in and retired from the NFL and joined the Mizzou staff. Those guys were key cogs in the last (only) Mizzou team to win in Athens, GA. That's how long it's been since Mizzou was regularly playing games like the one it will play this weekend.
I do not anticipate anyone from Missouri to talk about how big this game is. I think the approach will be simply to treat it as another game, another chance to go 1-0. It isn't just another game, but that's been working for them so far this season so you might as well keep it going.
I think the players and fans should embrace this moment. Understand that, yes, you're playing one of the two biggest games in college football this weekend. Yes, you're playing a phenomenal team that has won 25 consecutive games and is trying to be the first three-peat national champion since World War II. Soak all of that up because this is the reason you watch and the reason you play. But do not be afraid or intimidated. Georgia is good. No question. If they play at their best, Missouri probably can't win the game. But Missouri has earned the right to be in this game. It has won seven of eight and was in the other one until the final couple of minutes. It has proven to be one of the top 15 teams in the country. So go take your shot. If it doesn't work out, so be it. You regroup and move on. If it does, oh man, if it does, what the possibilities are...
2) I remember ten years ago this month sitting in a hotel lobby outside of Athens, GA. Someone had asked me on the board what chance I would give Missouri of pulling off the upset. I said 5%. Missouri pulled off that upset. I heard a lot about my skepticism (FWIW, I wasn't wrong, I did give the Tigers a 5% chance).
That day Mizzou raced out to a 28-10 lead at halftime capped by a Shane Ray strip sack and a Michael Sam scoop and score off Aaron Murray. I always thought it was fitting that Missouri would end that dream season on a play by the same duo in reverse. Anyway, Georgia came most of the way back to make it 28-26 on a Murray TD pass to Chris Conley (yes, Chiefs fans, that one) but missed the two-point conversion to tie it. Missouri's next possession reached the Georgia 40 (after Maty Mauk had replaced an injured James Franklin) when Sasser unleashed one of the better non-quarterback throws you're going to see for Washington in the corner of the end zone. The catch gave Mizzou a 34-26 lead. The Tigers would add another score and walk out of Athens with the statement win of their early days in the SEC.
There have been bigger wins in Mizzou football history. There were bigger wins for Mizzou in that 2013 season. But that's the one that most people remember. That's the one you can look back at and say "That's the day I believed." Before that day, Mizzou was a nice story. When it ended, the Tigers were national title contenders.
3) That's, potentially, what this Saturday can be. This Missouri team has done more as it heads to Athens than that one had. The 2013 game was a week five game. Missouri was undefeated, but the most impressive thing it had done was win at Indiana. The Tigers entered that game 25th in the country, having entered the polls for the first time that week. Three weeks further down the line, the 2023 team is more proven than the 2013 team was. But it's still looking for that statement, that signature. You guys believe Missouri is really good. Those that watch them every day believe they belong in the national discussion. But they aren't yet truly part of the national discussion. Right now, the national narrative about Missouri is "That's one of the most improved teams in the country, they're doing some nice things. There's no shot they make the SEC title game or the playoff, but they're having a good little season."
That's probably not unfair, if we're being honest. Missouri's best win so far this season is Kansas State. I can make an argument the second most impressive thing it's done is give LSU a real scare. Because South Carolina isn't good. I'm not all that sure Kentucky is any good. I know Vanderbilt isn't. None of this is to denigrate Missouri and the season it's having. I think this is a legitimately good football team. But what it doesn't have is that day where it showed the rest of the college football world it belongs in the conversation with some of the other title contenders.
That chance comes Saturday. Win Saturday and you leave no doubt. You will be in that conversation. I would imagine a win would put Missouri fifth in the country next week. You'd stay behind the remaining unbeaten teams (Michigan, Ohio State, Florida State, Washington), but you'd be the top one-loss team in the country. You'd have a win over a team that hasn't lost in nearly two calendar years and your only loss would be to No. 13. Your resume would be as good as anybody's in the country. You would have the inside track to the SEC East title, a date with LSU, Alabama or Ole Miss in Atlanta and a spot in the final four-team College Football Playoff.
4) But is that realistic?
Realistic? Sure. It can happen. Missouri over Georgia would hardly be the biggest upset we've ever seen. It probably wouldn't even be the biggest upset we've seen this year. But likely? Well, the Tigers are a 16-point underdog for a reason.
This Georgia team doesn't strike me as quite as good as the last couple. Let's compare the Bulldogs statistically to last year's 15-0 team.
| Rushing | Passing | Scoring | Rush D | Pass D | Scoring D | Scoring margin | |
| 2022 UGA | 205.33 (19th) | 295.8 (15th) | 41.1 (4th) | 77.0 (1st) | 219.7 (53rd) | 14.3 (5th) | +26.3 ppg |
| 2023 UGA | 172.25 (47th) | 334.3 (4th) | 40.5 (7th) | 93.6 (12th) | 178.5 (15th) | 14.8 (7th) | +25.7 ppg |
So if we're being honest, the numbers say Georgia is just about as good as it was last year. But the Bulldogs also have their three toughest games of the regular season in the next three weeks. So far they've beaten Kentucky and Florida which are...okay...and Auburn, South Carolina and Vanderbilt, three of the five worst teams in the SEC. I don't think UGA has faced a team in the top half of the league yet. And the non-con was Ball State, UT-Martin and UAB. So while the numbers are similar, last year's numbers included games against five teams ranked in the top 14 at the time (Oregon, Tennessee, LSU, Ohio State, TCU). This year's numbers include no such games. Georgia has nothing to prove to anyone, but its measuring stick is history. RIght now, I think this Georgia team is a bit more vulnerable than the last two...which doesn't really make them vulnerable.
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