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1) Well, you made it. The offseason is over....kind of. SEC Media Days starts later this morning in Dallas (of course). While the Big 12 already had its event last week and media days as an entire concept are outdated and overrated, today is nonetheless viewed across the country as the unofficial start of college football season. Practice is about two weeks away (we should have a schedule by the end of the day tomorrow) and we've got to get everybody talking. There are two main topics that are going to dominate the talk out of Dallas the next two days.
*Oklahoma and Texas are here, let's talk about that. If there was previously any shred of doubt that the SEC was the best conference in college sports (there shouldn't have been) that doubt is gone. The best league in the country just went and grabbed two of the best athletic programs available and added them to the mix. Texas has won back to back Directors Cups, given to the program with the best athletic performance across all sports. Oklahoma is a dynasty in softball and no slouch in the other most-followed sports. These two will make SEC softball and baseball even tougher than they are and add depth in men's and women's basketball. But all we really care about is football so what's it mean for football?
Texas comes in at what appears a great time for the Longhorns. After a 17 year absence they returned to the national championship conversation last year even though they fell just short. They've got a lot of talent coming back and will be in everyone's preseason top ten (and most people's preseason top five). My intrigue with Texas isn't really about this year. It's long term. Texas has ruined everything of which it has ever been a part. The SEC is the league that supposedly cannot be ruined. I guess we'll see.
Less is expected of Oklahoma. I'm not sure it should be. The Sooners haven't just been the Longhorns' equal in football. They've been better. For about 75 years. But many appear to think it's OU that will have the most trouble stepping up to the big leagues. Long term, I don't think that's the case. They're not going to dominate the SEC the way they did the Big 12, but I expect them to be a consistently winning team who takes home a few league titles while we're all still around to pay attention. Short term? Joe Castiglione should ask who he offended in the SEC offices. Here's a look at the schedules of the two teams:
Oklahoma: vs Tennessee, at Auburn, vs Texas, vs South Carolina, at Ole Miss, at Missouri, vs Alabama, at LSU
Texas: vs Mississippi State, at Oklahoma, vs Georgia, at Vanderbilt, vs Florida, at Arkansas, vs Kentucky, at Texas A&M
I can paint you a very real picture in which Oklahoma is a pretty good football team and goes 2-6 in the league. Texas, meanwhile, has 4-5 games it absolutely should not lose. Part of that is because the Longhorns are a good team, but you can't look at those schedules and think they're two teams being introduced to the same league. Oklahoma's is a tour of the top 15. Texas' has a landmine or two, but it's manageable.
*The other major story this week is about the future of college sports in general. What happens with NIL? Are players destined to become employees? Should we be worried about the fate of non-revenue sports? For many, SEC media days will be a chance to get away from all this and talk football, and I don't disagree at all with those that view this week that way. But Greg Sankey's address this morning will still be major news. What he says could shape the entire industry for the next few years. I don't have a clue what any of the answers are to the questions above and honestly I'm tired of thinking about them and glad to have actual games to look forward to. But they are important answers.
2) Missouri's crew will talk in Dallas on Tuesday. Quarterback Brady Cook, wide receiver Luther Burden and defensive tackle Kristian Williams will be in attendance with Eli Drinkwitz. Obviously we'll be there to cover the entire day. Jarod Hamilton flies to Dallas later this morning.
This is the first time in nine years Mizzou enters media days with some buzz. Honestly, there are a lot of times at this event when Mizzou's coach is done well before his allotted time in the main room. Missouri just doesn't happen to be one of the bigger storylines. The local people all get their questions answered in a separate small setting so the main room is for the rest of the league's media to ask the head coach questions. And most of them haven't had much of an interest in Missouri the last few years. A lot of times I'm looking at the schedule and thinking "Well, there's one of the league's heavyweights and one of the best talkers and one of the potential breakout teams and then there's the Missouri period where the rest of the league's media will take a break to get a coffee and take a leak before slobbering all over Nick Saban again." Not this year, and not just because Saban isn't there.
Mizzou has two of the league's top 10 or so offensive players among its contingent, including Burden who might be the best pure football player in America (let alone the SEC). It has a coach who could say anything at any given time. It has the leader of a defense which has to replace a lot, but was one of the quieter big time storylines in college football last year and ended the season with its best performance. The Tigers are going to be in almost everyone's top 15 this year and barring disaster should be 4-0 and inside the top 10 when October starts. They won't be the biggest story of Tuesday (Georgia, Oklahoma and Tennessee are there too) but they won't be ignored like they often have been here in the past.
3) Here are the questions I'd have for each member of Mizzou's contingent this week:
Cook: Nobody expected what you did last year, but now everybody expects you to match or improve it. How do you handle expectations and what's tougher: Getting to that point or staying there?
Burden: When you committed to Missouri many people viewed it as the potential start of something big. Three years later, could you have seen where this program would be, both on the field and on the recruiting trail?
Williams: How do you replace what Darius Robinson gave this defense not just on the field but off of it? And is that your role to fill this year?
4) I saved the question I'd ask Eli Drinkwitz for its own thought: What is success for this team this year?
Last season was magical. Missouri went 11-2, finished 8th in the country and very, very, very few (I'm not going to say none, but it was close to none) of us expected it. Which made it a little bit more fun.
But now? Now we expect it. Last year, Mizzou was the little engine that could. Brady Cook and Cody Schrader just kept pulling them up that mountain. This year, the Tigers will catch no one by surprise. The game against South Carolina last year was viewed as a critical swing game that could go either way. Now? It's a game that could make the Gamecocks' season and break Mizzou's. Missouri will probably be favored against Auburn and Oklahoma and a close road underdog against Texas A&M. They could be the biggest win on the schedule for most of the teams they play. It's different. And it has to be handled differently.
I've said repeatedly that if Missouri misses the playoff I won't necessarily deem the season a failure. I can see a scenario where Mizzou is 9-3 with losses to Bama, Oklahoma and A&M and was a playoff worthy team that was just on the wrong side of a couple plays. I can see a scenario where the Tigers are 10-2 but strength of schedule keeps them at home. So simply making it vs not making it isn't my line for a successful season. At the same time, those chances don't come around every year so when you have one you've got to go get it.
What's Drinkwitz's line for success? I'd love to know. He won't tell us but I'd love to know.
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