Mostly football because, well, duh
1) Missouri scrimmaged on Saturday. Mitchell Forde had what you needed to know. The most important thing for you to know is that you should not get too high or too low based on what happened. I've seen awful scrimmages out of good teams and good scrimmages out of bad teams. They're playing each other, it's just one day, there's just not any reason to put too much stock into what happens...which is one good thing about not being able to be too detailed in the reporting. I mean, if we come on here and report the third string running back had 140 yards, it's a combination of "Oh my God this guy has to start" along with "We're never stopping anyone in the SEC." And neither would be true.
2) The most intriguing area on this team for me might be the secondary. It has a chance to be a strength. But that's based largely on potential. We've talked a lot about how DeMarkus Acy and Christian Holmes were pretty good for most of last year (just not helped at all by the pass rush). The coaches absolutely love Jarvis Ware. You've got to think Adam Sparks is the fourth guy in the regular rotation. Tyree Gillespie and Joshuah Bledsoe could be Mizzou's most athletic safeties in a long time. So there are a lot of reasons to be optimistic. That said, let's see them go do something before we write them in as one of the better units in the SEC.
3) Linebacker has a couple of things worth watching. Mitchell wrote last week about Aubrey Miller looking like he's working his way into playing time. The light comes on for different players at different times. A lot of people thought Miller would be a star from the get-go. He wasn't. But in year three now, he seems to be pressuring Nick Bolton for the weakside linebacker spot. Obviously those are large shoes to fill with Terez Hall gone. But the other thing that I want to see out of the linebackers is can they cover anyone? They were good against the run last year, but largely, the Missouri linebackers were torched in coverage. I think the move to more of a three-safety look with Ronnell Perkins and Khalil Oliver will help that. But the guys they have in as traditional linebackers have to do a better job against tight ends and running backs too.
4) By this time next week, the depth chart should be pretty close to set. My guess is toward the end of this week, or after the second scrimmage whenever that is, the team will move into game prep mode. That gives them a few extra days to spend on the game plan for the opener. There really aren't too many questions as far as the starters (we've gone over what they are). But this next week is a big chance for guys to establish themselves as second-stringers or maybe earn a few more snaps in the rotation. For example, if you think there's a big gap between your starter and the backup, you might go with a seven plays on two off type rotation on the defensive line. If the second stringer looks good, maybe it's 6-3 or 7-2. So we'll have to see who some of those backups are who put themselves in position.
5) There is no news on Missouri's appeal. The next news we get is going to be the final decision. Anything before that is speculation. We had a long thread on it and in no way is this post meant to discredit the information in that thread. I'm sure there are people who are skeptical this is going to work and I'm sure there are people that feel great about it. They're all guesses. There are only five people who matter, and those are the five people making the decision. And nobody's talking to them. So while I understand the questions and the speculation will continue, there really isn't any importance to any of it. It's all just noise.
6) Mizzou released its non-conference hoops schedule last week (you can see it here). Let's take a look at what we should expect:
Incarnate Word, Northern Kentucky, Morehead State, Charleston Southern, SIU and Chicago State have to be wins. That's six right off the top. Wofford absolutely should be a win.
There are three road games: Temple, Xavier and West Virginia. I'm not going to pretend to know a ton about those teams. One win wouldn't be great, but wouldn't be a disaster. Two should be the goal. A sweep would have me believing this is a tournament team.
The neutral site games are Butler, Illinois and Oklahoma or Stanford. They're names, but none are going to be great teams. They'll be decent wins. The goal here needs to be a minimum of 2-1.
So I'm looking at 10 wins in the non-conference as solid with 11 attainable. Less than ten is disappointing. More than 11 is fantastic and means they should dance.
Let's assume ten SEC wins is going to make you a tournament lock. If you were to go 10-3 in the non-con, that puts you 20-11 going into the SEC Tournament and probably just needing to avoid a terrible loss in the opener to be dancing. That's the goal.
7) Here's how I'd pick each division in the SEC with camps underway, but still not having studied the teams a ton
East
Georgia
Florida (I'm going with UF in a tiebreaker over Mizzou on head to head for right now)
Mizzou
South Carolina
Vanderbilt
Kentucky
Tennessee
West
Alabama
LSU
Auburn
Texas A&M
Mississippi State
Ole Miss
Arkansas
UGA knocks off Bama in the title game
8) You might have heard Mizzou decided to sell alcohol. I don't have strong feelings on it, other than to say it was a no-brainer to do it to me. I can't see it hurting attendance. I don't think there are many people who were going in the past who will say "Now that they're selling drinks, I'm out." It should help attendance. The interesting part to me is what it will do after halftime. You still can't leave the stadium and come back. So will people decide that they can stick out two more quarters of football and pay for a beer or two in the third? Or is there still going to be a mass exodus of people who have maintained their buzz with two first half beers, but don't want to spend another $20 to keep it up until the post-game party? You'll still see some people leaving, but I'd assume it will be fewer than in the past.
9) What to watch this week:
On the recommendation of my son, I started "The Haunting of Hill House" last night. First two episodes were good, at least enough to keep me watching.
Honorable mention to my guilty pleasure. I caught up on all the episodes of "Catfish" I hadn't watched. I believe the episode hosted by Nick Young is one of the top ten hours in television history. I laugh out loud at some point during virtually every episode of this show and simply do not care if you judge me for watching it.
No new podcasts for me. Everything I'm listening to has been posted in this space previously.
10) Reading recommendations:
Is it possible to stop a mass shooting before it happens?
The Legacy of Toni Morrison
48 male patients say a USC doctor abused them and the school was warned
Confessions of a university dropout
You can't recover if you're dead
Sticking to sports vs being a person in the world (subscription required)
I've seen the limits of journalism
Finding my father
1) Missouri scrimmaged on Saturday. Mitchell Forde had what you needed to know. The most important thing for you to know is that you should not get too high or too low based on what happened. I've seen awful scrimmages out of good teams and good scrimmages out of bad teams. They're playing each other, it's just one day, there's just not any reason to put too much stock into what happens...which is one good thing about not being able to be too detailed in the reporting. I mean, if we come on here and report the third string running back had 140 yards, it's a combination of "Oh my God this guy has to start" along with "We're never stopping anyone in the SEC." And neither would be true.
2) The most intriguing area on this team for me might be the secondary. It has a chance to be a strength. But that's based largely on potential. We've talked a lot about how DeMarkus Acy and Christian Holmes were pretty good for most of last year (just not helped at all by the pass rush). The coaches absolutely love Jarvis Ware. You've got to think Adam Sparks is the fourth guy in the regular rotation. Tyree Gillespie and Joshuah Bledsoe could be Mizzou's most athletic safeties in a long time. So there are a lot of reasons to be optimistic. That said, let's see them go do something before we write them in as one of the better units in the SEC.
3) Linebacker has a couple of things worth watching. Mitchell wrote last week about Aubrey Miller looking like he's working his way into playing time. The light comes on for different players at different times. A lot of people thought Miller would be a star from the get-go. He wasn't. But in year three now, he seems to be pressuring Nick Bolton for the weakside linebacker spot. Obviously those are large shoes to fill with Terez Hall gone. But the other thing that I want to see out of the linebackers is can they cover anyone? They were good against the run last year, but largely, the Missouri linebackers were torched in coverage. I think the move to more of a three-safety look with Ronnell Perkins and Khalil Oliver will help that. But the guys they have in as traditional linebackers have to do a better job against tight ends and running backs too.
4) By this time next week, the depth chart should be pretty close to set. My guess is toward the end of this week, or after the second scrimmage whenever that is, the team will move into game prep mode. That gives them a few extra days to spend on the game plan for the opener. There really aren't too many questions as far as the starters (we've gone over what they are). But this next week is a big chance for guys to establish themselves as second-stringers or maybe earn a few more snaps in the rotation. For example, if you think there's a big gap between your starter and the backup, you might go with a seven plays on two off type rotation on the defensive line. If the second stringer looks good, maybe it's 6-3 or 7-2. So we'll have to see who some of those backups are who put themselves in position.
5) There is no news on Missouri's appeal. The next news we get is going to be the final decision. Anything before that is speculation. We had a long thread on it and in no way is this post meant to discredit the information in that thread. I'm sure there are people who are skeptical this is going to work and I'm sure there are people that feel great about it. They're all guesses. There are only five people who matter, and those are the five people making the decision. And nobody's talking to them. So while I understand the questions and the speculation will continue, there really isn't any importance to any of it. It's all just noise.
6) Mizzou released its non-conference hoops schedule last week (you can see it here). Let's take a look at what we should expect:
Incarnate Word, Northern Kentucky, Morehead State, Charleston Southern, SIU and Chicago State have to be wins. That's six right off the top. Wofford absolutely should be a win.
There are three road games: Temple, Xavier and West Virginia. I'm not going to pretend to know a ton about those teams. One win wouldn't be great, but wouldn't be a disaster. Two should be the goal. A sweep would have me believing this is a tournament team.
The neutral site games are Butler, Illinois and Oklahoma or Stanford. They're names, but none are going to be great teams. They'll be decent wins. The goal here needs to be a minimum of 2-1.
So I'm looking at 10 wins in the non-conference as solid with 11 attainable. Less than ten is disappointing. More than 11 is fantastic and means they should dance.
Let's assume ten SEC wins is going to make you a tournament lock. If you were to go 10-3 in the non-con, that puts you 20-11 going into the SEC Tournament and probably just needing to avoid a terrible loss in the opener to be dancing. That's the goal.
7) Here's how I'd pick each division in the SEC with camps underway, but still not having studied the teams a ton
East
Georgia
Florida (I'm going with UF in a tiebreaker over Mizzou on head to head for right now)
Mizzou
South Carolina
Vanderbilt
Kentucky
Tennessee
West
Alabama
LSU
Auburn
Texas A&M
Mississippi State
Ole Miss
Arkansas
UGA knocks off Bama in the title game
8) You might have heard Mizzou decided to sell alcohol. I don't have strong feelings on it, other than to say it was a no-brainer to do it to me. I can't see it hurting attendance. I don't think there are many people who were going in the past who will say "Now that they're selling drinks, I'm out." It should help attendance. The interesting part to me is what it will do after halftime. You still can't leave the stadium and come back. So will people decide that they can stick out two more quarters of football and pay for a beer or two in the third? Or is there still going to be a mass exodus of people who have maintained their buzz with two first half beers, but don't want to spend another $20 to keep it up until the post-game party? You'll still see some people leaving, but I'd assume it will be fewer than in the past.
9) What to watch this week:
On the recommendation of my son, I started "The Haunting of Hill House" last night. First two episodes were good, at least enough to keep me watching.
Honorable mention to my guilty pleasure. I caught up on all the episodes of "Catfish" I hadn't watched. I believe the episode hosted by Nick Young is one of the top ten hours in television history. I laugh out loud at some point during virtually every episode of this show and simply do not care if you judge me for watching it.
No new podcasts for me. Everything I'm listening to has been posted in this space previously.
10) Reading recommendations:
Is it possible to stop a mass shooting before it happens?
The Legacy of Toni Morrison
48 male patients say a USC doctor abused them and the school was warned
Confessions of a university dropout
You can't recover if you're dead
Sticking to sports vs being a person in the world (subscription required)
I've seen the limits of journalism
Finding my father
