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1) We're going to start this week's thoughts in the most unpopular Internet place imaginable: Right down the middle, straddling the fence. It is possible to both be disappointed in Missouri's season so far and not be freaking out about the direction of the program. The worst case scenario for the Tigers at this point in the season was 3-3. The front half of the schedule was the easier half and it contained three of the four "gimme" wins on the schedule. Missouri won all those. The first half also did not include any of the games we started the season expecting to be losses (Texas A&M, Georgia, Florida). It featured three swing games. Missouri lost all three, including one in miserable blowout fashion. And that was the one that most of us would have given the Tigers the best chance to win in the preseason. If you had said seven weeks ago that Missouri was going to be sitting 3-3 and would be a 10-point underdog against the Aggies, there would have been a handful of the most pessimistic fans saying that seemed about right. But I'm going to guess 80 to 90% of the fanbase would have viewed that as disappointing. That's where they're at and they have looked inconsistent at best in getting there. It's fine to be disappointed about the way the season has started.
But none of that means you think the program is headed in the crapper or Eli Drinkwitz doesn't know what he's doing. There's still plenty of reason for optimism based on the recruiting and the season also has six games left and, you know, college football is weird and as much as we do it every Sunday and Monday it's absolutely impossible to know with certainty what's going to happen over the next two months. We'll address both of those points in the next two thoughts.
2) As much as everybody is already writing it off, it is not impossible that Missouri wins some games you don't expect it to. It could even happen this weekend. Texas A&M pulled off one of the biggest shockers of the season on Saturday when it beat Alabama. And if that A&M team comes into Columbia on Saturday, the Tigers are going to lose. But that's the first time we've seen that A&M team this season. They spent the first five weeks of the year looking entirely pedestrian and underwhelming. And who's to say Missouri won't play its best game of the year? Look, I'm not predicting a Missouri win. I'm just saying if we awarded wins and losses on point spreads and predictions, the season would probably look a whole lot different than it does. The beauty of this sport is that things happen every single week that nobody saw coming. It's why we watch and why we care. It's why we continue to invest our time and our passion. Say it with me for the 240,000th time: These are college kids. They don't play their best every weekend. What they did last Saturday often tells us almost nothing about what they will do next Saturday. It is Monday after an underwhelming effort and so you are all quite pessimistic. By Wednesday, you'll feel a little better. By Friday, you'll be saying "Why not us?" And Saturday morning at 11 a.m., a lot of you will believe Missouri is going to put it all together and pull the upset. There will also be some of you that predict the Tigers will lose 73-0 to A&M for the second time in program history to protect yourself from the disappointment of Saturday afternoon if they do lose.
3) The real words of wisdom for Missouri fans came from an 18-year-old this weekend. We talked with 4-star quarterback commit Sam Horn after his official visit to Columbia. Here is what you all need to be focused on:
"We were watching the Alabama game and we talked about how they lost," Horn noted. "He (Drinkwitz) was like 'why already be number one when you can make the program number one?' because you can get more press and more attention."
"He's been preaching that the whole week. He understands where he's at. We all understand where we are at in the program and we all want to make it number one. That's what he's been preaching, for me to make the decision to make Missouri number one and be that guy and get us to where we need to be."
Missouri is not where it wants to be. We all know that. Eli Drinkwitz knows it. I spent most of the summer trying to prepare you all for the fact that this team wasn't going to challenge for the SEC East, wasn't going to win nine games and probably wasn't quite as far along in the rebuilding process as you wanted it to be or thought it was. If I'm being honest, it's not even quite as far along as I thought it was. But the point is, Drinkwitz hasn't been out there telling recruits to expect a Missouri team that was in contention for a New Year's Day bowl game. I've heard him speak at a couple of fan events and have been privy to some conversations that were not had in the public eye and he knew this team wasn't quite ready to be where fans were hoping it would be. Even his public comments were advising caution and trying to warn everyone that this was probably going to be a slower process than they hoped. So your major focus needs to be on whether this season is impacting Drinkwitz on the recruiting trail. And right now, there's absolutely no indication that it is.
4) Speaking of recruiting, it could be a big next week-and-a-half for the Tigers. There are three scheduled announcements that you're going to want to follow.
Webber tweeted last night that he would be making a decision next Monday (at least I think that's what this means):
That's usually a good sign off an official visit. I think Missouri's in good shape if the staff was impressed with Webber on the visit. The other possibility is that Missouri saw him in person, slowed things down, and Webber is going to commit somewhere else (likely Oklahoma State, which he has also visited). I'm not sure where this one is leaning at this point. I'll try to get some intel this week.
The four-star cornerback from Tulsa is also making his announcement next Monday. We believe Oklahoma is probably the choice. But Missouri is working to try to get him on campus one more time. We reported last week that the Tigers are more of a threat than most people believe--and even more of one than we had believed--for Williams. It will be telling if they can get him on campus this weekend. If he comes up for the A&M game, Mizzou might just have a shot at pulling a rabbit out of the hat. If he's not in Columbia, we'll probably go ahead and predict he stays in state with the Sooners.
This is the one everyone's focused on. Burden is announcing next Tuesday. We are going to be there to cover it and hopefully even live stream it. Do not take that as a sign that we know for certain where he is going. We do not. But it's the No. 6 kid in the country and we're part of a network and we're going to be there for Rivals even if not for PowerMizzou. We do think Missouri has a very good shot. We continue to have people we usually trust tell us they believe he is going to commit to Missouri. But he is visiting Georgia this weekend and the Bulldogs are a real threat. Similar to Horn, this isn't about wins and losses right now. If it was about that, Missouri wouldn't be in his final two. But they are. Burden has done a good job keeping everyone guessing. I'd bet that Georgia people will be confident leading into the announcement and I'd bet that most national people will lean the Bulldogs' way over the next nine days because that's how these elite recruitments go. We are not telling you we know he's coming to Missouri. We are telling you that there is reason to maintain hope and that there are people who are optimistic.
5) Let's go back to the current team. Everyone wants to figure out who's to blame. The answer is everyone. Does Eli Drinkwitz deserve some blame? Yes. Does Barry Odom? Yes. Does Steve Wilks? Yes again. Does Jethro Franklin? Sure. Throw all the players in there too. We spend so much time trying to figure out who we should be mad at when our teams fall short of expectation. But it's everything. The defense has been bad, we know that. The offense hasn't really been very good for most of the last two weeks either. The special teams has been good. Nobody should be mad at Harrison Mevis or Grant McKinniss. But the point is, it's almost never one thing. All the bickering and arguing and assigning blame is mostly a waste of time. There are a million things that could have changed the way the three losses--and even the wins, which have largely been a little underwhelming--have gone. But they went the way they went and Missouri is where it is. Nobody has been good enough so far.
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