2013-14 Preview (SEC) Missouri
Things did not go swimmingly for Missouri in their first tour of the SEC last season as they dealt with injuries and poor performance overall. They were able to notch only two conference victories against the bottom of the SEC East, Tennessee and Kentucky.
Missouri Tigers (Team Link)
Coach: Gary Pinkel
2012 Record: 5-7
Odds of winning BCS Championship: +50000
Unless a lot changes this season it might be more of the same as I do not see how this year’s team will be significantly better enough to close the gap against the really good teams in the SEC.
The Tigers have never been an upper echelon program even though they had a few very successful seasons over the last decade in the Big 12. They learned the hard way that if they are going to regularly compete in their new league they are going to have to be a lot more physical. I am not sure it is a talent deficit but it might be a toughness one.
That can take a little while to build.
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In the B12 Mizzou was right up there in terms of prolific passing offenses using a spread em out approach. Last year they struggled and when QB James Franklin went down they were kind of dead in the water. Franklin is tough and athletic but he never got it going last year and had some very ugly games against the top defense: 4 INTs against Florida and less than 100 yards against South Carolina.
For the Tigers to come anywhere close to improving on last season he has to do more and play a little more confidently.
Dorial Green-Beckham was the top recruit in the nation a year ago, a WR who was supposed to make Calvin Johnson of the Detroit Lions look small and slow. He had some trouble adjusting to the speed of the college game with just 28 receptions though he did lead the Tigers with TD catches with 5.
If he can become more of a factor than it will make it easier on Franklin. So would a return to form of RB Henry Josey. He averaged more than 8 yards per carry in a 1000+ yards season as a sophomore but didn’t play a down last year after being injured later in that year.
It was no surprise that the Tigers had trouble on defense too. The SEC is all about the trenches and they might have been overmanned there. [soliloquy id=”82219″]
This season they return three starters on the defensive line and all the starters are upperclassmen. There are three other starters returning throughout the defense but none of them are standout performers.
This defense was pummelled last season and made very few big plays with just 21 sacks and 7 interceptions. They are probably going to have to take some more chances this season, they just can’t line up and go at teams again.
2013-14 Record Projection: 5-7
Unless they start really downgrading their nonconference schedule or get some better draws on the crossover it is going to be hard for this program to get more than 5 or 6 wins annually. Right now they are a notch below even Vanderbilt in the SEC East pecking order and nowhere close to competing with the likes of Georgia, South Carolina and Florida on a regular basis.
This year they get Texas A&M at home and Ole Miss on the road from the west which are going to be two very tough spots to get a win. Vandy is on the road too, a game I might have given to the Tigers if they were hosting. There is some talent on this team but if it doesn’t come through all the time this team is going to get beat.
4 starters return on the offensive line and they need to make a commitment to becoming tougher against these SEC defenses but they might just not be good enough. In the SEC if you can’t win the line of scrimmage you are toast.
From what we saw last year Missouri might be in for another irrelevant season.
2013 Tigers Schedule:
AUG 31 – Murray State
SEP 7 – Toledo
SEP 21 @Indiana
SEP 28 – Arkansas State
OCT 5 – @Vanderbilt
OCT 12 – @Georgia
OCT 19 – Florida
OCT 26 – South Carolina
NOV 2 – Tennessee
NOV 9 – @Kentucky
NOV 23 – @Ole Miss
NOV 30 – Texas A&M
