Pourover: Beat who you’re supposed to beat

How good is Missouri?

That’s the question I really want to know.

Last week I talked about the context around the program, and Eli Drinkwitz’s contempt for the question about who he had, and had not beaten. Drink, to his credit, doesn’t seem concerned about the cross talk. He’s earned the accolades, and he’s done a great job of navigating the league. He wins the games he’s supposed to win.

One of the problems we Mizzou fans have is we’ve seen every snap of Missouri Tiger football. I have not seen every snap of everyone else. I don’t know about you, but I’m guessing most of us haven’t seen all the snaps of all the SEC teams.

Sure I’ve watched a good amount of college football. I’ve seen every SEC team play at least some football. I’m pretty sure there are a handful of teams in the league who are better than the Tigers are. But I’m not completely sure it’s that long of a list. Having watched what I have of Texas A&M, I think they’re a good football team who are a little messed up right now because the Quarterback has been playing poorly.

As Mizzou fans can attest, we’ve been there. You know you remember what if felt like to have an elite defense and an offense that stunk. It’s hard to win. But that doesn’t mean you aren’t competitive.

Watching the game yesterday, Missouri felt Texas A&M. The Tigers won by three touchdowns, but it wasn’t a walk in the park. In fact, I think A&M is a much better team than Florida. The game against the Gators felt easier. But some of that came down to approach.

It seemed like the Tigers felt, early on, they were going to be able to squeeze the Aggie offense. In the Florida game, the defense was aggressive in attacking the runners and specifically Jadan Baugh. But against A&M they just squeezed. There was pressure, but they were also ok to let A&M pass block and see if Marcel Reed could make throws. He couldn’t, at least early on. Reed missed 20 throws on the day. Austin Simmons didn’t have his best day but he was 14-28, he only attempted eight more throws than Reed missed. Overall the Aggies reached 216 yards of offense, and 187 through the air, but 142 of that came in the 4th quarter. That’s 65%, when the Tigers were comfortably ahead.

The offensive play calling seemed conservative, as if by design. Drink and Chip Lindsey understood the assignment. The goal for the day was to win the game. The roster has been dinged up the last few weeks. Let’s take it as easy as possible and get out of this game with a win. Without sparing your health, everything looked like it was concentrated on just getting out of the week with a W.

The SEC is a grind. Last week it was a “top 10” opponent. The week before a top 25 opponent on the road. Next week a top 10 team on the road. Also, waiting for you are games against top ranked Georgia (they will be #1 today), and previously top ranked Texas. The easy weeks the rest of the way are a 5-1 Kentucky, an Oklahoma team that just beat Texas, and some team in Fayetteville that is still looking to have good workouts every Saturday.

Say what you will about Texas losing the Red River rivalry, but they were the better football team. Maybe don’t throw a pick 6 in the same game as you get a punt blocked in the end zone which is recovered for a touchdown. The Longhorns may not be as elite as some thought, but they’re still really good. And that’s just what it’s like to play football in the SEC.

A hot topic this week will be the College Football playoff. But Missouri still has three top 10 level teams on the roster. If you don’t win at least one of those games you can forget about the playoff.

There are no breaks.

At this point I don’t know if Mizzou is one of the 5 best teams in the country, or one of the 15 best teams in the country. I know they’re one of the 25 best teams… without any doubt. But I thought that much two weeks ago after they lost at Mississippi State. Each week is giving us more information and going on the road to Ole Miss is a huge challenge.

Find a way to win that game, and I’ll entertain playoff talk. I think this team is good enough to do it. The Rebels are for real. So you have to go do it.

So why not?

OTHER SEC SCORES:

• Oklahoma 27, 1. Texas 24
• 2. Georgia 20, 6. Alabama 17
• 9. Ole Miss 52, Vanderbilt 17
• Kentucky 35, 10. LSU 34 (OT)
• 15. Tennessee 24, Arkansas 17
• South Carolina 38, 16. Florida 19

Off: Auburn, Mississippi State,