No, it's about understanding and accepting the situation and keeping realistic.

The idea of winning 7 games this year is fantastic, even with an easy ass back-half schedule. Take the wins and don't apologize for it, but I think it's a bit silly to go back and start rambling off teams that we would beat "with this current team" that we lost to. This team still has a lot of warts.

Mizzou vs Kansas State would be fun.

Saying "definitely" would have beat U.K., South Carolina and Purdue is too strong. I'll agree with that.

I'd like Missouri's chances in any of those games if they were played again. There have been some major changes that have elevated Missouri's play since those early season games:

1) Terry Beckner, Jr is healthy and confident he is healthy. He has returned to being a disruptive force. That really didn't start until the Georgia game.

AJ Logan is also no longer being held out. He's not a star, but he has made a difference in the run D and in occupying blockers.

2) Young blood in the back 7 on D has improved play. It's still a weakness, but guys are at least in the spots they're supposed to be in and making plays.

3) Larry Rountree has earned major PT in the run game and in the return game. He has ignited both. He's better than Crockett.

4) more young blood at DE. Tre Williams and Chris Turner have forced their way into the rotation at DE and have also been more disruptive forces.

5) Odom taking over the D has improved the unit overall. The players hated DeMontie Cross, and he was a detrimental factor. Poor effort, breakdowns, poor assignment football. It took him some time, but Odom's supervision has cleaned up a lot of issues.


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Correlation may not be causation, but Logan's return sure seems to have made a difference

Gonna wait and see how they play in a bowl game.

Crazy to think that if they started the season playing like they are now, they could be 8-2 with the only losses to Auburn & Georgia. They would be ranked from 10th-20th. Crazy.

All I know is that they would have destroyed Kentucky under all conceivable alternative scenarios.

Yes they would

Terez Hall earning more responsibility has also solidified the LB corps to a phenomenal degree. It's allowed Brandon Lee to utilize his athleticism a bit more and has allowed Garrett to concentrate a bit more on simply being a powerful anchor in the middle; he's not being asked to work in space quite as much.

The entire LB corps has really firmed up but I think it would fall apart again if Hall were to get injured.

As for next year...man, you worry that they're going to have to go through a lot of this all over again because Beckner's almost certainly going to leave and if/when he does (and Frazier graduates), they'll need to find an entirely different plan of attack on the front line. They'll lose all 4 of their present starters. While I don't think Harold's going to be that tough to replace, the other 3 won't be easy, especially not all at once.

Williams will obviously have to be a huge part of that but who mans the middle? They simply don't have anyone with Beckner's explosion or Logan's raw strength. And that's presuming someone like Turner can step up to replace Frazier. The DL may be awfully messy so it's a damn good thing they seem to have a bit of stability and performance at LB right now.

Of those 3 teams the only one I am confident we would beat is Kentucky. The other 2 we would make it a good game but not as confident as I am we would beat Kentucky.

That's assuming if K-State can get bowl eligible. I'm not confident that they will against Oklahoma State and Iowa State......

Plus, K-State has a lot of issues across the board.

I'm excited about Williams and Chris Turner - who is a real freak of nature and really stands out in person at DE. In the middle, if Beckner is gone as expected,
I think they do have some players with the potential/upside to be really good.

Akial Byers was an Alabama lean/commit at one point, and ended up at Mizzou because they stayed on him even when it looked like he had no chance to qualify. He's been playing more of late and really flashing.

Jordan Elliott played as a true freshman for Texas and transferred to Mizzou because of Brick Haley. He was an Army AA and has been really dominant in practice, from what I've heard.

And then you have Whiteside and Utsey, who have been solid as freshman. Lot of questions at that spot, but a lot of potential answers.


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I've heard a lot of good things about Kobie Whiteside. Specifically that he is freakishly strong and has a pre-2017 Tamba Hali-like work ethic.

I think Whiteside is going to be a monster.

Alternatively, Antar Thompson could re-commit 4 years after the first time he committed...

What a crazy story that's been.

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