Fundamentally, you’re clearly on point - the Tigers do control their own destiny. If they win out, including the KU game, they repeat as Big XII North champs. The challenge comes in how they get there and what they do against the South representative on December 6. Clearly a win in the conference title game keeps them in the pantheon of contemporary powers, however what happens if the Tigers mail in a couple of close wins against ISU and Baylor, barely covers or misses slightly in wins against K-State on CU, wins a nail-biter against a 2 or 3 loss KU squad and gets pounded by UT a second time? Mizzou winds up with a very, very nice 10-3 record (I’ve had season tix since 1979, so a 10 win season is still a cause for glee in my household) but probably queues up behind OU, OSU and Texas Tech for the consolation bowls. Assuming the Big XII fills two BCS slots, one would presume a South team will get the Cotton Bowl bid. Perhaps MU gets lucky and the Gator Bowl exercises their Big XII option, giving the Tigers a chance to play on New Years Day. If not, then it may be a Holiday or Alamo bowl bid to play a second or third runner up from the Big 10 or Pac 10. Not exactly marquee matchups, and even a convincing win isn’t going to look nearly as good as what the Tigers did the prior year and will likely net a year-end ranking no higher than say 12th. How’s that going to help the team’s long term prospects for recruiting? In order to recapture the magic, the Tigers NEED to pile on the points from this point forward, never taking their foot off of the pedal. That will get some attention back on this highly-touted, high-powered offense. And Coach Pinkel and his minions need to do a much better job of keeping his players’ mouths shut and minds off the hype going into the conference title game. I thought he did a fantastic job last year of focusing the team’s attention away from the BCS snub and focusing it on destroying an already vulnerable Arkansas squad. I hope he’s up to the task with this new challenge which has manifested itself much earlier than last year’s issues.

Bernie, thanks for regaining some perspective. This week is huge for the Tigers. We will find out more about Gary Pinkel and his staff this week than we have in a long time. If this team refocuses and wins 4 straight heading to the ku game, well, that’s a heck of a season w/ a ku win, and by the way, probably a top 10 end of the regular season ranking…not too shabby.

As to last week’s game. Yes, we are not in OU or UT’s arena, but how many teams are ? Certainly no one else in the big12. Let’s see TTech beat someone with a pulse before proclaiming them ANYTHING. Congrats to Ok State, they beat us…barely.

MU got embarrassed by Texas, but it’s college football, it happens. Ask Georgia who trailed Alabama 31-0 AT HOME a few weeks back. Or, LSU who lost 51-21 at Florida. And upsets happen…heck OU got waxed in January by WVU and lost a big lead to a bad Colorado team a year ago. Yes, MU hasn’t won a “big” one so you can question the coaches, etc…but heck LSU is the defending champ so what’s their staff’s excuse for not putting up a fight at Fla.

College football isn’t the NFL where 3 good drafts and some wise FA pickup can get you to the top quickly. College football is a long haul game. Year after year of recruiting, especially long for ALL the big 12 north schools who have to compete for Texas kids. And they don’t compete with Texas, cause Texas will always get the top kids from that state. Fortunately for Mizzou they don’t have to be better than Texas or OU, they have to better than the North which they definitely can do. That’s why college football is so great. Win out and head to KC and who knows what happens. Thanks for regaining your head.

All good points as usual from Bernie. It’s possible the Tigers right the ship and win out to get back to the Big 12 Championship. But I’m guessing we see one more loss in the regular season (that still might be enough to get to the Championship). I’m sure the hype had something to do with the poor performance in Texas. But let’s be honest, we all had a reality check the last two weeks. And what it tells us that the Tigers talent is #1 or #2 in the Big 12 North, but somewhere between #5, #6, or #7 in the Big 12 overall. That’s certainly a let down from my expectations earlier this year. But being a 1986 graduate of Mizzou, I remember some incredibly bad football in those years. In comparison to those dark years, Coach Pinkel and his staff have made great strides. And it appears the kids are working hard and have good character. I wish them the best for the rest of this year. But my instinct tells me it may take a little more time and a little more talent to beat the big boys like Oklahoma and Texas. When that happens I’ll be excited. If it happens this year I’ll be estatic.

I think we should have a little compassion for Terell. After all he not only has to share catches with his new teamate, he also had to share catches with O.J. they both had 2 catchs, and O.J. had more yardage!

Bernie, I think Pinkel is going to have to get the defense to tighten up and shut the rest of the teams down that are left on the schedule, no more track meets. Hopefully not get blown out of the water like texas did to them. I am not going to get down on the players for Mizzou, I know those kids try unlike alot of NFL players, so maybe the defensive coaching needs to be addressed.

Bernie, the Colorado game may be the biggest game of the year. Pinkel and his staff have to show they can get the team refocused. I’m sure it was difficult for the players to stay focused with all the national media attention they were getting. That is not an issue now. Mizzou has a good shot at making it to the Big 12 championship game. However right now, Colorado needs their full attention!