COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) Few outside of the Missouri locker room
expected the Tigers to compete in the Southeastern Conference in just
their second season in the league.
Predicted to finish sixth in
the SEC East, the team is now ranked fifth in the country and holds a
two-game lead in the division.
The Tigers (7-0, 3-0 SEC) remained
healthy until quarterback James Franklin and cornerback E.J. Gaines
sustained injuries Oct. 12 at Georgia. But they won again Saturday,
beating Florida at home, and now are preparing to face No. 20 South
Carolina with a chance to practically wrap up the division.
Though the goals are getting much bigger.
"We'd be dumb if our goal wasn't to go to a national championship," left tackle Justin Britt said.
Coming
off one of the "most difficult up-and-down" years he's had as a coach,
Gary Pinkel said he didn't do a good job of managing his team's emotions
when it went 5-7 last season. This year's group has more fun, he said,
citing an example of how his players participate in sing-a-longs before
Wednesday practices.
"That doesn't mean that you're going to win
all your games, either," Pinkel said. "What it means is you're going to
have a group of guys who care about each other. It's just the chemistry
that happens for teams. It's really cool to see it."
On the
field, the 13th-year Missouri coach eliminated two-a-day practices in
August in part to show his players that the staff cared about their
health.
When Franklin and Gaines went down, their substitutes stepped in and stepped up.
Quarterback
Maty Mauk led eight scoring drives and cornerback Aarion Penton nabbed
his first interception in a 36-17 win against Florida.
"You came
to perform at the college level," Mauk said. "It kind of is
nerve-wracking, but at the same time, it's what you're here to do."
Now
the team's challenge is to focus on South Carolina (5-2, 3-2) and not
its status in the polls. In 2008, the Tigers lost consecutive games
after opening the season 5-0 and reaching No. 3 in the country. Two
years later, following a 36-27 win over No. 3 Oklahoma to start 7-0,
they again lost their next two contests.
Pinkel recalled talking
to the late Don James after defeating the Sooners, listening impatiently
as his mentor and former coach told him the next game would be even
more difficult as he needed to keep his team grounded. But now Pinkel's
thankful for that lesson, and preaches it to his team.
"I don't
think we've accomplished much," receiver L'Damian Washington said.
"Georgia, last week, you'd have thought, 'OK, that's a big win.' After
the game, we were like, 'OK, that's just step six.' And this was step
seven, and next week is step eight."
Winning its first seven
games by at least 15 points apiece, Missouri has rediscovered the potent
offense it employed from 2007-11 when it went 48-19 and averaged 34.9
points per game. Under new coordinator Josh Henson, this year's team has
bumped that number to 44.3, thanks to 279 yards per game through the
air and another 234.4 on the ground.
Defensively, Missouri has
limited opponents to 22.1 points and 381 yards per game, including just
116.6 rushing yards. The Tigers lead the SEC with 23 sacks, and end
Michael Sam is tied for first nationally with nine.
The gaudy
numbers don't necessarily translate into wins, but they explain why
Missouri is in the driver's seat in the SEC East. If they win their next
two games at home against the Gamecocks and Tennessee, the Tigers will
clinch a berth in the conference championship game Dec. 7 in Atlanta.
"Personally,
I like being the underdog, because not a lot of people were expecting
us to do the things that we're doing right now," center Evan Boehm said.
"And we're out there to create those big eyes and say, 'Holy cow, where
did Mizzou come from?'"
