Look at your Missouri Tigers, my friends.

After Saturday’s 38-10 casual dismissal of Central Florida, the Tigers are 3-0 and look very good heading into next Saturday’s game against the Hoosiers of Indiana.

Mizzou is No. 18 in the AP Poll. A 4-0 start is crucial, as the the three-game stretch that follows — at South Carolina, home for Georgia, then at Florida — is by far the toughest stretch on the Tigers’ schedule this year.

My goal in writing this column is to help my handful of readers understand how lucky we are to be Mizzou football fans at the present time. Remember, it was just two years ago when the Tigers lost to both Syracuse and Vanderbilt at home on their way to a 5-7 record and no bowl appearance in their first Southeastern Conference season. Now look how far we have come. The Tigers were in the preseason Top 25 coming off a fantastic AT&T Cotton Bowl victory; they’re legitimate contenders in the best conference in the country; Maty Mauk has a shot (albeit a long one) at the Heisman Trophy; the stadium just got another gorgeous facelift and I no longer wear t-shirts to tailgates. (I wish everyone could’ve seen me on Saturday, because I looked amazing.)

While it’s easy to only compare us to our SEC opponents and the forever-hated school located just one state to the west, it’s important that fans — especially students — appreciate how rare it is to be in a situation like the one we are currently in. I’ve got high school friends going to schools all over the country, and a lot of them aren’t lucky enough to even have a football _program_, much less a top-25 team in the SEC. A lot of them remain Mizzou fans since Missouri is their home state, but obviously that’s not the same as being on campus for every game day during football season. Occasionally (not often enough) one of these friends will visit, and, no matter who it is, they always talk about how much fun they had before, during and after the game.

While I’m all about living up the tailgate scene and mooching as much food and drink as possible from my friend’s aunt’s coworker’s brother’s tailgate, there is no doubt that pregame festivities are much more enjoyable when our boys in black and gold are having a good season. For the second season in a row, it looks as though that’s exactly what the Tigers are going to do.

I’m not saying that I’m surprised by the success or that I had low expectations for the team coming into the season. Mizzou has an established, successful program under coach Gary Pinkel, and winning seasons resulting in prominent bowl appearances are nothing new to Tiger Nation. But to do so in the SEC is completely different.

I’m completely serious when I say I’m glad the Tigers had the season they had two years ago. As brutal and frustrating as it was, it has made last season, and hopefully this season, that much sweeter.