There’s more than one way to skin a Tiger.
In four brutal weeks, the first third of what can only be described as another dismal season, Missouri football has experienced them all.
The Tigers have laid down and played dead three straight weeks at home as they’ve struggled to a 1-3 record. Three years removed from back-to-back Southeastern Conference East titles, Missouri looks like it belongs anywhere but the SEC.
The offense has averaged barely over 25 points a game despite opening the season by dropping 72. The defense has given up at least 30 points every week, including 43 to lowly Missouri State. The Tigers look less and less competitive with every passing week, once again sinking quickly to the cellar of the SEC.
But the most telling thing of all? Missouri’s MVP is its punter, Corey Fatony.
Based on the Tigers’ performance this year, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to mistake the team for a Conference USA bottom feeder. It’s just been a bad year.
It didn’t take long to see this collapse coming. While the Missouri offense put up 72 points in the season opener against Missouri State, it was hardly confidence inspiring because the defense managed to allow 43. The Tigers gave up six touchdowns to an FCS team that hasn’t finished above .500 since 2009.
The Bears team that matched Missouri score for score for 25 minutes at Faurot Field finished 4-7 last year, playing in the Missouri Valley Conference with the likes of Indiana State and Western Illinois. In 2015, Missouri State went 1-10 on the season and 0-8 in conference play. Its sole win came by eight points at home against Chadron State. I couldn’t tell you where Chadron State is, because I’ve never heard of it before in my life.
This was a team that ran roughshod over the Tigers to put up 35 first-half points. It came as a fairly obvious warning sign that head coach Barry Odom’s defense wasn’t SEC ready. Though the Tigers held Missouri State to just one score in the second half, there was still some trepidation in Columbia.
It seemed to be assuaged when Missouri got off to a fast start and a 10-0 lead against SEC foe South Carolina the following week. Then the kickoff went straight down the middle to Gamecock’s speedster Deebo Samuel. He took it to the house. Missouri’s response? Drew Lock was intercepted to give the Gamecocks a short field. Samuel scored again, running it in from 25 yards out. And South Carolina quickly seized control, pulling away for a 31-13 win and seizing the rights to the One True Columbia (the Palmetto State’s capital) for at least another year.
Missouri, being the home team, was favored to beat South Carolina. It was also favored to beat Purdue. (Moral: Don’t bet on Missouri.)
One week after the disappointment against the Gamecocks, the Tigers again found themselves in the friendly confines of Memorial Stadium to play Purdue, often an also-ran in the competitive Big Ten. The Boilermakers, under first-year head coach Jeff Brohm, effectively ran their creative offense and stifled Missouri’s. Purdue squashed the Tigers, 35-3.
Dante’s _Divine Comedy_ (Missouri football is a comedy as well, but it’s far from divine) says that there are nine circles of hell. As one goes deeper and deeper into the Inferno, it gets worse and worse. And it’s a perfect allegory for this hellish Missouri season.
The first circle of hell: heading out to Faurot Field for an 11 a.m. game and watching a mediocre FCS team put up 43 points on an SEC defense.
The second: getting the jump on a conference rival in a pivotal early-season game, just to see the opponent race right on by you and keep its foot on the gas.
The third: losing to Purdue, at home, by 32 points.
And the fourth: Saturday night. The Tigers dismantled the Tigers on Saturday night, and Missouri did not come out on top of that feline skirmish. It was Auburn that took it to Missouri from the start and didn’t let up, coming out of Columbia with a 51-14 win that felt somehow less close than the 37-point margin. It was clear from the start that Missouri stood no chance, and that should never happen. Not at home against a conference rival.
Four weeks, and four circles of hell. How the rest of the season will shake out will depend on how Missouri reacts when it comes back in two weeks, on the road for the first time this year, to play Kentucky (3-1, 1-1 SEC).
But for now, the Tigers will limp, with their tails between their legs, into their bye week.
The bye opens as an eight-point favorite.
_Edited by Joe Noser | Jnoser@themaneater.com_
