The mood outside the visitor’s locker room after Missouri’s loss to Kansas State on Saturday was predictably sullen. The Tigers players put on their best game faces for the media, but there was an underlying feeling of frustration throughout the entire group.
After all, the chants from the Manhattan crowd were still ringing in everyone’s ears.
“S-E-C! S-E-C! S-E-C!”
“We obviously hear the chants,” junior defensive end Brad Madison said. “But I don’t know if it makes us a bigger target or anything. Whether it does or doesn’t we know we’ve got to play better. I think some of the things we’ve done in years past (have) put a target on our backs.”
Amid swirling conference realignment rumors, the Missouri Tigers went into Manhattan with college football nation’s eyes upon them. Three grueling hours and a 24-17 loss later, the Tigers (2-3, 0-2 conference) walked back into the locker room with more questions than answers.
MU is now 2-3 on the season, the first time the Tigers have been below .500 since 2004. On paper, Missouri’s record should look better. The Tigers are among the Big 12 Conference leaders in rushing offense and rushing defense, and rank fourth in the conference in turnover margin.
“It’s still the little things,” sophomore quarterback James Franklin said. “You know, a block here, a read there. It’s the small things we need to fix so things can turn out positive for us in the long run.”
Missouri hoped the bye week would help improve the conference’s worst third down conversion rate and penalty issues that have been a consistent issue. Instead the Tigers went 4-of-13 on third down and were penalized seven times for 49 yards. According to coach Gary Pinkel, the consistent mental lapses aren’t a sign of apathy.
“I do not think it was a lack of care,” Pinkel said. “We were just not crisp, we were not doing the real attention to detail that you need to win games. Are we coaching hard? Yeah. I guess we are not coaching hard enough. Bottom line, it is what it is, and we have to try to fix it.”
If there’s a common thread in the last two losses, it’s the lack of offensive momentum at the beginning of games. Missouri managed just 96 yards in the second quarter at Oklahoma, and came up with zero yards in the first quarter Saturday.
Franklin led the offense to success in the second half, but junior receiver T.J. Moe said it was too little, too late.
“That has been the story of our season,” Moe said of the slow start. “We played great in the fourth quarter, but in the first three we have some serious trouble. We have to get the offense going. We have to make plays.”
Missouri faced high expectations coming into the season after returning a talented senior class. But now the team has hit a down point, and players understand the criticism they’ll be hearing from fans until they start improving.
“We know there’s going to be people firing at us,” Madison said. “We’ll stay tight-knit as a family, we’re all very close on the team. There’s going to be shots taken from people and we’ve just gotta stay close to each other. We’ve got each other’s backs.”
Perhaps that mindset is the key to turning the season around.
“Sometimes, things do not work out well,” Pinkel said. “You test your character, you persevere. You battle through it. You compete and you fight. That is what you do.”
