Missouri Gets Closer to SEC East Title

Maty Mauck

Who had the Missouri Tigers winning the SEC East in September?Nobody did. But after trouncing the Kentucky Wildcats on Saturday, the Tigers have now completed the SEC East portion of their schedule. Only a fourth quarter collapse against the South Carolina Gamecocks prevented a sweep of the East.

The Tigers squandered a 17-0 lead at the end of the third quarter, then let a first and goal in the second overtime slip away to lose the South Carolina game, otherwise they would be one of a handful of unbeaten teams with only a few games left. But even with that hiccup, it has been a whale of a turnaround this year for the Tigers. Last season, their first in the SEC, the Tigers went 5-7 and 2-6 in the SEC. The Tigers will be off for two weeks before they face their two SEC West opponents, the Ole Miss Rebels on the road and the Texas A&M Aggies  at home. Neither of those will be easy and a loss in one of them would hurt their SEC East chances.

However, the Tigers will get some help as it appears their starting quarterback James Franklin may be back for those two huge games. With big games left on the schedule between the Georgia Bulldogs, who are a game back of the Tigers and the Auburn Tigers next week. Should Auburn win then the Tigers can lock the Dawgs out with a win over Ole Miss. Should that happen though, they still have the Gamecocks to worry about. They have tie-breaker advantage over Mizzou. USC still has the woeful Florida Gators and two non-conference games left, so they are a lock to finish 6-2 in the SEC.

These last three weeks in the SEC will be very interesting. Missouri has a long reputation of not being able to win the big game. They can erase a lot of that in the next two games.

The West has been a foregone conclusion for a long time. Or is it? The Alabama Crimson Tide has been running not only the West, but all of college football for the last five seasons. The road for the National Championship runs through Tuscaloosa. But this year it may be running through the Plains of Auburn. The Tigers will host the Tide in the Iron Bowl Game this year, and many feel like the Tigers have a chance.

What a turnaround they have made this season at Auburn. They went from 3-8 a year ago to this year being a contender under first-year head coach Gus Mahlzahn. Auburn gets better each week and still has one game left, the game next week with UGA to get ready for the Tide. Auburn has only one SEC loss so an upset of the Tide and we might be looking at a “Tiger Bowl” in Atlanta for the SEC Championship.