USC’s Spurrier Says “Time Will Tell” With Mizzou

September 27th, 2012 11:37 AM║ Posted By: John Pennington ║ Permalink ║ Schools: Missouri, South Carolina
Tags: Arizona State, Central Florida, SEC, UCF

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Missouri has played two SEC football games to date and lost both by 21 points. One game was closer than it looked, the other not so much.

But before kicking dirt on the Tigers’ 2012 campaign, it should be noted that those losses came to two undefeated teams currently ranked in the Top 10. In their only other game against an FBS opponent, they beat Arizona State with their backup quarterback behind center.

South Carolina’s Steve Spurrier saw the SEC’s newest bunch of Tigers up close on Saturday during his team’s 31-10 victory at Williams-Brice Stadium. He’s not quite ready to bury Mizzou just yet:

“I think time will tell. I don’t want to make any predictions, and they’ve got a tough game this week. Are they underdogs going down to Central Florida. UCF is a good team down there, but I think we’ve all got to play the season out. Some teams get better as the season goes along, and some teams get worse.”

For the record, the game opened as a “pick ‘em” but the line now has UCF as a three-point favorite on its home field.

As for Missouri coach Gary Pinkel, he says the Tigers “are disappointed we didn’t play any better” against Carolina and Georgia. But like Spurrier, he says things aren’t over yet. “There is a lot of season left, and the SEC is obviously a great league, and we’re excited being in it and want to do a better job.”

4 comments

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buddha22

That was a horrible performance by the offense and special teams. Why the defense couldn't defend that same pass play...what, 10 times? The safety needs to answer that one, along with the D Cordinator. No excuses, need to figure out if JF can actually play or if the pain is too much. I understand they are spending some practice time on tackling fundamentals. (That was quite a shock, they have been pretty sound) In the end it will play out on the field, injuries or not. MU's record will be who they are in this first year, but time to get past this game.

MizSec1911

I keep reading about how Mizzou isn't ready for the SEC yet. I think we need to put this season into perspective. We lost against two top 10 teams, one of them on the road. Granted, the SEC if full of highly ranked teams, but it isn't accurate to judge our SEC worthiness on those two games alone. I don't think anyone was arguing that Mizzou belonged in the Top 10.

John at MrSEC moderator

@MizSec1911

We wrote the following above: "But before kicking dirt on the Tigers’ 2012 campaign, it should be noted that those losses came to two undefeated teams currently ranked in the Top 10."

Thanks for visiting the site,

John

MoKelly1

1 Like

Well, so far, if you just bet the odds, Mizzou's record is right where you'd realistically expect --- 2-2. We can complain about the level of play at times, but the record is where we would realistically predict. The next 4 games are crucial. We very much need to beat UCF, Vandy and Kentucky during that stretch. If, after the next 4 games Mizzou is at 5-3, I think we will feel pretty darn good.