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Manning's been bugged by this injury since Jacksonville, so it's not a huge wildcard at this point. It has as a small impact, but he's a tough player and even though he's probably in pain, his play has remained at a very high level. But to avoid having to drop back so much we are gonna have to run effectively. Luckily, KC's run defense is the closest they have to a weak point and we may just have the running back corps to exploit that. KC's got what it takes to slow Denver down. But they still probably need an off night from this offense. Indy got that and won. KC will need to force the same type of game. Even an off-night means 28-30 points usually. Alex Smith and Jamaal Charles had better come ready to play. Dexter McCluster worries me, especially in the return game.

I have given up on Haith teams playing defense. I don't even notice it anymore. We just better have a great offense. We have the past two years. We may again this season, but if so, it'd be a four guard lineup like 2011-12. If Criswell comes back soon he can score down low and fill a similar roll to Ricardo Ratliffe that year. And yes, we are still comparing everything to 2011-12 in the third year. Not good, but it's still early in the season.

Tony Criswell is supposed to be our best big man and he's out. Not sure how long, but we need him back in a big way. Our backcourt is fantastic, but right now the frontcourt isn't going to get the job done. Ryan Rosburg is a solid defender and rebounder, but he appears to still struggle to get a whole lot going offensively. JWIII looks like he is going to be a good player sooner rather than later. Don't know about the tournament right now. Need to see how we look with Criswell, assuming he'll be back somewhat soon. Could be a bubble team.

I've been waiting too, go Broncos! Both teams should make the playoffs, but homefield and a bye is what's at stake here. Kind of foreign territory for both franchises to be in this situation at this point in the season. Even last year at this time Denver was "only" 6-3. Should make for a fantastic game. I am sure glad that Peyton Manning can go despite the injury. Even from a Chief's fan's perspective-you wouldn't get near as much credit for beating Denver if he wasn't in the lineup. Mizzou is off in football this week so this can get pretty much all of my sporting attention. 24-14 Denver, is my prediction. We are not going to run over your defense, but our D seems to be improving and I do think we can score just enough points to get by at home. Your pass defense is fantastic but there could be some openings for Knowshon Moreno in the running game- and that could get some pressure off an injured Manning if we can get something out of that. But it could easily go the other way if KC can force turnovers.

It'd be kinda weird. Every win (short of the championship and maybe the LSU/Auburn games) would just be a shrug of the shoulders and every loss an epic disaster.

I feel pretty good about the games individually, but the chances of dropping 1 of the 2 seem pretty high. Thing is, if Franklin struggles coming back, worst case scenario we do have Mauk waiting in the wings. I don't think either A&M or Ole Miss has enough defense to slow us down much, unless we slow ourselves down with turnovers or a wave of three and outs. We just need to get a few stops to keep our offense on the field. Both are essentially the same team, with great offenses and inconsistent defense. The difference is Johnny Football for the Aggies who will make any game very interesting. Missouri does a lot of things better than A&M, but Manziel could easily make up for that and it seems like a total tossup. Missouri will need its best game to get by Ole Miss as well, though. A win in Oxford would be very impressive in its own right and it could set up a season closing game of the ages against A&M. Even if we have two losses and the east race is over that could be a good one.

Indeed. It's a big weekend for Mizzou even without us actually playing. If either Georgia/Auburn or Florida/South Carolina goes the right way, we're looking at only needing one more win, in all likelihood. Sadly, I don't see either Georgia or Florida being able to win those games. UGA is playing pretty well at this moment, but Auburn is terrifying. I think they attempted exactly 7 (no exaggeration) passes total against Tennesee and won by 30+. Florida meanwhile is.......wishing it still had Steve Spurrier on its sideline instead of the opposite one, and desperately hoping to somehow get into a bowl game.

Hey it happens. You are not the only one who felt the way you did. I truthfully didn't expect what is happening now, I think Pinkel may be the only one who did. I would have been happy with 8-4 or 7-5. Truth of the matter is I'd be just as interested (though considerably less happy) if we were 3-7 going into the bye week though. The one thing I do enjoy about being a fan is you live through the hard times like last year so that moments like right now feel so sweet. You never know when they are gonna come. This reminds me of the 2011-12 basketball season. No expectations, but a veteran team comes out of no where to eventually end up as one of the best teams in the country. The happy endings have mostly eluded Mizzou in the past, often in spectacularly ugly fashion (I'm looking at you, Norfolk State and Oklahoma in 2007), but the only way to potentially fix that is to keep putting good teams out there. I doubt it will be this year (we're more likely to be playing in the Chik-Filet bowl than the national title game, realistically) but we still have a shot in November which is more than I thought I'd be able to say. I just want to have a chance to watch this team play the best in the SEC title game(Alabama.) Don't think we'd win it, we might lose by 4 TDs, but I'd still like to see them get a chance to try. In many ways that would be more meaningful than any bowl game we could end up in.

Well here we are.....Missouri is two wins from making it to the SEC championship game. I'm glad they have a bye week to prepare for a tough Ole Miss team and get players (including James Franklin) healthy. If you are a Missouri fan, root for Florida this weekend. If they beat South Carolina (which looks like a shaky proposition) then Missouri can take another loss and still get to Atlanta. Maty Mauk sure had a good run as Mizzou's starter this year, and he could be the next great. Tying the school record for TD passes in your fourth start is something special. Same for DGB, who actually set a new record for TD passes caught. I'm excited to hopefully watch those two connect for a whole bunch more TD passes next season before (you would think) DGB is off catching TD passes on Sundays. That said, I'm ready for James Franklin to retake his spot. It was an interesting choice, by the way, to put him in for the last couple of series when they were up 31. I understand the logic (getting him back into the flow a little bit before the real tests come) and it ended up fine, but apparently he was only supposed to be used as a desperation backup. So we'll just say it was interesting, but there's a reason why Gary Pinkel is the coach and I'm not. And it's not like Pinkel had him throwing the football or running, so I guess the danger was minimal. A couple weeks working with the #1 offense should be more than enough to get him back into the swing of things, especially for a 5th year senior.

Yeah, we got a few votes in the poll but we're unranked. Don't think we deserve a top 25 spot, yet. But a strong performance tonight, for whatever that's worth. Jankovic looked good. He is the only 6' 11" shooting guard in existence, maybe. Wes Clark looked capable of running the offense and even hitting some shots. That could give Jordan Clarkson a chance to play off the ball a bit where he is a more natural fit based on his experience at Tulsa. Jabari Brown is a star, but we knew that coming in. If this team makes a run in the SEC it will likely be due to our backcourt, which could end up being really good if Brown, Clarkson, and Ross can build some chemistry. We didn't get much of a sense for our frontcourt with Criswell out. Rosburg did some nice things though. There is nothing flashy about his game, but he figures to be a rock solid presence in a frontcourt that needs one. He'll be a valuable Steve Moore type player if I'm correct.

I am looking forward to it. I guess I'm going to be at Mizzou's game so I'll miss out on most of the good games tonight. But it's a long season and I'm excited as heck!

starts today. Missouri tips off against SE Lousiana but there are a lot of better games to watch. Mizzou is without Tony Criswell for this game so they basically have a frontcourt of Ryan Rosburg and Kenau Post. Sounds interesting. Still, the backcourt should be able to do enough to eek out a win. But you never know. I'll probably watch some of the game, but Oregon/Georgetown is the game to watch with St. Johns/Wisconsin potentially interesting too. Hopefully Mizzou can turn it ugly quick so I can switch over to Oregon/Georgetown with a clean conscience. I don't have a whole lot of confidence in their ability to do that. Final prediction for Mizzou's season......11-2 non-conference (losses to UCLA and NC State), 10-8 in the SEC, for a final record of 21-10 and a spot firmly on the bubble.

Interesting night. For the first time I'm believing in Baylor a little bit after they dismantled Oklahoma. Oklahoma isn't that great offensively, but they have a quality defense. 41-12 is impressive. I thought Stanford might beat Oregon, but not like that. I know the final score is close, but Stanford just ran over that Oregon defense. They had absolutely no answer for Gaffney. Three runs up the middle by him and they move the chains. Every time, it seemed like. No finesse, very little apparent strategy, just run 90% of the timeand go to play action every once in awhile.The Stanford offensive line is terrifying. FSU and Ohio State have to be happy. But if we learned anything last night it's that those programs have to keep winning for it to matter. Oregon probably won't get to meet up with Alabama now, but I'm not sure it would matter anyway. Stanford is very, very similar in the way they approach the game. Granted the Cardinal probably has a better offensive line, but I would not like Oregon's chances against the Tide. Frankly, I think Stanford might be one of the few teams who would have a good chance. Though it will take a lot of upsets elsewhere in the country for them to get there.

I mean, it's really impossible to get too upset at a preseason poll. Can you really point to any of the teams above SLU and be sure that the Billikens are better? I can't. Their style of play isn't that exciting either which doesn't help in polls. That's dumb but it's how the polls operate, with people pretending like the "eye test" is a real, quantifiable thing.. It doesn't effect the selection committee anyway which is all that really matters. The A-10 is set to take a step back this year (perhaps a massive one) with the Big East coming for Butler and Xavier, and Temple to the AAC. That leaves VCU and SLU as your programs that have been really good in the past few years. Better play well right from the start or it may be automatic bid or bust. They probably should have gotten more than three votes though. But hey, that leaves you tied with Missouri. Realistically SLU has the better chance to get to the tourney if nothing else than because they should have a good chance to win the conference tourney. No one but VCU should scare this team even a little.

It is complicated as all get out with any number of different scenarios. Here's the more likely scenarios according to my understanding. 1. If Missouri wins out-they win the east 2. If Missouri loses one game: a. If South Carolina loses to Florida, Missouri wins the east b. South Carolina beats Florida, and Georgia wins out-Missouri wins three-way tiebreaker I believe because of divisional record (as long as our loss isn't to Kentucky.) c. South Carolina beats Florida, Georgia loses at least one SEC game-South Carolina wins 3. Missouri loses two games- a. Georgia and South Carolina both win out-Georgia wins the east b. South Carolina wins out and Georgia loses-South Carolina wins There might be other scenarios (and anyone please correct me if any of those aren't right.) But that probably summarizes the situation.

Missouri only moves up to #8 in BCS standings.......but overall based on the teams ahead it seems pretty fair. We're talking about needing pretty major mayhem to get back into the title discussion, but who knows. 3-4 games remain for most contenders. A lot can happen. Still, right now you have to think the goal is the SEC championship game and a Sugar Bowl berth. For now let's try and beat Kentucky. I'll say a repeat of last year 33-10, and I wouldn't be shocked if it was a little closer if anything. Road games are usually tough and Jalen Whitlow has some talent. Kentucky probably won't let the game get too far out of hand, as they have mostly been competitive with non-Alabama opponents and really challenged South Carolina. So Missouri can't really get complacent, even if they'll be favored by a fair amount. The record really isn't much better but UK is a more capable team than 2012 by a fair margin. Of course Missouri is too.

Not sure it's a real controversy. Staff seems to have never really wavered from Franklin.

I think Mauk could have played better against SC. I'm not criticizing him, but he was pretty uneven and made some mistakes that played a role in the loss. It wasn't all on him by any stretch, but like most of the rest of the team he had a subpar performance. He pretty clearly learned from the miscues though and applied that to a really solid performance against UT. That's all you can ask of a freshman, without a doubt. Mistakes are expected and not near as frustrating as if it's an upperclassmen running the show. The only question is whether the guy can bring good things to the table to offset them and he has. Could Mauk get us to 10-2? Maybe. I think he is good enough to probably beat Kentucky and scare Ole Miss, but A&M has an improving defense at this point-and I don't know if he can out-Manziel that team. That would be very good and enough to pretty much make Mauk a bit of a legend given the circumstance- but to hit 11-1 and make it the to the SECCG with hopes of a title, we probably need Franklin.

It's not because he's a senior. It's because he was quite possibly the best non-Manziel QB in the SEC and has monstrous numbers. He has a similar game to Mauk, only he is more experienced, and when healthy, at least, is infinitely more efficient. Simply put, right now he is the better QB by quite a bit and gives us a better chance to win likely shootouts against Ole Miss and A&M. In a year that might be different, but for now Mauk has more holes in his game than Franklin. As good as I think he'll be, there is no way Franklin regularly completes less than half his passes and that is what we are looking at right at the moment. It's just those freshman moments, and lack thereof for Franklin that seperates the two. The only way you keep a healthy Franklin on the bench is if he is less effective than earlier or if the staff just plain forgot about the first half of the season and how much better we were. We are very, very good with Mauk, elite with Franklin. It's a moot point anyway as the staff is pretty adamant that they'll put Franklin back in when ready. I would guess that it comes this Saturday at UK, but it would be shocking if he isn't in for Ole Miss unless he aggravates the injury between now and then. Upon checking, he apparently was available to play in a relief role this weekend. That likely points to him being right on the cusp of starting.

I would basically agree with you on that. If there is a risk of reinjuring his shoulder I would not start him next week. But if (and only if) he is 100% by Saturday, then you start the best QB on your roster. You may not play him the whole game, but if there is no real injury concern I think you almost have to go to Franklin. Kentucky is not a great team, but they are still a conference road opponent and you never know. I don't think it's the kind of game where you can just rest your starters if they can play at a high level.

What I mean by calling him an inconsistent passer is this: he has a tendency to throw a 100 mph fastball to a receiver 10 yards down the field. Even if the ball is accurate (and it often is) it's basically uncatchable. That's something I think he can cure in time, and he's certainly showed a ton of talent in other areas. But he continually hits at or below 50% of his passing attempts. That will change at some point, and it absolutely has to against good competition. Again, he's a redshirt freshman who has gone 2-1 against three quality opponents, so I'm not complaining here. There is just some improvement to be made. That said, it's possible that Mauk may not get more chances to build on his (mostly) successful first few starts. I really think Franklin plays against Kentucky. It at least looked like he was ready to go out there yesterday, standing in the huddle, helmet on, throwing the ball on the sideline. Obviously Mauk and the rest of the offense (not to mention the defense) played WAY too well for that to be a consideration. I do hope we find some way to keep him involved even if Franklin is healthy and playing good ball. It would seem Mauk is the future at the position for the next 2-3 years. He's played well enough to be considered as such, low completion rate and all.

Good game for Mauk. He has serious running skills. He is an inconsistent passer, but the talent is there. In the meantime (if he plays more this season) that running talent needs to be utilized perhaps a little more than it was against USC. Maybe this was driven by the fact that we had no real backup there, but today they let him play the type of game that we were hoping to see. Josey being able to go gave him a lot of help, especially when Mauk was still working on getting into a rhythm early. One last thing-I'm excited to see this guy as our full-time starter next year. The ceiling is really high for Maty Mauk. Of course it would be wrong to overlook the defense, who put in another great performance. If you could erase the last few minutes of the SC game this has been a fantastic unit. It seems when a team gets in field goal range, there is usually a timely sack or turnover to knock them out-classic bend but don't break at its best is what we saw tonight. It has to be frustrating for a team to take so many trips into Missouri territory and get so few points. In all, 8-1 is pretty good. Let's hope they can keep it up against Kentucky.

Al, what you say about Pinkel laying an egg at key time rings true to a certain extent. I had the same emotion last Saturday. But here's my thought: every single game seems huge when you are undefeated midway through the season and supposedly contending for a title. Most likely, you are going to lose eventually, and that is probably going to come in what seems like a huge game. Having a good team in the first place is what sets the stage for the so called "big game" in the first place. When you're bad there are no big games to lose-games against ranked teams are just expected blowouts and a competitive performance in a loss is a pleasant surprise instead of a letdown. In other words, at the outset of the season I thought Carolina was going to beat us by two touchdowns or so. By game 8 a 3 point loss in 2OT was a heartbreaking result. In a backwards kind of way it could almost be considered a sign of progress as to how the program is viewed.

If I am going to argue about something non-fishing related on here, I find arguing about football a lot more fun and less confrontational.

Barring a real setback it would be surprising if we didn't have Franklin back for Miss. and A&M. Based on the apparent progress at this point I'd be mildly surprised if he isn't back against Kentucky.Though I by no means think he will start, I wouldn't be shocked if he plays a (hopefully not needed) relief role against Tennessee if we are trailing or in a close game. The best situation is to have Maty Mauk start and finish the game if Franklin isn't 100%, but one hopes that Franklin is available in case of that situation, particularly if the run game struggles to help out Mauk. Whether he is able to play like he did earlier in the year (and avoid reinjury) is a different question that I don't think any of us could answer. It might be until the bowl game before he is truly back to his 2013 self.