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Missouri has been hurt bad by the targeting rule (Andrew Wilson and Randy Ponder both ended up on the wrong end of it.) Time one of those calls finally went our way.

I think Mizzou has already made their statement. Georgia and UF are borderline top 25 teams, but Mizzou throttled both of them. No, they are not healthy, but neither is Mizzou. We don't have our quarterback or our best cornerback. No one is healthy at this point, not in the SEC. I think Mizzou has proven it is capable of going undefeated. I don't know if it happens, but it's fairly likely. South Carolina and A&M present stern tests, but Mizzou is the better team in both cases. I don't know that we are better than Alabama, but it's close. I'd give us a 20-30% chance of reaching the national title right now.

One team I think might replace Oregon is FSU. That is one heck of a team. Beat Clemson on the road 51-14? Easily the most impressive win of the year for any time when you count margin of victory. And Florida/Miami is their best opponent the rest of the way. Jameis Winston is this year's Johnny Football (without the controversy.) I hope Ohio State doesn't play for it all. That would be a rerun of ND 2012, as they are an above average team taking advantage of a bunch of bad opponents, consistently needing big second halves to get past the likes of Northwestern and Iowa. But they might go undefeated (who is going to beat them, Michigan?) , and we might have to watch another beatdown in the NC.

Ok. Certainly that's a valid prediction at this point. You must remember I am a big time Mizzou homer and was secretly thinking national title since about the Indiana game.

SC just lost their QB and Clowney has been struggling all year. I do think Missouri will be favored in that game, as well as every other regular season game. Just for some clarification, A&M/Alabama or LSU/Alabama can't happen in the SEC title game. It has to be the SEC east champ vs the west champ. At this point it will either be SC or Mizzou facing Alabama or Atlanta (UGA and UF are still technically in it but those are MAJOR long shots requiring a minimum of 3 SEC losses for Missouri.) Even if Mizzou loses next week we would still lead the division alone. But if SC does win out after that we would have to as well. In short, with a loss to Carolina, Missouri can probably afford no more conference losses. With a win, we can probably lose twice more and still get in. Mizzou is certainly in the driver's seat for the SEC east and can basically clinch it next week. Let's get it done.

It will matter if we beat Alabama in the SEC championship game. Which is a legit possibility.

I don't know how much the polls mean right now. If we win out and take the SEC title, it's almost impossible to envision not playing for it all. And our win, plus the losses for our top competitors helps that out immensely, as it gives us the two game lead, with the tiebreaker over UGA and Florida. It does devalue our Georgia win somewhat, but we'll have chances against A&M (for sure) and (perhaps) Alabama in Atlanta to prove our worth. And even if we are, say, #5 in tomorrow's poll, it won't matter much if we can't hold onto our own division. That just has to be the goal and let the polls/BCS standings work themselves out. Plus, there is the "eye test" which does matter for the polls in college football. Even if UF and UGA are not world beaters, beating two iconic programs by 15+ points just looks great.

I don't know what to say. Our best player goes down and (with some tense moments) we go on crushing SEC powerhouses just like before. It is time, gentlemen, to realize that we are very much in the hunt for the national championship. Have we honestly seen anything separating us from say, Alabama, this season? UGA and South Carolina both went down in upsets. Missouri has far from clinched the east with 5 SEC games to go, but a win next week against South Carolina would come fairly close.

Planning to be at the game tomorrow. It's Maty Mauk time. We all know that Gators can't handle the cold and this is the biggest game since........ last week. Probably the biggest home game since Georgia last year. I don't love the early kickoff but we'll make do. MIZ!

Tebow 2011 (for Case Keenum)/four Alex Smith picks........Will be cheering for that anyway. The "wow the Chiefs are improved, which is nice for the AFC West" moment is over for me. You guys need to start losing, preferably this weekend. I really don't dislike the Chiefs (not in comparison to Oakland especially) but we didn't sign up for a close race in the division. Props on a great start though and I am getting more nervous by the week about our matchup in KC. At best it looks like a toss-up right now given the way Denver's defense has played (Peyton can't always bail us out like he did against Dallas) and KC's defense has stayed at a high level. With that said Von Miller comes back this week and I have high hopes for what that might do for the D. Those are going to be two absolutely amazing games (KC vs Denver.) They say defense wins championships. We will see.

Tebow was a terrible NFL QB, but that shouldn't negate the fact that he was one of the greatest college QBs of all time.......the skill set for being great in college and the NFL is often very different. College is a lot more conducive to good runners that struggle with accuracy. Obviously Tebow fit that bill.

Has anyone actually confirmed the existence of Clowney this season? Not too worried about him. Though watch him break back out again against Mizzou just to spite me. A&M will be interesting if Franklin is in there. That guy is the best college QB since Tebow and I'd argue he's better. But their defense has been non-existent, to put it kindly. How many times can they rely on their all-world QB to save them down by a TD with 2 minutes left?

Yep. Starting at home will be a different feel than being thrown in there at the key moment of the game on the road in front of 92,000. I can't imagine any tougher place to get suddenly thrown in, and he handled it fine. Give him a week to practice with the 1s and he might be just fine. Certainly no reason to give anything up yet. We have two home games that will decide our fate. Need to take at least one of the two though or divisional hopes are done. Though if we only get one of the two (or drop one to a weaker opponent) Texas A&M becomes an absolute must win to make it to Atlanta. But we can worry about that later especially w/Franklin the likely starter by then. My Florida prediction......a low scoring battle with both defense stifling the opposing offense. Sure, their defense is better than ours, but their offense varies between okay and shield-your-eyes terrible. Missouri looks like the better team even without Franklin. So I'll say our running game gets just enough to keep us in the game, and Mauk makes a play in the fourth quarter to close it out. 21-17 Mizzou. There will be mistakes, but I think he can do well enough to let the rest of our team carry him along. But we'll find out and obviously a loss wouldn't be surprising. Whether E.J. Gaines can go could be big too. Obviously I don't look for their passing game to be as dangerous as Georgia's (or even Vandy's) but being without your best corner in what looks like a close game would be tough.

Franklin is not out for the season. 3-5 weeks. Should be back for Ole Miss and Texas A&M without major setbacks. Maybe the game at Kentucky, though I hope we wouldn't need him there. Will be interesting to see how he looks when (if) he comes back. There is always that possibility that there will be shades of 2012 when he played through an injury. Would not expect we see dynamic 2013 James Franklin again. But still, the experience would be vital trying to match points with Ole Miss and Texas A&M (plus he looks to be back for the SEC championship game should we reach that point and the bowl game.) So, looks like we are not ready to say goodbye to Franklin. Fantastic news.

I have no problem with #14 in the polls given the loss of Franklin. It seems about right. Only thing that would have been upsetting is if Georgia was ranked ahead, but they are at #15. Right now, I just want to see if we can keep our head above water and get by Florida. We are underdogs in that game and it's gonna be tough. I plan to be there and I hope there is a great crowd. This team needs all the help it can get if we are still gonna make a run at the SEC title.

There is no way to know what happens now. Mauk could step up and keep the offense going without any major hitches. He is, in theory, the same type of QB as Franklin, with some solid throwing skills to go with potentially great dual threat capabilities. I don't doubt his talent. But he's a redshirt freshman, making his first start in the SEC against one of the best defenses in the country (Florida.) It's a stacked deck. With that said, Florida is on a backup QB too, so it's hard to complain too much. Our defense and running game can keep us right there especially at home. It will still come to Mauk to make a couple big plays, but we can win without him being as good as James Franklin. Even against the Floridas and South Carolinas of the world. Neither are world beaters, honestly. Outside of qb, Mizzou is much better than either one. And Mizzou is likely better than UF at QB even now....... I think Missouri splits that pair. Would have guessed a sweep after Georgia with Franklin, but I think inexperience at QB costs us one while Mauk steps up in the other. Given the good start, you'd have to think the crowd will be out in force and make a major impact in favor of the Tigers. Then I think we beat UT and UK before losing our final two @Ole Miss (second road start for a freshman in a very tough environment) and to A&M (don't know if we can outduel Manziel without Franklin.) So, 9-3 is what I'll go with now, with it in the back of my mind that 8-4 would entirely acceptable and worthy of celebrating given the injury to Franklin. All I REALLY ask is that we get by UT and UK, and hopefully get Franklin back for one more go-round in the bowl game. Notice that he is out six weeks approximately. If it's a New Year's Day game as it likely would be at this point, that could be plenty of time. Not that it matters so much to us whether we beat Northwestern in the Gator Bowl or whatever, but I sure bet it matters to Franklin to get one more chance to lead his team that he brought to 6-0.

Mauk was a pretty highly touted recruit and almost beat out Franklin for the starting job in the first place. He didn't do much in the very limited chances he had in the non-conference season. But he held his own today. We'll see how it goes. The surrounding talent is elite. There is no need to ask him to do too much, even against top 10-15 teams. Just run the ball and give him makeable throws to help him get in the rhythm. If we can beat either Florida or USC it will keep us in the SEC east race. Don't necessarily have to win both but we'd be putting things to chance if we don't. We do also have one more challenging game after that at home against Texas A&M that could ultimately decide our fate. But if Franklin is back by then (and I think he will be) then we should be favorites against the Aggies. So really we just have to survive UF, USC, and UT with Mauk most likely and get to 2-1 there to give ourselves a chance. Then hopefully #1 will get to finish his career for Mizzou with the division on the line!g If nothing else, Franklin should at least get one more chance to play in the bowl game. Hope he has a chance to come back when it's most important though. That guy has had it rough.

He's out a few weeks. The Maty Mauk show begins half a season early, it seems. He's gonna need to be good with Florida and South Carolina coming. A division title and national championship contention is on the line. So, no pressure.

So Missouri just beat UGA 41-26 in our most impressive victory since.........I don't know when. At least OU in 2010, but this one is probably better for having come on the road. To blow out the #7 team on the road is the kind of accomplishment that makes a season, and can even define a coaching tenure. But boy was it costly. James Franklin's shoulder is injured again and I don't know where we go from here. I fear that we may not be able to beat anyone but Kentucky from here on without Frank the Tank in there. Which would be SUCH a shame after this 6-0 start and being first in the SEC east. For now though, this is a fantastic win. Mizzou is bowl eligible for whatever that is worth, Pinkel is now approximately 500 million miles away from the hot seat on which he started the season, and Mizzou is undefeated halfway through the year. If #1 can come back soon, we still have a shot at the east. Cheer for LSU to take down Florida, our last division rival undefeated in conference!

The good news is that there is nothing to lose. If we were coming in 4-1 or even 3-2 we would really need the win. Now, if we lose we momentarily step out of the polls but have a great chance to climb back in very soon, with bowl eligibility not even a distant concern until we start losing to Kentucky or Tennessee. We're still on pace to exceed expectations for the season unless it ends up being 45-14 or something. I'd just like to see them have a chance to win it in the fourth quarter. That would make me feel great about our chances against Florida and USC at home. A win would be great, but that would be icing on the cake. Mainly I'm hoping we solidify our gains and keep taking steps forward. That may result in a loss or a win (they are the #7 ranked team in the country in their home stadium, it's not like this game would be a gimme even for the most elite of teams), but it will be evident regardless.

If nothing else, it's just good to have games with this kinda feel halfway through the season.....not just meaningful in a "desperate for bowl eligibility" kind of way, but to actually be involved in a game that's gonna, one way or another, have an impact on the outcome of our division. By this time last year we were just searching our depth chart to get 11 healthy offensive players on the field and trying to avoid falling too far below .500. Now we are, to some degree, contenders in our conference. Whether we are in the first or second tier is to be determined over the next three weeks. Here's how I see it over this three game stretch against UGA, Florida, and USC: 0 wins.......Independence Bowl, here we come. May as well start packing for the trip to Shreveport:) 1 win..........we're a pretty good (top 25) team. On our way to a really good season, but not ready to challenge for championships in the SEC 2 wins..........top 15 team, in the hunt for the BCS 3 wins...........not happening, don't worry about it yet. I'm thinking one win from that group as my prediction, but I have high hopes for two.

This is the biggest game since.......Mizzou vs. Georgia last year. Missouri is obviously a lot better than we were going into that game last year. This game is on the road, but Georgia is without Todd Gurley (probably) and Marshall. Don't know what they are going to do at running back. On the other hand, their defense is very young and has not really kept anyone out of the endzone this season. With that said......Aaron Murray is one heck of a QB and is not going to let Mizzou come in there and run Georgia off their own field. He is one of the few QBs that can make something happen even with a very limited number of offensive weapons around him. He is going to have to on Saturday, because I think Mizzou has every chance to get into the 40s against that Georgia defense. So I think the scoreboard is going to break in Athens, as we have an all offense Big 12 style game between the hedges. Ultimately I think Georgia uses one of college football's best homefield advantages to win. Georgia 55 Missouri 48. BUT-a win is very much within reach here. Many who are in no way associated with Missouri are picking exactly that to happen, including several on ESPN. And if we get it, we not only become bowl eligible halfway through the season, but we also are looking at two massive home games (Florida and USC) to most likely decide whether we are headed for Atlanta to face (one would assume) Alabama. So yeah, this is big. This is probably the difference between being on the path to play in a mid-tier bowl or being solidly in the BCS hunt. Let's go ahead and get the win.

I agree with this. I think that Missouri is still in the "dark horse" category though they are a contender. I don't expect, certainly, to go 3-0 over this brutal stretch. That would require us to be in the Alabama category. 2-1 would be awesome, but 1-2 would still put us at 6-2 with three more winnable games in the final four and a chance to get into a really good bowl. I think the only way I'm going to be disappointed is if we end up 5-3 heading into the UT game. That would lead to 7-5 most likely which would hurt given the way we've started.

I know a lot of people couldn't watch the game because of the terrible decision not to make it available to most viewers in STL and some other local areas. That said, if you did watch it you saw an offense that is rolling. I'm just going to say it now, our receiving corps is the best in the country. DGB is the #1 recruit and not even the best receiver on the team, with LaDamian Washington and Marcus Lucas fighting for that honor. Their height gives them an unfair advantage especially in the redzone. Every D-coordinator focuses on the famous DGB and leaves our other receivers open way more often than not. And our three running back combo (Hansborough, Josey, and Murphy, with some added rushing by James Franklin) is leading the SEC.. The offense is elite, by yardage, by points, by appearance, and by talent. Honestly, I just don't think that's even up for debate. It is not quite as good as Oregon or Baylor's O but it is in the VERY next level below that. Our defensive line is also a massive strength, despite looking like a potential weakness in the preseason. Michael Sam in particular is absolutely terrifying but Kony Ealy is having a breakout season too. I miss Sheldon Richardson but Pinkel always has good defensive line talent to come in and replace the guys who are playing on Sundays. But that leaves our secondary. We have one of the SEC's best corners in E.J. Gaines. But that isn't enough, and the rest is pretty much one giant question mark. Missouri is one of the worst teams in the SEC defending the pass, and that could obviously be a problem given the good QB play in the league. The pass rush gives these guys a chance, but ultimately our secondary will almost certainly result in a loss or two. Honestly, if it weren't for this I'd be thinking 11-1 or 10-2. Instead I'll go 9-3 and 3rd in the SEC east, with potential for second. The likely worst case scenario (at least with Franklin healthy) would seem to be 7-5 with two wins over UT, UK, and Ole Miss. As for the doubters, those that still remain anyway.....We beat the teams we should beat and then the problem is that we won't be able to win the big one? Okay. If we win the big one then it will be a fluke or because the opponent had an off game. A never ending cycle with some never giving credit where it's due. Here's an interesting fact: no one (outside of Alabama) has a good record against ranked teams, because, well, ranked teams are good and win most of their games against all opponents.. Just so happens, the Georgia coach also has a poor record against ranked teams. Since Missouri is also ranked both teams are in trouble, it would seem.

To me, McCarron is a solid QB on a great team. He doesn't usually win his team the game (the A&M game was an exception when looking at his whole career, though a big one), but also never gets in the way with turnovers or other mistakes. That is the old way in the SEC and there's not a thing wrong with it. But obviously it's changing rapidly with guys like Murray, Manziel, Franklin, and Mettenberger who can put their teams on their back and carry them. This is a quarterback league like the Big 12 in year's past, if not better due to sheer volume. Soon, even Alabama will have to get truly dynamic QB play if they are going to stay atop the league in the years to come. A lot of SEC games are going to finish with scores like 45-38 from now on, I think. For now in McCarron they have the one of the best "game managers" in the history of college football but he is being rapidly eclipsed (IMO) by several SEC quarterbacks who bring a more diverse skill set to the table.