Laughing In Disbelief

[Wayne SW/MO]

Sooner fans bring that out in people.

That old Sooner magic. For some reason in my experience, that goes back to Bud, OU has trouble with bowl games they are favored in. Tell them they don't have a chance and they come ready to play.

I'd say we'll finish about 5th in this years end of season poll and 10th-15th in next year's preseason.

That's probably right on the poll, behind FSU, AU, MSU and SC, not necessarily in that order. I think they'll be ranked pretty high in the preseason on the strength of DGB and Mauk. Mauk is well proven now and that will carry a lot of weight,IMO.

[Al Agnew]

Yeah, Franklin had a bad game, but he wasn't the only one. the offensive line had a pretty poor game, too. Okie Lite was in the Mizzou backfield much of the game. And the receivers dropped a bunch of catchable balls.

And they still won.

I don't think Mizzou ever put together a complete game this year. There was always one bad quarter, or the defense didn't play well but the offense picked them up, or the offense played sub par but the defense picked them up.

And they still went 12-2 and almost entered the conference championship game undefeated. Says a lot about how good this team really was.

The word around Mizzou is that as good as Mauk is expected to be next year, Prinz is good enough to give him a challenge for the starting qb job. They return 3 of their top 5 receivers...going to be a little smaller there but should still be excellent. If Josey returns they'll be the same at running back. However, they lose a couple of offensive linemen, so somebody is going to have to step up there. But they should be as good on offense. They lose more on defense.

[ozark trout fisher]

I hear the rumors of Printz challenging Mauk, and I believe he's pretty good. But he will pretty much have to look like a preseason all American or hope that Mauk has a ridiculously bad spring.

Mauk will likely enter as the preseason all SEC quarterback given all the turnover in the conference (assuming Johnny Football is gone), and it's going to be extremely difficult to unseat him as long as he's healthy. I must say I'm really looking forward to the Mauk era (along with the rest of the Mizzou fan base) and if someone is going to prevent that he better be Chase Daniel II.

[Al Agnew]

I agree, Printz is going to have to be terrific to unseat Mauk. I don't expect that to happen. Mauk will be at least in the top three SEC qbs going into the season.

[Wayne SW/MO]

Its a good thing that Mauk has a good arm though because I don't think he'll be able to run as well next year. The threat will open other options though.

[stlfisher]

Look's like Josey is leaving early along with Ealy...I was really hoping those two would have stayed.

Two things to look for next year:

The first is Mauk's ability to throw the 5-15 yard pass. He throws a great deep ball, but struggled with intermediate/short passes. He cleans that up the offense should be very good. In some ways next year we might be a bit like A&M. Great to good offense, but defense worries me heading into next year. Sam, Ealy, and Gaines are NFL bound. Those are tough shoes to fill. Hope I am wrong, but our defense may take a step back.

All that being said there are ton of new QB's across the SEC next year...so it should be really exciting.

[Wayne SW/MO]

The first is Mauk's ability to throw the 5-15 yard pass.

I often wondered if he wasn't more interested in running those short patterns which hurt his confidence.

As far as the team next year, all college teams go through this and it will depend on how balanced the nucleus is.