The realistic goal for Mizzou right now is just get our asses to a bowl game any way, any how. It will at least be a step toward quelling a lot of the shite embodied on this board and throughout the South that we will eternally be a hapless doormat and nothing more because that perception is KILLING our recruiting right now. That and Pinkel being on the corresponding hot seat. Far from the SEC affiliation alone helping our recruiting, our recruiting is in fact *worse* right now than it has been in years, both in-state and out-of-state. So the season is critical in just changing a perception the entire SEC has that was based solely on one year of play by Mizzou (just like they think ATM is the greatest thing ever based on one year of play never mind the dogshit that the Aggies were the 10 years prior to that).

So that being said, the most critical starting point is don't frick up at Indiana. DO NOT frick up at Indiana. They should suck, but then again Syracuse was supposed to suck last year and by time we played them Syracuse was a bowl team on a hot streak. So DON'T frick THAT UP. We do, and season is more or less over right off the bat.

After that game, the real thing Mizzou needs to have an eye on is getting a win at Vandy. I know, I know, this board has a hardon for Vandy's JFF and all, I get it. Say what you will though, but from a raw talent standpoint that's still a game Mizzou should at least say it can try to win in terms of size, physicality, depth etc. Yes they will be better at some matchups on the field but so will we. What I'm saying is its hella more realistic to hope to win that one than it is to pray for something vs Georgia etc.

The thing about doing both of the above is, suddenly Mizzou would be off to a 5-0 start and people would be at least murmuring about us trying to figure out if we are "for real" or not. And we might very well even not be, but it wouldn't matter. The point is to get some sort of positive buzz going and interest of any kind, amongst SEC fans and SEC area recruits. Plus, after that start you just have to scrape together 2 more wins from somewhere for a winning season, just 1 more win to be bowl eligible, with a lot of home games left and a roadie at Kentucky. A fast start and ideally a 5-0 start is critical, critical to Mizzou this year.

A marquee win? Yes the program needs it badly at the moment. We get three shots at home against South Carolina, Florida and A&M. If we would just sack up and defend our home turf once from among those it would be very key. But I'm not going to bet on that until Mizzou goes out and proves it. It took Gary Pinkel several years - suffice to say, too many - to get his first win in the Big 12 against either Texas or OU. That wasn't his strong suit. When Pinkel is winning, he usually does it by beating the teams either should beat or realistically has a chance to beat when you look at the matchups on paper. It's very rare that he pulls the spectacular, play over your heads before a crazed home crowd type upsets. We had a coach like that back in the day in named Al Onofrio who used to go *on the road* and pully nutty upsets at Alabama, Ohio State, Notre Dame, U$C, etc. Pinkel has largely been his complete opposite, a monument of predictability and always playing to your own level and not the competition's.

tl;dr: Mizzou staaaaacked, Indiana & Vandy fuuuuuucked

This post was edited on 7/18/13 at 2:19 pm