re: Missouri doesn't get the respect it should

It's because the University snubbed its athletic department for about 20 years from the mid-80s through the early 2000s. We were respectable until about 1985. Then all hell broke loose and its only been since Pinkel came around that there has been some pride restored to the football program.

For most of our history, we've been a tier below the big boys, but better than the underlings of our conferences.
Mizzou is a woeful 24-67 against OU, 6-18 against Texas, and 36-65 against Nebraska. But we have winning records against every other Big 12 school aside from Texas A&M (7-8 all-time). We dominate Kansas State (60-32), Iowa State (61-34), Colorado (41-31), Baylor (10-4), and Texas Tech (6-3). We've also crushed our other regional rival, Illinois (17-7). We have narrow winning records against the other Big 12 schools.

So far, it's been pretty similar in the SEC. Georgia is our daddy (1-9), and we've had little luck against Bama. But we've otherwise been competitive.

That said, Mizzou should be better. Its the sole P5 program in a state of 6+ million people. We don't have the recruiting luxury of Georgia or Texas, but Missouri produces enough talent that we should consistently be a Top 25 program.

On that note, I don't think it's being discussed enough, but Mizzou is currently the biggest winner of realignment, by far. Of the four schools the SEC added since 2011, it is probably the one that most SEC fans are least excited about. But lost in that is the fact that all of our regional rivals other than Arkansas and OU just got knocked down a peg relative to us. Being a bit of a geographic outlier in the SEC could turn out to be a massive advantage. Most of our historic rivals just got demoted to G6 conference status while we are getting lifted by a bunch of historic powerhouse programs in the SEC. Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State, and Oklahoma State are not going to be able to compete with us on the football front. We will not only have more money, but the ability to sell the SEC to local recruits. What are those schools going to say in return? Come play in Stillwater, Ames, and Lubbock every year when you could play in Athens and Austin? Even Nebraska, Illinois, and Iowa are going to struggle to recruit against us going forward. The Big Ten's West Division is pretty depressing and the SEC just got a whole lot stronger.