Crimson Red Sports

BY Tom Shatel | 10:43 pm, Tuesday, Oct. 18 | POSTED IN Tom Shatel
Mizzou to the SEC? Yes, if possible. Absolutely. Tomorrow. Whenever.

I’ve had some requests to comment on this story, since I may have spent some time in Missouri, or so the rumor goes.

I hesitate to jump on this for one simple reason: it’s not a done deal yet.  Lots of folks are talking and writing like this is going to happen by Friday. But nothing is over until the fat lady sings. Or leaves Shakespeare’s.

So let’s go with a small disclaimer: IF the SEC is offering…

Then this is a no-brainer. And I don’t say that lightly.

But I think a move south is a natural move, and I’ll go over a few points and then we can get back to watching Minnesota film.

1. If you turn it down, you’re betting your future that the Big 12 stays together. What has recent history taught us? Texas and Oklahoma hold the league together. Texas will do whatever is best for Texas. So will OU. You can’t trust Texas. And now you can’t trust Oklahoma. Just last month, OU was gone. Leaving.

2. Okay, so the Big 12 breaks up one day. What happens to Mizzou?

This notion that the Big Ten is going to be there to scoop up Ol’ Mizzou is a reach, and possibly a catastrophic miscalculation, in my opinion. Look, Jim Delany isn’t going to pick up teams like scraps to fill out a 16-hole scorecard. He may have to go 16 if the Pac-16 does, but would you bet on it? The Big Ten marches to its own drummer. Delany is very particular about who gets invited to The Club.

3. This notion that Missouri football is going to get buried in the SEC is ridiculous. And short-sighted.

Historically, Missouri football can compete with anyone. It just does it in doses. Alabama? The Tigers went to Dixie and beat Bear Bryant in the opener in 1975. In 1978, Mizzou led ‘Bama — a Bryant team that would win the national championship that year — at the half before succumbing in the second half. MU seemed to win everywhere back then — USC, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Nebraska, then come home and lose to Kansas.