Welcome to the series, ‘What’s The Trend,‘ which highlights the biggest risers and fallers in the Mizzou Football world each week! After a bye week ahead of a highly anticipated Bama matchup, here are this week’s trends.
On the Rise
Mizzou… Literally
If we take a look into betting odds for the Tigers’ matchup against Alabama, the line opened on Sunday night with Mizzou as a 5.5 point underdog. Since then, that line is sitting anywhere from 2.5-3.5. That’s quite a big jump early in the week, as there’s still plenty
of time for the line to shift before kickoff. That being said, Mizzou is trending in the right direction when it comes to line movement.
Cayden Green
Although it is not ideal for Green to be questionable headed into arguably one of Mizzou’s biggest matchups of the season, having the name back in the rotation is definitely a good start. When Green went out, people were panicking, now the Tigers are 5-0 and all is well. Maybe Jayven Richardson is the real deal.
SEC Nation likes Columbia!
For the second time this season, SEC Nation will be making its way to Columbia, Missouri for the Tigers matchup. This time it’s not going to be as easy for Mizzou if it falls behind early like it did against Kansas. That being said, it’s good to see the Tigers continuing to get national attention as they look to stay undefeated. And, Paul Finebaum WILL be there!
On the Decline
Kirby Moore drama
It’s definitely not a good look when your offensive coordinator is looking at jobs at your rival school… Mizzou OC reportedly took an interview for Arkansas’ head coaching position. I don’t think he will end up taking it, but this doesn’t exactly rub the right way with Mizzou fans either way.
Mizzou’s Defense
As much as the team has impressed on both sides of the ball this season, coming into it, it seemed like the teams offense was going to be the one holding more questions, with the defense having the potential to come out strong right out of the gates. It feels like the roles have flipped.
There’s still plenty of time for the defense to answer its questions but now is the time you need the best version of your team (SEC play). Should be interesting to keep an eye on if this Tigers’ defense can limit explosive plays against Bama.
Cautious Celebration
I said this last week but i’ll repeat it for the ones in the back: Mizzou is 5-0 and that doesn’t happen very often. Fans are excited. But they also know that the hardest games are still in front of the Tigers. As much as Mizzou fans should be excited about PFF predicting the Tigers to have a >50% chance of making the playoffs, teams have fallen off FAST before. Stay excited and stay hyped for Mizzou, but don’t set your expectations to high incase things fall off the rails.
From Nathan Hurst’s column:
As good as that start has been, the real test starts next week. Pass that test and the sky (and a trip to Miami) will be the limit.
Will they get there? Let’s just sit back and watch.
