Missouri Tigers win fifth-straight to go bowling
The Missouri Tigers took their win streak on the road and left with their first conference road win, against Vanderbilt, with Barry Odom as head coach.
After earning their sixth win of the season, the Missouri Tigers are bowl eligible for the first time since 2014. The last time the Tigers went bowling, Gary Pinkel was head coach.
Here are some other fun facts: The last time Mizzou played in a bowl game, the Tigers finished the season with a 11-2 record, beating the Minnesota Golden Gophers, 33-17, in the Citrus Bowl.
In 2014, Missouri won the SEC East and played and lost to Alabama, 42-13, in the SEC Championship. Since that time, the Missouri Tigers have seen changes at head coach, quarterback, and named a new athletic director.
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Last year, Odom’s first season as head coach ended with a fizzle. The Tigers never strung together consecutive wins, and missed a bowl game for the second year in a row – first year with Odom.
This season started well enough with a convincing win against FCS opponent Missouri State, but then the Tigers fell into their old patterns of finding ways to lose, beating themselves, and playing just awful football.
By the time Mizzou lost to Purdue, many fans were calling for Odom’s job, while it seemed the Tigers may very well have won their only game of the season in the first week of play. From the second week of the season, the Tigers went on a five-game skid before winning against Idaho.
From the Tigers’s loss to South Carolina, until their win against Idaho, a wide receiver was dismissed, a fiery speech was made, a fire was set, and then the season started to turn around. To say the least, if Odom was to be fired, it wouldn’t be for lack of trying.
The Missouri Tigers haven’t lost since a game since Georgia, a team they put up 28 points against. The week before, the Tigers had Kentucky dead to rights; save a complete blunder by the officiating crew, Mizzou was driving to upset the Wildcats.
No, this year hasn’t been pretty for Missouri, but the Tigers have done what they needed to do to arrive where they are tonight. With their 45-17 win over Vanderbilt, the Tigers have a chance at playing in one of a number of bowl games, especially if they finish their season with a win on the road at Arkansas on Friday.
Next: A pair of commits for Mizzou
At the end of the day, Odom took the reins of this team, and lead it to bowl eligibility – a feat which, many of us deemed impossible. Now that Missouri has punched its ticket to go bowling, the only question is, where?