Missouri has chance to beat South Carolina for first time in SEC
During its first two seasons in the Southeastern Conference, Missouri beat each of its Eastern Division brethren at least once.
Well, each of them except South Carolina, which plays host to the Tigers for a 6 p.m. kickoff Saturday on ESPN.
“We’re, for sure, aware of that, and I know that we’re going to come out and we’ve got to give them our best game,” said quarterback Maty Mauk, who ranks second in the nation with 14 touchdowns passes this season.
Missouri, 3-1, is trying to bounce back from a stunning loss last weekend against Indiana.
If there’s a silver lining, it’s that the Tigers control their fate in the SEC East race and the three teams picked ahead of them in the preseason media poll — the Gamecocks, Georgia and Florida — already have a conference loss.
Missouri coach Gary Pinkel, of course, doesn’t want his team thinking about any of that. He wants them to be focused solely on No. 13 South Carolina, 3-1, and erasing the sour taste of that loss to the Hoosiers.
“If you’re a competitor and you lose, I don’t think you really care who you’re playing,” Pinkel said. “You want to get back and get a chance to win.”
He said there’s a simple formula for rebounding.
“You can wish about winning all the time, but what you’re got to do is you’ve got to practice better, you’ve got to prepare better, you’ve got to play better, you’ve got to coach better,” Pinkel said.
The Tigers seem to understand that.
“If you walk around here, I think people have moved on and it’s behind us,” Mauk said. “Yeah, it stings a little bit, but it’s motivation. We’re going to really have a fire to us and we’re going to come out … ready to go.”
Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia, S.C., will be the site of ESPN’s “College GameDay.”
“One of the great things about this league is there’s great places to play and compete,” Pinkel said. “You’ll remember them for the rest of your life.”
To reach Tod Palmer, call 816-234-4389 or send email to tpalmer@kcstar.com. Follow him on Twitter at @todpalmer.
Missouri at No. 13 South Carolina
WHEN: 6 p.m. Saturday
WHERE: Williams-Brice Stadium, Columbia, S.C.
TV: ESPN
Other story lines
▪ BRILLIANT BRINSER: Missouri senior punter Christian Brinser is averaging 41.7 yards per punt, including nine inside the 20 with no touchbacks, on 19 kicks this season. Every punt hasn’t been perfect, but opponents have yet to return a punt for positive yards. Toledo and Central Florida each had one return for zero yards. Every other punt was a fair catch, out of bounds or downed by the Tigers.
▪ A NEW STREAK? It’s probably no coincidence that Missouri’s streak of 47 consecutive games with at least one takeaway ended in a loss. The last time before the Indiana game that the Tigers failed to record a takeaway was a 31-17 loss Oct. 30, 2010, at Nebraska. Missouri went 31-16 during the streak, which had been the longest in the nation.
▪ COACHING ICONS: Missouri at South Carolina features two of the six active head coaches with the most wins in the Football Bowl Subdivision. Steve Spurrier, who is 222-80-2 in 25 seasons, ranks second behind only Virginia Tech’s Frank Beamer (268-134-4), while Gary Pinkel is 178-101-3 in 24 seasons.
This story was originally published September 26, 2014 at 2:08 PM with the headline "Missouri has chance to beat South Carolina for first time in SEC."