Missouri’s journey toward a possible SEC East three-peat begins Saturday

Missouri’s defense of back-to-back SEC East division championships begins Saturday at Kentucky (6:30 p.m. on the SEC Network), but coach Gary Pinkel isn’t going out of his way to point that out.

“There’s no need to put it up on the board and say, ‘First SEC game,’ ” Pinkel said Monday during his weekly news conference. “… They know what’s out there. They know that. I don’t have to talk to them about that.”

The Tigers, 3-0, were surprise winners of the division title the last two seasons, but they still aren’t considered the front-runners, especially after claiming the last two victories — at Arkansas State and against Connecticut — in less-than-convincing fashion.

Of course, history suggests that won’t matter as No. 25 Missouri guns for a third straight appearance in the SEC Championship Game.

The Tigers were coming off a loss to Big Ten doormat Indiana entering SEC play last season and won seven of eight games in conference.

It started with the largest fourth-quarter rally for a win in Missouri history in last season’s SEC opener at South Carolina.

“Our players have great respect for this league,” Pinkel said. “They’ve earned that and learned that and understand that you’ve got to play your best every single week to have a chance. You’ve got to finish in this league, and a lot of these games are won in the fourth quarter.”

Nobody has done that better than the Tigers the last three seasons on the road.

Missouri takes an 11-game road winning streak to Commonwealth Stadium in Lexington, Ky., including eight consecutive wins in conference play.

“We’re excited to get into SEC play,” junior quarterback Aarion Penton said. “... I don’t feel pressure. I feel more confidence, knowing that we won the two years back to back. Some of the older guys that made the plays the last few years are gone, so it’s up to us now, but we’re excited about that.”

Pinkel doesn’t believe his team will care more or play harder now that the SEC slate is beginning, but he understands that players have a tendency to ratchet up for conference games.

“When you play a conference football game, I just think the intensity level in practice probably cranks up a little earlier, or it might be a little bit easier to get out of the kids than we want in other weeks,” Pinkel said. “... It notches up a little bit for anybody in the country that plays their first conference game or the conference games within their schedule.”

Missouri was picked to finish third in the SEC East preseason poll, but that’s nothing new. The Tigers were picked sixth in 2013 and fourth in 2014 but finished atop the division both seasons.

“Winning breeds confidence, there’s no question about that,” Pinkel said. “I don’t question that at all. But if you focus on the past and you spent too much time there, that’s not good. That’s not going to help you get back to where you need to go.”

Kentucky — one of two SEC East teams along with Tennessee that has yet to beat the Tigers since they joined the SEC in 2012 — believes Missouri wears the bull’s-eye in the division.

“I certainly feel that way — with the understanding that the rest of the East is going to be just as difficult,” Kentucky coach Mark Stoops said.

Pinkel doesn’t want championship dreams infiltrating Missouri’s thoughts this week. He wants them focused on a Wildcats team that was nipped 14-9 by Florida at home last week.

“I don’t want them thinking, ‘Gosh, this for a conference championship’ (or) ‘Man, if we win this game,’ ” Pinkel said. “... I don’t want that. I want them to focus on the guy that’s playing across from them. … As soon as you start thinking about all this other stuff, you don’t have a chance to play your best. That’s all we’re trying to do is get our guys to play their best.”

This story was originally published September 23, 2015 at 6:19 PM with the headline "Missouri’s journey toward a possible SEC East three-peat begins Saturday."