KANSAS CITY, Mo. — There usually isn’t a certain moment when a football team’s status changes. It might occur after a big win or a big season. But once it happens, the intensity level each Saturday changes.
The crowd noise gets louder at home and away. The spotlight gets brighter. Opponents become more focused. Missouri quarterback Chase Daniel knows what it means for the Tigers.
“We used to be the hunters and now we’re the hunted,” he said Monday afternoon at Big 12 Football Media Days.
It’s a fact of life for the Tigers this season. Everything they do over the remaining months of 2008 will be compared to last season.
The Tigers, who went 12-2 last season, are the overwhelming pick to win the Big 12 North for the second straight year, and a fashionable pick to win the conference and compete for a national championship.
Those expectations aren’t laid upon middle-of-the-pack programs. It’s the leaders who get them.
Missouri made its move in 2007. It went from a team typically on the fringe of the polls that typically receives a middle-tier bowl bid to national championship contention and the Big 12 title game.
“We certainly haven’t arrived,” Missouri coach Gary Pinkel said. “We won the Big 12 North last year, but Missouri still hasn’t won a Big 12 championship yet.”
Most teams in BCS conferences have had that one season when they were among college football’s elite. Doing it on a consistent is a harder feat. Those that can brag about years, decades and generations of sustained success belong to a very exclusive fraternity.
In the Big 12, only Oklahoma, Texas and Nebraska have that kind of tradition.
Everyone is still striving to get there. The Tigers believe they have what it takes to take that next step.
For one, they were in a similar position last season.
Missouri was the Big 12 North’s favorite when and a ranked team when the season began. It did nothing but climb throughout the season. Only a regular-season loss to OU and another at the Sooners’ hands in the conference title game kept the Tigers out of the BCS championship game.
“You look at everything that’s happened the past year and all the craziness around us, we’ve handled it really well,” Daniel said. “It isn’t a cockiness, but it’s a walk, a swagger with this team that says we’ve handled this before.”
But matching last year’s success won’t be enough. Anything short of a Big 12 title will bring a sense of disappointment. Anything less means the Tigers failed to move forward.
Elite programs face those expectations every season. The Sooners, who are favored by most to be the Tigers’ foe in the Big 12 title game Dec. 6 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo., live with it every day.
The Tigers say they want and are ready to handle that kind of pressure.
“The difference comes in attitude,” said receiver Jeremy Maclin, who might be the best athlete in the conference. “We don’t feel like we’ve made it to the top. We feel like we could have done more last year. We have the attitude we want to actually win it this time.”
If Missouri does, it won’t be a big surprise.
Those days are over.
John Shinn
366-3536
jshinn@normantranscript.com
OU Sports
Missouri's fix
Tigers must win conference to keep moving forward
- OU Sports
-
-
Winning is only option
Every locker room in college basketball has the same topic floating around. It’s February. All are thinking about March Madness. Of course, some are thinking about their immediate future. Others are simply dreaming....
-
Sooners will test their mettle against country’s best at National Duals
Dual State is today....
-
Mizzou back on deck after another blowout loss to Baylor
Not again? Yes, again. For the second time this season, the Oklahoma women will have to put aside a disheartening and embarrassing loss to Baylor and get on with the rest of their season....
-
Sooners cruise past competition at Perfect 10
OKLAHOMA CITY — Compared to the rest of its schedule, Oklahoma was supposed to have a relatively easy night. Both Iowa State and Southeast Missouri are in the midst of down seasons. With little chance of losing, the fifth-ranked Sooners ...
-
Ricketts breaks record in season debut
LAS VEGAS — Well, it was going to happen. And still, it didn’t take long....
-
Schedule easing up for Sooners
For some time, the Oklahoma women have been done no favors by their schedule. That may still be the case, but not for much longer....
-
Sooners using roller-coaster season as motivation
Oklahoma’s women’s gymnastics team has been anything but consistent. After dominating its season opener, the Sooners fell to No. 7 Oregon State and No. 9 Nebraska before trouncing then-No. 2 Arkansas....
-
Sooners open season with World Series aspirations
The Sooners haven’t even taken the field yet, but there is already talk of a national championship floating around the Oklahoma locker room. The Sooners will take the first step toward that goal when they open the season at 1:15 p.m. ...
-
Sooners have to eliminate mistakes that are costing them wins
It was a typical practice for Oklahoma on Thursday. The long workout had a lot of energy and precision. It mirrored many it has had over the last three months....
-
Move to Big 12 is chance at stability
Maybe this Internet thing’s really going to make it after all. Maybe even as a news source....
- More OU Sports Headlines
-
Winning is only option
