OK. Combined with last week’s piece, let’s call this the second part of an impromptu, two-part series devoted to the 2017 Missouri Tigers and titled “Just be patient, for cripes sake.”
On the podcast this week, I suggested that if Missouri’s defense could improve enough to crack the top 80 nationally this season, the Tigers should have a good chance to seeing a bowl berth.
I felt it was a fairly reasonable request, given that Missouri ranked 118th in total defense last year and a jump of around 40 spots -- combined with an offense that has every indication of being just as strong as last year — would be significant enough progress to win six or seven games.