UPDATED, 9:45 p.m.
COLUMBIA, MO. • Before Missouri’s season kicked off three weeks ago, a 2-2 September seemed reasonable, if not necessary if Barry Odom’s team expected to play in a bowl game. A 3-1 start, ambitious but hardly impossible, would put the Tigers halfway home to bowl eligibility before they entered the meaty part of the conference schedule.
Then reality slapped the Tigers in the face.
With Saturday’s 51-14 loss to No. 15 Auburn, Mizzou officially squandered its unprecedented September homestand.
The Tigers (1-3, 0-2 Southeastern Conference), off to their worst four-game start since 2000, now head into a bye week still searching for answers before the season resumes with consecutive road games against teams they haven’t beaten in the same season since 2013, Oct.