HOOVER, Ala. • The oppressive Alabama heat has nothing on Missouri quarterback Maty Mauk, who arrived here Wednesday for Southeastern Conference football media days dressed in all black — shirt, pants, tie, socks, shoes. Looking like the Johnny Cash of the Mizzou contingent, Mauk walked into the SEC’s summertime carnival ready to burn, burn, burn the preconceptions about the 2015 Missouri Tigers.
The media’s projected SEC standings come out Thursday, but Mauk doesn’t expect Missouri to be anyone’s favorite to capture a third straight East Division title.
“To be honest, I don’t expect them to put us in the top 25,” Mauk said in Mizzou’s third-floor suite at The Wynfrey Hotel before making the rounds among the 1,200-plus media gathered here.