MU puts turmoil behind, climbs national rankings

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Just a few months ago, Missouri seemed like it might become a sad case of collateral damage from conference realignment. An orphan. No date to the dance.

Getting back to business in the Big 12 restored stability and sanity at a school that during the summer got the cold shoulder -- from a lot of places -- while Colorado and the Big 12 South were being wooed by the Pac-10 and Nebraska was bolting for the Big Ten.

The promise of greater TV revenue made it much easier to embrace the new reality.

Success on the field certainly hasn't hurt.

Lightly regarded before the season, the Tigers are 6-0 for only the fifth time in school history and considered a team on the rise, ranked 18th in the AP Top 25 and 11th in the BCS standings entering Saturday night's homecoming game against No. 3 Oklahoma.

The head-spinning summer? Almost forgotten, although athletic director Mike Alden still isn't talking, declining an interview for this story.

"We were going through a period of incredible uncertainty, and every potential move threatened the stability of not only the Big 12 but of other conferences around the country," school chancellor Brady Deaton said in a telephone interview. "We're glad to get that behind us."

Missouri coach Gary Pinkel had fretted about the unknown. What if Missouri ended up without a conference?

"That was a tough time for all of us," Pinkel said. "But this is a great league, there's great teams in this league, and probably next year it's going to be even tougher because everybody's got to play each other. "

To become a midseason success story, Missouri had to survive plenty more heartache unrelated to those high-level Big 12 talks.

The Tigers rallied from a 10-point halftime deficit to beat Illinois in the opener, just days after the leading rusher from the past two seasons was kicked off the team. Former team captain Derrick Washington faces criminal charges of felony sexual assault and domestic violence.

Two players were suspended for two games each after drunken-driving arrests.

"Those things happen from time to time, as they do in many places," Deaton said. "It's not something we like, but we deal with it and go on. We've done it with integrity."

Unlike the star-studded 2007 and 2008 teams that made it to the Big 12 championship game before getting pummeled by the Sooners, this group has succeeded despite a shortage of players on somebody's watch list for postseason awards. Quarterback Blaine Gabbert has shown up on NFL draft lists, but that's about it.

"We have very good team speed, we're strong and we can run," Pinkel said. "Someone asked me about mentioning names like a name or two guys, and if you name one or two, you've got to name eight."

Missouri had 15 returning starters, reason for optimism before the season. But Pinkel is just as surprised as anyone that this group has clicked so quickly.

"You see signs in practice, you see little improvements all the time," Pinkel said. "But to say expected all these guys to be playing the way they're playing, that would be a lie."

A three-man tailback rotation of De'Vion Moore, Kendial Lawrence and freshman Henry Josey has filled in ably after Washington's dismissal, combining for 653 yards, a 6-yard average and nine touchdowns.