Tigers improve drastically during second season in SEC

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Few outside of the Missouri locker room expected the Tigers to compete in the Southeastern Conference in just their second season in the league.

Predicted to finish sixth in the SEC East, the team is now ranked fifth in the country and holds a two-game lead in the division.

The Tigers (7-0, 3-0 SEC) remained healthy until quarterback James Franklin and cornerback E.J. Gaines sustained injuries Oct. 12 at Georgia. But they won again Saturday, beating Florida at home and now are preparing to face No. 20 South Carolina with a chance to practically wrap up the division.

Though the goals are getting much bigger.

"We'd be dumb if our goal wasn't to go to a national championship," left tackle Justin Britt said.

Coming off one of the "most difficult up-and-down" years he's had as a coach, Gary Pinkel said he didn't do a good job of managing his team's emotions when it went 5-7 last season. This year's group has more fun, he said, citing an example of how his players participate in sing-a-longs before Wednesday practices.

"That doesn't mean that you're going to win all your games, either," Pinkel said. "What it means is you're going to have a group of guys who care about each other. It's just the chemistry that happens for teams. It's really cool to see it."

On the field, the 13th-year Missouri coach eliminated two-a-day practices in August in part to show his players that the staff cared about their health.

When Franklin and Gaines went down, their substitutes step in and stepped up.

Quarterback Maty Mauk led eight scoring drives and cornerback Aarion Penton nabbed his first interception in a 36-17 win against Florida.

"You came to perform at the college level," Mauk said. "It kind of is nerve-wracking, but at the same time, it's what you're here to do."

Now the team's challenge is to focus on South Carolina (5-2, 3-2) and not its status in the polls. In 2008, the Tigers lost consecutive games after opening the season 5-0 and reaching No. 3 in the country. Two years later, following a 36-27 win over No. 3 Oklahoma to start 7-0, they again lost their next two contests.

Pinkel recalled talking to the late Don James after defeating the Sooners, listening impatiently as his mentor and former coach told him the next game would be even more difficult as he needed to keep his team grounded. But now Pinkel's thankful for that lesson, and preaches it.

"I don't think we've accomplished much," receiver L'Damian Washington said. "Georgia, last week, you'd have thought, 'OK, that's a big win.' After the game, we were like, 'OK, that's just step six.' And this was step seven, and next week is step eight."

Winning its first seven games by at least 15 points apiece, Missouri has rediscovered the potent offense it employed from 2007 to 2011 when it went 48-19 and averaged 34.9 points per game. Under new coordinator Josh Henson, this year's team has bumped that number to 44.3, thanks to 279 yards per game through the air and another 234.4 on the ground.

Defensively, Missouri has limited opponents to 22.1 points and 381 yards per game, including just 116.6 rushing yards. The Tigers lead the SEC with 23 sacks, and end Michael Sam is tied for first nationally with nine.

The gaudy numbers don't necessarily translate into wins, but they explain why Missouri is in the driver's seat in the SEC East. If they win their next two games at home against the Gamecocks and Tennessee, the Tigers will clinch a berth in the conference championship game.

"Personally, I like being the underdog, because not a lot of people were expecting us to do the things that we're doing right now," center Evan Boehm said. "And we're out there to create those big eyes and say, 'Holy cow, where did Mizzou come from?"'