Missouri Tigers Finally Get Respect in 2013 BCS Standings

Gary Pinkel
Spruce Derden-USA TODAY Sports

The top of the BCS rankings have been straightforward with little reason for criticism, but I did have an slight objection to the fact that Clemson was ranked ahead of Missouri, which showed disrespect to Gary Pinkel‘s resurgent team. However, the BCS got it right this week with Missouri jumping them to land at No. 5 in the latest rankings.

Missouri has been viewed as a nice comeback story after a five-win campaign last season, and while many continue to wait for Cinderella’s time to run out, it’s not happening and the voters finally have taken notice of this.

Clemson is a great team, but I believed that Missouri had the better resume to be ahead of their fellow Tigers for weeks. Both teams have a single loss, but Clemson’s loss was by 37 points at home; yes, it was a loss against a great Florida State team, but it was 51-7 before Clemson got a garbage-time touchdown with 13 seconds remaining in the game.

Missouri’s loss came to a two-loss South Carolina team that’s inside the top 10 in the BCS and led 17-0 in the fourth quarter. Sure, they did lose in double overtime when their kicker hit the uprights, but which is the “better loss?” I think losing in this fashion to a top-10 opponent is a better loss than being thoroughly dominated and embarrassed at home and on national television.

Furthermore, the ACC schedule Clemson plays isn’t on par with the SEC schedule Missouri plays, as the SEC Tigers have wins over three ranked opponents to Clemson’s one, even if they do share a common opponent in Georgia.

Clemson beat the Bulldogs 38-35 in the season opener, while Missouri beat the same team 41-26 and only trailed for 2:44 in the first quarter. Georgia did play without Todd Gurley vs. Missouri, but he also missed much of the first half vs. Clemson and was still a good snap on a field goal away from at least forcing overtime. Missouri dominated their common opponent much more than Clemson.

This Saturday, they will have another common opponent in South Carolina, who will host Clemson while Missouri hosts Texas A&M. Once Clemson loses again to South Carolina and Missouri clinches a berth in the SEC Championship game with a win over Johnny Manziel and the Aggies, then Missouri can become a potential BCS Championship contender.

Patrick’s a college football writer for Rant Sports and radio host on Sportstownchicago.com. Follow him on Twitter @PatrickASchmidt and Google and email him at for media inquiries.

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