In its first SEC game in school history, the Missouri Tigers flirted with an upset of the No. 7 team in the country before eventually falling 41-20 to the Georgia Bulldogs on Saturday night in Columbia, Mo. The final margin of victory is not necessarily indicative of how Missouri played. SB Nation's Missouri blog Rock M Nation explains further:
Bottom line: Georgia overcame its lost personnel better than Mizzou did and won because of it. In all, though, I think this game says a lot more about Georgia than "SEC football." It would be pretty silly to draw conclusions about the entire season based on what Georgia was able to do to Mizzou late in the game. Among other things, only Georgia has Jarvis Jones. But Mizzou showed last year that it can typically execute well late in games. If the new Mizzou line (with or without Elvis Fisher) can gel, if a given center can begin to deliver more consistent snaps (pleeeeeease let this happen), and if the injury bug would actually stop biting for a little while (the last 13 months have been absolutely ridiculous in this regard), then this should be a pretty good team.
Missouri will look to bounce back next Saturday when they host the Pac-12's Arizona State Sun Devils.
For more on Mizzou football, visit Missouri blog Rock M Nation, plus SEC blog Team Speed Kills, SB Nation Kansas City and SB Nation St. Louis. For more on UGA football, visit Georgia blog Dawg Sports, plus SEC blog Team Speed Kills and SB Nation Atlanta.