The Missouri Tigers lost their inaugural SEC game on Saturday night to the Georgia Bulldogs, falling 41-20 in a game much closer than the final score would indicate. Though Georgia eventually pulled away late, the Tigers were competitive and proved, at least to themselves, that they can play with SEC competition.
Missouri wide receivers Marcus Lucas and T.J. Moe touched on this topic in their postgame comments. First Lucas, when asked about the fourth quarter dominance of the Bulldogs:
"I don't think it had anything to do with them honestly. It was just us. We had a lot of mental errors out there, and we beat ourselves up a lot. They were a good team. We knew it was going to be a dogfight the whole game, but we can't have that many turnovers that late in the game. We had the sack, and then we don't get the fake punt. Different things like that hurt us."
Moe was asked the topic du jour of the week, do the Tigers have the talent to compete in the SEC? The short answer: yes, they do.
"Defensively, they were really good. But you have guys everywhere that can play. [Jarvis] Jones is similar to Von Miller, who was in the Big 12. So you have athletes all around the country. There are guys in the NFL from Appalachian State and Missouri State and everywhere else. I do think they have a lot of talented players, but I think we moved the ball well. Not to take anything away from them, but we hurt ourselves quite a bit."
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.