Each Wednesday, PowerMizzou.com publisher Gabe DeArmond will answer questions from subscribers in our Tiger Mailbag. This feature will allow for longer, more in-depth answers than you may get on the message board on a daily basis. To have your question in next week's mailbag, send an email to Gabe at powermizzou@gmail.com. On to this week's inquiries:

tommyjay25 asks: More surprising to you in year one in the SEC.  Texas A&M's success or Mizzou's struggles?

GD: A&M's success. Missouri has really only lost one game most thought they'd win. And with the injuries, it's understandable (I said understandable, not excusable). To be fair, A&M hasn't lit the world on fire. But they've been competitive. Missouri has faced three top tier SEC teams and been blown off the field by two. A&M has faced two top tier SEC teams and taken both to the wire. They lost both games, but the Aggies were in them. I'm shocked. Kevin Sumlin is better than I thought and so is Johnny Manziel.

jsanders821 asks: With the commitments of Hosick and Printz, what is your best guess of who we can expect as the QB for 2014, 2015, 2016?

I'm assuming a healthy James Franklin is the QB for 2013.

GD: First, I don't know that I agree with your second statement. Franklin has struggled this year. Is some of it due to injury? Absolutely. Is all of it? I don't know. I think you have a wide open competition for the job in spring and fall camp between Franklin, Berkstresser, Mauk, Printz and Hosick (both will be on campus in January). Best man wins the job. If it's anybody but Franklin, he is the odds-on favorite to start as long as he has eligibility left, but it is not a foregone conclusion.

JoeDec89 asks: What's your prediction for the remaining games?

GD: I reserve the right to change my mind weekly, if not daily. Who knows, maybe Missouri will suddenly have things figured out and look like a whole new team the last five weeks. But if they don't, I'd say they beat Kentucky and lose the three road games. Syracuse, to me, is too close to call. Nothing would surprise me. The simple fact is, when you can't score, it only takes one or two plays to lose a game. The margin for error is completely non-existent. So my prediction as of this morning is a 5-7 finish.



...More... To continue reading this article you must be a member. Sign Up Now for a FREE Trial