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Every week, PowerMizzou.com publisher Gabe DeArmond answers questions from Tiger fans in the mailbag. This format allows for a more expansive answer than a message board post. Keep your eye out each week to submit your question for the mailbag or send them to powermizzou@gmail.com. On to this week's inquiries.
mufootball1 asks: If the NCAA fails to Make It Right and the postseason ban is upheld, will Mizzou be allowed to add 2019 SEC East Champions to the facade at Faurot Field?Will Mizzou be able to sell SEC East Champions gear?Just curious how far the corrupt penalties will extend.
GD: I mean, UCF claimed a national title a couple years ago. Mizzou can do whatever it wants. They could put "SEC Champions and best team in the history of the world" on the press box if they wanted to. As far as selling SEC East Champions gear, I don't know. They probably couldn't use the SEC logo or get anything officially licensed. But anybody can make a t-shirt. There are plenty of places that do it. An enterprising poster with a one-track mind could probably make some shirts up and sell them.
TigerfaninChi asks: Asking for complete speculation on your partIs the fact that the NCAA has taken a long time to respond to our appeal a good sign or a bad sign? I mean, no new evidence was presented relative to the finding, and all the history of violations and sanctions was known, so in your opinion, is the delay good or bad relative to our hopes to overturn the sanctions in some way.
GD: I don't really think it's a good sign or a bad sign. It's just what's happening. From the very beginning it was reported that Ole Miss had its appeal one day after Mizzou did on the calendar and got its ruling on Nov. 1. So November was never out of the question. But I think three things have happened:
1) In the absence of news, people are getting anxious so they're trying to read into things that really can't be read into
2) The football team won some games and Georgia lost last week, which made the chances of an SEC East championship more realistic, so people are more interested in whether they'll be able to play in the postseason or not.
3) Jim Sterk has done some radio and podcast interviews in which he had said he thought news could come in the next couple weeks. The truth was it was little more than a guess or wishful thinking, but I think people heard it and assumed Sterk had insight on the process that nobody else had (I understand why you'd think that, but he really doesn't) and so they began to expect something soon.
I don't think the timing of the news can really tell us anything about what the ruling is. It's going to happen when it's going to happen and it's going to be what it's going to be.
Ryanblue13 asks: Reading the article on Dooley's creativity on lining people up and who is eligible and who is not got me wondering...Do teams ever give certain funky formations to referees ahead of time so they don't get penalized for it in a sped up situation? I know referees are paid to know the rules, but with coaches and their creativity taking advantage of rules, I'm curious if it ever catches officials off guard.
GD: For those who didn't read it, here's Mitchell's article from Monday. To answer the question, it absolutely happens. Coaches will say sometimes after games that they met with the officials to say "We've got this weird formation in here and we might use it, just so you aren't caught off guard and flag it." I can't think of a specific instance where it's happened, but I know Gary Pinkel said a time or two during his career here that he did that. It's just basically making sure that the officials don't ruin the element of surprise because something looks a little weird.
jalonzo240 asks: Odds that the following will be back with the team next year: Garrett, Elliott, Albert O, Rountree, Byers, Gillespie, Bledsoe, Whiteside, Whichever QB among Robinson/Powell/Bazelak ends up 3rd string, Dooley. Are there any other non-senior players/coaches that you think are significant risks to leave after this season?
GD: Wow, that's a lot of guys. Most of them are going to be back. Rather than give you odds they're returning, how about if I just go in order of likelihood? I'll start with the ones I think are most likely to stay and go down to the least likely:
Byers--No way he's going anywhere
Whiteside--Same
Bledsoe--Same
Gillespie--He's having a good year, but I don't think he's having an early entry NFL Draft good year
Quarterbacks--If Powell wanted to go somewhere else, he'd have done it last year. Robinson has already transferred once. Bazelak understood the situation when he came here.
Dooley--I think he'll be back. But I'm not positive.
Rountree--Now we're getting into the I'm unsure territory. Running back is a weird position. Will he be able to prove something next year he hasn't in the last three?
Elliott--He's playing really well. I think he's going to be able to go if he wants to.
Garrett--I just don't really see a way he can get a waiver to come back even if that's what he wants to do
Albert O--Enjoy however many games he's got left. If he was healthy, I think he'd have left last year.
Any other people who would leave I think would most likely be transfers from guys that aren't playing anyway.
TigerinCincy asks: Will Mizzou fans outnumber Vandy fans at the game this week?
GD: I will be shocked if they don't. They were close two years ago and not that far off four years ago. Vandy doesn't draw well at all when they are good and right now they are, well, not good. When they hosted Georgia, it looked like a Bulldog home game. And when LSU visited...
GD: So the bar has been set. And it has not been set low.
MIZsanity asks: 5 current D1 coaches you could hang out with as a group for a weekend?My choices: Mike Leach, Les Miles, Lane Kiffin, Ed O, and Saban. Just to see if those 4 could rattle Saban enough in one weekend. Thought about Herman as the 5th, since we all know he knows how to have a good time.
GD: As a group? I don't know who hates each other, but I'll give you the five I'd most enjoy spending a weekend with.
Ed Orgeron for sure. I assume I would understand nothing he said but I would love every minute of it.
Mike Leach is a good one. He seems like he has the ability to not be a real nice guy and I bet he's not really all that fun, but I'll take the chance.
Mike Gundy absolutely has to be on this list.
You didn't say I had to limit it to football so I'm going to hoops for my last two choices. I'm getting Bob Huggins and Frank Martin back together for the weekend.
mexicojoe asks: As a fan but not as a journalist,Would you pay money to attend if these games are on a neutral fieldNebraska vs TennesseeOrVanderbilt vs Rutgers
GD: Absolutely, unequivocally, 100% no chance. I would likely not go to either of those games for free. There's a chance for a free ticket I'd watch the Vols and Huskers. Vandy against Rutgers, you're going to have to promise to pay for all my beer.
Let's do this: Things you'd rather do than watch Vannderbilt play Rutgers in football. Start a thread on the message board. Best answer gets a free month.
CamKCMIZ asks: Most impressive tailgate setup you've seen? Best food item you've ever eaten at a tailgate? Do universities provide a food spread for the media, and if so, which school had the best spread in your career? If you could choose what bowl game and opponent Missouri got after this season based on CFB's first half, who would we play in what bowl and why?
GD: I really haven't tailgated all that much. If I do, I'll swing by for maybe an hour and then go into the game. Tennessee is very impressive. The Grove is cool and all the people there were incredibly nice and offered us a lot of food and drinks. Alabama was pretty impressive too. But I honestly can't really ever remember eating anything at a tailgate that was super unusual or anything. I probably have but it doesn't stick out.
Schools do feed the media. It's generally nothing to write home about. Kansas State always had pretty good food because it was provided by the Kansas Beef Council. Iowa State had chili which was nice since it's perpetually 12 degrees in Ames. The post-game pizza at Nebraska was always really good. But usually, it's pretty average food. Bama and South Carolina have been decent.
As far as a bowl game, obviously you want the best bowl game you can get. I don't think it's reasonable to say something like the College Football Playoff, so I'd like to cover one of the New Year's Six bowls. I've been to the Cotton Bowl twice so I don't want that. That leaves the Orange Bowl or the Sugar Bowl as potential SEC destinations. I'd choose New Orleans (where I've actually never been) over Miami. So I guess my answer is the Sugar Bowl. The opposition there is supposed to be a Big 12 team, but I'm going to assume somehow that Notre Dame could get there and that's what I'd choose.
MummaMizzou asks: Let’s say Mizzou beats the wins the East by beating the winner of the Florida Georgia game and losing to the other then loses the SEC championship. So the playoff committee will have to pick between:Bama and LSU either 13-0 or 11-1Florida and Georgia 10-2And Missouri 10-3In this scenario would Mizzou make a NY6 game?
GD: Almost certainly not. The Wyoming loss would knock them out of consideration. Last year, three SEC teams went to New Year's Six bowls plus Alabama in the playoff. All four were ranked in the top 11. I don't know that a three-loss Mizzou is that high. In fact, I'm pretty sure they wouldn't be. They have one bad loss and would only have one really good win. So Mizzou probably needs to get to 10-2/11-2 to have a good shot.
Here's something I was thinking about earlier though. Just for fun, I always like the chaos theory. Let's say this happens:
Florida, Georgia and Mizzou all have at least two losses in the regular season. LSU beats Alabama in a close game, but then loses to whoever is the East representative in the conference championship game. That leaves you with:
Two-loss SEC champ from the East
11-2 LSU that beat Bama
11-1 Bama
Let's say Oklahoma and Clemson finish unbeaten as does the winner of Ohio State/Wisconsin. Then Oregon runs the table and finishes 12-1 with the only loss being a close game in the opener to Auburn.
Do the Tide get in based on the fact they didn't have to play an extra game? And do they get in over the SEC champ? Or is this the scenario that would actually give us a playoff without an SEC team? For fun, what if Auburn also beats Bama in the Iron Bowl and everybody in the SEC has two losses? It's incredibly unlikely, but it would be interesting as hell.
MizzouHeel asks: When schools play at a neutral site (e.g. The Texas-OU game in Dallas), can they host recruits? Can recruits go through the schools to get tickets? I'm sure they don't do OVs during neutral site games, since you can't show off your campus/facilities/night life, but do players take unofficials to neutral site games?
GD: Neutral site games have a designated home team and that team can host recruits at the game. So, yes, they have tickets for recruits and such. In the case of Texas/Oklahoma, obviously the home team changes every year, so each team gets a chance to play host every other season. It's not really an "unofficial visit" because you're not visiting campus, but you can be hosted by the home team.
MUValjean asks: I was listening to a radio program Monday when they started talking about what situations would cause Odom to jump ship. It was hypothetical, of course, and most of the conversation revolved around financial support for the program and attendance. Naively I never considered that Odom would want to leave the program if those two were in place... have you heard any grumblings? And being closer to the program and Odom than I am, if money and attendance were in place what situation could you see Odom jumping ship for?
GD: I don't get the sense that Odom is actively looking or anything. And I think it would have to be a pretty perfect situation to get him to go. But I also think anyone that thinks he's here forever and would be willing to give Mizzou a significant "hometown discount" just because this is where he played is wrong. Like I said, I think it would have to be a pretty perfect storm where he did really well and didn't feel like he was getting support and then it would have to be combined with the right school having an opening and wanting him. I mean, he grew up in Oklahoma. What if Lincoln Riley were to go to the NFL and Odom had won 10 games this year and 11 next and the Sooners called? I'm not saying it's likely, just throwing out a potential scenario. The basic idea is, I think if he's successful he's going to be here for a long time, but I wouldn't assume it would be impossible for the right situation to pull him away.
mexicojoe asks: Officiating seems to be in decline at the two top levels of football. How would you improve it?
GD: We get this about once a year and I always say the same thing. I don't know if officiating is worse or if we just have more and more ways to see every time they screw up so we think it's worse. There was a time when TV didn't exist. Then a time when slow motion replay didn't exist. Then a time when everything wasn't in HD. Then a time when you couldn't slow it down frame by frame. Then a time when you couldn't do a screen shot of a frame of video and post it online to prove to everyone the official was wrong.
Refs are going to screw up. It happens. They're human. None of us are perfect and we have to remember that they have to make a split second judgment in real time while we have the benefit of all the things I just listed above. I don't know how to improve it. The more games I sit through that have seven replay delays, the more I'm willing to live with the mistakes.
mufootball1 asks: If Mizzou finishes 11-1 and the unjust, excessive and inconsistent penalties are upheld, can Mizzou still win the AP National Championship?
GD: At 11-1? Absolutely not.
MIZ25! asks: Was re watching Friday night lights TV show..Who was your favorite character? Least favorite? What's your favorite football movie?
GD: I didn't watch FNL when it originally ran. Loved the book, didn't much like the movie, didn't have any interest in watching the TV show. But once I started watching it, I couldn't stop. My least productive summer was the summer I just binged the entire series in about a month. One of my top ten shows of all-time and probably top five.
Favorite character: There are a bunch of good ones. I'm a big Lyla Garrity fan (not so much on the speaking parts). But it has to be Tim Riggins. He's the guy every girl wants and every guy wants to be.
Least favorite character: Somebody should have written Julie Taylor out of the show.
My favorite football movie has to be Remember the Titans. I know there are a lot of Hollywood liberties taken, but if it's on TV, I'm watching at least some of it. Also like Everybody's All-American and The Best of Times. The Program was great in a teenager in the early 90's way.
Joshfann43 asks: If hypothetically Mizzou was offered to either have the Wyoming game erased from their record or get Cale Garrett Back from Injury, what do you think they would choose?
GD: This is easy to me. You take Garrett back 11 times out of ten. The Wyoming loss sucked. No question. It's keeping Mizzou probably 10 spots lower in the polls than it otherwise would be and it's a big reason nobody is really talking about the Tigers when they talk about the SEC East even after Georgia's loss. But the truth is, it didn't really take anything off the table. If Missouri wins out (and the NCAA allows it), the Tigers are playing in the College Football Playoff. A 12-1 SEC champion with wins over Florida, Georgia and the LSU/Alabama winner isn't getting left out. It did remove a margin for error. If you win that game, you can maybe drop one later on to Georgia or Florida and still achieve those goals. But it did very little to change what Missouri was going to have to do the rest of the year. It sounds really strange, but in a way, it's probably the game you could most afford to lose in the first four. Putting the best defensive player back on a defense that's one of the top 10 or 15 in the country for a stretch run toward a division title and maybe more? Far more impactful and, as I said, it's not even close in my mind.
KCTiger22 asks: Now that the Nats won, what’s your WS series prediction and do you think the last few years of strong bullpen has given way back to starting pitching being the key to win it all?
GD: The Astros were the best team in baseball pretty much wire to wire and I think they manage to get two wins with Verlander, Greinke and Cole all pitching once more. So I think they get to the World Series. And while I think they're the better team, there's something about the Nats that looks like they're gonna take this thing the distance.
As far as your other question, the truth is I haven't watched much baseball at all the last two years. My team has been awful and I just don't have enough interest in other teams to sit and watch. I watched one or two playoff games almost in their entirety, but for the most part, I just kind of checked scores now and again. So I'm not really qualified to answer any big picture questions about where the sport is going.
