Here we go.
This is the game that we have been waiting for since last year's not-so-fun finish.
Of course, even an upset win, and it certainly would be an upset, does little to diminish last season's monumental win by the Tigers. So, it isn't like this is a revenge game. Just a good, ol' fashioned rivalry game. Any time Missouri and Kansas get together, there is hatred and reveng and anger and desire and all of that fun stuff involved. That goes without saying.
And we will have to take advantage of those qualitative categories to win, because let's be honest; the quantitative numbers don't stack up. Not by a longshot. We are still a good team, and we still possess plenty of damn good football players that were around last year that made the game what it was, Armageddon at Arrowhead.
Todd Reesing. Kerry Meier. James Holt. Dezmon Briscoe. The list goes on and on. But we clearly aren't the same team as last year, as is painfully obvious, and while we can get into reasons later, Missouri is just about as good as last year. Not as good, no, but closer to last season's team than we are to ours.
So, given last year's loss, this year's chances don't look so hot. I will certainly be watching and cheering actively, it is the Border War afterall, but don't expect a profound showing from our football team.
Not to be negative and piss on the parade, but I just don't see it adding up. And still, just because I can't pull myself to actually pick the Tigers to beat our Jayhawks, I'll still take Hot Toddy and Company to pull off the upset. And, just for the record, it wouldn't be a tremendous upset. I would probably give us, oh, about a 38% chance of winning today. not incredibly long odds by any stretch of the imagination, but not exactly confidence-inspiring numbers either.
Kansas 35 Missouri 34
Rock it. Chalk it. Talk it.
Oh, and I'll be here for the duration of the game, so check on in.