The SEC East Favorite Might Not Be Georgia or South Carolina Anymore

Do you hear that noise coming from the "Show Me State?"

That's the defending SEC East champion Missouri Tigers cruising right along, doing exactly what they were doing last year when they finished the regular season with one SEC loss and played Auburn tough in the SEC Championship Game.

With South Carolina and Georgia—the two preseason favorites in the division—each having conference losses, and Florida looking less-than-impressive against Kentucky, is it time to start thinking about Missouri as the SEC East favorite?

Yep, and it has more to do with how the Tigers are playing than anything else.

Missouri topped UCF 38-10 on Saturday afternoon to run its record to 3-0 and has looked very impressive in the process. 

Maty Mauk completed just 51.1 percent of his passes last season as a backup and fill-in starter with three wide receivers who resembled NBA power forwards. All three of those players left after the 2013 season, and all Mauk has done is complete 62.3 percent of his passes (48-of-77) for 647 yards, an SEC-best 12 touchdowns and only three interceptions, while adding 83 yards and a touchdown on the ground.

David Richard/Associated Press

The best is yet to come.

“Wait until he gets good," head coach Gary Pinkel said after the game, according to Missouri's quotes. "There are a lot of things out there that he can do to improve and he knows that. He’s a great, gamey player, he can make plays, he does those things and he’s got some players making some plays for him. But he can get considerably better.”

That's scary. 

Part of the reason Mauk has been successful early on has been the connection he has established with wide receiver Bud Sasser.

The senior has a team-high 12 catches for 215 yards and four touchdowns, leading a talented wide receiving corps that includes Darius White and Jimmie Hunt. All three of Mauk's primary targets have double-digit receptions and have helped him transition into the role as a full-time starter.

Jamie Squire/Getty Images

No Henry Josey? No problem.

Russell Hansbrough and Marcus Murphy have picked up right where Josey left off on the ground. Hansbrough is averaging 86 yards per game through three games, and Murphy is adding 68 himself as more of a changeup, home-run hitter.

Both of those players were banged-up in the win over UCF, but according to Tod Palmer of the Kansas City Star, they should return quickly.

Jamie Squire/Getty Images

Defensively, it's the same recipe as last year.

Markus Golden and Shane Ray are tied for second in the SEC with four sacks each, and Ray leads the conference with 7.5 tackles for loss. They're generating pressure with four, and then capitalizing with a conference-best nine turnovers gained and four fumble recoveries.

“Each week me and Marcus just go out and try to play to the best of our abilities, make as many plays as we can," Ray said in postgame quotes released by Missouri. "Just play how we are expected to play by [defensive coordinator] coach [Dave] Steckel, run to the ball and be physical. It doesn’t really matter if Marcus is in the spotlight or I’m in the spotlight as long as we are doing what we are supposed to do as a defense.”

Stat	2013	2014
Sacks	41 (1)	11 (T1)
TFLs	107 (1)	22 (2)
Turnovers Gained	32 (1)	9 (T1)
Passes Defended	74 (2)	20 (T3)

This is the same Missouri team that was picked to finish fourth in the division at SEC Media Days. 

Pinkel doesn't care, he just goes about his business playing "Missouri football."

"I don't get into what is said or what's predicted," he said at SEC Media Days in July. "Someone apologized to me a little while ago the way they voted after this thing. I said, I don't know how you voted for us, I don't really care."

In an SEC East, why not Missouri?

Because the Tigers haven't played anybody?

UCF isn't exactly a "nobody," but that argument can certainly be made to a point. It'd be cancelled out, though, by the ability of Missouri to play the same old brand of football it was successful with last season with several new pieces in place of last year's stars.

It's about to get tricky, though.

After hosting Indiana this week, the Tigers visit South Carolina, get a needed bye week, host Georgia and visit Florida. By the end of October, we're going to know full-well if Missouri is a contender or pretender.

So far they've looked like a contender while flying under the radar. Which is, not surprisingly, the same path Missouri took early last year during its run to the SEC East title.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

Barrett Sallee is the lead SEC college football writer and video analyst for Bleacher Report and co-host of the CFB Hangover on Bleacher Report Radio (Sundays, 9-11 a.m. ET) on Sirius 93, XM 208.

Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. All stats are courtesy of CFBStats.com, and all recruiting information is courtesy of 247Sports. Follow Barrett on Twitter @BarrettSallee.