Missouri Loss Proves It Won't Contend for SEC East Title

Sorry, Missouri, but the verdict is in following your 31-27 loss to Indiana: The Tigers will not contend for an SEC East title one year after taking the division by storm and reaching the conference title game in Atlanta.

Too early to make such a proclamation? Hardly. The mighty Hoosiers are coming off a 45-42 loss at Bowling Green. Yes, the very same Bowling Green team that allowed Wisconsin running back Melvin Gordon to rack up 253 yards on just 13 carries Saturday while giving up a total of 644 yards on the ground.

The transitive property is annoying and often flawed in college football, but it's pretty clear that if the Tigers can't take down Indiana at home, they won't have a chance at South Carolina or against teams like Georgia. The Gamecocks and Bulldogs are the next two opponents on the schedule, by the way.

Road tests against Florida, Texas A&M and Tennessee suddenly look a lot more difficult as well.

It seems hard to believe that Missouri could go from the doorstep of an SEC title to potentially the doormat of the entire league. Well, not counting Kentucky or Vanderbilt, of course. A depleted wide receiving corps combined with the loss of running back Henry Josey gives the offense an excuse, while the departure of Kony Ealy and former SEC Defensive Player of the Year Michael Sam has hurt the defense.

But quarterback Maty Mauk stepped in for an injured James Franklin in 2013 and performed magnificently, which led many to believe the Tigers might only take a small step back, if at all. With several questions surrounding perennial contenders South Carolina and Georgia, the first few weeks of the season revealed a situation where Missouri had just as much of a chance as anyone to win the division crown.

Now, even after a nonconference loss, that scenario exists only in the dreams of Tigers fans.

L.G. Patterson/Associated Press

The defense allowed running back Tevin Coleman to rack up 132 yards and a score, while Nate Sudfield threw for 252 yards and a score for the Hoosiers. If you're unfamiliar with the rushing abilities of Coleman, shame on you because he's a good one. But if he's capable of that type of performance, what will Todd Gurley do?

Once fans escape from that particular nightmarish thought, it will be difficult to see a path that has the Tigers turning things around. A record of 3-1 isn't a disastrous start, but with the upcoming slate it's certainly worrisome.

When you look at the box score from the game against Indiana, nothing jumps out that suggests the Hoosiers might have escaped with a win, and that's the scariest part.

If the Tigers had coughed up the ball four times or had numerous breakdowns in the secondary leading to four or five huge plays, that would be one thing. It would help explain the loss and reveal specific problems that are fixable.

So the conclusion upon looking at the numbers is that Indiana simply beat Missouri without any gimmick or fluke plays.

On Indiana's go-ahead drive, the Hoosiers were stopped on fourth down in their own territory before a flag came flying in from the secondary for pass interference. Even if you question the call, which effectively kept Indiana alive, it still doesn't change the fact that Kevin Wilson's squad was in this thing from start to finish.

The Tigers aren't going to win the SEC, but on the bright side they'll still have a chance to grow with Mauk at quarterback and a young defense getting a taste of football in the nation's best conference.

There should be more winning the rest of the way, but the losses could outnumber the wins, at least in conference play. In order for Missouri to overcome an embarrassing nonconference loss, it must retain the hunger that gave it an edge so often during the 2013 season.

For now, one thought reverberates throughout the conference: Missouri will not surprise anyone in 2014 by contending for an SEC East title, because the Tigers are already out of the race.