How SEC Fans Should Feel About Missouri Now

Remember when Missouri was still considered an outsider in the SEC despite having the SEC logo stitched on its jerseys?

"The other school" in the latest round of conference expansion announced its presence in the SEC with authority, winning the SEC East in its second year in the league and then following it up with another division title this season.

Missouri wasn't the known commodity three years ago, but now it's known for one thing—winning.

Winning even when nobody gives it a chance.

Winning the way the Tigers want to play.

Winning in the toughest conference in America.

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Last year, Missouri came out of nowhere to win the SEC East thanks to SEC co-defensive player of the year Michael Sam and Kony Ealy getting pressure off the edge and a secondary that capitalized on mistakes. On offense, a veteran cast of quarterback James Franklin, running back Henry Josey and wide receivers L'Damian Washington and Marcus Lucas joined forces with superstar Dorial Green-Beckham to lead the Tigers to Atlanta.

With all of those stars gone, Missouri was bound to regress to the mean in 2014.

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Until it didn't.

All Missouri has done this season is produce a defense that's second in the SEC in yards per play (4.60), post the conference's second-best turnover margin (0.75), limit opponents to just 19.7 points per game and find enough offense to get the job done.

"Our players, obviously, they know what's going on," head coach Gary Pinkel said on Sunday. "They watch TV, they hear things. Certainly, they're competitors, and they have a lot of pride in who they are. I think our players drew off of that a little bit, the underdog, maybe not getting the respect that you want to. I think that's OK a little bit."

It's not OK, though.

Pinkel has coached Missouri teams that have won 10 or more games in five of the last eight seasons across two conferences. His offense is flexible enough to boast the nation's ninth-best rushing attack—as it did in 2009—or air it out as it did last season with what looked like three NBA power forwards playing wide receiver.

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His defense, coached by Broyles Award finalist Dave Steckel, finds ways to generate pressure even when superstars walk out the door.

It's a team without superstars that's coached by superstars.

"We do a thing called 'Mizzou Made' here," Pinkel said. "We think we've developed players as good as anybody in the country. We have a plan and infrastructure set in to do that, professionally, personally, academically, player development. We have our system. It's a system that I learned from Don James when I was a coach with him at the University of Washington."

It's time to recognize Missouri for what it is—an SEC East power.

Team	Conf. Record	Overall Record
Missouri	14-2	22-4
Georgia	11-5	17-8
South Carolina	9-7	17-8
Florida	7-9	10-13
Tennessee	5-11	11-13
Vanderbilt	4-12	12-13
Kentucky	4-12	7-17

While it's true that the Tigers have only one SEC win over a team that finished the season over .500 over the last two seasons, it's still the only program that has taken advantage of a "down" SEC East.

Georgia couldn't do it with Todd Gurley, a veteran linebacking corps and a small village of talented wide receivers. South Carolina couldn't do it last year with No. 1 overall draft pick Jadeveon Clowney, the best quarterback in program history in Connor Shaw and stud running back Mike Davis. Florida couldn't do it with one of the most talented defenses in the country.

Missouri did despite not paying much attention to star value.

"I've never looked at a recruiting ranking since I've been coaching," Pinkel said.

That's absolutely coachspeak for most, but for Pinkel, it's a way of life.

Missouri is well-coached, efficient and flexible.

That's a recipe for success whether it's in a tough division or not.

Barrett Sallee is the lead SEC college football writer and video analyst for Bleacher Report as well as a 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.