Greg McElroy discusses Missouri's surprise start to season

Missouri was picked to finish sixth out of seven teams in the SEC East, but at the halfway point of the season, you can make the argument that the Tigers have been the second-best team in the division.

Missouri has an out-of-conference win over Kansas State and an impressive and dominant road victory over Kentucky.

ESPN analyst Greg McElroy spoke on the Always College Football podcast earlier this week about Missouri’s surprise start to the season.

“Missouri, as of right now, is probably at worst the second-best team in the SEC East. Now Tennessee might push back on that. Maybe Florida pushes back on that a little bit,” McElroy said. “But I, right now, if I had to pick Florida travels to Missouri… I like Missouri in that game. If I had to pick Tennessee and Missouri, I think it’d be a toss-up. Both teams are pretty good, but I actually think Missouri’s offense might be slightly more capable than Tennessee’s, at least at the moment. So Missouri has been a great surprise this season.”

The only loss for the Tigers so far this year came on Oct. 7 when LSU earned a 49-39 win in Columbia. Even in that game, Missouri had plenty of opportunities to win.

Missouri led 39-35 with less than six minutes remaining, before LSU had a couple of late scores to secure the win.

“Missouri currently sits at 6-1. They’re ranked 20^th in the AP Poll. They did lose to LSU at home by double digits, but if you look at the game, it was really 3 until the pick-six at the end of the game to put the game on ice,” McElroy said.

He added that the Tigers could still end up winning the SEC East. The second half of the schedule is tough and includes games against Georgia, Tennessee and Florida. But McElroy expects the Tigers to be in the race throughout.

“I think Missouri has plenty of opportunities to control their own destiny. If they win out, that would obviously include beating Georgia. They almost got Georgia last year. … In Athens would be a much more difficult hill to climb. But they’re in a position to maybe find their way to the SEC Championship game,” McElroy said. “Of course you’ve gotta beat Georgia. I don’t think it’s likely, but still, man. To think that they would have a win against Kansas State, to think that they’d have a win as convincingly as they did against Kentucky.”