MU's player meeting not going to be enough

KANSAS CITY, Kan. – I’ll level with you, I bounced back and forth on whether the subject was worth exploring through an entire column. But, when regular e-mailer and K-State fan Ryan sent his thoughts along with asking what my opinion was concerning Gary Pinkel’s Missouri Tigers and the team’s current mental state, well, here we are…

My opinion?  Forget self-confidence issues because this isn’t Todd Reesing and Kansas.  This is Missouri, which has hurdles much larger than confidence. 

We know this much: a team meeting, a players-only team meeting, took place Sunday afternoon.  And, judging from comments made afterward by Tigers captains Sean Weatherspoon and Kurtis Gregory, the get-together didn’t have its desired effect.

In fact, it immediately brought to mind the old adage that winners win and losers…well, they meet.

Oh, the joys of an unexpectedly bad season.

I watched firsthand a handful of good players suffer through playing on bad teams in Manhattan the past three seasons, so I understand where Gregory and Weatherspoon are coming from. 

I witnessed the rapidity with which repeated bad losses can act as Hydrochloric acid on team chemistry.  As each loss mounts, especially in that yearly final three or four-game window, it eats away larger and larger chunks of a team’s resolve.*

*Funny enough, as the resolve of those Ron Prince-led teams waned, the ability to fill reporters’ notebooks seemed to grow.  Exhibit A:  Deon “take it to the house” Murphy.

After putting all of its hopes on winning four straight to smash its way back into the Big 12 North picture, the horrendous come-from-ahead 40-32 loss to Baylor at Faurot Field last weekend had the effect of pouring a cup of salt on a slug.

No meeting, no matter how much the captains and seniors want it to, is going to piece that mess back together again, not this season.

The Tigers knew this year was going to be a step back from the Chase Daniel years.  Heck, anybody who follows college football knew that.  That’s why they were picked third in the division during the preseason. 

If anything, considering all that Missouri lost from last year’s team, the third-place pick was a kiss on the cheek from voters toward Pinkel’s staff’s ability to recruit solid talent.  Other teams facing similar challenges likely would have been voted lower. 

But, it is as if Missouri in some way confused the respectful nod for an invitation of entitlement and then mixed it with youth before injuries later entered the picture.

None of it boded well for the Tigers.

Pinkel and company tried to slide one by, not by other teams, but itself.  The program expected it could get by on the talents of young quarterback Blaine Gabbert as he adapted to the rigors of being a starter. It could have happened, but then Ndamukong Suh treated Gabbert’s ankle like a parked car (or three).   

The coaching staff expected it could rely on an apparent strength in its running game, but that hasn’t happened as the Tigers rank 10th in Big 12 rushing behind an offensive line that has had its share of issues.

Defensively, the Tigers expected its stable of defensive ends could/would contain opposing offenses to such a level that it would make up for virtually any other deficiencies.  Baylor, using a third-string freshman at QB, was the latest team to prove problems in the secondary extend well past anything even a couple of good d-ends can cover up.

Maybe there is enough talent in place for a quick rebound next year, maybe there isn’t.  Either way, it doesn’t change the fact that there are pieces of this Tigers bunch, nameless as of now, apparently ready to call it good on 2009.

If I’m wrong, then the players don’t feel the need to have a players-only meeting this late in the year.

If the Tigers were winning, or at least felt comfortable with the direction of the season, they wouldn’t have met.  But, obviously, they did.

Regardless, some K-State fans, like Ryan, are uneasy with this weekend’s Wildcats/Tigers game in Manhattan.  They believe the Tigers could scale another peak on their erratic emotional rollercoaster and play spoiler on Senior Day at Bill Snyder Family Stadium.*

*Where K-State is undefeated this season and would qualify for a bowl game if it wraps up its first undefeated home slate since 1999.

Maybe under different circumstances, I might be swayed into some form of that scenario.  It isn’t all that much of a stretch considering where the Tigers should be this far into Pinkel’s development of his team.

However, fact is the Tigers are the complete opposite of the steadfastly improving Wildcats, which are led by guys like non-celebratory Daniel Thomas, all-business Jeffrey Fitzgerald and sixth-year senior Grant Gregory.

During Monday’s Big 12 Coaches’ teleconference, Pinkel used the word “consistent” twice in one sentence to describe K-State.  On Thursday, the Missouri coach sounded defensive and a little worn out talking about his team during his shorter-than-normal weekly interview with Kevin Kietzman on Between the Lines.

Maybe there is one reason above others why Bill Snyder’s five previous outcomes versus Gary Pinkel, regardless of the names on the backs of the jerseys, have remained consistent as well.


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