Column:

Win and get in

By Mark Levitt

Published Oct. 16, 2008

 Stop crying. Enough sulking. Get your hands off the top of your heads. Tomorrow Missouri plays its most important game of the year.

I, like every one of the other 68,000-plus fans at last Saturday's upset at Faurot Field, have spent much of the time since in disbelief and depression. Losing to Oklahoma State at home was not part of the plan. Rather than moving to 6-0, the Tigers went off script, down in the rankings and into the loss column.

Almost a week later, MU fans still have a taste in their mouths resembling a year-old Shakespeare's pizza with untimely interceptions on top. That bitterness might last a while. But the mourning period needs to end now.

If the Tigers want to be a National Championship contender, they must beat Texas on Saturday night. Many college football fans want a playoff system. MU starts one tomorrow.

The tournament consists of seven games (including the Big 12 title game). Single elimination. Losing ends MU's dream of qualifying for the BCS Championship game. Winning gives them a decent opportunity. Easy to accomplish? No. Unlikely?  Maybe. Exciting? Absolutely.

Unfortunately Missouri has a tough draw. Its first-round opponent happens to be the No. 1 team in the country.

For those who think this is too tall an order, consider the following:

The offense struggled against the Cowboys and the defense remained susceptible. But the last game was an aberration, not the norm. Missouri is a good team that played poorly. We will find out tomorrow whether it can be great.

Winning the National Championship is not supposed to be easy. In the past, a loss to OSU would have been game, set and match for Missouri's hopes. We are lucky to still have the opportunity to climb up the mountain, no matter how steep it may be.

If - and it is an "if" as big as the state of Texas - the Tigers can sneak out a win in Austin, the rest of the schedule sets up favorably. They host Colorado, travel to Baylor, match up with Kansas State at home and play Iowa State on the road before finishing the regular season against Kansas in Kansas City. Missouri should be favored to beat all of those teams.

A year ago the Tigers lost a game in Norman, Okla. They moved to 6-1 and fell to No. 15 in the rankings. If Missouri wins Saturday, it will improve to 6-1 and move back into the top 10 of the national polls. In case memories are fuzzy, I remind people that the Tigers eventually climbed their way to No. 1 by the end of last season.

Chase Daniel will strut into the Lone Star State with an extra-large chip on his shoulder. Daniel has had this game marked on his calendar ever since Texas coach Mack Brown didn't think he was talented (or tall) enough to warrant serious attention in high school. Think Daniel wants to make a point? Juxtapose this with the fact that Chase hates losing more than most, and he knows the only way to fix last week is with a "W" tomorrow.

The Tigers are going to beat Texas because they have to. They will come with a vengeance and hope to reinvigorate the city of Columbia with the best medicine in sports: winning.