🏈 Mizzou, Aggies add fuel to their fire

[BAMANEWSBOT]

Generally a team has to be humiliated on the field before it gets a chip on its shoulder. Somebody will take a cheap shot late in a game. Or a coach will run up the score. Or a bad call leaves a bitter taste.

That’s how those flames of hatred are fueled.

ButMissouriand Texas A&M players and coaches won’t have to wait for battle. Seeds of their anger were sown Tuesday at SEC Media Days, when they were all but treated the way Mrs. Drysdale treated the Clampetts when they moved into the mansion next door in Beverly Hills.

It wasn’t the questioning, it was the tone. It was just one sneer short of, “So how are you going to adjust with facemasks and shoulder pads, since you probably didn’t play with those things in the Big 12?”

Need some examples?

“Is there a fine line of telling your guys, Let’s go out and play, this is a tough league, let’s don’t be intimidated?”

“Do you look at theGeorgiagame … as a chance to earn that respect? Do you think people undersell the Big 12?”

“Do you look at the offense and defense and start on that basis in recruiting just to match up with the other teams because the SEC is so dominant on both lines?”

“Do you think that theMissourifamily has a little bit of a chip on their shoulders because they’ve been told over and over that you’ve been playing JV football and now you’re going to the big leagues?”

“Do you think your defense can be the type of defense that the SEC is known for? If not, what will y’all have to do to get to that point?”

And on, and on, and on.

Aggie coach Kevin Sumlin tried to play along. “My assessment (of the SEC West) is it’s a pretty damn hard league. That’s my assessment,” Sumlin said.

Missouricoach Gary Pinkel didn’t. “I’d be disappointed if we were intimidated,” Pinkel said. “We played in a pretty good football league ourselves.”

Look, these are major conference players. They know the SEC has won the last six national championships. They also are eager to prove they can compete with the best.

All Tuesday did was add to their motivation.

After all, the Clampetts are here to stay.

From Dothan Eagle:

 

[TerryP]

I've enjoyed Ken's articles, he takes a pretty solid stance on his observations about SEC play. I am a little shocked he talks about what others are saying and then chooses to conclude his article with, "After all, the Clampetts are here to stay."

Far from accurate to describe any of these two schools as "Clampetts," right?

Not that I should expect reasonable questions from the hundreds of media reps at the Winfrey. Heck, I heard a writer from the "Red and Black" question James Franklin about bad feelings between Georgia and Vandy because of the emotions at the end of last years game.

I do find it reasonable to ask a few things about these two newcomers. Take A&M for instance. So many people point to their "money" and "being in Texas" (which no one denies is a hotbed for recruits) and claim they'll make waves, instantly, in the SEC.

A good question for A&M? If they have all of those things in place, why haven't they been competitive in the Big12?

I tire of hearing "Look what Mizzou did a few years ago when they made it to #1 in the country" but those stating such, out of the other side of their mouths on a different day they'll be stating, "look how weak the Big12 north..."