I had the honor a few weeks ago of sitting down for brunch with two former Missouri Tiger greats from the mid 1970's.
Quarterback Steve Pizarkiewicz and his center, Mike Owens. As per normal, the conversation swung around to the upcoming college football season. The schedule for the Tigers of Ole Mizzou has now been released for the 2024 season and it merits a closer look than most media will take.
For years SEC football has been heralded as the premier football conference in college football history. But is that true? Have there been other conferences that could rightfully make that claim?
While it's undeniable the SEC seems to have a tight grip on the national title it's also true their season champion gets an automatic pass into the playoffs. No other conference enjoys that luxury. And, truth be told, the SEC has an easier road for its runner up to get in than most conference champions.
I've always believed the SEC is top heavy and history proves that correct in most seasons. But the focus here is on Mizzou. Is the "gamut" known as SEC football tougher for the Tigers now than, say, the 1976 Big 8 season? Let's examine.
In the 2024 season, Oklahoma and Texas will join the SEC. Mizzou's schedule for that inaugural season is one of the weakest in memory. Their 12 opponents in 2024 combined for 69 wins last year, 5.75 per team. That should guarantee Missouri its coveted 6-6 season and a pitiful bowl game. A closer look reveals Mizzou will play only two teams that finished in the Top 20 last year, three in the Top 25. Only Alabama was in the Top Ten. Only two opponents on that inaugural schedule had eight or more wins with South Carolina barely getting eight. Only five teams had a winning record.
By contrast, the 1976 Tigers played a true Murderer's Row. They opened at Southern Cal, upsetting the Trojans by three touchdowns. The Men of Troy wouldn't lose again all year and finished 2nd in the polls.
Later, they would go to Ohio St. and Nebraska and beat both on the road as well, dumping a final 6th ranked Buckeyes team and a 9th ranked Cornhusker squad.
Then came a loss to 5th ranked Oklahoma by 7 at Norman, a loss to 14th ranked Oklahoma St., a win over 16th ranked Colorado and a win over 19th ranked North Carolina. And, finally, a loss to 17th ranked Iowa St.
If you're keeping track, the '76 Tigers played four teams in the Top Ten, winning three, all away from Faurot Field. They played eight teams in the Top 19, winning 5. Eight of the Tigers' opponents that year won at least eight games, an average for the 11 games of 7 wins per opponent, a number lowered by Kansas St.'s 1-10.
So while the SEC wins National Titles regularly in football, NO team has ever played a more difficult schedule than the 1976 Missouri Tigers during that magical season of 1976!
I can still feel the autumn breeze as we greeted the Tigers at Columbia Regional Airport after their triumphant returns from the LA Coliseum, the Horseshoe in Columbus, Ohio and Nebraska's Memorial Stadium.
It's a snapshot in time, frozen in the annals of Mizzou's star crossed football history. And it will never be duplicated because of the watered down non conference schedules played today by Mizzou and everyone else. But I'll never forget it. And I carry the memory of how I enjoyed that 6-5 team much more than any 10-2 team during Gary Pinkel's era.
The Tigers would add upsets on the road at Alabama and Notre Dame, among others, making Al Onofrio's teams of the 70's the ultimate giant killers of all time. In Warren Powers' first game they would continue the proud tradition of the Onofrio years by adding another upset of the Irish at South Bend in his first game.
Remember those Golden years of gigantic upsets. It won't happen again because of cowards in the athletic departments across the country. .