So-so fan support dooms Mizzou to so-so bowl

Oct. 24, 2010: Missouri fans storm onto Faurot Field at the conclusion of the Tigers' 36-27 victory over Oklahoma. Attendance for the OU game was a season-high 71,004.
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BY JEFF GORDON www.STLtoday.com |

Year after year, the bowl selection process slights the Missouri football program.

Year after year, lesser teams – like Kansas and Iowa State from the Big 12 Conference – earn invitations to better bowl games.

Year after year, Mizzou fans complain about this travesty. And year after year Mizzou fans fail to support the Tigers to the maximum, thus perpetuating the problem.

They have only themselves to blame for this annual aggravation. 

Missouri football has a lot of loyal supporters, but it needs more.
Bowl scouts eyeing the Missouri-Kansas game noticed all those empty seats at Arrowhead Stadium. Sure, Kansas fans bailed on their team and killed ticket sales.

But why didn’t Tiger fans pick up the slack and fill the stadium? 

Where were the front-runners when the school needed them?

And as colleague Vahe Gregorian reported in his excellent analytical piece, bowl officials are well aware of Missouri’s history of tepid bowl game ticket sales. The Tigers don’t “travel well,” as they say in the business.

So Mizzou is destined for second- or third-tier bowl relegation again this season, despite winning 10 games and knocking off then-No. 1 Oklahoma.

The Tigers also earned victories over bowl-bound Texas A&M, Kansas State, Illinois and San Diego State. Their losses came on the road to bowl-bound Nebraska and Texas Tech.

The computers loved Missouri’s work this season, helping the Tigers rise to 12th in the latest BCS standings. The sportswriters and coaches respected them in their polls, too.

Coach Gary Pinkel proudly cites his program’s 40 wins over the last four years, which ranks Mizzou among the nation’s best during that span.

But college football is not a meritocracy. It is a really big business – and that is where the Missouri falls well short of the power schools.
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