With all due respect to the Bears, the Mizzou loss to Baylor almost defies explanation. A 14-point underdog that had scored 34 points in 4 previous Big XII games, all loses, Baylor had only won one previous Big XII road game in the history of the league. After the stunning round kick to the teeth with a knife strike to the crotch, Mizzou is reeling. What happened? From Dave Matter on Sean Weatherspoon, the heart and soul of the Mizzou defense, who suggests it's the youth of the team:
“We got beat in the last 48 hours,” he said. “That’s the thing. A lot of people don’t think that has anything to do with it, when you’re in the hotel and getting prepared mentally and getting your mind right to go into a war. … But you have to be in a certain mind-set to go play that game. The preparation was there. We did what we needed to do all week in practice. It was a sense of not having your mind right to go out and do it on Saturday. That was flabbergasting to me.”
The afternoon before home games, MU players are transported to a local hotel where they hold various meetings throughout the evening. That’s when Weatherspoon said he could sense trouble brewing.
“You’ve got to be mature,” he said. “You can’t have guys joking around and having a good time on Friday night. You’ve got to wake up ready to play football. We had some guys joking around, having a good time and laughing. Coach Stec said it’s probably the loudest he’s seen the defense before we do our ritual that night. It kind of showed on the field and that’s how the game went.
“It was really loosey-goosey, just goofing around. And that’s what you can’t do if you want to get your mind right to play a game.”
Weatherspoon credited defensive coordinator Dave Steckel with settling down the antics and getting the team refocused Friday night, but, he said, “I think the damage had already been done.”
Some of the goofing continued on Sunday, when the team gathered for meetings and the mandatory practice that always follows a loss, Weatherspoon said.
Spoon thinks it is the result of Mizzou being such a young team (only 7 players on the two-deep roster are seniors). We can only hope. But if this doesn't get straightened out, these players will be able to goof around when they could be bowling.