COLUMBIA, Mo.—Even the most loyal Missouri fan has probably written off the school’s chances of winning a third straight Big 12 North championship.
Senior linebacker Sean Weatherspoon has not given up the dream. He believes the turnaround is just around the corner now that the toughest stretch of the season is over.
“He’s trying to keep us positive and keep the spirits high,” cornerback Kevin Rutland said. “He tells us that just because we lost three games, it’s not over. We still have a chance to make a bowl game and get to the Big 12 championship game.”
Losses to No. 3 Texas, No. 16 Oklahoma State and Nebraska the last three weeks have saddled Missouri with an 0-3 conference record for the first time since 2002. The last five games all appear winnable, as long as players don’t lose hope.
Missouri (4-3, 0-3 Big 12) is a slight favorite to begin the climb out of the North cellar on Saturday at Colorado (2-5, 1-2). The rest of the schedule has no dominating teams with Baylor, surprising North leader Kansas State, Iowa State and Kansas a combined 18-11 overall and 5-8 in conference play.
“With what’s going on in the North right now it kind of motivates everybody,” Weatherspoon said. “We know that there’s a lot still out there. We’ve got five games left and we’ve just got to take care of business one game at a time.”
Weatherspoon would likely have to be a major factor in a turnaround. A star since his sophomore season, he leads the team in tackles for the third straight season.
Weatherspoon was third in the Big 12 with 127 tackles in 2007. As a junior, he had 149 tackles while returning two interceptions for touchdowns to earn unanimous all-Big 12 honors, and this year he’s fourth in the conference with 61 stops.
That total includes 11 tackles in last week’s 41-7 loss to No. 3 Texas. Weatherspoon had an interception in the blowout loss to Texas, a game that had the majority of a sellout homecoming crowd heading for the exits just after halftime.
“It’s an attitude. You have to go and get the ball, it’s not just going to happen,” he said. “That’s why they call it creating takeaways.”
Defensive coordinator Dave Steckel said Weatherspoon is the Tigers’ undisputed leader on and off the field.
“He does everything he says he’s going to do,” Steckel said. “He does a great job both being vocal and leading by example to educate and be a leader for our younger guys.”
The glaring problem for the defense in Steckel’s first season as coordinator has been a lack of big plays. The Tigers replaced seven starters from a 10-4 team and are 10th in the conference in third-down defense and last in both takeaways and red zone defense.
“I’ve had years where you have this,” coach Gary Pinkel said. “All you can do is just keep working at it, working at it, working at it. We will persist and hopefully it will turn around.”
