Two-time SEC East champs, Missouri can’t get any respect

Missouri has won 23 games, including 14 in the SEC and two bowls, and back-to-back SEC East championships over the past two seasons. The Tigers return 13 starters, including one of the most experienced quarterbacks in the league.

Yet, Georgia or Tennessee is expected to be on top when preseason SEC picks are released on Thursday.

“It probably bothers my players more than me,” Tigers coach Gary Pinkel said.

SEC Media Days was alive with the talk of Tennessee returning to glory or the Bulldogs, despite having an unsettled situation at quarterback, riding tailback Nick Chubb to Atlanta in December. Reporters and analysts debated if the Volunteers or Georgia could beat an Alabama or an Arkansas.

What about Missouri?

“It definitely makes us feel like we’re not respected in the SEC,” cornerback Kenya Dennis said, championship ring glistening on his finger. “We’re just going to try to keep winning.”

Quarterback Maty Mauk understood – sort of.

“It felt great, but we’ve got to win the whole thing,” Mauk said of the team’s second straight division title. “We’re back-to-back SEC East champs, and we’re coming for a third.”

Troll Tide The Wynfrey hotel lobby was packed with Alabama fans as the Crimson Tide took their turn at Media Days. Two Ohio State fans crashed the party.

Clad in championship T-shirts – including one that read “Ohio State won it first” – the two Buckeye supporters quietly went about their business. There were some dirty looks, no doubt left over from Ohio State’s 42-35 win against Bama in the Sugar Bowl, and also because one of the two “OSU fans” was wearing Auburn shorts.

Alabama was still well-represented, from the fan who wore a foam replica of a championship ring on his head to a Bear Bryant impersonator, right down to the rolled-up program in his fist.

Just a second now The SEC East has had its reputation pummeled with each successive beating in the SEC Championship Game. The division hasn’t had a league champion since 2008 and has lost the past six title contests by an average of 23.3 points.

Steve Spurrier – who helped set that mark with a 56-17 shellacking from Auburn in 2010 – stood up for the East anyway.

“Let me brag on the Eastern division a little bit now,” he said. “You know we were 5-0 in bowl games. That Western side, Arkansas won and Texas A&M won. So other than that, the Eastern Division upheld the SEC a little bit in bowl games.”

The West was 2-5 in bowls last year while the East was unbeaten.

Nicked Kentucky offensive tackle Jordan Swindle shared his nickname – “Swin Diesel” – although he doesn’t know how he was tagged with it.

“I’m honestly not even sure. It’s been around since high school and somehow it came back up through college,” Swindle said. “Kind of a funny name, but it’s cool. I like it.”

The hulking 6-foot-7, 309-pound lineman has the build of actor Vin Diesel but has a deceptive soft-spoken voice, not the bass rumble of “The Fast and the Furious” star.

They said it “It does have ‘Kansas’ in it.” – Mauk, on whether or not Arkansas has become a rival of Missouri’s.