Mizzou Tigers: Barry Odom might save his job with a win

It’s just year two of the Barry Odom Era with the Mizzou Tigers football team, but he’s already on the hot seat. He can change that with a big win Saturday.

This has been a pretty embarrassing season for the Mizzou Tigers football program. Enough so that second-year head coach Barry Odom might already be on the hot seat. However, coming off of back to back blowout wins, Odom may be able to save his job by beating Florida this week.

No, a second-year head coach should not be on the hot seat, but that’s how bad the Tigers have been this year. Missouri football was already in a bad place when Barry Odom came to town, but things actually appear worse this year. Coming into the final stretch to his second season, Odom’s team has only won two games in the conference in his tenure.

The SEC is not an easy place to win. However, if you become the bottom dweller of the conference, it is very hard to climb your way out. There are a number of teams that can attest to that. Losing hurts your recruiting a lot in the SEC, which makes it harder to win. The whole situation turns into a downward spiral in a hurry.

Recent Victories Don’t Hold Much Water

Those who want to look on the bright side of things will point to the Mizzou Tigers winning their last two games by huge margins. The Tigers beat lowly Idaho and UConn by a combined score of 120-33. That might be enough to get some fans to perk up, but it’s ultimately unimpressive on the grand scale of things.

Barry Odom has got to beat some conference opponents, and he’s running out of opportunities. There is nothing overly impressive about the rest of the Tigers schedule this year. Florida (3-4), Tennessee (3-5), Vanderbilt (3-5), and Arkansas (3-5) are all struggling this season. However, they’ll all point at Mizzou and say the exact same thing.

Related Story: Mizzou Tigers: Time For A Winning Streak

Technically speaking, the Missouri Tigers aren’t out of bowl contention yet. In fact, they can even put up a winning season by winning out this year. The odds of that are not high, but it is possible. Finishing strong like that, especially in conference play, would go a long ways towards getting Barry Odom out of hot water.

Progress Will Lead To Progress

While the Mizzou Tigers upcoming schedule isn’t impressive, they will be playing some high-profile games. That is especially true of their next two games against Florida and Tennessee. Despite those teams having down years, they still generate a huge amount of national interest in recruiting.

More from Missouri Tigers

• NBA Draft Prospects to Watch From Kansas, Missouri, and Kansas State
• Missouri Tigers: Key Takeaways From Mizzou’s Black and Gold Spring Game
• Why Missouri Tiger’s Tyler Badie Is Worth a Draft Selection
• Mizzou Wrestling Looks To Take On Iowa State
• Mizzou Wrestling Knocks Off Tenth Ranked Oklahoma State

If the Tigers can put on an impressive performance against these two teams, it will help them attract some more talent to the program. That is what you have to do to succeed in the SEC. That’s especially important with recent recruiting news being not so good for Mizzou.

Barry Odom is in a tight spot and needs a marquee victory or two (or four). As he is failing, school boosters are watching Will Muschamp, hired around the same time as Odom, winning at South Carolina. That’s a hard pill to swallow for people who have pull in regards to who gets hired and fired.

Barry Odom isn’t sunk just yet, but his Mizzou Tigers need to start winning some meaningful football games if he wants to save his job. That starts this weekend with a home game against Florida. The Gators are looking very vulnerable right now, so this is the perfect opportunity to show something. Maybe that will save Odom’s job.