Brando: Mizzou upset of Alabama would be a 'worst-case scenario' for SEC

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Missouri won't be playing in the inaugural College Football Playoff, but the Tigers could still shake up the national narrative as much as anyone.

The latest CFP rankings put Missouri at No. 16 behind three three-loss teams, showing the committee isn't impressed with an SEC East title by a team that lost at home to Indiana and didn't beat a single team with a winning conference record. Nonetheless, the Tigers get a shot Saturday to beat No. 1 Alabama in the SEC title game and create the unthinkable.

"There's a part of the SEC infrastructure that can't help looking at the dawning of this era and not see the Tigers as their worst nightmare because their success means perhaps conference failure," says FOX Sports college football broadcaster Tim Brando. "If the league were to get shut out as a result of Missouri winning, that would be in many ways the worst-case scenario for the most dominant conference in the last eight years of college football."

As FOX Sports college football analysts Joel Klatt and Charles Davis traveled around the country covering games, they heard plenty of talk -- largely complaints -- about the SEC getting two teams into the playoff, a scenario that seemed likely as late as last week, before Ole Miss knocked off Mississippi State. Both say they never even heard discussion about the possibility of four playoff teams coming from outside the SEC or two participants from another conference, which could happen if both Baylor and TCU get in from the Big 12.

Brando boldly made the prediction last summer that the SEC would be shut out of the playoff, and he believes Alabama will face a much tougher challenge than most people think. Missouri has its share of doubters within the league and the national media, but Brando isn't among them.

"I think the respect level for Missouri among football people in the SEC is tremendous," Brando says. "I think the respect level among fans, particularly hardheaded SEC traditionalists, is still wavering."

History doesn't exactly help the Tigers, who are 0-8 vs. top 10 teams since joining the SEC three years ago and have lost all three of their conference championship appearances (two in the Big 12, one in the SEC) while allowing an average of 53 points per game. Coach Gary Pinkel and his players are well aware of what a win would mean for a program that hasn't won its league since sharing a Big Eight title with Nebraska in 1969.

Those are just some of the reasons why others are less impressed by Missouri's accomplishments, including FOX Sports College Football Insider Stewart Mandel. He says the Tigers' ranking shows the committee looks beyond their fifth division title in eight years and proves the benefits of a more nuanced approach.

FOX Sports college football analyst Joel Klatt, Brando's broadcast partner for Friday's Pac-12 championship game between Arizona and Oregon, doesn't like Mizzou's chances against an Alabama team that overcame three Auburn interceptions last weekend to win the Iron Bowl, 55-44. The Crimson Tide may not quite have the overall talent of past seasons, but Klatt says their improved explosiveness on offense thanks to players such as wide receiver Amari Cooper might make them even better.

"When you watch Missouri and Alabama, I don't see it," he says. "It would have to be a pretty crazy game for Missouri to beat Alabama this week."

Then again, this season has already seen plenty of crazy games, and Brando expects plenty more upsets in championship week. He sees legitimate talent on Missouri's roster, which features more well-known players than the group that came out of nowhere to claim the SEC East a year ago.

Comments like those from Klatt and Mandel don't bother Pinkel, who would prefer his players focus on themselves rather than their opponents or what pundits have to say. But for some, like sophomore defenders Michael Scherer and Aarion Penton, the underdog role they've thrived in all season adds some motivation.

"I tend to think that we always play better when we're the underdogs and we don't have our heads blowing all up and that we're the best," Penton says. "I feel like it's going to be a great game this weekend."

The Tigers' two losses actually came when they were favored, first against Indiana and then at home against Georgia the same week the Bulldogs suspended dominant running back Todd Gurley. Brando says critics have focused too much on those two games in a college football season without any dominant teams where past results aren't always a good indicator of the future.

Even though Brando says Alabama might be the most complete team in America, it's clear the Crimson Tide still have some weaknesses. Missouri would certainly be better off with last year's receiving corps against a relatively weak secondary, but Brando says the Tigers still match up better with Alabama than they did against Auburn in last year's SEC championship game.

Missouri trailed by only three points heading into the fourth quarter of that game before falling 59-42, a result that all-purpose back Marcus Murphy says will inspire the Tigers to fight even harder this time around. An upset would surely end any talk of "respect" for Missouri, but it might come at the expense of the rest of the league.

"In a lot of ways you can call them Cinderella, but no one wants to give them a glass slipper," Brando says. "They represent the darkness to the SEC as an underdog in this game."

You can follow Luke Thompson on Twitter at @FS_LukeT or email him at lukegthompson87@gmail.com.