Barry Odom and the Year 3 plateau

Here’s the thing about the 2017 Missouri football team: It ended up right about where I thought it would.

The way the Tigers got there — you know, going 1-5 before winning six straight to end the season, something about a speech, something about lighting stuff on fire — was a little unconventional. But the 7-6 end result was right about where I (and, let’s be honest, a bunch of other prognosticaty types) thought Missouri would be.

That’s not meant as a slight to Barry Odom. That’s actually meant as a bit of a compliment, that I thought he had the competency as a head coach and his team had the requisite talent and potential to make a modest gain from Year 1 to Year 2.

Odom’s first two seasons…