Perhaps because he had just arrived from a luncheon with the St. Louis chapter of the National Football Foundation, or maybe because the images from last Saturday are still burned into his brain, Mizzou athletics director Jim Sterk applied a sport-specific analogy when discussing his reaction to the Tigers' 35-3 home loss to Purdue.
"In football, you are used to getting hit hard sometimes," Sterk said. "It knocks you down. But you get up. And you make the next play. You learn to do that. That's what's great about sports."
Sterk paused. Then he acknowledged the obvious.