It’s time we all consider Missouri as one of the SEC’s best football programs.

Entering 2014, fans fell into one of two camps:

a) The 12-2 season in 2013 was no fluke. Coach Gary Pinkel and Missouri football are mainstays that can continue to compete for the SEC East title on an annual basis despite major personnel losses.

b) Missouri got lucky to win a down SEC East in 2013 with a team that won a few games it shouldn’t have. After massive personnel losses, the Tigers will regress to what will become their norm in the SEC: seven or eight wins and a middling bowl game.

Few people outside of Missouri fell into Camp A, though the loud minority made themselves visible on the Paul Finebaum show, SEC forums and in the comments section of major college football websites.

Tigers fans felt like the program wasn’t getting the credit it deserved since entering the league three seasons ago. They sounded determined to bend the ear of the media, or at least supersede the media and get the word out to the other 13 fan bases: We’re here to stay, and we may even be better than you.

The zeal and exuberance fit nicely in SEC circles, but it felt misplaced. As I wrote before the season, it mattered little what the rest of the world thought of Mizzou football prior to the season. Either the Tigers would continue to surpass expectations, and many in Camp B would scamper over to Camp A and sheepishly ask for an open tent, or Camp A would prove to be wishful thinking.

The media slotted Mizzou, defending SEC East champions, fourth in the preseason poll behind South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. The Tigers went 2-1 against those programs to claim back-to-back division titles.

Lindy’s Sports, Sporting News, USA Today and Phil Steele all left Missouri out of their respective preseason Top 25 rankings. Athlon Sports included Pinkel’s team at No. 25 as the only major publication to rank the Tigers. Mizzou finished 16th in the College Football Playoff poll, ranks 16th in the Associated Press poll and ranks 14th in the Coaches poll.

Mizzou even went 2-0 against the big, bad SEC West in the regular season, a feat matched only by Georgia.

Most wanted the Tigers to do as the state’s nickname suggests and “Show Me” one more time. Well, the team lost its starting quarterback, running back, left tackle, top three receivers, defensive ends, middle linebacker and cornerbacks — most of whom spent the fall in an NFL training camp — and still won 10 regular-season games.

The Tigers are 14-2 against SEC teams in the regular season the last two years and 22-5 overall. Thanks to an SEC championship game win, only Alabama has had a better two-year run. South Carolina, Kentucky and Vanderbilt never have won consecutive SEC East titles.

Claiming Cotton and Citrus Bowl wins in consecutive seasons would be fantastic for Missouri. While it’s a shame the program didn’t get a BCS bowl in 2013 and didn’t make a New Year’s Six bowl in 2014, the program has a chance to win arguably the most prestigious bowl outside of the marquee series in consecutive Januarys.

The Tigers didn’t regress to the mean this year as many, including myself, anticipated. No matter what happens against Minnesota on Jan. 1, this program deserves less doubt heading into 2015. Sure, the team again should lose both starting defensive ends to the NFL draft as well as its three leading receivers, starting left tackle, two crucial interior defensive lineman, the team’s best safety and arguably the best kick returner in school history.

The team’s 2015 recruiting class again should finish near the bottom of the SEC, near Kentucky and Vanderbilt. Tennessee and Florida appear poised to make a leap forward, Georgia has been the most consistent team in the East, Kentucky hopes to break through as a bowl team and South Carolina and Vanderbilt likely will be at least as good. The SEC East is going to get tougher.

But Missouri has earned the right to be considered one of the most successful and respected programs in the SEC. Pinkel’s teams rarely lose games they are supposed to win (like Indiana), play some of their best football on the road and as underdogs, and almost never get blown out. He finds athleticism and develops skill, and though Mizzou almost never has the depth of an Alabama or an LSU, its starting 22 usually comes close.

The Tigers are one of the top programs in the SEC East and in the conference as a whole until proven otherwise. If the Tigers aren’t ranked in the preseason Top 25 this coming summer, it won’t be just Mizzou fans whining — other fan bases and media members should have its back.

Missouri fans, you’ve lived up to your name and shown all of us. It took a while to gain full acceptance into what has always been a Good Ol’ Boys club, but now you’re a full-fledged member, not just in name.

You were right all along. Many of us owe you an apology. Maybe even an M-I-Z…