Road warriors: Mizzou's 'focus' key to success away from Columbia

No matter what, don’t ask Gary Pinkel about it.

He doesn’t want to talk about it.

“This is just another game, a very important game for us,” the Missouri head coach said last week prior to playing Texas A&M. “I don’t want to talk about it. I’d rather just focus on this football game.”

As a team that seems to make a living by flying under-the-radar in the college football world, the Missouri Tigers’ road win streak has started to garner the attention of people outside Columbia, Mo.

The Tigers, who currently reside in first place in the SEC East, have won nine straight road games. Their most recent road victory came just last weekend against the Aggies. Missouri navigated through one of the toughest road environments in the SEC — Kyle Field — and put together an impressive 34-27 win to remain atop the division standings.

Pinkel swears there’s no magic formula to getting his team to play its best away from Faurot Field and says it all just about focus.

“We don’t really ever talk about [the streak]. The whole key for anybody is to be able to focus, no matter where you play,” Pinkel explained. “The whole key is can you focus on playing your best, regardless of the environment or circumstances? We don’t prepare any different on the road than we do for home.”

“If I had a key [to winning on the road], I would have done it through my whole career,” he added during Wednesday’s teleconference.

Whether Pinkel wants to discuss it or not, the fact is that Missouri’s road winning streak is reaching historical proportions. Nine consecutive road wins ties the school record and is currently the third-longest active road streak among FBS schools.

This season has perhaps been the most perplexing for Missouri since entering the SEC. Despite suffering a stunning home defeat at the hands of Indiana (currently winless in the Big 10) and a period of about three or four weeks of offensive incompetence, the Tigers are right where they want to be — controlling their own destiny in the SEC East.

On the road this season, Missouri’s success hasn’t wavered, but the Tigers have been forced to win a number of different ways.

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Last week against Texas A&M, the offense had by far its best performance of the season, racking up 587 total yards of offense and outscoring a potent Texas A&M offense 34-27 in unfavorable weather conditions.

At the Swamp versus Florida, Missouri’s offense could have taken the night off and still won. The Tigers’ defense and special teams was the difference in that matchup, scoring four touchdowns between the two units in a dominating 42-13 win that led to the home crowd chanting to fire their head coach.

In late September, the South Carolina Gamecocks had shut down Missouri for three and a half quarters, up 20-7 midway through the fourth quarter. Suddenly, Missouri’s offense came alive and came roaring back in the closing minutes as the Tigers rallied for a 21-20 win.

Missouri faces its last road game of the regular season this week with a matchup in Neyland Stadium against the Tennessee Volunteers. Butch Jones’ squad looked to be headed toward a disappointing season, but the emergence of Joshua Dobbs at quarterback has injected new life and energy into the team.

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With the Vols on a two-game winning streak and a chance to derail Missouri’s postseason hopes, the 102,000-plus crowd at Neyland Stadium will be ready to welcome in the Tigers with open arms, so to speak.

For Missouri, no matter the stakes, it’s just another game.

“It goes back to Coach Pinkel,” Mizzou quarterback Maty Mauk said to David Morrison of the Columbia Daily Tribune. “What he does with us is focus on you, not them. Are we going to go there and beat them, or are we going to beat ourselves? It’s a big thing. I think our guys really buy into that whole thing.”