Normally a situation like Missouri’s would feel much different. The Tigers entered the season with an experienced junior who quarterbacked Mizzou to back-to-back SEC East titles but are preparing for the second game in a row without him as he serves a suspension.

But instead of being the kind of turmoil that can derail a season, the loss of Maty Mauk has simply been an opportunity for the Tigers to give freshman Drew Lock a real shot at being the man to get the Missouri offense back on track.

Lock, a four-star recruit out of the Kansas City area, was impressive enough in the preseason to earn playing time in every game this season despite Mauk returning as the incumbent starter. Part of that was the freshman’s potential, but another factor has been the lack of improvement out of Mauk since his own solid freshman season in 2013 when he filled in for an injured James Franklin.

Last week in the first game without Mauk, Lock completed 21 of 28 passes for 136 yards and 2 touchdowns in the Tigers’ 24-10 victory versus South Carolina. It was an impressive enough first start even if the play-calling was conservative and designed to make it as easy as possible for him.

For the season, Lock has completed 36 of 53 passes for 361 yards and 3 touchdowns with 1 interception. He hasn’t been so outstanding as to eliminate the possibility of Mauk ever getting the job back — Mauk has completed 57 of 110 passes for 654 yards, 6 touchdowns and 4 interceptions — but it’s certainly beginning to look like Lock is the future of the program at quarterback.

Of course, this weekend against No. 11 Florida will provide the youngster with his stiffest test to date, and the Tigers will follow it up with a trip to Georgia. Mizzou is 4-1 and 1-1 in SEC play, so there’s still plenty to play for this season. But winning both games and/or making it a three-peat in the division would be a tall order even if the Tigers – who have been dealing with injuries to top players such as running back Russell Hansbrough and linebacker Kentrell Brothers — were fully healthy.

So perhaps even more important in the coming weeks is setting the program up for the coming years, which might mean handing Lock the keys to the offense is the best decision for Missouri in both the short and long term.

The Tigers have seen what they have in Mauk, and it hasn’t changed much since his freshman season. In fact, he’s slipped statistically in each season with his current yards per attempt (5.95) and touchdown-to-interception ratio easily the worst of his career.

That’s not to say Lock is guaranteed to develop into a star in the way Chase Daniel and Blaine Gabbert did under Gary Pinkel, but he has a better opportunity to improve playing against SEC defenses full-time rather than a series or two here and there and/or mop-up duty.