Bowl games are a funny thing.  In Monday's Independence Bowl, you seemingly had two evenly matched teams, on paper at least.  On the field, however, it was an entirely different scenario.  Missouri was clearly the team with the right mindset going in and dominated North Carolina winning 41-24.  Bowl games aren't supposed to look like early season non-conference tilts against lesser opponents but that's exactly what this looked like.

Take a look at Missouri's first half drive chart and you'll get a good idea of how ready Missouri was to play, or how not ready the Tar Heels were.

Missouri first-half possessions:

The Tigers scored on all five of their first half possessions and led 31-7 at halftime.

As for the North Carolina run defense that had been so good all year?  Yeah, it wasn't so good on Monday.  When the Tigers starting routinely ripping off 10 yard runs, it was the perfect indicator that maybe the Tar Heels weren't exactly focused coming in.

Missouri was playing without their leading rusher, Henry Josey, but it didn't matter against UNC.  Mizzou's offensive line had their way with a very solid North Carolina defensive front.  The Tigers had 192 yards rushing at halftime and finished with 337 yards for the game.  North Carolina had been giving up just 106 for the game. “Some of the things we do on offense they don’t see in their league,” Pinkel said. “Honestly, when you don’t work on it a lot, it’s very difficult.”

Missouri quarterback James Franklin, finished the season with maybe his best effort as a starter.  He threw for 132 yards, ran for another 142 yards and accounted for three touchdowns.

The Tigers will have their work cut out for them next season in the SEC, but if they can get strong line play like they did against UNC, combined with Franklin's increasingly efficient play at quarterback, they have a chance to have more success in their new league than some think.

Of course, you have to be careful putting too much emphasis on one game, especially a bowl game against a team whose minds were clearly somewhere else.  But it was still a great way to finish what was an otherwise slightly disappointing regular season.  At the very least, it should give the Tigers a big boost of confidence heading into winter workouts.

“I think we made a pretty good statement,” wide out L’Damian Washington said. “North Carolina is no pushover. They’re a great team, very athletic and very physical. … Their front seven is one of the best in the nation.”

Some of the team's in the SEC would argue with that, but Washington's point shouldn't be taken with a grain of salt.  If anything, Mizzou's improved rushing attack should suit them well next season.  Can they do it week-in and week-out?  Well, that's to worry about next season.

The Tigers will leave the Big 12 with an overall record of 112-84 with a 63-66 record in Big 12 games. But the last half of their run in the Big 12 was much better than the first half finishing with a streak of seven straight bowl game appearances.  That bowl streak will be put to the test in the SEC, but if they are able to do what they did on Monday next season, there's no reason to think that streak won't reach eight in 2012.