YES, THAT’S THE SAME IMAGE AS LAST BYE WEEK, I’M TIRED LEAVE ME ALONE
♫ You know I stay fresh to death ♫
No uniforms this week (obviously), so let’s do another poll. Favorite uniforms in the past few games?
1. Texas A&M (All-whites with Oval Tiger)
Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images
2. UMass (Gold hats with Block M, white shirts, white pants)
Photo by M. Anthony Nesmith/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
3. Auburn (Gold hats with Block M, black shirts, black pants)
Photo by Scott Winters/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
4. Alabama (White hats with Block M, white shirts, black pants)
Photo by Jason Clark/Getty Images
With Mizzou set to play in its fourth bowl of the Eli Drinkwitz era this December, it will tie Drinkwitz with Don Faurot for fourth on Mizzou’s coaching list for number of bowls coached. If you want to count Mizzou’s the 2020 Music City Bowl, it would tie him for third with Warren Powers (but we’re not counting 2020 because it didn’t happen.)
Should the Tigers get to 10 wins, Eli Drinkwitz will become only the second coach in program history to lead the Tigers to more than one double-digit win season.
Brady Cook needs seven touchdowns to pass James Franklin for fourth on the all-time Mizzou passing TD leaderboard. In order to climb to third over Brad Smith, he’ll need 12.
On that same note, Brady Cook can move into sole possession of fourth on Mizzou’s TD leaderboard with one more passing or rushing score. To get to third, he’ll need eight to tie James Franklin or nine to pass him.
Rock M-ixology
We’re still at the tail end of spooky season (Thanksgiving planning? Christmas shopping before mid-November? Brady Cook’s ankle?) so we’re going to keep things spooky with our drink selection too. I’ve had this one bookmarked for Halloween for a while, so I finally decided to break it out for the holiday week. Let’s make a Witch’s Brew.
4 oz mezcal, 2 oz butterfly pea tea, 1 oz fresh lime juice, 5-10 dashes angostura bitters, ginger beer
Shake mezcal, tea, lime juice and bitters over ice. Strain into chilled glass, top with ginger beer.
You may notice in this picture that the ginger beer is nowhere in sight. That’s because I didn’t add it. Whoops! That’s what you get when you barely sleep!
I can’t give you an evaluation of the full recipe, though I imagine it’s nice, but I can tell you that the base apart from the sparkly stuff is actually quite good, especially if you’re a fan of mezcal! It’s smoky, vegetal and just a bit tart with the fresh lime juice… I ended up putting most of it down before I passed out.
Mizzou has two losses and a relatively weak schedule, meaning the College Football Playoff is all but off the table. Be honest: Are you disappointed?
Josh Matejka, Deputy Site Manager: How could you not be? We anticipated that Mizzou would have one of the best offenses in the country, partnering with a defense that would regress but still be passable. The defense has met and, I’d argue, exceeded expectations. The offense, though? It’s been middling and riddled with injuries. I might have guessed the Tigers would be 6-2 at this point in the year, but it’s a very different 6-2 than what I think most of us anticipated.
Chad Moller, Resident Old Guy: Yes, because I did have visions of a home playoff game at Faurot Field this December. I didn’t see the offensive regression coming at all, but it’s a harsh reminder that you can’t assume everyone coming back from the previous year will automatically improve. Despite the disappointment, I’m an idiot and find myself still trying to scheme up a path for the Tigers to somehow win out and with a ton of chaos in November, they find their way into the 12-team field. A psychoanalysis would likely indicate that I’m a lost cause.
Sammy Stava, Staff Writer: Honestly yes because making the 12-team playoff was a reasonable expectation for this team heading into the season. They had the potential and talent to make the CFP, but things obviously didn’t come to fruition. The road losses to Texas A&M and Alabama weren’t entirely shocking, but it was really unfortunate not being competitive in those games. If they were at least competitive, maybe there’s still a shot at the CFP.
Some people will think the season is “lost” now that the highest level of the postseason isn’t achievable for the Tigers? Do you see it that way? If not, what is there left to play for?
Josh Matejka: That’s a great question, me, and one I’m curious to find out the answer to. With a 12-team system, a lot more programs are going to be “in it” until late November. And once you’re not “in it” anymore, what is there really left to play for? Bowls are fun, but they’re almost more meaningless now, apart from the extra practices they give your team. Eli Drinkwitz has never had a problem motivating his teams to finish seasons strong, so I’m curious to see how he does it this year.
Chad Moller: That, to me, is the most intriguing aspect of the final month of the season in this new era of college football. What will teams who had massive expectations coming into the year look like in November if they drop out of playoff contention? Teams like Ole Miss, Alabama, Tennessee, LSU and Mizzou all felt they were going to be there. If they get to the point of being knocked out, will the team still have that fire or will we see them ease up on the throttle? I bet we’ll start to see NFL prospects choose to opt out before bowl games if their team is no longer in the CFP mix. I hope it doesn’t go that way because that would be a bad look.
Sammy Stava: While this season has been a little bit of a disappointment, it’s been far from a disaster. The Tigers are still 6-2 and clinging on to the Top 25 with four games remaining down the stretch. They still have a shot at back-to-back double-digit win seasons for the first time since 2013-2014. That would still be a huge accomplishment for this program.
There’s still plenty to play for, and if Mizzou gets to 9-3 or 10-2 — the Tigers will still be playing in a high-level bowl game against a quality opponent. That’s not a bad consolation prize after falling short of the CFP.
Let’s face it, the offense has been a massive disappointment for the Tigers this year. What happened to the unit that was dominating teams last year?
Josh Matejka: Brady Cook playing hurt for most of, if not all of, this season has played a big part. Whether or not Mizzou will admit it, Cook hasn’t looked right all season, and that played a big role in some of the back-sliding that happened early in the season. Nate Noel’s injury problems haven’t helped either.
Apart from injuries, however, there have been bunches of half-steps backwards. The offensive line is fine most of the time, but is prone to large lapses. Marcus Carroll and Jamal Roberts are both fine, but can’t match the production or dynamism that Nate Noel brought. Kirby Moore’s play calling has looked far less impressive. Perhaps the only group you can point to and say, “they’ve been pretty good,” is the wide receiver corp.
Chad Moller: I wish I was smart enough to understand it, but the way I look at is like this: there’s not a single position group on the offense you can point to and say the Tigers are playing better at this year than in 2023, and that includes the coaching and play calling. That’s a classic recipe for a backslide, and that’s what we’re seeing in 2024.
Sammy Stava: The injuries have been a part of it and the star playmakers just haven’t lived up to their full potential consistently. It’s just not the high-powered, successful offense we saw last year. While the running backs have been good, they haven’t been at the Cody Schrader level.
Let’s hope this offense can find something after the bye week.
We’ve already seen some young guys step up and get lots of snaps this season. If you could pick one underclassman you’d like to see more of in the final four games, it would be…
Josh Matejka: I’ll continue my long-term rooting interest in Joshua Manning. He’s looked incredibly impressive every time the ball gets in his hands. He’ll be stepping in for Luther Burden III when he leaves for the NFL, so give him some reps to get ready.
Chad Moller: Joshua Manning. Scheme some stuff up for him. Full stop.
Sammy Stava: Let’s go with Williams Nwaneri. While these games are still meaningful down the stretch, let’s give this star freshman a little more run and see what he’s made of against SEC competition. Getting familiar with Corey Batoon’s defense will be important heading into next season.
PICK ‘EM! No spread to pick against this week, so let’s go ahead and pick which remaining game on the schedule we’re most looking forward to and why.
Josh Matejka: Whenever there’s an opportunity to beat Oklahoma, you circle and underline it.
Chad Moller: It’s gotta be Oklahoma for me. Just from the history of being linked with them for so long, even if the series was always dominated by the Sooners. It just brings back fond memories of Thomas Lott, Billy Sims, J.C. Watts, Uwe von Schamann, the Boz and Barry Switzer. Or maybe those are more painful memories? Either way, it’ll be good to see an old familiar foe, although if Brady Cook isn’t available, this one might set the game of offensive football back a few decades.
Sammy Stava: Oklahoma should be a fun one — and it’s under the lights at Faurot so it feels like a big game. Even though the Sooners are down this year, a win over a brand-name program would still be big this season.
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