Welcome to the series, ‘What’s The Trend,‘ which highlights the biggest risers and fallers in the Mizzou Football world each week! Mizzou is coming off a draining road loss against Oklahoma and will look
to bounce back with a rivalry win over Arkansas. Here are this week’s trends:
On the Rise
Eli Drinkwitz
More will likely be released soon but Eli Drinkwitz is likely to receive an extension to continue his tenure as the Missouri head coach. This is good news for Tigers fans as Drinkwitz has completely transformed the program over the past few years. This is definitely a best case scenario situation if you are a Missouri fan. New coaches are always such a risk and Drinkwitz has proven he can win (sometimes).
Defensive held strong
This isn’t the first time this season that the defense — refusing to go down — has kept Missouri in the game for much longer than it probably should’ve been in there (with how the offense was playing), and Oklahoma was no different. It felt like the defense was playing so strong through the entire game — aside from the big play — and it was just the offense that couldn’t seem to get it figured out. Oklahoma is a really strong defense, but still, it completely shut down Mizzou.
Rivalry Week
Whether Mizzou’s season is over or not, this weekend is a great slate of football. From the Iron Bowl between Alabama and Auburn to “The Game” between Michigan and Ohio State, hearts are going to be broken on Saturday and it we should be in for a good slate of games. Not to mention, Mizzou-Arkansas should be a fun one.
On the Decline
Second goal: missed
First it was a College Football Playoff appearance. That wasn’t possible. After that, Drinkwitz and the team were confident that they could still achieve their second goal: a 10-win season. Now, both are out of reach. Not an ideal season for Drinkwitz, but assuming he’s back, there will be plenty of opportunity for him to turn it around for years to come. Plus, a 9-win season doesn’t sound too shabby.
Quarterback uncertainty
With Beau Pribula making his return against Oklahoma — and not playing amazing — the quarterback question for next season is a serious conversation. Either you trust the youth, and go with a second-year quarterback in Matt Zollers, who has very minimal college experience, or you keep Pribula and ride with him for his final season of eligibility. Either way, it’s never ideal to not know who’s going to be under center for your team next season.
Continued discussion about Drinkwitz future + NIL
Drinkwitz has been vocal this week about not only his future, but also about how Missouri struggles in the NIL category. While Drinkwitz is likely to stay and continue to be the coach for the Tigers, the issue doesn’t change. Mizzou is going to have to pay up if it wants to continue competing at the top level like it has over the past few seasons.
