Pourover: How to take the next step

SB Nation

When it comes to Mizzou football, there are a lot of thoughts running through my head these days.

Some of them revolve around whether Missouri will be hiring a new football coach in the next few weeks.

Others are more in depth thoughts about the sustainability of the current program, and its general direction. For a variety of reasons I wasn’t really looking forward to watching the game yesterday, but the main one was I expected it to play out that way.

Watching the first drive, I was heartened. Maybe I was wrong! Maybe Missouri would figure out a way to win this game! Maybe they were going to be able to run enough on Oklahoma, and the defense would keep the Sooners offense in check long enough to pull out a win. It hadn’t happened in 59 years before yesterday, so sure why not?

But once Isaiah Sategna scampered through and past the Mizzou secondary, the gig was up. One play and you knew. The Tigers had been winning the game but they had not controlled it on the scoreboard. The offense had scrapped together two decent drives, one extended by a pass interference penalty, but had only produced 3 points. Then a fateful 4th & 3 decision I think most people would want back, a blocked kick, and one 87 yard catch and run that sank the Tigers hopes.

That’s sort of been the tale of Missouri Football the last few years. A team equipped with a stingy and athletic defense. Capable of throttling lesser opponents, and through a conservative offensive approach they keep a lot of games against similar opponents close. Close enough to make the plays, because you’ve built a great culture. But not enough to truly get over the hump.

Missouri is spending top 25 money on their roster and top 15 money on their head coach. We don’t know exactly what’s been spent on the roster, but they’re not spending like Ohio State. They are spending, however.

This is the result of that spending. A program that has been really very good. 16th in SP+ this year (before the OU game), they’re 22nd in the Football Playoff rankings. Last year they finished 19th. The last year without a playoff, they finished 9th. If Missouri finished ranked in the AP poll this year it will be the first time in school history they will have finished ranked in three consecutive seasons.

Drinkwitz has rewarded Mizzou and their fan base for their investment.

If there is any criticism here, it’s that he has met expectations of the investment.

That’s why Drink has seen his name floated on many coaching hot lists for the jobs at Penn State, LSU, Florida, and Auburn. All schools who have met or exceeded Mizzou’s investment. They all fired coaches who were not meeting expectations, and are looking to hire a coach who meets expectations.

I go back and forth on this because I really think Gary Pinkel knew the math better than anyone. He knew Missouri’s investment wasn’t meeting the expectations, so he devised a plan for the program. For years, Pinkel exceeded what Mizzou invested in him and the program. Because the financial investment wasn’t there, he switched up his offense to one that could take advantage of the entire field. The spread offense wasn’t dominating college football but it allowed teams to compete with the upper echelon of the country. Pinkel recruited athletes and coached them up, on both sides of the ball.

This isn’t some advocation of de-investment. Quite the opposite. Investing has worked. Keep doing it.

Investment has helped add some serious playmaking on defense like Josiah Trotter and Damon Wilson. Chris McClellan, Ahmad Hardy, Keagan Trost, Kevin Coleman… there are a lot of big time players who have landed at Missouri thanks to the investment. There is a way for the investment to go a little deeper. But will they ever reach the level of an Ohio State or LSU?

LSU is pledging $25 million for Lane Kiffin to build his roster. Unless Mizzou is planning on that level of investment (I doubt it), then they’re going to need a coach who can do more than meet expectations. They need someone who can exceed them.

For Drinkwitz to be that person he needs to loosen the bolts on his game planning, and the offensive approach. They need to find more ways to get talented players in space to make plays. When was the last time you remember a Missouri player running away from a good defense for a score, the way Sategna did yesterday? The Missouri passing game has been pretty mediocre for the last two years, and if you want this team and this program to take another step they need to be more dynamic on offense.

So far Drink has proven he’s capable of building a program. He’s increased the talent level, he’s gotten fan engagement, and Missouri is a better football program for him having been the coach. I don’t know what he’s going to do in the coming weeks, I hope he chooses to stay in Columbia and see if he can take it a step further. But regardless if Drinkwitz is the football coach at Missouri, or it’s someone else, the only way forward is by sustaining the defense and being better and more diverse on offense.