Join Mizzou beat writer Dave Matter for his live chat at 11 a.m. Thursday
Bring your Tigers football, basketball and recruiting questions, and talk to Dave Matter in a live chat at 11 a.m. Thursday.
-
Drinkwitz likes to have a tight end on the field - even if it's not a pure receiving threat. We saw that the last two years. So, I'm not sure four-wideout formations will become the base package. Maybe, but I'd expect more variety. I was impressed with Lovett in the spring. But he's in the slot now and will have to share snaps with Cooper and Banister. Those guys should get touches, too. -
Dave, at face value, Mizzou and Arkansas seem to be somewhat the same schools. Close proximity, seems to attract the same type of students, nearly the same type of fanbase. Not much difference in both schools in my opinion. However it seems that in the past few seasons, the Razorbacks have exploded onto the national scene in the big three sports while Mizzou has dropped the ball in nearly every sport.
What gives? Will Mizzou quickly catch fire like the Hogs? -
I'm not sure the two athletics programs are as evenly matched as you might think. Arkansas has a more loyal fan base. Yes, their teams have been better more recently, but Razorback basketball and baseball games are events that fans don't miss. There's zero competition with pro markets in the state of Arkansas like there are in Missouri. All three major men's programs have more recent championships and a stronger track record historically.Some folks laughed at the Sam Pittman hire, but he's proven to be a perfect fit in Fayetteville - and was smart to hire two proven coordinators. The Musselman hire was one of the best basketball hires any program has made in the last decade. He's arguably built the strongest program in the SEC.That doesn't mean Missouri shouldn't be able to compete toe-to-toe with the Hogs in most if not every sport. I just think there's more support at Arkansas - and when you have less support/fewer resources, you have less margin for error when you make a bad hire or things go sideways in your program or within your department.
-
I see you have a question regarding WBB. In my opinion the team will go as far as their guards can carry them. They will have some good ballhandlers and have the ability to hit beyond the arc and potential to be tough defensively, but the inside game will have to hold serve inside by blocking out for rebounds and playing harassing defense to make opponents' bigs work harder.
-
-
Mizzou is in the mix, but he's a national recruit who can sign absolutely anywhere he wants to play. A strong freshman season by Luther Burden could help MU's chances. NIL could be/should be a factor, too. His older brother played at Mizzou (Ray) but not for this staff.
-
-
Jon Wilner, who knows the Pac-12 inside and out, just dropped the bombshell that USC and UCLA are expected to join the Big Ten in two years. We're looking at two super conferences and essentially NFL Jr. It makes zero sense for schools in Los Angeles to be in the same conference as Rutgers, Maryland and Penn State. Instead of thinking about how the SEC responds, think more along the lines of how the SEC and Big Ten change the college landscape and form their own super galaxy and leave everyone else behind.Personally, I think it's bad for college sports. I like regional conferences based on common culture, common histories, common traditions, common TIME ZONES! Those days are long gone. Mizzou and South Carolina are in the same conference. Syracuse and Miami are in the same conference. USC and Rutgers will soon be in the same conference. What are we doing here?
-
-
-
Good day to you Dave and hope all is well your way. Lindy's Sports is always my annual go-to for College Football preason SEC coverage and that of Mizzou football in particular. I've always wondered about the "Opposing Coaches View" section on each team preview. Are you at liberty to say at least if the particular anonymous Coach is at least one who is a member of the same conference? Fwiw, I usually don't care for what any of said Coaches have to say about Mizzou on an annual basis. Seems like whomever it is is always ripping on us! And Dave, hope you have a well-deserved great vacation.
-
I have done the Mizzou content for Lindy's for nearly 20 years, but I don't handle the opposing coach's view. One of the national writers or editors gathers those quotes, so I have no idea who is behind those comments. Could be a head coach, coordinator or position coach from around the conference. Even if I knew, as long as the source agreed to share his comments anonymously, I couldn't divulge anything about their identity.
-
-
-
I am listening to a lot of the experts out there and many of them have Drinkwitz listed as 13th out of 14 SEC coaches. I love HCED but I fear for his situation at Mizzou as one of those where he really is never going be given much of a chance. Lets face is 5-7 is a very real possibility this year and everyone says that next year is the big year anyway. But 5-7 this year and there won't be 40k fans for any of the late season games. Low fan attendance is the root of all Mizzou evil here, lets face it when we came in the SEC is was common for Mizzou to pretty much equal A and M....but look where they have gone since then, they sell out 100,000 seat stadiums and now hire big name coaches, etc. Mizzou seems to have regressed since those times and I fear that a 5-7 season now will lead to such apathy that there wont be 32k fans for the late season games, LB will bolt for a big-time team like A and M and HCED will be faced with a 7-5 or 8-4 or else season in 2023. Since they will no doubt be breaking in another QB next year another 6-6 and goodbye Drink. What is the elixir, the tonic that will turn things around? Turn around fan attendance? WINS! But 5-7 is not wins, DM. To quote Dr. Smith, "Oh the pain William my boy! The pain...."
-
If you're ranking the current SEC teams 1 to 14 in terms of how we project they'll play this year, I think it's more than fair to have Mizzou at No. 13. That doesn't mean it's the second-worst program in the SEC ... but with the QB and defense questions, this team has a lot to prove this fall. I don't know if South Carolina is that far ahead of Missouri as a program, but the Gamecocks added a productive Power 5 QB in Spencer Rattler. I'm not sold on Florida this year, but they've at least got Anthony Richardson. Auburn and Mississippi State are far from complete teams in the West.
-
Still fuming to this day over loss to Army in Armed Forces Bowl and Drink's apparent decision to sit out Badie, not to mention his seemingly too-casual attitude about whether Mizzou would win or not. A Bowl win is a Bowl win--might not mean as much as it used to w the oversaturation of Bowl games, but it's still better than a Bowl Game loss. 7-6 vs. 6-7 not really a big deal? I wholeheartedly disagree. A winning record is a winning record. And both Bowl Game wins and overall winning records in any particular season goes into the Mizzou record books as such(so do the losses, obviously).
-
Half the starters didn't want to play in the game either. A good chunk of the starting defense sat out. They didn't technically opt-out - but they certainly weren't opted in either. Unless you're playing in one of the very few major bowl games outside of the playoffs, players (and coaches, too) have been conditioned to devalue the importance of these bowl games. That's just the nature of the sport right now.
-
-
-
1. I love the "bat signal" announcement-thing by both Drink & Gates. Kudos to Drink or whomever in the MU athletic department was creative enough to come up with that concept.
2. Gary Pinkel had gotten Mizzou to within a game under .500 in overall Bowl wins for MU before Odom & Drink combined to make us 4 games under .500 for the Mizzou 🏈 history books.
Just a couple of insignificant observations/comments/tidbits I felt like throwing out there. -
Yes, but both Florida and SC have loyal fan bases that turn out big time. Mizzou is one of the few SEC programs that has to WIN consistently to turn out big crowds. Here is hoping that LB lights it up, that Mizzou surprises and goes 7-5, beating KY and KSU along the way. If that happens then all is well and the fans will support. But I fear that loss to the inevitable Power 5 team at THEIR stadium (BC?) and total fan apathy. You just do not get that at Arkansas or SC where the supporters turn out no matter what. I love Mizzou in the SEC, but lets face it our make up is more like Iowa State or KSU where you must win to get folks to turn out. Just some thoughts. Look foward to the season no matter and thank you Dave!
-
-
Women's basketball comment. I, like many others, have wondered if the Tigers would be bringing in some post players. Not sure they will. The team has five players 6-3 or over. I believe these scholarship players will have to step up instead of us hoping we bring in more players. If they contribute great. If they struggle, maybe they need to move on.
-
The Baseball College World Series is over. I know Missouri did not make the field for regional play. However, after watching and reading about many of the early round games I think Missouri was as good, if not better than several of the teams who made the field. They lost a lot of close games but the team was better than many give them credit for.
-
-
Hey, Dave ... so, I come at this with the knowledge of only watching some games and reading what you write (as a subscriber) but I'm wondering if what we'll see play out this year is Drink going with Abraham as QB1 through four (game at Auburn), maybe 6 weeks (game at Florida) and then go to either Cook or Macon (I'd bet Cook) ... almost as a plan going into the season. Obviously, if Abraham does well, he'll keep playing but my hunch is that between a series here and there and practice, Cook in particular, will emerge as the better long-term choice (with Horn breathing down his neck and maybe even taking over in 2023). I'm not saying Drink has that plan ready to go, I just wonder if it's not a thought in the back of his mind - looking for it to emerge.
-
If he goes with Abraham just to start the season and then turns it over to someone else, I would think he'd go to Horn, not Cook or Macon. This will be Cook's third year in the program and third year in Drinkwitz's offense. If he doest' get the starting job to begin the year, it's because he doesn't have enough game experience and they favor Abraham instead. So I don't really see the logic in turning the offense over to Cook midway through the season at that point - if the only thing he's lacking is game experience. He won't be any more experienced by that point.
-