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.
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One more thing about the Finebaum interview w DRF I spoke of earlier: Another thing she was doing that I thought was cringeworthy was attempting to promote the excitement of those "61,000 fans" packing Faurot Field on home gamedays. I was like oye DRF, did you happen to somehow overlook the actual attendance at our home games last year? And was also thinking how if other fans/AD'S/etc of most of the other SEC teams happened to be watching, they were probably laughing at her for obvious reasons when she said that. -
Why would they laugh? She's not the AD at Alabama or LSU or Florida. She stepped into a program that's had one sellout since 2015 and faces an uphill battle to even get 50,000 in the stands. But she's driven to get that place full again. That's her charge. And she and her staff have done a lot to address the issues/complaints/needs that fans have expressed in the last year. Just wait for the story before knocking her. -
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I touched on this earlier. I'd focus more on the average player ranking at this point - if indeed you care about recruiting rankings. Having only 10 commitments impacts the class ranking. But, overall, yes, it's fair to wonder if recruiting peaked with the two top 20 classes. Then again, as I wrote a few weeks back, this program needs to worry about development as much as it does recruiting highly-ranked players.
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Good afternoon Dave. Why does Daniel Parker hate Drinkwitz/Mizzou so much? He's not shy about it on social media, so I'm sure it's even worse elsewhere. Do you think it hurt this year with recruits that might have talked to him? Did it contribute to all those TE leaving? Should casey woods have handled his personality a little better? Seems like a sad situation all around.
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I don't know. Parker blocks me on social media. Current MU players have talked about locker room/chemistry issues with last year's team and have made it clear the source of some problems has left. Interpret at your own risk. Parker tweeted a lot of cryptic messages when he was at Mizzou that could have been interpreted as criticism of the coaches/program. It was noticed by his coaches.
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Thanks for taking my question. Watched Cody Schrader the past 2+ seasons at Truman State, and he was nothing but a high-character, super tough kid at RB. Sounds like Drink has been high on him so far as a transfer - - still leading towards him getting some major play to start the season?
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I would suspect he'll get some touches next Thursday. There are injury issues at the position and Schrader took the first snaps in last Saturday's simulated game practice. I would guess Schrader and Nate Peat are the top two running backs - in either order - if Drinkwitz releases a depth chart on Sunday.Here's what Eli said on Tuesday when asked about the running back position: "I'd say the development is that we're trying to get everybody back, full speed. And we're trying to get them as healthy as we can. And hopefully Sunday will be a regular Tuesday practice and everybody will be ready to go. But if not we feel confident we'll put a running back out there that'll be really good."
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It's that time of year again: the time of year where I start to worry and wonder how much of the attendance at a Mizzou home football game will be impacted by competing against STL Cardinals home games, especially when the Cards are doing well as they are this year and looks as if they'll be playing ⚾️ well into October.
But for the home opener next week at least, one other good thing about moving that game to a Thursday night: the Redbirds are off that night. If Mizzou had scheduled that opening game for Saturday on Labor Day Weekend, they'd be competing with Cards-Cubs game in STL that same day. That's one more reason I say kudos to DRF and/or whomever else was instrumental in the Athletic Department in getting the season-opener moved to Thursday night, especially if they were savvy enough to be aware that said Cardinals game would be happening on that same Saturday. -
Mizzou can't worry about the Cardinals schedule. There are nearly 200,000 people who live in Boone County. There are more than 6 million people who live in the state. If the Cardinals play a home game the same day as a Mizzou home game, there should be enough fans to give the Tigers a good crowd.
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He's got some real talent. And he's got a clean slate at South Carolina where the fan base hasn't turned on him - like they did at Oklahoma - and he's playing for a head coach who seems more likable than his last head coach. He did a lot of good things at OU - but the standard was so high there after he came after Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray and Jalen Hurts. I think South Carolina could sneak up on this division and possibly be the third-best team ahead of either Kentucky or Tennessee.
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Yikes Dave, is that Derek Dooley in the photo you attached? If so, come on, isn't "worst hire " a bit of an exaggeration? I know most people do seem to agree with you because they're thinking of the inexplicable stunning collapse of the Mizzou offense in the second half of the 2019 season. But doesn't he at least deserve credit for the overall excellent offense MU had during the 2018 season, which was the first of his two years as OC at Mizzou?
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Dooley stepped into a team with a future starting NFL quarterback, a future starting NFL tight end and three future NFL running backs. It would have been hard to screw that up in 2018. The next year, his offense was a disaster. He couldn't solve problems, couldn't adjust and struggled to get the most out of his players. I don't know if he was a worse hire than Steve Wilks, but if Odom would have made a better OC hire after 2017, he might still be Missouri's head coach.
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Regarding this year's MU defense for the upcoming season: the players and new DC are of course saying all the right things in the articles you have been writing for the Post-Dispatch. Optimism abounds...new DC likes what he sees from his players...the players say things are going great and they're learning Baker's new defensive schemes well... yada, yada, yada. Dave, I've seen this movie before and I, like most Mizzou fans, am still shell-shocked by the horrifically awful defense MU had for at least the first half of the season last year. Can you give us any legit reason for optimism that this defense will be a drastic improvement over last year's, or will the likes of Ben Fred be writing columns calling for his head about a month into the season just like last year.(Just to clarify, I like Ben Fred and of course, anyone bleeding black & gold felt the same way he did even as early as that point in the season).
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August is always time for happy talk. I acknowledge that. Nothing matters until the lights come on and coaches have to coach and players have to play. But if you're looking for reasons to be optimistic ...* I like the front four. The D-end tandem should be among the best in the SEC. McGuire and Jeffcoat are excellent. There's far more depth and size inside than the past two years.* It took half the season for the staff to figure it out, but Chad Bailey is a pretty good linebacker. Once he joined the starting lineup last year the defense was noticeably better against the run. He's back and teamed with Hopper, who might be the best athlete on the defense.* The three-safety base package will help against the run. The Star safety replaces the nickelback from last year's defense and gives the defense essentially a third linebacker to play the run in a designed gap - and allows the secondary to disguise its coverages. By design, this system should be far less vulnerable to QB runs and run-pass option plays.* Baker isn't facing a learning curve. He's been a college coordinator and know the nuances of the college game. It took Wilks a month to figure out where he wanted to coach on game days. He wasn't used to the different hash marks. He struggled with the transition. That won't happen with a guy who's a college coach.
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A losing season puts Drinkwitz under immense pressure to kick off 2023. Short of going 2-10 and getting blown out most weeks, I don't see Mizzou having the appetite for another coaching change.Sneak peek into tonight/tomorrow's story.What does Reed-Francois want to see from the football program?"An upward trajectory. There's no magic number. I don't believe in that. I think you look at programs and you look at them holistically. We look at their trajectory and their pattern."
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Thanks for the chat.
In your time covering the tigers, is this the least hyped the football team has been in regards to media coverage? I know being .500 over the last 7 seasons will cause this, but I feel like I’ve heard more about Vandy and Clark Lea from the national media. -
I can only speak for my coverage and my paper's coverage. We've had two reporters at every practice and media availability and a columnist earlier in camp. Between Calum and myself, we've written 30 Mizzou football stories, hosted four chats and produced four podcasts since Aug. 1.That's all I'm concerned with when it comes to media coverage, what I can control and deliver. Not ESPN or The Athletic or SEC Network or any other outlet.As a reader, why do you need the national media's superficial coverage when you've got multiple Post-Dispatch reporters in Columbia covering the program every day? Just stick with the locals. We've got you covered.
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Dave - What does your 6 wins look like? As you know, we all like to pick the number of wins we think (or hope) the Tigers will get to each year. However, I'm having a hard time getting past the obvious 4 - and yes that includes Vanderbilt. So that leave me finding two wins to get to a bowl. I'm going to go with Kentucky at home and Florida away.. K-State is better then we think and Brian Harsin is still a very good coach. Thank You
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OK, folks. I'm out of time. Lots to write. Look for a story on Reed-Francois' reflections on her first year and looking forward to Year 2. A big piece on Brady Cook. More previews from Calum and of course lots of coverage leading off to next Thursday's kickoff. We'll also do a game-day chat next Thursday. Until then, have a good one.