Mizzou is battling some serious adversity in year two of the Eli Drinkwitz era, but yes, the future is still bright. The challenge part is keeping it all together.

The only intriguing storyline heading into Saturday’s game was a potential hangover performance by Texas A&M. Well, there was one team that looked hungover. It just wasn’t the Aggies. It was Missouri, who looked awful in pretty much all facets of the game for the second time in a row against an SEC team at home.

Sure, there is a talent issue from these games, but the effort from these performances certainly has to be questioned as well.

After a 35-14 loss to Texas A&M, the Tigers dropped to 3-4 (0-3 SEC) on the season — making it, well, pretty much almost impossible for Missouri to make it to a bowl game at this point.

Fortunately, we’re just in year two of the Eli Drinkwitz era – so in absolutely no way is this a make-or-break type of season. That doesn’t excuse the disappoint record, but hopefully it gives this fan base a reason not to panic and be patient for what he’s trying to build.

But, in a season that is ultimately heading nowhere fast – the attention turns to keeping what is an exciting, promising 2022 recruiting class still intact.

The Tigers still maintain a Top 25 recruiting class on Rivals (23^rd), 247Sports (18^th), and ESPN (15^th). No matter how bad Mizzou’s record looks at the end of the season, this is obviously still a good thing to look forward to.

However, after back-to-back blowout losses to SEC teams at home, it just doesn’t make it any easier to keep the majority of high-profiled recruits. It’s a fair question to ask — are recruits watching on TV and still believing the process? Honestly, that’s just the reality — but that’s going to be the challenge for Eli Drinkwitz going forward, because he and the program are going through some serious adversity this season.

For good reason, the Mizzou fanbase is restless and is already losing interest – well, at least for this season.

Also for good reason, the Mizzou fanbase is also excited for the future of this program. Both of these can be true.

Eli Drinkwitz just can’t afford to let the Mizzou fanbase lose interest in the future of the program. This is what he is trying to build, and he’s doing it successfully.

Sam Horn played in a High School Football Showcase game on ESPN2 Thursday night, and had some good, positive things to say about the future of Mizzou Football.

Five-star East St. Louis wide receiver Luther Burden will make his college decision on Tuesday, and if he picks Missouri over Georgia, that just may very well be Mizzou’s biggest win of the entire season.

Sure, this season just hasn’t been any fun, whatsoever — there’s no denying that. But, the absolute most important thing right now comes down to recruiting – and Drinkwitz obviously knows that. Their bye week may come at the most opportune time.

It is going to take time. That might be the six worst words you want to hear if you’re fan of your college football program, even if it is reality. Unfortunately, that is the state of the Missouri Tigers football program is right now. Yes, welcome to a transition period (or a rebuild), whatever you want to call it. The process ultimately sucks, but it is a necessary one for a non-blue-blood school.

Even in a lost season, the future is still bright for this program. It just desperately needs to remain bright. Drinkwitz just can’t afford to let this fall apart, because that’s what the fanbase is holding out hope on.

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Stats from StatBroadcast:

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Here are your other SEC scores:

• No. 1 Georgia 30, No. 11 Kentucky 13
• Auburn 38, No. 17 Arkansas 23
• LSU 49, No. 20 Florida 42
• South Carolina 21, Vanderbilt 20
• No. 5 Alabama 49, Mississippi State 9
• No. 13 Ole Miss 31, Tennessee 26 (Vol fans suck)

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Yesterday at Rock M

• Missouri vs Texas A&M football Gameday: info, where to watch, predictions
• Bottoms Up! The Fall Arrives Edition
• Game Thread: Mizzou vs Texas A&M
• Five Takeaways from Mizzou’s 35-14 loss against Texas A&M
• Aggies march into Columbia, run through Missouri en route to comfortable win

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GameDay Links:

• Game story from Dave Matter
• Lila Bromberg’s Game Story
• Wilson Moore’s Columbia Missourian Game Story
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