Mizzou News for Wednesday, September 8

It’s Big Blue Nation Week, but first… the Coaches’ Poll!

The Top 25 was released on Tuesday, later than usual due to the holiday weekend, but also, the first USA TODAY Sports AFCA football coaches poll came out. In case you need a reminder, “the poll is conducted weekly throughout the regular season using a panel of 65 head coaches at Football Bowl Subdivision schools.” No, Missouri did not make it into the Top 25, you silly kids. This was reserved for SEC teams, and soon-to-be SEC compatriots: Alabama (1), Georgia (2), OU (4), Texas A&M (5), Florida (9), Texas (15), and Ole Miss (20). Also receiving votes, and yes I counted to get their places— you’re welcome: Auburn (26), LSU (28), Kentucky (37), Arkansas (45), Tennessee (47)…

…and MISSOURI in 54ish place with 5 votes. It’s an honor just to receive votes, y’all. Let’s hope it only goes up from here!

Also on Tuesday, Coach Drinkwitz held his weekly press conference, looking at last week’s win over Central Michigan while also identifying ways to improve heading into the team’s first road game, Kentucky. Remember, until last season when they finally notched a victory, Missouri has had…. ummm… some trouble dispatching the Wildcats, with six of the last seven games being decided by two touchdowns or less, so yeah.. they’ve been tightly contested battles.

In Eric Blum’s post after the presser, he talked about how Drink sees the game against Kentucky as a measuring stick for the Tigers’ growth. When asked if one can really make comparisons between two teams after just one game, Drinkwitz said:

“I don’t think anybody’s season ends after week two, regardless of how it plays out,” Drinkwitz said. “I think it’s a big test for us on who we want to be and how we want to perform and what we want to do on the road, which we didn’t play particularly well last year on the road.”

As Drinkwitz pointed out – referenced in a post-presser article by the KC Star’s Blair Kerkhoff – this “isn’t last year’s Kentucky offense.” Drinkwitz stated that in Kentucky’s win over Louisiana-Monroe 45-10, he saw nothing that resembled that team last weekend. They do have a new offensive coordinator and a number of impact transfers.

“Totally different style, totally different feel,” Drinkwitz said. “The only thing that surprises me is how quickly they’ve gotten to where they’re at.”

According to Blum, Drinkwitz continued, before talking about how SEC East winners aren’t necessarily undefeated.

“… I think for us it’s more about a test to see how much we’ve grown and developed. I don’t look at it as this is where Kentucky’s program is versus Missouri’s program. I think that’s making it, probably a little bit too big. I think it’s a big test for us on the road to play in front of the SEC crowd early in the season and we’re going to find out all kinds of issues that we got to get fixed.”

This game is going to be a nail-biter, y’all. And the Rock M crew will be here to cover it in detail, so keep your eyes peeled to Twitter for new post notifications.

On to the Links!

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Yesterday at Rock M

• Sammy recapped the new Top 25 poll, where SIX Southeastern Conference teams find themselves ranked.
• Nate looked over the new depth chart… which looks an awful lot like last weeks????
• Aaron is back this season with another rendition of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. This time, we’re just getting good and bad.
• AND… because the hoops non-con previews stop for NO ONE, Sam previewed both Loyola Marymount and Florida State, since we can’t predict the future and know which one our brand-new Tigers will face in Jacksonville.
• IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Josh’s new take on The Revue this season is nothing short of hilarious. See who won the M’y!
• COMING UP: a crap ton of football…. Nate does some in-depth analysis in his first Beyond the Box Score post of the new season.

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More Links:

Football

• Dave Matter of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch was super busy, writing a few pieces on the week ahead: In Tiger Talk, he took an early look at Kentucky. He also wrote about how the Mizzou defense is on alert after some tackling mishaps in Game One, not to mention how Mizzou is expecting more of the same from Tyler Badie after his career day.
• For subscribers, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s BenFred also took a look at the new-look defense, writing about how the it was tough to read in the opener, but the telling game comes next.
• PowerMizzou posted video of Defensive Coordinator Steve Wilks’ press conference. Have a look.
• J’Marion Gooch, who was medically disqualified from playing for the Tigers in the past couple weeks, has entered the transfer portal. He hopes to find a new home and place to raise his son, who will be coming into this world in 2022, according to Saturday Down South’s Keith Farner. Sounds like J’Marion has really had a tough last couple years, and I’m wishing him the best going forward.
• Saturday Down South’s Stacey Mickles asked if Blaze Alldredge is Missouri’s next superstar linebacker.
• Congrats, Tyler! This is super cool.

• Vote for Grant McKinniss for the Ray Guy Award, given to the nation’s best collegiate punter.

• As Josh pointed out in his Links for Tuesday, Mizzou Football’s graphics department is just doing everything to keep fans entertained. Here’s another one they made as well.

Hoops

• Get to know… Kaleb Brown!

• So much congrats to Mizzou Hoops assistant, Chris Hollander. This is an awesome honor.

From RisingCoaches.com:

The Rising Coaches Lifetime Award has been awarded to Chris Hollender of Missouri, Heather Macy of Greensboro College, Trey Meyer of Battle Ground Academy, Jimmie Oakman of the Long Island Nets and Marlon Stewart of Oregon State. The award honors those who have given a lifetime of service to improving the coaching profession.

“These coaches have dedicated hundreds of hours to giving back to our profession and have helped countless coaches in the process,” said Rising Coaches CEO Adam Gordon. “These coaches always look for new ways to impact others and never hesitate when called upon to give back to the community.”

• Happiest of birthdays on Tuesday to former Tiger, Cierra Porter! While no longer playing basketball, she is (as I’ve seen on her instagram), spending lot of time working on her swimwear line, Amini Swim, taking lots of photographs for various clients, and helping brother Mike get his podcast up and running.

Other Mizzou Sports/News

• Well, I love this and I want one of those buttons for my backpack!

• Congrats to soccer midfielder, Milena Fischer, who was named SEC Freshman of the Week after her performance in the Tigers’ wins over Notre Dame and Miami, according to the Missourian’s Calum McAndrew. Speaking of Fischer, Anthony Kristensen went in-depth with her on her move from Germany and her win in the U17 European Championships. More at MUTigers.com.

• Congrats to volleyball’s Kaylee Cox, who was named SEC Freshman of the Week after notching back-to-back double-doubles in the final matches of the Cardinal Classic, according to the Missourian’s Emma Eaton. More at MUTigers.com.
• Not one, but TWO former Mizzou Tiger golfers will play in the sport’s highest level after Hayden Buckley made it onto the PGA Tour next season. He will join another Tiger, Peter Malnati, According to the Missourian’s Calum McAndrew, Buckley could tee off as a PGA Tour member for the first time Sept. 16-19 at the Fortinet Open in Napa, California.
• Wow! Huge congrats to Tennis’ Bronte Murgett and Marta Oliveira, who will be the first Mizzou Tennis doubles pair to get a bid to the ITA All-American Championships. According to MUTigers.com, the duo will compete Oct. 1-Oct. 10 in Charleston, SC.

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