"Graham’s own son became the 14th player to enter the NCAA Transfer Portal from Hawai’i in late December." Todd Graham seems like a jerk, but man, this part is enough to make me feel a bit sorry for the dude. Height of brutality.

I hope Martin doesn't develop symptoms and is okay. While the statistics would say it's quite unlikely that he will get seriously ill or require hospitalization, a man of his character still deserves better than a string of comments about his coaching acumen in the immediate aftermath of the diagnosis.

This site desperately needs to either eliminate comments or improve its moderation algorithm dramatically. The fact that you cannot name the disease of which a literal article is about is a joke.

When the person literally everyone is referring to as a troll is the only one I have any common ground with whatsoever, maybe it's time to leave this particular site.

If you honestly think that most of what professors do is put together power points for undergraduate classes (not that undergraduate instruction isn't important; it is) I would suggest further research. That may be true in OCCASIONAL teaching focused professorships, but the vast majority at least in the STEM field are high-paced, high-stakes research positions that are every bit as demanding as most private sector jobs.

Well, this is certainly a compelling conversational thread.

I guess HCs serving as their own OC don't count?

As an on field grade, which is what this appears to be, totally fine with where Drinkwitz is. I will say, having a borderline top 10 class has me viewing his tenure so far as higher than a C. I'd say he has been very average on the field coaching so far, but great in recruiting. The second part will have to yield on field results at some point. But I remain very hopeful despite a lackluster (but ultimately not terrible) season on the field.

I'm only at most being half serious, because at 6-6 we have no room to complain...but dang, couldn't A&M have just held its water against LSU so we didn't get sent to some extremely random bowl that isn't even tied to the SEC? This one isn't so bad, but I saw us projected into one that is being played on a Monday morning in Detroit, which...

Your commenting moderation algorithm is broken beyond repair my dudes. Fix it.

I would like for a moderator to explain to my why my comment is awaiting moderation. This happens regularly despite never breaking site rules, despite much worse posts getting past. What's the deal? Seriously, someone explain it and I'll shut up.

Drink clearly doesn't like Dan Mullen. I don't think he's ever made any bones about that. He's being paid $12 million to not coach. What is there to feel bad about? I actually do feel bad for some of the lower level staffers who might have job insecurity and actually make a small enough salary that it creates real stress for them. But for Dan Mullen? Hell no. It's not even me saying he's a bad dude. It's me saying that he is being paid $12 million not to coach, his livelihood, and several generations to come are financially set, and if he wants to be a head football coach at the division 1 level in 2022 he can almost certainly go do that, albeit in a slightly less prestigious job. I just don't feel bad for him, sorry.

I see Mullen and McElwain as much the same. Both, to be frank, came off as jerks. In both cases, it was fine when they were winning 9-10 games and division titles, and quickly became not-fine when that started to dry up even a little. I actually hadn't known that about Mullen before he took the Florida job-I had no real opinion of him other than I thought he did a good job at Mississippi State, and even sometimes compared him to what Pinkel was able to do at Missouri. But for whatever reason, the bright lights at UF exposed a lot of character issues. The "get 90k in the swamp" thing, the acting like a wrestling promoter against Mizzou in 2020 thing, generally he tripped over most any landmine that was available. He just couldn't get out of his own way, or appear likeable, at all. It may be that he is a good human being-I've heard stories about him from staffers/people around him that indicate that he is maybe not as bad as his public image. But his public image is bad. Should that matter? Maybe, maybe not. It won't matter (short of crimes/NCAA violations, and often not even then) if a coach is winning enough. But a coach's perceived character can be the difference between giving a guy another shot and no one being in the mood to do so. I think if he had said and done less stupid stuff, quite frankly, there is a decent chance that they give him a mulligan. Because he's a pretty darned good football coach. That did not and will not go away. I don't love the man, but he's gonna go somewhere else and be really successful.

I think Arkansas will win, but that is a tempting line for Mizzou. I think we'll make it a game.

I think y'all got us this year. We're competitive, now, at least, but we have yet to beat a team any better than "barely bowl eligible". It won't be the epic blowout I would have predicted in October, but something like 34-20 Arkansas sounds right. We needed A LOT of good bounces to beat a very iffy Florida team by 1 at home; beating a good team on the road is a big, big ask. I am just glad we don't need it for bowl eligibility

I mean, on the days we've beat you, I would say those were examples. But much more than that, thought it was a pretty obvious joke?

And honestly, I don't think Florida is even that much of a cupcake.

Check your spam folder, LOL. At least with vivid seats (and maybe SeatGeek? I don't remember how they deliver their tickets) that's where the ticket emails always end up. I almost missed the Mizzou/Arkansas game last year as a result of me checking my email to get my tickets and not initially finding them.

I honestly liked his low usage. Missouri was never winning at Georgia, but we did have a chance to win our last three games. Given Badie a ridiculously high usage rate in an unwinnable game ahead of a push for 6 games didn't make a ton of sense. If he'd gotten injured in the UGA game, does anyone think we even hang with SC Saturday, let alone win? I sure don't. I don't know if that was Drink's plan or not, but if so, I was good with it.

Huge win for Mizzou. First time since the UT loss that a bowl has felt realistic. Still gotta beat a hopefully still dead Florida team on Saturday (or Arkansas...but the former seems like the higher odds proposition.)

I don't know how we suddenly found a rushing defense 3/4 of the way through the season, but hey, we did. Florida looks broken. Missouri needs one more good game and what once looked like a horrible season will be saved. MIZ!

Given that Mizzou is (technically) favored, I suppose I should find it odd that I've seen literally zero outlet that isn't directly partisan to Mizzou pick us to win. With that said, we are 1-8 against the spread, and failing to cover the spread essentially means the same thing as losing here, so I get it. With that said...I think people are a bit too high on SC for doing to Florida what, in all honesty, I think Florida largely did to itself. That UF team had the look of a dead team. SC took advantage and didn't screw it up, which isn't a given, but do I suddenly think they're a good team? No, of course not. Might they still beat Missouri, sure, because we are also bad, but I still see this as a game between two bad, roughly equal teams. I'll nod towards the home team in this one. Honestly not being a homer; I've rarely picked Mizzou this season. I just think people are too high on SC, this is a bad spot for them going on the road in a cold, sleepy environment after an emotional win, and I don't think they're going to be ready for it. Mizzou will likely not have Bazelak, otherwise I might predict a blowout win for Mizzou. As it stands, I think it's a (by Mizzou standards) a relatively low scoring game and Mizzou gets the win, 27-20.

They could have picked a better matchup, but I'm glad they're going to Cincinnati. Is anyone really gonna stand here and say the poor SEC teams need more attention/coverage? Cincy is really good, they're having an all-time year. Let their fans have some fun.

I think this kind of comment is what this site is for, yes. Which is why I am rarely on here.

We have the best class in school history coming in and he is 9-9. He's not on the hot seat. Steve Wilks, certainly.

Thank you for choosing to share your opinion.

I have absolutely no idea how the word "invite" got randomly thrown in there, lol

Any other year, I'd call this an incredibly ugly game. This year, any SEC win is a good win. We invite didn't play well, but we're not a good team and that isn't changing. Still, being 4-4 with how we've played all year is not a terrible spot to be. I don't think we have a serious chance at a bowl, but still technically on the table.

Honestly, the Vandy loss two years ago was probably worse than a loss would be Saturday (again, to be clear, I am strongly opposed to losing). This Vanderbilt team is maybe slightly worse than 2019 Vanderbilt, but honestly, it's about the same...and Missouri isn't coming in ranked in a coach's 4th year. This would be a bad loss, but one we could still come back from given the point in the tenure. Again, to be clear, I would rather us not have to try.

I am still deciding whether to go to Nashville for the Mizzou/Vandy game or not. I want to see Mizzou get a SEC win, but if they lose... Two things: Missouri is very bad this year, and I don't think Drinkwitz has done a great job coaching on the field. Another thing: He is not going to be on the hot seat if he loses tomorrow, period. It would be advisable not to lose, of course, but he overachieved on the field last year (they were mostly predicted to go 2-8 or 3-7, and went 5-5 against an all-SEC slate) and has the program recruiting at levels literally never seen before. He will have to be more than a slightly below .500 coach on the field at some point, but for right now, he is safe. If Missouri is 4-5 or so a year from today, THEN we can talk hot seat. As for the game itself, the 38-26 prediction hews fairly close to what I'm thinking. I believe that Missouri will win (but I'm not sure) but the spread feels altogether to large. A 7-14 point win that is uncomfortable for most of the day feels about right as a prediction. If they are able to dominate for 4 quarters, it will instill a bit of hope for a late run at bowl eligibility. But step 1 is ensuring we avoid a winless SEC slate and the bottom of the division. A loss here would have Missouri being considered the worst team in the SEC, which would have been unthinkable coming into the season.