Eli Drinkwitz has no issue adding Alabama and LSU to Mizzou’s schedule: ‘I came to Missouri to play against the best’
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Following the SEC’s Friday evening schedule release of two additional matchup for every league team, many Missouri fans were quick to bemoan the additions of Alabama and LSU to the team’s upcoming football schedule.
That’s not the way Eli Drinkwitz views Mizzou’s updated schedule.
The first-year Missouri coach already had his hands full dealing with a shortened offseason in his first year in the Southeastern Conference but the league’s decision to shift to a conference-only, 10-game schedule was only going to make things more difficult for the league’s first-year coaches.
While it would have been somewhat understandable if the Mizzou coach issued his displeasure over the additions of Alabama and LSU during a recent appearance on 101 ESPN radio show “Karraker & Smallmon,” Drinkwitz instead said the team’s updated schedule will provide his team with a better opportunity to test itself this fall.
“I came to Missouri to play against the best. You come to the SEC to go against the best,” Drinkwitz said on the show. “I mean, who are you going to shy away from, you know? It ain’t like there was anybody else. I mean, we were going to get a good opponent, you know, I mean, Auburn and A&M ain’t no slouches, they are both in the top 25, too.
“So, you know, if you’re coming to play in this league, you know you’re gonna play against great competition and great coaches. We have a tremendous amount of respect for our opponents but we knew it was going to be a good football team. You know what, they are going to get a good football team in return too and so it’ll be a great matchup. That’s why you come play the SEC.”
That’s the best answer Drinkwitz could have given. The SEC isn’t going to change the schedule, so the only option for Mizzou is to deal with it and try and pull off a big upset or two in those new matchups set to take place this fall.
A graduate of the University of Tennessee, Michael Wayne Bratton oversees the news coverage for Saturday Down South. Michael previously worked for FOX Sports and NFL.com
