Mizzou lost to No. 2 Bama, yes, but Eli Drinkwitz’s weekend debut wasn’t a total dud
Alternate universe game day at Missouri first presented itself about a half-mile from Faurot Field with no cars parked along Stadium Blvd., which meant no motoring past droves of fans lugging kids or coolers, or, as I once saw, a kid riding on a cooler.
From there, the 2020 major-college football scene played out as it had elsewhere across the nation: traffic breezing past the stadium, with limited attendance, an hour before kickoff; no tailgating; fans, mostly practicing social distancing and mask-wearing, settling into the stands.
The grassy “Rock M” hill behind the North end zone, unique to Missouri, was outlined with chalked rectangles — designating reserved and numbered seating spaces for groups.
By kickoff on this warm evening, some 11,700 attendees had clicked through the turnstiles. Before the end of the first quarter, the message board delivered another reminder of sports life in the COVID-19 pandemic: virtual fans, cheering from home.
No matter. Football had returned to Mizzou and the SEC ... a few weeks later than other conferences, but squarely aligned with the league’s re-start schedule.
Saturday also marked the long-awaited Tigers debut of Eli Drinkwitz, though hopes of a storybook outcome were squashed about the time second-ranked Alabama extended the lead to three touchdowns early in the second quarter.
But the Tigers didn’t fold and outscored Alabama from that point, falling 38-19. Mizzou came nowhere close to a victory but managed to somewhat change the course of a blowout. That’s something.
The Crimson Tide have come into the last five seasons ranked first or second and have embarrassed more highly regarded, even ranked, opponents in those season openers.
That wasn’t the case on Saturday.
“It easily could have gone a lot of ways,” Drinkwitz said. “We saw some fight there at the end.”
Drilling down, Missouri’s offense wasn’t creative enough early when it could have made a difference. Case in point: Mizzou faced a fourth-and-2 from the Alabama 33 on its second series. The Tigers passed on a long field-goal attempt. Good call.
An option pitch to the short side against a lightning-quick defense lost one yard. Bad call. The next Alabama snap gained 46 yards.
Asked about conservative play-calling, Drinkwitz supplied a two-word response: “My fault.”
Shawn Robinson got the start at quarterback for MU, solving the game’s first mystery (although the former TCU starter was the logical choice all along). Connor Bazelak took the first series of the second quarter and didn’t play again until he led the Tigers on their final scoring drive, which he capped with a 7-yard run. Don’t be surprised to see both take snaps next week at Tennessee.
The game loomed as mission nearly impossible for Mizzou. Alabama has NFL talent all over the field. In 2004, Miami set the record for most first-rounders selected in an NFL Draft — six. The Crimson Tide could top that next April. One mock draft has nine Alabama players being taken in the first round in 2021.
And then there was the motivation factor. Alabama had been part of the first five College Football Playoff semifinals. The Tide played for the title four times and won it all twice. Last season was the first time Bama wasn’t voted into the final four.
Playing in the Citrus Bowl represented a sub-standard season for Nick Saban and Co. Missouri just happened to be first up on the redemption tour.
As the Tide’s lead grew to 29 points, 35-6 entering the fourth quarter, the game was headed to name-that-score territory. But Missouri stayed motivated, or perhaps the Tide got a little sleepy. Two fourth-quarter touchdowns by the Tigers made the score more respectable.
Running back Larry Rountree III was Mizzou’s best weapon. He ran elusively and with toughness, putting a shoulder into linebacker Dylan Moses that the former Butkus Award finalist is no doubt still feeling today.
Plenty went wrong for the Tigers. A sloppy fumble on a pitch, a muffed punt, not getting off the field as Alabama converted nine of 14 third downs — Drinkwitz referred to that statistic several times — plus a handful of drops by receivers, including one on Robinson’s first attempt and another in the red zone.
There is plenty to clean up.
But enough good things happened, albeit with the game out of reach, to believe Mizzou can hang with several opponents on its SEC-only schedule.
Minutes after the game, the stadium was empty and traffic was light heading out of town in this oddest of seasons.
But at least there’s a season.
This story was originally published September 26, 2020 at 10:36 PM.