Every week, PowerMizzou.com publisher Gabe DeArmond answers questions from Tiger fans in the mailbag. This format allows for a more expansive answer than a message board post. Keep your eye out each week to submit your question for the mailbag or send them to powermizzou@gmail.com. On to this week's inquiries.
CapitalTiger93 asks: As it stands today, what accomplishment are you more impressed by and why: 1) Football going 5-5 after an unprecedented year (coaching change/Covid generally/all-SEC schedule) or 2) the basketball team being undefeated and ranked 14 in the country?
GD: As of today, that's a tough question. Because the basketball team is only a quarter of the way through the season. So it's kind of the equivalent of a 3-0 football team. It might be good. It looks good. But there's still time for it to go off the rails.
On the flip side, the basketball team has already beaten some good teams. The football team was better than we thought and won more games than we thought and I don't want this next statement to take away from what Eli Drinkwitz did in his first year, which I think was SEC Coach of the Year worthy until the last six quarters of the season but the simple fact is that Mizzou didn't really beat a good team this year. The best team they beat was LSU, which was far better in name than game and was better by the end of the year than when Mizzou played them. Again, that's not an attempt to downplay a season that should have Mizzou fans excited, but you're not being honest if you don't acknowledge it.
I guess, as of today, I'd probably say the football team is a bit more impressive but if the basketball team continues on this path I'll probably change my answer by about mid-February.
rmotigers asks: What will happen first, a Non Power 5 team will make the College Football Playoffs or another conference realignment eliminating all Non- Power 5 conferences?
GD: Neither. What will happen first is the Power Five conferences will break away from the NCAA and form their own body in college sports.
The committee proved this year that there's no chance a non-Power Five team is ever breaking into the field. Not only was Cincinnati as good a candidate as any we've seen, but there also were reasons to exclude one or two of the teams that did make it. If a Group of Five team was ever going to make it in, this was the year. And not only did one not make it in, but it didn't even come particularly close. Two-loss Oklahoma and three-loss Florida were ranked in front of the Bearcats. What that says is the only way a G5 team is ever making it in is if every Power Five team in the country has a minimum of two losses. I'd venture to guess that's never happened in the history of college football.
As for realignment eliminating the non-Power Fives, maybe my answer is what you meant. But obviously the Power Fives aren't just going to absorb the non-Power Fives. I don't think a split from the NCAA is likely in the immediate future, but at some point, I think the bigger schools are going to say "Let's go do our own thing and keep all of the money for ourselves." I don't know exactly what those leagues will look like. Sixty-six is an odd number. You'd kind of like to have it be a like 64 or even 72 that would make it easy to set up a tournament in both major sports, but I think that's the most likely thing among those we're discussing here.
