2023 Macadoodles Mailbag: 36th Edition

GD: First, this site needs a Missouri win this weekend so we can go at least a week without having this conversation. No offense to the question, I get why it's relevant.

Drinkwitz's extension has him under contract for four years after this one. He is set to make a total of $26.5 million over those four years. Should Missouri fire him prior to the end of it, they owe him $6 million within 30 days and then 75% of what's remaining on the contract throughout the life of the contract. So let's say for the sake of this argument Mizzou made that move after the last regular season game. They'd owe him $6 million by about New Year's Day. Then they'd owe him 75% of the remaining $20.5 million (15.375) over the next four years. However, that is offset dollar for dollar by any new job he would get. He would almost certainly be an offensive coordinator somewhere. If that new job paid him $1 million a year (to use a round number) it would reduce what Missouri owed to 75% of $16.5 million (12.375). Basically, every dollar Drinkwitz made in the next four years would reduce what Missouri owed him by a dollar. So the answer is dependent on what job Drinkwitz has over the next four years and how much he made there. If he got another job that paid him $6.5 million a year (unlikely), the buyout could theoretically be as low as $6 million. If he never got another job, it could be as high as $21.375 million after this season.

GD: Cook has another year. Schrader and Nathaniel Peat do not. Mizzou's starting running back next year is either Tavorus Jones, Jamal Roberts or a transfer. If Cook is the starter all year this year and Missouri is in a bowl game, yes, it would be logical that he would be the starter next year. And, yes, that last sentence is indeed a bit crazy and a big part of why we're having the conversations we're having these days.

GD: The SEC is down this year. It has a 3-6 record against Power Five opposition, a losing record against the ACC and its best non-conference win is probably Ole Miss over Tulane. Georgia is still a heavy favorite to make the CFP, but LSU, A&M or Alabama would have to run the table, including a win in the SEC title game. The league's best chance to get two teams in might be for Tennessee or Georgia to go unbeaten and the other one to lose only that game between the two.

That does not mean the SEC will be down for an extended period of time or even next year. There are some signs that parity is increasing in college football and it's my opinion NIL and the portal are big factors in that. But we need a lot more data before we can say that conclusively. There's still a pretty decent chance we see a playoff with Georgia, Michigan, Ohio State and USC and I'm not sure that's a sign that anything has really changed.