Ten Thoughts for Monday Morning
Before you dive in here, I've already written a lot about Saturday's game in my Saturday night wrap and my Sunday morning thoughts and Mitchell gave his postgame thoughts right here. So we'll focus on some bigger picture stuff and national stuff in this post.
1) I want to take a minute to praise Eli Drinkwitz. There's been a lot of that done, but I'm doing it for a different reason here. He picked the bowl game that would let his players be home for Christmas and New Year's. A lot of fans don't like it and that's fine. Who knows, maybe there are even some players who don't love it. But he did what he thought was best for his players at the end of a brutal season.
In a profession without a lot of human beings, Drinkwitz seems to be a human being. It's not just this issue. He's been up front about the COVID stuff. He's generally shared injury information. He's had a healthy perspective on this all year of "We want to win every time we play, but it's a weird year and there are things more important than wins and losses. We want to play and we're going to try our best, but this isn't life and death here." And that counts a lot with me. I love sports. At times I get emotional over sports. But over time, I've also gained a lot of perspective. They're games. None of us are solving major problems or impacting anyone's lives in real significant ways. He seems to get that. When a lot of coaches are standing up and whining about this or that, telling us things like they didn't even know when election day was, pretending that we are all too stupid to possibly understand why they might run a speed option on fourth and two or play zone instead of man, Drinkwitz seems to be a reasonable human. I appreciate that. I think Mizzou fans should too.
2) As far as the actual bowl game, it's fine. I don't have strong feelings over whether it's better or worse than playing Indiana in the Outback Bowl or NC State in the Gator Bowl. They're all just kind of there. Iowa's a good team. It would probably get you the most recognition for a win of those three teams. But nobody outside of the team and our message board is going to remember who won or lost it in three weeks. Let me address the reasons the bowl game choice does NOT matter:
*The trip. There is no trip this year guys. They're going in for a couple days and they're going to see the hotel. There are no activities or sightseeing or anything like that. The destination city really doesn't matter because you're not going to see the destination city.
*The chance to play in a recruit's area. Can you name one single player who has ever chosen a school and said "I wasn't going to go there, but then they played the Taxslayer Bowl 25 minutes from my house and I thought, wow, I should really go there." It just doesn't matter. Missouri already plays a game every two years in Florida. If they want to schedule another one, there are a million teams and they can play there. And there are probably some recruits in Tennessee too if you want to hold on to the idea that this somehow is a factor.
*The money. Teams get reimbursed for their expenses and then their bowl profits go into a pot and it gets split 14 ways. SOMEONE was going to the Music City and someone was going to the Gator and someone was going to the Outback. And that money's all going in the same pool. The big factor is to get as many teams in the big money (playoff and NY6 bowls) as you can because that's what impacts the league's bottom line and the individual payouts. Also, I was told this morning that the SEC has insurance on most of its postseason events in case they were to be canceled due to COVID. So most of the money is going to be there.
3) Since we're on the topic of the playoff, let's talk about it.
Get 25% off your first year and a $75 Nike or adidas gift card with our holiday specials
Talk about this story and more in The Tigers' Lair
Make sure you're caught up on all the Tiger news and headlines
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel for video and live streaming coverage
Whether you are looking for more space to host those game day parties or looking to upgrade, Stein & Summers is your #1 fan in helping you find the home of your dreams! We have over 100 licensed agents servicing Kansas City, St. Joseph, and surrounding areas - including Kansas! Interest rates are at a record low while homes sales prices are at a record high! Contact us today to get started.