A new perspective: Drinkwitz prepares for first meeting vs. Alabama since Mizzou coaching debut

On Aug.

17, 2020, the Southeastern Conference announced a revamped schedule for an adjusted football season that promised to be among the strangest in college football history because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Among the many intricacies and peculiarities of the schedule was a particularly rough road ahead for Missouri.

Eli Drinkwitz, at the time the newest coach in the conference, learned via an SEC Network broadcast that the road through his maiden voyage in arguably the toughest conference in the nation would start against who else but the top-ranked team in the country: Alabama.

When they announced the SEC schedule, I noticed we were playing the No.

1 team in the country in the first game of my career here, Drinkwitz reflected five years later.

So, I didnt sleep really well for however many months that was (until the game).

Those sleep-deprived nights didnt translate into much success for the Tigers, truth be told.

Alabama entered the contest with a 95.5% chance to win the contest, per ESPN Analytics, and that probability never dipped below 94.6% when then-Crimson Tide quarterback Mac Jones third-down pass to wideout DeVonta Smith fell incomplete to force a three-and-out on Alabamas first drive.

The Crimson Tide eventually doubled up Mizzou on the scoreboard, romping past the host Tigers 38-19 on Sept.

26, 2020.

Smith went on to win the Heisman Trophy; Jones became a first-round pick in the ensuing NFL Draft; and Alabama finished its 2020 season unblemished with a 13-0 record and another national championship to its name.

Four seasons and a new-look roster later, Drinkwitz has the opportunity to even the score against the Crimson Tide on Saturday in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

This time, the task doesnt seem quite so daunting for a Tigers program that has found itself on an upward trajectory these past two seasons.

Under Drinkwitz, Missouri has yet to miss out on bowl eligibility.

Thanks to a come-from-behind Homecoming victory over Auburn, the Tigers clinched a return to postseason play once again this season.

The five-year stretch represents the longest string of bowl berths for MU since it secured seven straight appearances from 2005-11 under College Football Hall of Famer Gary Pinkel.

Before that, one would have to venture all the way back to Warren Powers time as the Tigers coach to see a streak (1978-83) as long as current one.

Amidst one of the best stretches in program history, Missouri is 6-1 to start the season and is coming off a year in which it capped an 11-2 campaign with a Cotton Bowl victory.

But while it is true that the program is in the midst of a positive swing unseen in the past decade, its important to remember that the good graces that Drinkwitz currently finds himself in with Missouri fans all started with an up-and-down beginning.

Back-to-back losses to ranked Alabama and Tennessee squads opened Drinkwitzs tenure on a negative note, but his first-ever win as the Tigers head coach came against the defending national champion in then-No.

17 LSU, which bought the young coach some early support.

Drinkwitz parlayed the win with some midseason success and an emotional victory over Arkansas in the regular-season finale to earn bowl eligibility, the high-water mark of his first season in Columbia.

But consecutive blowout losses to Georgia and Mississippi State and a canceled bowl game against then-No.

15 Iowa because of a COVID-19 outbreak in the Tigers locker room put a damper on an otherwise strong inaugural season for the Missouri coach.

Missouris late-season deflation continued into Drinkwitzs second year with the Tigers.

An overtime loss at Boston College, a 38-point defeat at home against Tennessee and a 37-point loss on the road to eventual national champion Georgia sowed seeds of doubt about Drinkwitzs long-term ability to lead an SEC program.

Later in the season, a 34-17 Black Friday loss to rival Arkansas further accentuated these doubts, and that 2021 game remains the only time the Tigers have lost to the Razorbacks since 2015.

The Tigers didnt fare much better in 2022.

An early-season drubbing at Kansas State and a couldnt-have-gone-worse-if-you-tried overtime loss at Auburn set the tone for a third straight mediocre season of Missouri football.

The Tigers found a modicum of success midseason with back-to-back wins over Vanderbilt on Homecoming and on the road against 25th-ranked South Carolina, which prompted the UM System Board of Curators to announce a contract extension for Drinkwitz.

On the very same afternoon as it was announced, Missouri fell at home to unranked Kentucky and then suffered a 42-point defeat to Tennessee before a pair of victories pushed the Tigers to a bowl game.

A season-ending loss in the Gasparilla Bowl to Sam Hartman-led Wake Forest did little to quell the disappointment clearly felt by Missouri faithful, and despite his midseason contract extension, several outlets identified the then-fourth-year coach as a hot-seat candidate who could be coaching for his job in 2023.

Little did outsiders know that the 2023 season would be Drinkwitzs magnum opus.

A ranked win, the third of Drinkwitzs tenure, on a walk-off field goal against Kansas State prompted the Tigers faithful to storm the field, celebrating the start of what would be a truly magical season for Missouri.

The Tigers added three more ranked wins as the season progressed at No.

23 Kentucky, at home against 13th-ranked Tennessee and versus No.

7 Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl.

Last season, to date, represents the only campaign in Drinkwitzs tenure that the Tigers won their season-ending game and the lone year that they had a finish over.

500 in a season under Drinkwitz.

Already 6-1, Missouri looks to clinch a second straight winning season Saturday in Tuscaloosa.

Itll be no small task, as Alabama, which is the second-winningest college football program of all time, has turned Bryant-Denny Stadium into a fortress.

Since storied coach Nick Saban took the reins of the program in 2007, the Crimson Tide have lost a grand total of nine home games.

Of course, this seasons Alabama program is no longer Sabans team.

The longtime coach announced his retirement in the offseason, and former Washington coach Kalen DeBoer was tabbed as his replacement.

In Year 1 of DeBoers tenure, Alabama has already fallen twice, albeit both times on the road, to Vanderbilt and Tennessee.

But itll be no easy feat for Drinkwitz and the Tigers to knock off Alabama at home.

Simply put, Missouri hasnt toppled Alabama since 1975.

But in Drinkwitzs second attempt at the feat, experience will be on his side.

So, too, will be the support of the team, city and state.

We came in at the same exact time here at Mizzou, and the ups and downs and roller coasters weve been through together, it has been incredible, quarterback Brady Cook said of his coach Saturday following an emotional win over Auburn.

It has been incredible; it really has.

Im proud to have him as my coach.

Regardless of the result Saturday, its clear that the same opponent who greeted Drinkwitz with a not-so-kind welcome to the program could be the same one that vaults the fifth-year coach to even greater success and support at Missouri..

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