The 2019 season brings uncertainty, as the protracted appeal over a ridiculous "scandal" with a single actor still has not been resolved. On the field, Mizzou faces what appears to be a much easier schedule than in years' past. The early season is loaded with home games before a protracted road stretch from mid-October through November.
Schedule:
Spoiler!
8/31 @ Wyoming
9/7 vs. West Virginia
9/14 vs. SEMO
9/21 vs. South Carolina
10/5 vs. Troy
10/12 vs. Ole Miss
10/19 @ Vandy
10/26 @ Kentucky
11/9 @ Georgia
11/16 vs. Florida
11/23 vs. Tennessee
11/29 @ Arkansas
Recruiting:
Spoiler!
Commits:
Jalen St. John, OG: **** 5.8 RR, St. Louis, MO
Brady Cook, QB: *** 5.7 RR, St. Louis, MO
Jay Maclin, WR: *** 5.7 RR, Kirkwood, MO
Mitchell Walters, OL: *** 5.7 RR, St. Louis, MO
Kevon Billingsley, DE: *** 5.7 RR, East St. Louis, IL
Robert Wooten, DE: *** 5.7 RR, Stafford, TX
Drake Heismeyer, OL: *** 5.6 RR, St. Charles, MO
Elijah Young, RB: *** 5.6 RR, Knoxville, TN
Cooper Davis, DE: *** 5.6 RR, Melbourne, FL
Will Norris, LB: *** 5.6 RR, Columbia MO
Dominique Johnson, RB: *** 5.6 RR, Crowley, TX
Ray Curry, OL: *** 5.5 RR, Memphis, TN
Harris Mevis, K: Unranked, Warsaw, IN
Javian Hester, WR: **** 5.8 RR, Tulsa, OK
Jalen Logan Redding, DE *** 5.6 RR, Columbia, MO
In-state talent is noticeably better than 2019, but the depth is not as impressive as the 2018 class that Missouri missed badly on. There are 7 4+* recruits per rivals, and as per usual, Ohio State has poached one of the two best in-state recruits, with Notre Dame taking the first 5* prospect in several years, Jordan Johnson. The program has de-invested in Georgia after making inroads in and around Gwinnett, and has dug further into Texas to compensate. Whether or not this is a good strategy is yet to be borne out.
The previous best recruit, Antonio Doyle, an ILB from St. Louis, decommitted on Thursday
The Class Rankings are in the low 50s from Rivals and 24/7 and again near the bottom of the SEC.
Hamas' Crystal ball sees a lot of variance. I could see this team winning as few as 7 and as many as 10 games. Georgia is the only certain loss. Florida is likely still overrated by name, but time will tell.
Official prediction: 9-3. Recruiting prediction: slightly disappointing
Originally Posted by duncan_idaho:
Sterk apparently thinks he has a chance.
I don’t think that necessarily means a ton, but he’s going to take a shot at it.
Man I hope so...think it'd be a great hire and being realistic, probably the best option we could get.
I still have my reservations on if Sterk will actually pull the trigger, I think he absolutely has to but I could see him retaining Odom just as easily. I hope I'm wrong... [Reply]
You guys need to quit bumping this thread. Every time it gets bumped, I come in here looking to see the news that Odom has been fired. But, alas, I'm disappointed every time. I mean, after losing 5 straight, including losses to Kentucky, Vandy, and Tennessee, is there really anything else worth talking about when it comes to this crappy coached mess of a team? [Reply]
Originally Posted by duncan_idaho:
Sterk apparently thinks he has a chance.
I don’t think that necessarily means a ton, but he’s going to take a shot at it.
The funny thing is, I actually think Odom did a worse job LAST year.
But the issue is two-fold in how this season should rest with Odom: 1) The quarterback situation was completely unacceptable. As bad as Bryant's been, he's almost certainly the best option we had and that took a transfer hail-mary to get. Odom's handling of the QB position was egregious and with Bryant clearly a poor fit here, we had no plan B. And even plan A took a minor miracle to achieve which suggests a pretty poor process to begin with.
2) Getting back to Bryant's fit - we knew that the Dooley hire really could make/break Odom's career, especially since the consensus is that Dooley was his call. And man, Dooley's done NOTHING to try adjust and find production with this offense. Without Lock, everything fell apart and Dooley had no idea how to fix it. Well, if Dooley is Odom's call, than that blame falls on him as well.
I'm not of the 'he lost the lockerroom' school - I don't think these guys have quit on him. I just think the offense is a shitshow and there's only so much Odom can do on the fly. But this IS a reckoning for a poor QB room and a risky OC hire that certainly appears to have failed.
Ask yourself this question - if Odom had the QB play that Pinkel got starting with Brad Smith going forward, do you think this team fails as badly as it did this year? I don't. To my eyes, this all came down to the QB and his ability to fit in this system. Give Pinkel this kind of mismatch between ability/scheme at the QB position and he'd have had a 5 win season as well. So am I of the mind that Odom is inept? No - just that he's probably about on par with Pinkel over any appreciable timeline.
And if I'm Odom, I start Bazelak on Saturday and pray he kicks ass. Then point to that as your long-term plan and ask for a mulligan at the position. It could also do a little to encourage the fanbase.
Because there's no reason at all to send Kelly Bryant out there to do watered down Alex Smith stuff again at this point. [Reply]
Can’t believe they’re doubling down on their stupidity and upholding their dumbass ruling. Literally, NO ONE, will cooperate with the NCAA in an investigation going forward. What’s the incentive to??
Again, not that it really matters much based on how this season went for Mizzou, but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s still complete and utter bullshit. [Reply]