Going into the 2023 season, Mizzou, a long-time SEC College Football team, had doubts about positions and questions about morale. Doubts arose in training camp when Mizzou looked sluggish. 

“Still got a lot of work to do, we still have some position battles left,” Eliah Drinkwitz, head coach, said.

2020 season

Drinkwitz is an Oklahoma native and seasoned college football coach with positions ranging from the head coach of Appalachian State to an offensive coordinator of NC State, another Division 1 College. After resigning from the head coach position at Appalachian State, he was searching for a new opportunity. And in 2020 he was quickly hired as the head coach of the Mizzou Tigers. 

In this 2020 season, Mizzou would go 5-5 and rank 58th out of the 128 teams in the conference. Led by freshman quarterback Connor Bazelak who took most of the snaps with the rest going to backup and junior Shawn Robinson and freshman Brady Cook. Robinson would go on to switch positions to safety towards the end of the season which gave the true freshman Brady Cook a chance to shine.

The Tigers were set to face Iowa in the Music City Bowl in Nashville Tennessee; however, due to COVID-19 cases rising through the team and trainers they decided to cancel the Music City Bowl.

2021 Season

Drinkwitz had some work to do. At his disposal was a 79th-ranked in College football and an 85th-ranked defense. Improvements need to be made going into the 2021 season of Tigers football.

Over the offseason, the Tigers only signed one notable player from the transfer portal, Keke Chism. Chism would go on to be the Tiger’s number two Wide receiver (WR) and he would finish second in receiving yards.

Even with the Big Signing of Keke Chism, the Tigers still had a conundrum and quarterback. The majority of the snaps would go to now sophomore quarterback Connor Baselak. Brady Cook, on the other hand, would also be going into his sophomore year with the Tigers. Cook showed development in his playmaking decisions and his leadership as a player. Even with the improvements, Cook only had 58 passing attempts due to being the backup.

The defense still felt less physical and “tired,” no major signings on that side of the ball caused doubts about the future of the program and the ability to win games in the 2021 season.

The Tigers started their 2021 campaign with a win against Central Michigan 35-24. Worries still lingered in the air of the locker room after giving up 24 points to a school that is not known for being very good at football.

In the coming weeks, the Tigers would tip-toe the .500 line with three straight losses to Kentucky, Boston College and Tennessee respectively. This wasn’t a surprise, per se, because of the lackluster defense. Because of the lack of star players, Mizzou would barely get themselves a 6-7 record to end the season. The defense is not much better and the offense needed a “wildcard” player.

The Tigers were set to play Army in the Armed Forces Bowl on Dec. 22. The Tigers would once again keep the failing narrative going and lose the Armed Forces Bowl 24-22.

Not even a day later the Tigers starting quarterback Connor Baselak would announce his intentions to enter the transfer portal and leave the team. Reactions to this would vary from sad that the long-term teammate and leader would be departing and hopeful that the 6-6 and 6-7 seasons would stop and the tigers would have a window of opportunity to compete at a high level. However, many people had doubts about Mizzou’s recruiting ability to surround new starting quarterback Brady Cook with quality skill position players (WR’s, RB’s TE’s).

 2022 season

Going into a season with a new quarterback is hard for most college and professional-level teams; however, with a longtime backup in Brady Cook, Mizzou was more prepared.

With Cook knowing the playbook and the players, there was a sense of hope within the offense. The defense on the other hand needed serious changes. The improvements in said defense started with incoming signings and transfers, nine out of the thirteen incoming players were defensive recruits, and the coaching staff mostly stayed the same with no notable changes.

There were low expectations for the Tigers this year, and they barely met them.

The Tigers finished the 2022 season 6-7, but the offense led by Brady Cook lacked luster. The offense ranked 86th and the defense which was much improved was ranked 56th. Cook had a “meh” year. Fourteen touchdowns and seven interceptions made him the second worst SEC Quarterback according to athlonsports.com. This was expected. A new quarterback, a new era for Mizzou, fans knew a bumpy ride was ahead.

The Tigers were never talked about nationally in the 2022 offseason because of the average performance in 2022, as well as little to no information to make people think that anything would change. Mizzou flew under the radar for about four months until training camp started. They surprisingly looked the same—more low expectations for a middle-tier team.

2023 season

However, the start of the 2023 season has had everybody on their toes. They started the season against a non-major conference team, South Dakota. On paper, this would be an easy win. And it was; the Tigers won 35-10. [1-0]

In week two Mizzou was scheduled to play Middle Tennessee State. Cook threw for 204 yards and two touchdowns on the way to a 23-19 win. [2-0]

Week three would be the hardest yet. They would go against #15 ranked Kansas State. But the Tigers stayed hot and won 30-27 with a fourth quarter comeback. Cook had his best start yet with 356 yards and 2 touchdowns. [3-0]

However the star of the show was Mizzou kicker Harrison Mevis, with three seconds left on the clock Mevis kicked an SEC record 61-yard field goal to win. It’s safe to say the Tigers had momentum.

In week four the Tigers faced off against Memphis [3-0]. The game plan for Mizzou was to run the ball because of the lack of luster of the offensive line of Memphis. All Mizzou had to do was execute, and they did. The final score was 34-27 in Mizzou’s favor, the Tigers had over 200 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns. [4-0]

The week five opponent was Vanderbilt, with momentum and hype on Mizzou’s side it was easy to say Mizzou would win. And they did 38-21. A good game all around from the Tigers, Brady Cook had over 300 yards and 4 passing touchdowns.

The start of 2023 has been the best since the infamous 2013 season. In 2013 Mizzou started 7-0 and ended with a 12-2 record. They won the Cotton Bowl, and they were ranked 9th in the country. With the 5-0 start that Mizzou has this year it has people thinking: could this be another elite Mizzou Tigers Football season? With Brady Cook and the supporting cast around him the Tigers have a shot at the SEC championship this year. With the seasons leading up to 2023 being mediocre, almost nobody expected the Tigers to make this start. All they have to do to make it to an SEC Championship is execute.