Tag: Eli Drinkwitz

Way too early 2024 SEC Football Power Rankings

The Sooners and Longhorns are making the jump to the SEC in 2024, so where do they land in our way-too-early power rankings?

In 2024, college football will look like nothing we’ve ever seen. Conference realignment did plastic surgery to the game we’ve grown up with.

The Pac-12 is essentially gone as Oregon, USC, Washington, and UCLA move to the Big Ten. The Big 12 added Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, and Utah. Stanford and Cal are off to the ACC, along with SMU getting a promotion from the AAC. The SEC is adding Texas and Oklahoma.

The College Football Playoff is expanding to 12 teams, coming off its most competitive four-team version.

All of this is happening in 2024.

It’s a new era of college football. For the SEC, the Sooners and Longhorns are coming off of double-digit win seasons and Texas made the playoff. But how do they stack up against their future SEC counterparts?

Here’s a look at our way-too-early SEC power rankings.

Way-too-early ranking of Oklahoma Football’s 2024 opponents

A way-too-early look at how the Oklahoma Sooners 2024 opponents stack up.

For all but two teams, the 2023 college football season has come to a close. That means it’s time to look ahead to the 2024 season.

After making significant improvements on both sides of the ball in 2023, the Sooners jumped from six to 10 wins in Brent Venables’ second season. But now they move to the SEC and are breaking in new coordinators on both sides of the ball.

Additionally, they’ll have a completely new offensive line from the group that started for the majority of the season and a new starting quarterback after [autotag]Dillon Gabriel[/autotag] left for Oregon.

Jackson Arnold takes the reins at quarterback for the Sooners. Despite his Alamo Bowl performance, the ceiling is very high for Arnold and the Sooners offense.

But they’ve got a difficult schedule in 2024, in particular when they get to SEC play. But how would you rank their opponents in 2024? Here’s how we ranked them here at Sooners Wire.

Brian Kelly, Eli Drinkwitz address LSU hiring Blake Baker as defensive coordinator

LSU finalized its hiring of Missouri defensive coordinator Blake Baker on Friday night.

LSU finalized its defensive coordinator hire on Friday night, bringing in [autotag]Blake Baker[/autotag] from Missouri on a deal that will pay him an average of $2.5 million per season over three years, making him the highest-paid assistant coach in the country.

Baker returns to the state of Louisiana, where he served as LSU’s linebackers coach in 2021 and the defensive coordinator at Louisiana Tech from 2015-18. He also has prior defensive coordinator experience at Miami.

Coach [autotag]Brian Kelly[/autotag] addressed Baker’s hiring in a statement on Friday night.

“Blake brings a wealth of experience and success as a defensive coordinator throughout his career, including the last two years in the SEC at Missouri,” Kelly said in a release. “His ability to develop and motivate his players while putting together highly successful defenses sets him apart in his field. I am excited to welcome Blake and his family back to Baton Rouge.”

Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz also took to social media to thank Baker for his time in Columbia.

Baker completely turned around the Missouri defense from one of the worst in the nation to one of the better units in the SEC. LSU will hope for a similar effect after the defense held the team back in 2023.

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Eli Drinkwitz cracked a snarky Connor Stalions joke after learning of Missouri’s Cotton Bowl opponent

Ryan Day and Ohio State were just minding their business when Eli Drinkwitz showed up.

The Michigan and Connor Stalions jokes will be happening for a long time.

During a wild College Football Playoff selection show that caused chaos among fans and intense debates from analysts, there was at least one man who had the jokes ready to go.

Upon discovering that the University of Missouri will play Ryan Day and Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl, head coach Eli Drinkwitz fired off a timely dig at Jim Harbaugh and Michigan over the Connor Stalions sign-stealing investigation.

Drinkwitz was getting ready to end his interview with ESPN’s Rece Davis when he “received an impromptu phone call” that he had to take.

 

Missouri looking to finish off best season since 2014

Missouri is hoping Arkansas doesn’t spoil its 10-win season on Black Friday in Fayetteville.

Arkansas native Eli Drinkwitz is hoping to secure Missouri’s first 10-win season since 2014 on Friday in Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium.

The No. 10 Tigers (9-2) will come into the Battle Line Rivalry looking to win it for the seventh time in eight tries.

Drinkwitz was hired in the same offseason as Sam Pittman, and was on the hot seat a year ago after posting back-to-back 6-7 seasons.

He turned a solid 2023 recruiting class and portal finds into a highly successful fourth year, which saw them beat Kansas State in Week 3 with a 61-yard field goal from Harrison Mevis and only lose to LSU and Georgia by a combined 19 points.

In two SEC road games besides Georgia, Missouri beat both Kentucky and South Carolina by identical 38-21 margins.

A win on Friday would most likely secure a New Year’s Six bowl bid for the Tigers.

What Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz said ahead of the Georgia game

Missouri Tigers coach Eli Drinkwitz had extra time to prepare for the No. 2 Georgia Bulldogs

The No. 2 Georgia Bulldogs (8-0) host the No. 12 Missouri Tigers (7-1) in a SEC East clash. The winner will have a much stronger chance to make the SEC championship. The loser will see its season’s course altered.

Kickoff is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET on Nov. 4. The Georgia-Missouri game will be televised on CBS.

Missouri is coming off a bye week after picking up a win over South Carolina. Last week, Georgia had one of its more impressive performances of the season in a 43-20 win over Florida.

What did Missouri football coach Eli Drinkwitz have to say ahead of the Georgia game?

Five things to know about Missouri heading into Week 6 road matchup

Here are five things to know about the Missouri Tigers prior to the game on Saturday.

LSU’s set to face Missouri on Saturday in what will be LSU’s third road game in four weeks.

It’ll be the fourth time the two schools have met since Missouri joined the SEC in 2012.

LSU last played Missouri in 2020, when LSU came out on the wrong end of a 45-41 shootout.

We could see another game like that this week, given that these are two of the hottest passing teams in college football and the LSU defense is struggling to stop anything right now.

Here are five things to know about the Missouri Tigers prior to this week’s matchup.

12 Power Five coaches who need a strong start to the 2023 season to avoid the hot seat

These coaches could be looking for new jobs next year if they don’t turn things around quickly.

It seems a bit silly to even mention the phrase “hot seat” when we still haven’t even kicked off a ball in the 2023 season.

But this is modern college football. The sport has become dominated by both massive coaching contracts and, in turn, an expectation for quick success.

Gone are the days when coaches were given years at a time to program-build. The transfer portal allows for much quicker roster transitions than were previously possible, and NIL provides a more even playing field — in theory, at least.

But Power Five schools aren’t just becoming more impatient in terms of how long they’re willing to extend the benefit of the doubt to their coaches. They’re also becoming increasingly more likely to make changes mid-campaign, often even before November.

In 2022, seven Power Five coaches were fired before the start of the final month of the season. Three of those didn’t even make it to October.

That’s a trend we will almost certainly see continue in 2023. With that in mind, here are 12 Power Five coaches who absolutely must start the season on a high note to avoid the hot seat.

Some of these are new coaches still looking to prove themselves, while others are longer-tenured and hoping to recapture past success that has since faded. But the uniting thread between them all is that they could be searching for new jobs next year if they don’t turn things around quickly.

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Mekhi Wingo excited to face his former team in Missouri

Mekhi Wingo is ready to face his former team this October.

[autotag]Mekhi Wingo[/autotag] became one of LSU’s best players last fall after transferring from Missouri.

This season, he’ll get head back to his home state to face his former team when LSU and Missouri face on Oct. 7.

When asked if the game had any extra meeting, Wingo said “definitely.”

“I love to come back and play in front of my home crowd,” Wingo said. “Just giving those family members an opportunity to come to a game they may not be able to make it down to in Baton Rouge. I’m definitely gonna need a lot of tickets for that game.”

Wingo said the relationship with his former teammates is still all love and he even got the chance to see some at media days with Missouri’s session later that day.

“It’s gonna be fun seeing my old teammates and my old coaches because I definitely still have that bond and connection with those guys,” he said.

For LSU cornerbacks coach [autotag]Robert Steeples[/autotag], who played a large role in recruiting Wingo, it’ll be a chance to coach in the state where he cut his teeth as a high school coach.

Missouri will have some LSU connections on their sideline too. Defensive coordinator [autotag]Blake Baker[/autotag] was LSU’s linebackers coach in 2021.

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Previewing Day 1 of the 2023 SEC media days

Previewing Day 1 of the 2023 SEC media days

The 2023 SEC media days will get underway on Monday morning from the Nashville Grand Hyatt in Nashville, Tennessee.

Three teams will take center stage today in Nashville as the LSU Tigers, Texas A&M Aggies, and Missouri Tigers are set to be on the docket on Monday.

Each head coach has some interesting questions to answer entering the 2023 season.

LSU’s Brian Kelly will look to repeat as SEC West champions and has a ton of help back to do so. Star quarterback Jayden Daniels is back for his senior season and super sophomore linebacker Harold Perkin Jr. is back to cause havoc for opposing offenses. It will be interesting to see how coach Kelly and his player handle the pressure of being a possible favorite to make it to Atlanta in back-to-back seasons.

Missouri’s Eli Drinkwitz is hovering on the hot-seat entering 2023. The Tigers are 17-19 under Drinkwitz in his three seasons as the head coach and will need to show serious signs of improvement if wants to retain his job in Columbia. The Tigers return six starters on offense and eight starters on defense, so the Tigers have some experience back, but taking care of business at home and in the non-conference will be critical for Mizzou in 2023.

Jimbo Fisher and the Texas A&M Aggies has had one of the most polarizing offseasons in the SEC. Fisher made the surprising hire of Bobby Petrino as his offense coordinator and that is sure to be the center of a ton of questions in Nashville. The Aggies have a ton of fire power returning on both offense and defense, but can the Aggies put it all together and make a run at an SEC West crown?

Stay tuned Roll Tide Wire for more coverage on the 2023 SEC media days!

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