Eli Drinkwitz reveals whether he prefers eight or nine conference games

As the debate rages over an expanded College Football Playoff and the potential inequities that could exist in terms of qualifying for it, the number of conference games each league plays is once again in the spotlight. Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz was pressed on the topic on Thursday at SEC Media Days.

Sitting on the set of SEC Now, Drinkwitz was asked if he thought his team would benefit from a move to nine SEC games. He was blunt.

“No. No, I think eight games is probably great for the University of Missouri because it allows us to schedule what we need for the four games,” Drinkwitz said. “But, again, it all comes down to me: What’s best for the players and what’s best for the fans.”

From there, though, Drinkwitz pivoted on his answer and seemed to suggest that nine conference games might be what’s best for the game. He explained.

“Because if I’m worried about what’s best for me as a coach or what’s best for the commissioner or what’s best for the league, all of us are subsidiary to those two people,” Eli Drinkwitz said. “If we don’t have players, we don’t have a game. If we don’t have fans, there’s nobody showing up for us to play. So we’ve got to answer these questions based off of that. And what’s happened right now in college football is we’re divided up into factions trying to protect our own self-interests, and for me the only way to get past that is to ask these questions: What’s best for the players and what’s best for the fans?

“And ultimately, I think what’s best for both of those is going to a nine-game schedule.”

Currently, the SEC is playing only eight conference games. The league has had ongoing discussions throughout the last few years about moving to nine but has so far stood pat.

One of the reasons the league hasn’t yet moved forward is that it wants to see how the expanded playoff plays out in practice. After a couple of years monitoring that, the league can decide with a little bit better data.

But Drinkwitz continued to center around the idea that the fans and players are the most important part of the equation. He continued.

“At the end of this, we need the fans now more than ever,” Drinkwitz said. “And if we continue to alienate the fans or we put things in the way that’s going to alienate the fans, we’re not going to continue to be able to pay the players, we’re not going to be able to continue to have this great product, we’re not going to be able to continue, to me, the greatest game.

“And it’s not because it’s the game — I love the game — but you know what, people don’t come to watch the actual game, they come because they’re connected to people, they’re connected to something bigger than themselves, they’re connected to the Marching Mizzou Band, they’re connected to the spirit squads, they’re connected to friends and family at the tailgates. The byproduct is the game. But in a world where there’s so many distractions because of technology, Saturdays are still a place where there’s human connection.”

Eli Drinkwitz finished with a warning not just for college football but for football at large. The decision that college leaders make on things like eight versus nine conference games could have a lasting impact.

“We can’t lose sight of that because we’re fighting over this or that conference, ‘We’ve got the best conference, we’ve got the best conference.’ And I don’t care,” Eli Drinkwitz said. “Let’s play the best game. Let’s have the best environment. Let’s do what’s best for college football to continue to be what I think what is the most important game in the country.

“If you lose Saturday football, you’re losing Sunday and Friday night football, too. We’re the peanut butter and jelly behind the bread. If we don’t have Saturdays, you can forget Sundays and you can forget Friday nights.”