POLL: Should Mizzou forfeit the Alabama game?

Eli Drinkwitz has a real challenge on his hands in his first game as Mizzou’s head football coach. Drinkwitz–who has only one season of head coaching experience on his resume, at Appalachian State–drew the short straw in the SEC schedule reshuffle and got Alabama as the Week 1 opponent. Not ideal for anyone.

And now there is a COVID situation brewing in the Mizzou locker room.

On Wednesday, Drinkwitz confirmed at least a dozen of his players will be out against Alabama when the Crimson Tide travel to Missouri on September 26. The number is 12 right now, nine days before kickoff.

“Out is out,” Drinkwitz said. “Whether they got it or whether they contact trace, out is out. They can’t be around us, so there’s no reason to get into the numbers game and hype. It’s just we’re down 12 guys. It is what it is.”

The Alabama game was already going to be a challenge because (a) it’s Alabama; and (b) Mizzou has a new coach and a new QB on a team that lost five in a row to end the season before winning the finale against lowly Arkansas. In that five-game losing streak, Mizzou had scoring outputs of 14, 7, 0, 6 and 20 in those games.

Now Mizzou is shorthanded with more COVID tests to come before the game. This raises the question, should Mizzou take the inevitable L now and tell Alabama to stay in Tuscaloosa?

Thank you for your participation and good luck to Mizzou.