Mizzou football prepares for rivalry matchup with Arkansas
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
The Mizzou football team will host Arkansas in the annual Battle Line rivalry game on Saturday at 11 a.m.
You can watch the full news conference with head coach Eli Drinkwitz in the video player below.
Former Mizzou football player and coach Barry Odom will return to Faurot Field on Saturday. For the first time in his life, he'll be on the opposing team's sideline.
"There's no hiding it," Drinkwitz said. "We talked about it on Sunday that obviously we're going against Coach Odom and a couple other coaches that used to be here. But again, this is a players game."
The Tigers have won the last four matchups with the Razorbacks.
We spoke with several players ahead of the rivalry game. It appears they all feel the same way about their former head coach.
"I have a lot of respect for Coach Odom," safety Martez Manuel said. "I love him. He gave me a shot, just a kid out of Rock Bridge. I just feel like the best way to respect him is to prepare to play him - or not even play him, but prepare to play the Razorbacks - as if I'm playing the Super Bowl."
"Coach Odom was incredible to me," wide receiver Barrett Banister said. "He was the one who gave me a shot to walk on here at Mizzou. He was the one that ended up giving me a scholarship, and so I'm extremely grateful for him."
You can watch all of those interviews in the video players below.
Coach Drinkwitz said Saturday will be senior day for the Tigers. The team will honor its 17 seniors.
"At the end of the day - there's a trophy on the line," Drinkwitz said. "They're standing in our way from accomplishing what we want to accomplish this year, and we're standing in there way - so that's rivalry enough. There's plenty of storylines however you want to create them, but the bottom line is this is a players game, and on Saturday at 11 a.m. - whichever team's ready to play the most is going to win."
Coach Drinkwitz added the Tigers will have 61 scholarship players available on Saturday.
