Mizzou football prepares for Mayor’s Cup matchup

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Mizzou football team will return to action Saturday on the road against South Carolina. Kickoff from Williams-Brice Stadium is at 6:30 p.m.

You can hear head coach Eli Drinkwitz's full news conference previewing the game in the video player below.

Drinkwitz said MU has 56 scholarship player available to play on Saturday, but one of them will not be able to play until the second half due to suspension. The SEC recommends each team to have 53 scholarship players in order to play.

With that said - three of MU's players are supposed to be suspended for the first half against South Carolina - Chad Bailey, Dylan Spencer and Markell Utsey. Drinkwitz confirmed two of them will not play on Saturday. He would not say which two, and he would not give a reason for why they're not playing.

Drinkwitz added two more players have tested positive for COVID-19 this week, and that's caused more contact tracing. The Tigers have two COVID-19 tests remaining before Saturday. Drinkwitz remains hopeful the game will be played.

MU has not played a game since its loss to Florida on Oct. 31. The Tigers had their bye week, and then last week's matchup with Georgia was postponed due to COVID-19 concerns.

MU is 2-3 on the season. Meanwhile, South Carolina is 2-5. The Gamecocks will have an interim head coach on Saturday, Mike Bobo. South Carolina fired Will Muschamp on Sunday after four and a half seasons with the program.

We spoke with Mizzou QB Connor Bazelak, LB Devin Nicholson, OL Javon Foster and WR Cade Musser on Tuesday night. You can watch those full interviews in the video players below.