Mizzou set to leave for the Gasparilla Bowl on Monday
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
The Mizzou football team will leave for its Gasparilla Bowl matchup against Wake Forest on Monday morning.
The Tigers will be down quite a few players headed into the Dec. 23 game. A total of 10 players entered the transfer portal, as well as a few guys declaring for the NFL Draft. Head coach Eli Drinkwitz said that they will be down guys, but so will every body else.
Obviously, a lot happened in the couple of weeks since Drinkwitz last meet with the media. He said it's been "all gas and no breaks," since the season ended. He added that after the bowl game and after celebrating Christmas with him family, he will look back and evaluate the 2022 season.
"I haven't had any time to sit down and reflect and I think that's both good and bad. I think what it will allow us to do is, once this game's over, to kind of put this season away," Drinkwitz said. "Then it's figuring out what do we need to do moving forward to continue to improve. That'll really be the charge for me once this game's done."
In the weeks since MU took down Arkansas in the final game of the regular season, Drinkwitz has dealt with 10 players entering the transfer portal, recruiting trips across the country and his quarterbacks coach leaving for another job.
Bush Hamdan accepted an offensive coordinator position at his alma mater, Boise State, before Mizzou's bowl game. Drinkwitz said he has taken over his old job, once again, of coaching the quarterbacks.
"I love it. I called Brady and told him 'good news, bad news,'" he said. "The game planning really didn't change a whole lot, just going back to running it and calling it."
Coach Drinkwitz added that he doesn't know how he will fill that open position on his staff yet, either with a new quarterbacks coach or an offensive coordinator. He said he will also be reflecting on that after the bowl game.
The Tigers will leave on Monday morning for St. Petersburg, Florida, where the Gasparilla Bowl is being held. Drinkwitz said that Wake Forest's offense will present a big challenge, especially with quarterback Sam Hartmann set to play on Friday.
"It's a unique offense that they've been running for a long time and they've been very successful at it. I think Sam's one touchdown away from breaking the ACC record before he moves on to the NFL or whatever his future holds," Drinkwitz said. "They have a lot of things they do really well on their offense, but one of the staples is an RPO style, where it could be handoff or a vertical throw or intermediate throw. It just takes time to develop and it's unique and it's hard to describe until you see it."
Mizzou and Wake Forest will kick off at 5:30 p.m. CT at Tropicana Field on Dec. 23.
