Eli Drinkwitz and Missouri Must Study 2008 to Cook Up a Big 2024

Nobody Worries More About Success Than a Mizzou Fan

Few fan bases in college football have the scar tissue of Missouri Tiger fans. Thus, the “p-word” often applies to Tiger faithful. The better times get, the more paranoid Mizzou fans become. And there is plenty of justification for that trait.

A book could be written about Mizzou’s football disappointments. Mizzou fans carry the painful legacy of a program with numerous soul-crushing defeats. It starts with being cheated out of the 1960 national championship in the regular season finale by the hated Kansas Jayhawks. Adding insult to that eternal injury was that the NCAA later reversed the result, but by then, it was too late to matter.

Of course, there is the infamous 1990 Fifth Down against Colorado, which killed off any shot Bob Stull had for a coaching breakthrough. 1997 saw Larry Smith build a tough Tiger team good enough to go toe-to-toe with eventual national champion Nebraska, only to lose in the controversial “Kick-Six” heartbreaker. And in 2004, following Pinkel’s first bowl campaign with a team touted as a Big 12 title contender, the Tigers inexplicably lost a prime-time stink bomb at Troy to destroy their season in the second week.

Every Tiger fan has their wounds over such games. But there was no more impactful defeat than on October 11, 2008. 

Pistols Firing to Shoot Down Mizzou’s 2008 Title Chase  

Following a 12-2 campaign for the ages in 2007, QB Chase Daniel led a Missouri Tiger team touted as a 2008 national championship threat. Daniel was touted as a top-tier Heisman Trophy candidate and was celebrated for hanging out with such captains of American Commerce as Warren Buffett.

To say the 2008 Tigers were talented would be an understatement. Derrick Washington, Jeremy Maclin, Chase Coffman, Sean Weatherspoon, Stryker Sulak, and Brock Christopher were among the stars that lit up the Mizzou marquee.

Gary Pinkel’s Tigers got off to a 5-0 start and were ranked third in the nation for their Saturday night prime-time national TV showdown against the 17^th-ranked Oklahoma State Cowboys. Farout Field was packed to the top rows with fans living a dream. Naturally, the dream turned into a nightmare.

On its first possession, Missouri quickly advanced to the Okie State seven-yard line. The Tigers were going in for glory. Daniel would become the lead Heisman Trophy favorite, and Ol’ Mizzou would skyrocket to the top of the national rankings. Except they never got there.

In typical Mizzou fashion, there was excruciating pain in the process. On second and goal from the six, Daniel hit Coffman on a slant over the middle for what looked like a catch-and-run touchdown. The officials marked it an inch shy of paydirt. The video review did not give officials enough evidence to overturn a call most Mizzou fans will swear to this day was bogus.

But with only an inch needed, it seemed like it wouldn’t matter. However, on third down, Washington was stuffed just short on a rush. On fourth and goal from the one, Pinkel gave a vote of no confidence to his offensive line and kicked the field goal. Subsequently, the personality of the game changed, and Mizzou lost 28-23.

Missouri never recovered and finished the season 10-4 with a final national ranking of 19^th. It was a talented team that perhaps got caught up in the hype and reading its own headlines. The season ended in bitter disappointment and was far short of summer prognostications. Which leads to now.  

2024 Must Be Mizzou Made With a Proven Formula

Championship teams make their luck. The Kansas City Chiefs and St. Louis Blues are recent examples of teams that suffered decades of torment and pain only to emerge as eventual champions. No law states a team must always break hearts. But self-determination is mandatory. There is no charity or pity in football. Nobody gets any favors from the outside.

Mizzou is already generating plenty of anticipation for 2024. But the lessons of 2008 must apply. Media hype will not deliver the hardware. Championships are taken and earned, not given. Mizzou must keep building its tough-as-nails, resilient, and resourceful culture of outworking the entitled and privileged rich kid opponents of the sport.

Like Chase Daniel in 2008, Brady Cook is a senior QB coming off a breakthrough campaign. Like Daniel, Cook was not a coveted recruit. But he is a Mizzou Made winner that exemplifies the program’s culture. Nobody sets a better example of being a True Son.

Eli Drinkwitz compares his players to being rusty but reliable pickups instead of shiny new sports cars. Mizzou football has excellent work habits and tenacity under his leadership. That rusty pickup metaphor is what led to Mizzou’s breakthrough season of 2023. And it can lead to a championship in 2024