This is a reset year, isn't it?

It’s difficult to see how this season is anything more than just a chance for Missouri to set up for the future.

By Sam Snelling@SamTSnelling Oct 4, 2020, 5:00am CDT

I’m not sure what I expected this year. If I’m being honest, I’ve had a hard time getting ‘into’ college sports coming back. There’s a LOT going on, and I expected colleges to postpone the season until we were able to get more rapid COVID testing available.

But I guess I underestimated the financial draw of getting the games back and going again.

So without a normal offseason of practice and new cycles it was really tough to gauge where the Missouri program was as Eli Drinkwitz took over. We had a good understanding the quality wasn’t quite as good as we’d hoped last year at this time, and maybe the warning signs were there with the staff filling a fair amount of holes through the graduate transfer market. Yet hope remained, as it always does.

However after two games, we have something of an answer... this is definitely a rebuild.

Playing Alabama is never a joy, and Mizzou held their own. Though it appeared once they were comfortable the Tide let off the gas, allowing Mizzou to hang around a bit.

Against Tennessee, Missouri was outmatched where it matters. The Vols have talent and depth along the offensive and defensive lines, which always covers up a lot of holes elsewhere. Meanwhile those areas are where Mizzou is still working things out. So with a few nice pieces, but overall a roster in turmoil, Drinkwitz is faced with going week to week just trying to make things work.

So far it hasn’t gone all that well. Quarterback play has been up and down, with Shawn Robinson playing well in week 1, and Connor Bazelak playing well in week 2. With an offensive line just trying to field healthy players, the running game has had a hard time getting going. We haven’t seen a breakout game from any of the wideouts, likely reflective of the quarterback play being inconsistent.

Defensively, the secondary has struggled without Jarvis Ware. Freshman Ennis Rakestraw looks like he’s holding his own, but Joshuah Bledsoe, Adam Sparks and Ismael Burdine were targeted and taken advantage of.

The officiating didn’t do Missouri any favors either. It seemed with every critical play the Tigers were on the wrong side of a missed or blown call. But when it came down the the matchup, Mizzou just wasn’t good enough.

In a year that doesn’t mean anything, and which you might very well get a complete do-over next year with eligibility, the hope is this team finds its footing as the season goes on. There are positives you can take out from each week, and hopefully one of the quarterbacks finds his consistency enough to build into next year. There are a lot of reasons to be hopeful, but it might be a tough year to sit through.

But who knows, so far this year has already proven to be all kinds of weird.