Fresh off its largest loss in almost two full calendar years, Missouri football’s bye week comes at a perfect time for the Tigers, but not only because of the 31-3 final score they were on the wrong end of against the Ole Miss Rebels on Saturday in Oxford, Mississippi.
Missouri listed 24 players on Wednesday’s SEC Student-Athlete Availability Report, the most it's listed all season. The number dwindled as the week went on — only tight end Brett Norfleet and linebacker Jeremiah Beasley actually missed the entire contest — but many Tigers played through injury to take the field at Vaught-Hemingway.
“I mean, every one of those guys was in the injury room and was limited in some sort of capacity throughout the week,” Drinkwitz said. … “Guys are beat up. That's this league. We got to get other guys to step up and play. And that’s not an excuse. That's not why we had the performance that we had today. We just-we just were off.”
Fifth-year edge Darris Smith and fifth-year defensive lineman Sterling Webb each tried to give it a go against the Rebels but played just a handful of snaps before sitting out the remainder of the game due to nagging injuries. Smith has gone through that process in each of Missouri’s last three games.
Starting linebacker Robert Woodyard Jr. has been playing through an injury the past two games. Drinkwitz told reporters after the Ole Miss game that Woodyard was set to undergo a procedure Monday. The timeline, as of Saturday, was unknown.
“Whenever he's healthy and available to return, he’ll be available to return,” Drinkwitz said. “Really proud of his toughness, putting our team first and playing through an injury, giving us everything he can. You've got a lot of warriors in that locker room that are fighting as hard as they can, so definitely not disappointed in them.”
The offense has been battling through wear and tear, too. Already down star running back Ahmad Hardy and offensive tackle Josh Atkins — who have each missed the entire season so far — it hurts a little more when other Tigers may miss time.
Norfleet missed his first game of the season against Ole Miss. Standout left tackle Cayden Green has repeatedly played through injuries.
“That's just kind of the way it is when you play in the SEC,” Giudice said. “Guys are going to be dealing with things here and there, but you know, just focused on getting better as a team, as individuals, and getting healed up, ready for the next game.”
Missouri’s next game isn’t until Oct. 31, when the Tigers travel to Fayetteville, Arkansas, to take on the Razorbacks (3-4, 1-3 SEC) who have looked slightly better than abysmal the past two weeks, losing by 24-17 to then-No. 15 Tennessee and beating Vanderbilt 31-21.
The game should serve as the perfect get-right opportunity for the Tigers before hosting No. 19 Texas and No. 5 Georgia the following two weeks.
“Now we have a bye week to all get healthy as a team and physically and mentally see what we could do better,” linebacker Nicholas Rodriguez said. “And I feel like it's a great opportunity for us to improve as a team.”
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