What's Mizzou's path to bowl eligibility at the bye week? 10 thoughts after Mizzou's loss to Florida

Missouri football is limping into its bye week after a 24-17 loss to Florida, its third one-score conference loss this season in as many games played.

Here are 10 thoughts on the loss to the Gators.

1. It's time for the offense to discern what changes need to come.

We've arrived at the mid-point of the season, where Missouri needs to answer important questions. Most, if not all, begin with the offense, which had another difficult outing in the loss to the Gators.

We can start by asking, what happens with Hyrin White? Perhaps the best offensive lineman on the roster has been out with an injury spanning back to spring practice. The coaching staff said he would be reevaluated during the bye week to see if he could play or try for a medical redshirt to preserve his eligibility.

His presence in the lineup would be a boon, allowing White to spell Connor Wood at tackle. Wood would be able to move back inside where he's played the last season and a half.

Next, how can the quarterback take better care of the football? Brady Cook threw two interceptions: The first was returned for a touchdown, while the second took points off the board.

After that, how does the offense sustain drives early on and avoid putting the defense out early and often?

When head coach Eli Drinkwitz was asked about what the team can do to avoid slow starts, he pointed to turnovers.

"We've got to take care of the football," Drinkwitz said. "That's the No. 1 thing."

The Tigers have thrown seven interceptions on the road this season; Cook has thrown five of those seven.

I'm not calling for a swap at quarterback, because Cook hasn't committed turnovers consistently in the fourth quarter. He threw a fourth-quarter interception against Florida, but Missouri's defense bailed out the offense and the Tigers still had a chance.

Last season against South Carolina, Connor Bazelak committed multiple turnovers against the Gamecocks that led to his benching where Cook came in to seal the win. That's how bad it would need to get, since that's the past benchmark Drinkwitz has set in terms of benching his quarterback.

When asked Saturday if he ever considered swapping quarterbacks against Florida, Drinkwitz responded: "No."

That makes sense. Jack Abraham has completed two passes and thrown two interceptions. There's no point in risking Sam Horn's health in a game where the offensive line struggled to pass-block consistently and allowed four sacks.

I'd like to know where Tyler Macon is at with the coaching staff since he came on the field for what seemed like a gadget play on a fourth down in the first quarter. MU never ran that play.

Either way, whatever answers Missouri comes up with this week will shape the second half of its season. The Tigers need four wins to earn a bowl berth. It's not impossible, but it's a tall task in the toughest conference in college football.

We'll find out the week after this next week.

2. What more can anyone ask of the defense?

It's never great allowing 7.2 yards per carry, but I honestly believe any extreme critiques of Missouri's defense are just nitpicks at this point.

I'm not saying the unit is perfect — I gave the Tigers' defense a B after its efforts against Florida — but when you allow 17 points to a team that scored 33 on Tennessee, most coaches would take that any day.

If you asked any Missouri fan if they would be OK with 17 points allowed, only the stingiest fans would complain about wanting to see the defense hold for fewer points.

The final, decisive points can either be seen as the final rushing touchdown or the Cook interception returned for a touchdown. It's a weird cup half-full or half-empty situation, but it would be easier to be more sympathetic toward the offense if the unit was more consistent or played better as a whole.

The MVP of the team has to be defensive coordinator Blake Baker. He knew he was coming into a work-in-progress situation and made great progress in a span of nine months.

3. Daylan Carnell has the makings of a star.

Every week, it seems like Daylan Carnell is getting better.

Against Auburn, he tipped a pass in overtime that was about one pinky from getting intercepted. Against Georgia, he had the awareness to recover a key fumble that led to points for Missouri. Against Florida, he intercepted a tipped pass that gave MU life in the fourth quarter.

With injuries across the board in the secondary, Carnell can play multiple positions. While Carnell is the second-string player at the star safety position behind Martez Manuel, he's gotten plenty of playing time.

That versatility is what the coaching staff is looking into with injuries opening up spots.

"Something we're toying with now is his position flexibility," Baker said last week of Carnell. "He's a weapon to have in that regard."

Carnell has played corner during his time at Missouri as well as safety. Missouri could be remiss not to fit Carnell into the starting lineup next season as Manuel is set to graduate and Kris Abrams-Draine might depart for the NFL if he gets a high enough draft grade.

4. Imagine where Mizzou would be right now had it figured out how to finish games?

I get how agonizing this exercise may be, but allow me to humor myself with a line of thinking that poses a question.

Say Missouri isn't allergic to winning the game at Auburn, drives for a game-winning score against Georgia and doesn't hurt itself against Florida? That means MU would be 5-1 at the break.

The attention surrounding Kansas wouldn't come close to that of what would surround MU if the Tigers were 5-1 with a win over No. 1 overall Georgia on its resume. The Jayhawks needed to be 5-0 to finally earn a spot in the top 25.

My question is, then: Would a 5-1 Missouri, with its bad loss to Kansas State still outstanding, be ranked heading into its bye week?

It's a fair question since that's literally three or four plays from being the reality we live in. I get it if many think it's not worth pondering since it didn't happen, and what's the point of pondering something that's never going to be real this year?

Still, I'd imagine those clamoring for Sam Horn would be singing a different tune if a Cook-led team was sitting at 5-1.

5. What exactly is Missouri's path to bowl eligibility at the bye week?

It's not as simple as last season, where a 3-4 Tigers team needed just three wins in the final five games. The 2-4 Tigers need four wins in their last six games of this season to clinch a bowl berth.

This includes games against South Carolina, Vanderbilt, Kentucky, New Mexico State, Tennessee and Arkansas.

At the beginning of the season, games against Vanderbilt, South Carolina and New Mexico State were seen as games where MU has the best chance of being favored. Had Missouri gotten one of Auburn, Florida or Georgia — frankly, MU should have won at least two, if not all three of those games — then winning just those three games would have clinched a bowl berth.

However, not only do the Tigers need those three wins, but they also need one from either Kentucky, Arkansas or Tennessee. That's the same Tennessee that decimated MU last season, only to seemingly be better this season.

Games against Kentucky and Arkansas take on a different tone considering, well, everything that happened in Week 6.

6. How has the SEC shifted since the beginning of the season?

If anyone expected Mississippi State to have blanked Arkansas 40-17 at the start of the year, then I'd say those who did were either members of Mike Leach's extensive fan club or Air Raid enthusiasts. If you're the latter, I'd love to meet you.

If anyone expected South Carolina to beat Kentucky, I would've asked if Will Levis was actually playing. He wasn't in Saturday's loss to the Gamecocks.

Both happened Saturday. It changes the complexion of what Missouri could do over its final six games of the season.

Suddenly, a 3-3 Arkansas team looks like it's beatable compared to the squad that waxed MU at the end of the 2021 regular season.

Kentucky needs Levis. Without him, the No. 13 Wildcats are a team that won the time of possession battle and had Chris Rodriguez rush for 126 yards, but scored just 14 points, turned the ball over twice and allowed six sacks to South Carolina.

That's the same Gamecock team that's 4-2 now. Vanderbilt, yes that same Vanderbilt, sits at 3-3 with losses to No. 2, No. 9 and No. 15 on its resume. The Commodores are better than some of the atrocious past iterations they've had.

From this point of view, the SEC might be even tougher than expected at the beginning of the season. Missouri still has its work cut out for itself.

7. Last year's bye week brought Mizzou its biggest win of the season. What can happen this next week?

It doesn't need much introduction. Last year, during MU's bye week, Tigers fans gathered around small streaming screens as a senior in high school gathered friends, family, press and more at the Boys and Girls Club of St. Louis to announce where he would be attending college.

Luther Burden picked up Alabama and Georgia hats, peeked at both, tossed both to the front of the table and donned a Missouri Tigers hat.

I don't care what anyone says, getting Burden was the biggest win of the 2021 season. Bigger than Florida, bigger than South Carolina. It was proof that Drinkwitz can recruit at a top-tier level.

This year, Missouri most likely won't pull a recruit like Burden, but the Tigers already have made headway in recruiting.

8. So far, this year's prized recruit: Lincoln QB Gabarri Johnson

As we've seen this entire year, you can't really put much of a price on the most important position in sports: quarterback.

After watching Missouri lose its first three SEC games, decision-making ability and play-making ability have loomed large. Gabarri Johnson has showcased his ability as a playmaker.

At the midway point of his high school season, Johnson has completed 53 of his 81 passes for 998 passing yards and 12 passing touchdowns. As a runner, he's carried the ball 72 times for 773 yards and five touchdowns.

What catches my eye is his decision-making. He's thrown only one interception so far this season.

Johnson is more of a dual-threat quarterback than pro-style, which is what Sam Horn is, but that sets up a really interesting possible quarterback battle between the two in a year and a half from now.

9. Don't forget about tight end Brett Norfleet.

With Tyler Stephens getting more involved in the offense, it's easy to wonder what Brett Norfleet can do. I've been wondering that since I watched him smoke lasers for home runs during the Francis Howell baseball season.

He's a four-star Class of 2023 tight end commit who could immediately figure into the Tigers' passing game. It's hard to see him not figuring in, at least in a small capacity. Norfleet is 6-foot-7, 220-pounds.

He'll probably get bigger with some time on campus, too.

Not only does he have the measurables, but Kibet Chepyator is out of eligibility after this season and if the other tight ends Ryan Hoerstkamp, Gavin McKay and Damon Johanns have shown something in practice, we most likely would have seen them on the field. Norfleet will have a chance to earn playing time right away.

10. Hill sums up how some see Mizzou. It's on Mizzou to change that.

After the loss, Florida cornerback Jaydon Hill, who returned Cook's interception for a touchdown, dropped a comment that might be indicative of how some of the SEC views Missouri.

"I know what we’re supposed to do," Hill said. "We’re supposed to beat Missouri, and we backed that up."

Not "have" to beat Missouri. "Supposed" to beat Missouri.

An easy comparison to make here is Vanderbilt, but Missouri isn't on Vanderbilt's level of futility. The Commodores have 24 straight losses to Power Five teams. There's bad, and then there's just blatant irrelevancy. Irrelevant teams don't almost upset the No. 1 team in the nation.

But that's a perception MU needs to change. Winning games it should win would change that.

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: 10 thoughts after Mizzou's loss to Florida