Say it Isn't so, Missouri's Drinkwitz on How he Found Out Game was Postponed
We don't know specific details of how things unfolded on Monday as the decision to postpone Vanderbilt's road contest against Missouri that was previously scheduled for Saturday. We do know how Tigers' first-year head coach Eli Drinkwitz found out.
"Our bus company alerted us that Vanderbilt had canceled their buses," said Drinkwitz while appearing on the Paul Finebaum Show on Monday. "That's when we first got wind this wasn't going to happen."
Both Vanderbilt and the SEC released statements on Monday afternoon announcing the game's postponement, with the rescheduled date tentatively set for Dec.12th in Columbia.
Why Drinkwitz first discovered that the game wasn't going to happen from a bus company is an interesting, and perhaps a troubling question. Indeed, the Commodores athletic department was busy on Monday dealing with the conference office as they worked on the issues responsible for the postponement. However, Drinkwitz's comment raises questions as to why Missouri officials we not informed sooner to avoid the potential bad optics associated with this statement becoming public before a nationwide television audience.
Perhaps this one falls on someone from the conference office in Birmingham who dropped the ball here, but either way, it is a bad look for those involved that their bus company first informed Missouri.
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the SEC built-in an extra week between the end of the regular season and the conference championship game scheduled for Dec.19, for the possibility that teams' games might be postponed and need a new date.
In light of the postponement, the Commodores now have three weeks to prepare for the next opponent, the Ole Miss Rebels, and head coach Lane Kiffin's high-powered offense that racked up over 600 yards and 43 points last week against Alabama.
Hopefully, the Commodores can get healthy and be ready to face the Rebels before the bus company informs Kiffin of any potential postponement. Kiffin wouldn't let that one slip by as graciously as Drinkwitz did today.
