10 thoughts on Mizzou's win over New Mexico State

Missouri football beat New Mexico State 45-14 on Saturday. The win brings the Tigers within one win of a bowl berth.

Mizzou beat New Mexico State. The team took care of business and stayed healthy. The defense excels at keeping teams not named Tennessee out of the end zone.

Isaiah McGuire, Ty'ron Hopper, Joseph Charlson, Kris Abrams-Draine and Barrett Banister left the game with an injury. They are all questionable for the next Friday's game against Arkansas. The team needs to win to earn bowl eligibility. The players are the ones the fans want on the field. It will become clear when the team releases its injury report later in the week.

Sam Horn got his first snaps at quarterback for MU. Tavorus Jones, Marquis Gracial and more also got playing time. They are young and need time to develop. They will be competing for the starting job next year at the earliest. Drinkwitz is watching them closely. He thinks some of them didn't take advantage of the opportunity. The team got up on a team enough to allow them to earn that playing space. It's exciting, but they need to learn a lot during spring ball if they want to be full-time starters.

Cook will start for Missouri against the University of New Mexico this Friday. Cook has had a successful season and is the favorite to win the starting quarterback's job next year. He had some mistakes, but didn't commit any turnovers. He also used his legs more as a scrambler.

Bush Hamdan has been given play-calling duties at Mizzou. Drinkwitz has given him the duties in the past. The two spent time together at Arkansas State. Drinkowitz has high praise for Hamdans. He believes he will be a successful coach in 10 to 15 years. It's not easy to hand over a lot of responsibilities to someone you trust. Mizou has had good assistant coaches in past, like Andy Reid, Marty Mornhinweg and Dirk Koetter.

Ryan Hoerstkamp scored his first touchdown for Missouri against New Mexico State. Hoarstamp proved critics wrong. Tyler Stephens and Kibet Chepyator were ineffective this season. Brett Norfleet will join the tight ends next year. i in the near upset of Georgia. i.e. Daniel Parker Jr. and Niko Hea were integral parts of the offense last year, but they were replaced by Hoherstkamp and Tyler. Stephens is a transfer from Buffalo. Che pyator is more of a blocker than a receiver.

Daylan Carnell plays the star position in Blake Baker's defense. He's already been responsible for four turnovers this season. Martez Manuel is departing after this year. Carnel will take over the starting star spot next season if he gets a chance. Drinkwitz has a third-down package where he can play both Manuel and Carnells at the same time. "Daylon's done a good job," Drinkswitz says.

Arkansas is 6-5 and has beaten BYU, LSU and Mississippi State. Missouri is 8-2 and is the next opponent. Arkansas beat Missouri last year. KJ Jefferson is still at quarterback and Bumper Pool is a linebacker. Raheim Sanders rushed for 232 yards and three touchdowns in the upset win over Ole Miss.

Missouri is tied for fourth overall in the SEC among APR rankings. The team has an APR of 9.9. There are 73 bowl-eligible teams for the 82 remaining open bowl games. Missouri is one of six Power 5 teams currently sitting at five wins.

The Tigers are not going to the College Football Playoff nor a New Year's Six bowl game. They are going for a selection of games from the pool of six. The Tigers could play in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl, Mercari Texas Bowl or SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl. If they beat Arkansas, they could be in either the Gasparilla Bowl (vs AAC, ACC, or Pac-12) or the Birmingham Bowl(vs American Athletic).