Paul Finebaum has 'extremely high' expectations for Missouri, Eli Drinkwitz entering 2024 season

The Missouri Tigers are coming off their first 11-win season since 2014. With that, entering the fifth season under head coach Eli Drinkwitz, there are lofty expectations around the program.

One person who shares those high expectations for Missouri is Paul Finebaum. As he explained on McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning, Finebaum is particularly excited to see what the Tigers can do against a weak schedule.

“They’re extremely high, for many reasons, but mainly the schedule,” Paul Finebaum said. “The schedule is everything. Listen, you put 16 schools in a hat and you don’t know what you’re gonna get. You know everybody is gonna get Texas or Oklahoma but after that, you don’t know. Missouri got Alabama but, okay, that’s probably the toughest game they have, being on the road.”

Coming into the season, Missouri has non-conference games against Murray State, Buffalo, Boston College, and UMass. All but the UMass game are at home and the Tigers will be favored in all of them. In total, only three of Missouri’s opponents are ranked in the AP Preseason Top 25.

“They have Luther Burden. They have [Brady] Cook,” Finebaum said. “But they lost probably their most effective player last year, and if they can replicate half of that, they have a chance. I think they’re probably on the outside looking into the Playoff…but they’ll have a good season because of the schedule.”

Eli Drinkwitz came to Missouri in 2020 after one season as the head coach at Appalachian State. Since then, the Tigers have been consistently around .500, with the exception of the 2023 season. In fact, Drinkwitz had a 17-19 record at Missouri before going 11-2 in 2023.

The season starts for Missouri on August 29th with a home game against Murray State.

Pete Thamel predicts Missouri to make the College Football Playoff

Paul Finebaum isn’t the only college football insider high on Missouri. Pete Thamel of ESPN is too, even predicting the Tigers will make the College Football Playoff.

“Now again, fair all of in modern college football, there are always going to be large areas of uncertainty. I have a lot of questions about Missouri’s defense, especially at corner, but I do feel like there is enough on the offense, at O line, at tight end, they have arguably the most dynamic player in the country in Luther Burden. You can make a Zachariah Branch (USC) thing, but he has not produced. Luther Burden has produced. He was excellent in his freshman year, and he was elite last year as an All-SEC type guy,” Thamel said.

“I feel like he can take a step, and the schedule is paved for Missouri to do this. So, again, [defensive coordinator] Blake Baker is gone on defense. There are questions, I’m not going to, you know, do that, but the schedule allows them a little bit like Ole Miss, quite frankly. The schedule allows them to find themselves, and then to put the hammer down when they need to.”