COLUMBIA, Mo. — The Missouri Tigers won't be playing a football game this weekend after all.
The Southeastern Conference announced Wednesday that Mizzou's 11 a.m. Saturday home game against No. 12 Georgia was postponed. The Tigers fell below the conference minimum for players at defensive line following two positive COVID-19 tests and contact tracing.
MU coach Eliah Drinkwitz said Tuesday night that the Tigers had one positive COVID-19 case from Sunday's round of testing, which "significantly" affected one positional group. At that point, the game was still on.
But once the Tigers got their Tuesday test results on Wednesday, it yielded an additional positive COVID-19 case.
"We got our test results from (Tuesday) back and it just continued to compound the same issues that we were facing," Drinkwitz said Wednesday on the weekly SEC coaches teleconference. "We were going to do our best to try yesterday. We went out there and practiced and tried to see if it was possible to make it work. It just wasn't going to happen."
The league implemented roster minimums prior to the season because of COVID-19. If a team falls below the 53-player mark or the positional thresholds of one quarterback, seven offensive linemen or four defensive linemen, then a game could be postponed or deemed a no contest.
An MU spokesperson said the Tigers were not in danger of falling below the 53-player threshold. They instead missed the minimum at at defensive line by one player, MU athletic director Jim Sterk said later Wednesday on The Paul Finebaum Show.
Drinkwitz and the spokesperson said the Tigers anticipate having enough players for their Nov. 21 game at South Carolina. But as Drinkwitz has warned, that anticipates MU not producing another positive COVID-19 test.
"We test every three days, and every three days, you get a set of problems or issues if they arise," Drinkwitz said. "The plan is to do everything possible in order to play at South Carolina. That will be our goal and intention. ... We will do everything in our power to play and should have guys back in time to play."
The Tigers will continue to test three times per week for COVID-19. They're also not shutting down their facilities and will continue practices. Drinkwitz said they plan to have a team meeting Wednesday to discuss next steps. Otherwise, it will be similar to a normal practice week and routine, just without game day.
Mizzou is in a different spot compared to Florida, for example. The Gators had to shut down their facilities for about two weeks in October because of a COVID-19 outbreak that infected coach Dan Mullen and more than two dozen players.
Three MU players were set to serve first-half suspensions Saturday because they fought in the halftime brawl against Florida. Those penalties will now carry over for Mizzou's next game. Drinkwitz said the three players' absences did not factor into Mizzou missing the positional threshold.
"We're disappointed obviously for our players, our coaches, our fans, our organization," Drinkwitz said. "You work so hard to have opportunities to participate. But as we're all dealing with nationally and worldwide, this pandemic has presented problems. The most important thing, when we all started this, was our players' safety and the integrity and the safety of the game. In that spirit, we made the best decision."
It's the second time this season MU has had a game postponed because of the novel coronavirus. Mizzou's game against Vanderbilt was moved from Oct. 17 to Dec. 12 as the Commodores couldn't meet the SEC's roster thresholds.
The SEC said the Mizzou vs. Georgia makeup date will need to be evaluated because while Georgia is off on Dec. 12, the Tigers have their Vandy game. The Dec. 12 date was a universal week off for every SEC team to be used for COVID-19 alterations. Both Drinkwitz and Georgia coach Kirby Smart said the rescheduling decision doesn't fall on them but instead deferred to the league office.
SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said they're furthering talks about potentially using Dec. 19, the same day as the SEC championship game, as another potential make-up date. That option would be pending as long as the two teams are not battling for the SEC crown.
"I'm finding out as fast as you guys are," Smart said. "It's pretty mental agility, which is definitely the definition of 2020, which we talked to our team about early in the season. It's one of those deals where you find out and you have a plan for Plan A and you have a plan for Plan B."
Even without COVID-19's effects, the Tigers have lost available players. Drinkwitz said prior to the Florida game Oct. 31 that the Tigers were down to 64 scholarship players available because of injuries, opt outs, transfers and other reasons.
MU-Georgia is the fourth SEC game to be postponed this week because of COVID-19 considerations, joining Texas A&M-Tennessee, LSU-Alabama and Auburn-Mississippi State. That leaves just three SEC games Saturday. Arkansas coach Sam Pittman also tested positive for COVID-19, which means former MU coach Barry Odom will take over in the interim.
"I have to acknowledge that you're troubled by what's happened this week with our postponements," Sankey said. "There's still an opportunity to focus on (Dec. 19), which is my focus. But we have to adjust further within our programs to maintain the health that we did such a great job of early on. ... I'm certainly shaken, but not deterred."
