Mizzou football: Tigers change bye-week approach

Mizzou football coach Barry Odom doesn’t have a win following a bye week, or time off for that matter.

The Mizzou football team is in the middle of its bye week following the South Carolina victory last weekend.

Missouri coach Barry Odom spoke with the media Tuesday, and had some comments about past failures following the bye week. The Tigers have yet to win after their week off under Odom.

"“Typically we’ve been on the road recruiting,” Odom said. “We’re going to stay in house all week this week, get out at the very end of the week. And then the way that we’ve practiced — we did some good-on-good today and we’ll do it again tomorrow, but also we’ve already got, up to this point, we’ve got the Troy game plan in.”"

After Saturday’s win, Odom was asked about his post-bye-week problems. He said, “I know I’m not very good at coming off a bye up to this point, and I know it’s been well-documented. I appreciate you guys pointing it out.”

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The change-up could be beneficial to the Tigers.

Offensive tackle Yasir Durant also was asked about the switch from their routine the past few seasons. He echoed his coach’s comments. Durant said they are preparing as if Troy is Saturday.

Good thing Troy isn’t this weekend. The Tigers are getting some players back to practice this week, including Durant, who missed last weekend’s conference opener against the Gamecocks.

But even if the Tigers did play this weekend, it’s likely they would have been ready. Odom said they were hurting going into last Saturday’s contest, but they handled it well and came out with the win.

The Tigers are 0-3 after bye weeks since 2016. In fact, the Tigers haven’t won following a bye week since 2014, when Gary Pinkel brought the Tigers to Texas A&M and brought home the win.

Under Odom, Mizzou lost at No. 18 Florida in 2016, at Kentucky in 2017 and at South Carolina last year. Their two bowl losses only add fuel to the fire for Odom, who is 0-5 with time to prepare for games. But each of those losses was away from Faurot Field, including all three SEC games that were on the road.

This is the first time Mizzou plays at home after a bye in five years.

Mizzou has two bye weeks this season. After this week, the Tigers play four games before a bye week begins November. Following that week, Mizzou plays at present-day No. 3 Georgia. If Mizzou doesn’t get the win this time, Odom is going to hear plenty more questions about bye weeks, perhaps for a whole year.

The Tigers go back to just one open date in 2020, instead of the two the SEC gave out this season.