Everything Eli Drinkwitz Said After Loss to Alabama

A full transcript from the press conference for the Missouri Tigers head coach.

Oct 26, 2024; Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA; Missouri Tigers head coach Eliah Drinkwitz walks the field during warm ups before a game against the Alabama Crimson Tide at Bryant-Denny Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Butch Dill-Imagn Images / Butch Dill-Imagn Images

Eli Drinkwitz suffered his first loss as the head coach of the Missouri Tigers Saturday, with his team falling 34-0 to Alabama in Week 9.

After quarterback Brady Cook fought through an ankle injury to play the first five drives, he suffered a hand injury and never returned. The Missouri defense kept it close in the first half, heading into halftime only trailing 13-0. But 14 unanswered points from Alabama in the third quarter was too much for a wounded Missouri offense to keep up with.

Here's everything Drinkwitz had to say after the loss.

Opening Statement: 

Proud of our defense, the way they came out and fought. Thought they gave us an opportunity to stay in the game, especially in the first half. Offensively, just with Brady's injury, we just couldn't ever get in rhythm. And obviously the turnovers really put us behind the eight ball, and just put the defense in too many bad spots today. So, we'll get home, regroup, try to get healthy, and on to the next game. 

On Brady Cook’s injury:

I think it was the second drive of the game over on the right sideline. They took an x-ray and didn’t feel like they were comfortable with letting him continue. So we'll see where that goes when we get back.

On how the defense kept the team in the game early on:

Yeah, I thought we did exactly what we wanted. We were winning first downs. We were stopping the run and setting edges, getting off the field on third down. So, Coach Batoon had a really good plan. Ultimately, 6-0, we just cannot throw the interception right there before half, which, just spiraled after that point. 

On the outlook for the remainder of the season:

There's four SEC games left. There's a lot of football season left, and we just got to get home, get healthy, and flush this one and move on to the next one. 

On what the conversations were like with Drew Pyne after his interceptions:

He's trying to win the game.He's trying to put us in a position to get back into the game. And I understand that, but we just can't put the ball into jeopardy in those situations. Ultimately, it's on me I gotta do a better job coaching us up in those situations and not put it on him.

On if Pyne took a lot of first-team reps during this week of practice: 

He got most of the first-team reps, and thought he had a good week of practice. And look at the end of the day. Drew came in there and competed and not disappointed in him, disappointed in myself. So it's not on Drew, it's on me. 

On what it says about Cook that he played the first drives with ankle injury:

I mean, he loves his team, he loves this brotherhood, he loves the University of Missouri so he's competing for them. 

On his message to the team afterwards:

I told them before the game, no matter what happened,I wasn't going to be any more proud, I love them. And I liked them. I was proud of them. I was more proud of them after that game, the way they faced adversity,  the third and fourth quarter, to keep going out there and fighting, some of the older guys that wanted to go back in to make sure they didn't score that last touchdown. There's a lot of pride and a lot of fight in that locker room, and we're all disappointed with the result. We all came with a plan to win, and it just didn't. Wasn't our day to day, and we're not going to get divided. We're not going to point fingers. We're going to go back, get healthy this week and finish out this stretch.

On what the team can still accomplish:

Still the potential to finish with a double-digit win season. 

On how he thought the running backs did without starter Nate Noel:

I thought Marcus (Carroll) and Jamal (Roberts) did as good a job as they could do. I thought they really ran tough at the end of the game, and I thought our offensive line a pretty good job holding up run blocking.

On if he saw any similarities in the team’s mentality during the Texas A&M loss:

“I didn't see any similarities. I saw three turnovers. I saw a bunch of guys beat to crap that went out there and fought their butt off. It wasn't anything similar to the Texas A&M at all. It was 13-0 at halftime because of an interception, we fought our butt off and any other conversation outside of that is ridiculous.

READ: What Kalen DeBoer Said After Alabama's Blowout Victory Over Missouri