Everything Eli Drinkwitz Said After the Missouri Tigers Shutout Win Over Buffalo

The Missouri Tigers head coach held a post-game conference following their win over the Buffalo Bills on Sept. 7.

Sep 7, 2024; Columbia, Missouri, USA; Missouri Tigers head coach Eli Drinkwitz watches a replay against the Buffalo Bulls during the second half at Faurot Field at Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-Imagn Images / Denny Medley-Imagn Images

COLUMBIA, Mo. — New week, same result.

The Missouri Tigers strung their second shutout of the season in a row, this time coming against the Buffalo Bulls in a 38-0 win. It was another strong defensive effort on all fronts, living up to the "Death Row Defense" moniker its claimed for the season. Along with that, the offense especially came alive in the run game, gaining 255 yards and five touchdowns.

Here is everything head coach Eli Drinkwitz said following the game:

Opening statement

"I want to start by thanking the crowd, unbelievable atmosphere again. I'm just so appreciative, students were awesome, fans were in the stands and when we came out that atmosphere was electric. Obviously it helped us to a fast start on defense. Really, really proud of the way our defense is playing. We've gone 12 straight quarters without allowing a touchdown for the first time since 1941. It's a three game stretch without allowing a touchdown too. The first time since 1935 with back to back shutouts. Impressive performance by Corey Batoon, the rest of the staff and players. Brady Cook passed Blaine Gabbard for number six all-time Mizzou passing, Theo Wease had a career night for receptions and receiving yards. Congratulations to them. Luther Burden has been dealing with an illness all week after he scored his touchdown. Just didn't feel good, we didn't feel like it was worth putting him back in the game."

On Theo Wease Jr.

"They were giving us a lot of free access stuff, I think that's a sign of a mature quarterback play caller, to continue to take what the defense gives us. The frustrating thing for us offensively was we weren't able to sustain drives because of penalties. We had two punts and two missed field goals, both the field goals were just poor execution. We should have been a lot closer at the end of half and still some things we got to clean up."

On Cameron Johnson's injury and Mitchell Walters' performance

"Cam got injured in a two minute drill on Wednesday. Probably could have gone. He was planning to play in case of emergency, but just didn't want to risk it. So Mitch Walters got the start tonight. I thought he performed well, from what I can recall. Obviously, we had the one penalty. But you know, for the most part, I thought he did a nice job."

On penalties

"The common denominator was that we were the only team holding tonight. They didn't get any penalties called on them. I think it was 10 to two. So, you know, got to go back and look at it to see the tape, to see exactly what their emphasis was. I couldn't see it live, but I'm sure after I go back and watch the tape, I'll see that we got to do a better job of not holding."

On defense performing

"We got a lot of depth over there and a lot of consistency, and a lot of guys holding each other to a standard. I think when you can just send waves of players who are fresh continually, I think that's hard on an offense. Obviously, coach Batoon and coach Smith had a really good feel for the game, coach Yoro and coach Pogue on the back end. Obviously Sack Ave came alive tonight, I think we had 3 defensive ends with sacks. I think Chris McClellan maybe got...he told me he got another one. So obviously the front is doing a good job."

On Brady Cook's performance through two games

"We're 2-0, we scored 38 and 51, so he scored 31. Very efficient, does a really nice job of tucking it and running it when we need to. Thought he had an excellent read on the deep ball on Marquise, they got a penalty. So yeah, I'm pleased with where we're at. We're not clicking at 100% just yet. So that's good news, man. That's really good news for us. I'd hate for us to be as good as we're going to be all year."

On Luther Burden III's versatility

"Well, it shows up when he's not there that we don't have quite the same repertoire. So, you know, he's a guy that we gotta continue to get the ball to. I thought our offensive staff had a nice job of having that plan ready for him, but obviously we got to continue to get other people involved. I thought Mookie had a nice run down there on the last touchdown, must have been the third quarter. It was a play that we we had designed for Luther, but with him being out, Mookie was able to get in there and run it. I think he eclipsed 1000 career yards receiving, so pretty impressive stat by him today."

On the ground game

"I thought we were doing a really good job. Obviously, you know, 10 penalties is always going to be an issue. We had three called back because we either weren't on or we had too many people on. Those are self inflicted wounds that got to get cleaned up and put us behind the chains. But I thought when we needed to run it, we were able to run the football. And I thought both Marcus and Nate did a really good job complimenting each other."

On Cook's evolvement

"I think it's just maturity. I think he's maturing to understand when he needs to make a throw and when everybody's covered. I think he understands that his feet give him a dimension that is really difficult on defenses. You know, when a quarterback can tack and run the ball, it really puts you in a bind playing man to man and make sure you have to really rush with lane discipline. A lot of third down pressures now are overload pressures and jumping up the front, and if you're not lane sound against Brady, he's going to take off. In fact, today's touchdown right before half was actually supposed to be a tight end throwback. The tight end didn't release, so for him to tuck and go score right there, I think another player who hasn't had the reps or consistency would have panicked and maybe thrown the ball away. He understood where the ball and where the void of the defense was, and made a heck of a play."

On not overlooking early opponents

"That was actually the pregame speech. Take advantage of opportunities and don't disrespect the fans of the game by assuming that the other team's not going to play. We got to play as hard as we possibly can and I'm really proud of those guys tonight."

On Joe Moore

"Really pleased with the way Joe has responded. I think he's he's continually been a guy who can play, create pressure and play really good football."