Everything Eli Drinkwitz Said to Kick Off Buffalo Week

The Missouri Tigers head coach spoke to the media Tuesday to recap Missouri's win over Murray State and preview its week 2 matchup with Buffalo.

Nov 24, 2023; Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA; Missouri Tigers head coach Eli Drinkwitz looks on during the first quarter against the Arkansas Razorbacks at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Nelson Chenault-USA TODAY Sports / nelson chenault-usa today sports

Eli Drinkwitz and the Missouri Tigers have plenty to be happy with heading into week 2. They have a 51-0 win behind them and, as a result, are now the No. 9 ranked team in the country.

But, as multiple teams showed in week 1, the world for your team can change quickly. Missouri's game against Buffalo Saturday, its first FBS opponent, will be the next step in a long season.

To preview the matchup and recap week 1, Drinkwitz spoke to the media Tuesday. Here's all that the head coach had to say.

Opening Statement:

“First Toughness Tuesday of the season for us. Excited to be 1-0 and now it's on us to try to duplicate the process for this week.” 

“To recap last week, I want to first start by thanking the fans. I thought just an unbelievable atmosphere at Faurot Field on a Thursday night. The student section was unbelievable. They were loud, they were there early. They were pouring in as we were warming up. I thought when the game kicked our stands were full and that was just an awesome way for us to start fast. So I  appreciate the fans and all that they did to create the environment, a winning environment. Then I just saw the hill is already sold out for this game and excited about what we're working towards and hopefully extending the streak of sellouts.” 

“I thought defensively, we played very well with a fast start. We're always trying to create takeaways and be consistent at stopping the run. I thought we were consistently physical all night. Special teams, I thought (punter) Luke Bauer and (kicker) Blake (Craig) really did a nice job as the specialists. I thought Luke had his best game punting. Blake was good in both the field goals. We had the one kick out of bounds, but I thought they executed well. And then offensively, we started fast. I liked the being able to score points after the turnovers, but we do need to be more consistent in the throw game. The third downs that we missed were concerning for me. So there's plenty for us to work on, plenty for us to be concerned with that we need to correct, and we need to really do a good job.” 

“We're going to play a 1-0 Buffalo team led by, I think, one of the great program rebuilders and builders in Pete Lembo, who has done that at multiple stops. Whether it was Elon, I believe it was Miami (OH), he does just an excellent job of building culture, evaluating talent, getting the most out of his players. Does an excellent job recruiting. He has a tremendous staff. I think their offensive coordinators got a lot of experience at both Coastal Carolina, Georgia Tech, Old Dominion and now at Buffalo. I've talked football with him several times when I was at NC State. I think he does a really good job utilizing tempo. He's got very good players. The quarterback played at SEMO two years ago when we played them, so there is some familiarity there. On the defensive side of the ball, they've got a tremendous scheme.”

“They're very disciplined in what they do. They have a clear identity of who they are. They're going to stop the run and utilize their safeties in the run game and the pass game. Then obviously, Coach Lembo’s fingerprints are all over the special teams. He's a tremendous special teams coordinator, always giving us fits going against him. You can always expect the unexpected with Coach Lembo on that side. Really got a tough challenge ahead of us and looking forward to that challenge on Saturday.”

On Buffalo Quarterback C.J. Ogbonna’s rushing ability:

“That's gonna be the challenge this week. We've got to do a good job in the read game. They try to get on your edges through zone reads, plus-one run schemes and options, so we have to be disciplined and multiple in the way we're challenging those read schemes.”

Younger players that caught his eye against Murray State:

“I was impressed with the way all of our defense played from start to finish. I know our freshman linebackers got eight reps and watching those reps, Jeremiah (Beasley) and Nick (Rodriguez) I thought did an excellent job. We know Trajen Greco is playing both on special teams and secondary. I think there's a lot of people that earned opportunities to continue to play and to find their way into the rotation. We made some changes on the special teams depth chart to reflect that and try to get those guys in the game this week, so we'll see how it plays out. You don't take anything for granted, but I've been really impressed with that freshman class.”

Keys to Improving third down passing consistency:

“Fundamentals. It starts with fundamentals, route depth, timing, the quarterback setting his feet when he makes throws. Not drifting after he throws the ball to get ready to go do a celebration. Finish the throw, have your feet set in the pocket. Wide receivers gotta run their routes at the correct depth. They have to explode out and the quarterbacks have to make the throws. So just really things that we can do. It starts in routes versus air. We did that yesterday, and it's going to continue in practice today. Back to the basics of execution and kind of pushing the limits in practice.”

On the 3-1-7 defensive formation for third downs:

“It's a carryover from the package we've had in the past. We've got some new fingerprints to it, but it's something that our guys are familiar with. It was the base third-down package that we carried in the past two years. (Defensive coordinator) Corey (Batoon) and the rest of the defensive staff have added their fingerprints to it. It's a way to utilize the most speed and also versatility that we can get on the field also with our pass rush.”

On having three corners on the field for that package:

“It allows you to play man to man and put somebody on the slot. Typically, the slot becomes the position that they match up on a safety who is not used to playing man-to-man quite as well. So, for us, we slid (star) Daylan (Carnell) back to the boundary safety and moved Toriano (Pride Jr.)  into the slot. So something we did last year.”

On when he decided how much starters would play in week 1:

“I didn't have any plan. I don't know what the opponent's going to do. The opponent has a say in everything that we do. We have a plan to win until the game is in hand, our starters are gonna play.”

So my anticipation is a really good Buffalo team, who scored 30 points, had 200 yards rushing and 200 yards passing. Would have been a lot worse, but they had had two special teams miscues that allowed the other team back in the game. So my anticipation, it's going to be a dog fight and we're going to have to prepare that way.”

On areas of improvement on the offensive line

“We didn't sustain blocks as well as we wanted to on the outside zone. I don't think our counter scheme was as clean as we wanted it to as far as our kick out. I think we were light a little bit on our inside zone double teams. So there's plenty of opportunities for us to continue to improve. Specifically with those young guys, we got down into inside the 10 and weren't able to score running inside zone behind, we had two guards in there that are 330, 340 pounds apiece and we were getting knocked back in the A-gap. So that's got to improve if we want to have a shot in this league.”

On defensive line rotations and depth:

“We feel really good about the depth and the quality of depth that we have and the ability to keep guys fresh. I think that rotation is going to continue because we just don't see a drop off. I think Corey Flagg might have ended up being our leading tackler in that game and he doesn't play on third downs as of now and rotates. I think we feel really good about when Corey and Khalil (Jacobs) come in with Chuck (Hicks) and Tristan (Newson), who played a lot of football for us. Then obviously, in the defensive tackle room with Chris (McClellan), Kristian (Williams). Last year we played four guys at the defensive tackle position. This year, we feel like we've got six with the emergence of Marquis Gracial. Sterling (Webb) has played a lot of football and really played well. Chris played well. Jalen Marshall's come in and played well and Sam Williams has earned a spot too. He's done a really good job going against our guys. So we feel like we've got six guys that can really play at a high level in that room, and that's only an advantage for us as we prepare for this week's opponent and moving forward.”

On when it became apparent that Blake Craig would succeed:

“Last year in fall camp. Harrison (Mevis) wasn't kicking as well as we wanted him to with the ones, just to send a message that there is no secure positions.”

On every position being up for grabs:

“We had to do that with Blake (Craig) this year in fall camp. Couple days, he wasn’t kicking as well as we wanted him to do so we put Nick (Quadrini_ in there. So at the end of the day, every position is up for grabs and competition. You see that throughout college football there there's no sure things. So if you're not producing, the next guy's got to be ready. That's the always compete mindset that our program is built on.”

On helmet communication and tablets on the sidelines in game one:

“It was fine. I thought we utilized them well, utilized them to our advantage. Utilized the headset communication system well. I don't know that we’ll change anything, really.”

On the importance of rebuilding and investing in your offensive line:

“In order for you to be good offensively, you're gonna have to have five guys working cohesively as a unit. They have to do probably the toughest job in college football, in my opinion, because they have to be able to move immovable objects and then they have to be able to work backwards and protect a quarterback versus somebody who is by evaluation, quicker, faster and more sudden than they are, and that's a really, really difficult challenge, and then they have to be selfless. It can't be about them. It's got to be about the team and everybody else, and they have to work together. So it's a really important part of any successful football team. I don't think there's ever been a successful football team that didn't have five selfless men, and really usually ends up being seven to eight that you have to play throughout the year. So for us, I’m a former offensive line coach, GA, that's always going to be a position of emphasis for us. I think in order for you to have success in this league, you have to have an offensive line and defensive line that is competitive and it's got the prerequisite size.”

“So for us, when we lost Javon Foster and Xavier Delgado, who combined had almost 40 starts, we knew that that left side was going to be really important for us to fix and provide competition, so we went out and looked for what was best available in the portal and were able to get them.”

On if he could’ve challenged the failed trick play in the second quarter:

The way the play was originally designed, it is supposed to be a pitch, so that if that (a fumble) was to occur, it would be an incomplete pass. But after reviewing the tape, Luther went through the hands of the quarterback instead of the necessary one yard in front…They didn't see anything in the booth. But when you watch it, it would be really hard to decipher, because the way he went through his hands, you wouldn't be able to see whether or not he pitched it or not… So I don't think it would have been overturned. 

On preparation for Buffalo linebacker Shaun Dolac:

Really good player. Guy that pops all over the tape. Was injured last year. Was an all conference player the year before. I think he had led their team in tackles and was really high up there in the country. You can tell he studies tape. You can tell he's a very smart, physical player at the point of contact. They utilize him in the box. Out of the box, they pressure with him. So he's a really good player. It's going to be a real challenge for us. He's consistent with what you see in our league. So he's a guy that, as we work off combo blocks, we're going to have to make sure we can get to him, otherwise he'll make a tackle, and we're going to have to know where he is in pass coverage and not make a mistake with the ball because, he's got really good hands.

On preparation for Buffalo compared to Murray State:

“It's a little bit easier because you have all their players on tape with a week one game, so you're able to assess personnel. There's still a lot of question marks related to scheme. Their defensive coordinator was a part of the staff but has not called defenses before, so you're not quite sure exactly what his DNA is, because you don't see it but one game, not a consistent approach to it. So that's been challenging. You go back and make the best guesses that you can based off his training. Special teams, I feel pretty good about, knowing some of the things that he (head coach Pete Lembo) can do. It's just a matter of when he's going to do it. Offensively, (offensive coordinator Dave Patenaude) did not call plays last year, so he's been a year removed. We've gone back and watched him in different areas and different spots to kind of see, okay, this matches more, they're running a lot more tempo, which reminds us more of his time at Coastal (Carolina) than, say, Georgia Tech, where they were not as much tempo and more ball control. So, we're going to have to utilize our coaching ability. We have to utilize the iPads in game to figure out how exactly they're playing to attack us on both phases, but we have a little bit better idea of what the personnel is. At the end of the day, schemes are important, and they're part of it. But end of the day, it’s a people based game. So we gotta, we gotta win our one on ones. We got to attack defensive weaknesses, offensive weaknesses based on personnel, to try to isolate the mismatches. I think teams that can figure that out the quickest usually have the most success.

On many lopsided victories in week 1, if margin of victory is more important with 12-team playoff criteria: 

The ability of the portal to take top tier talent from lower divisions, I think you’re seeing some of that result, some of the schools that in the past would’ve had, would’ve developed some of those players, no longer have those, they’re playing at different schools. Then, I think the next thing you’re seeing is the need for us as coaches to see as many guys play as possible as long as possible. I saw where coach Kiffin talked about if he had considered reducing the quarters, and I’m with him 100%. We gotta have our guys play, we gotta get as many quality reps because it's how you develop. You’re seeing guys who need to let their twos and threes play and play at a high level.”

On if injuries, mileage, is a factor in determining starters playing times:

“There’s no master plan, there’s nothing like that. You plan to win the game. For us, I had seen what we needed to see out of Brady but what I haven’t seen was, Drew Pyne play in a crowd, in the stadium and I needed to see him operate with a lot of guys that, if he’s called upon with the ones, he’s gonna have to be able to work with and there’s only so many reps you can get in practice like that. Really, the same thing on defense. As these games get going, weeks 7-12, it’s about the competitive depth that you have in order to win. That competitive depth can show up on special teams units. IT may show up on third down packages. It might show up on first and second down. Last year, we played really the first five games with three linebackers, we just didn’t have the quality depth. When (Ty’Ron) Hop(per) got hurt, we were forced into really just two. That just can’t happen if you wanna play a long time so for us, it’s about getting as many players ready that have the talent.

Read more Missouri Tigers news:

Missouri Enters Top 10 in AP Poll After Week 1

How to Watch: Buffalo at Missouri; Full Week 2 College Football Schedule

Brady Cook has Chance to Climb Missouri Leaderboards in Week 2