Everything Mizzou Head Coach Eli Drinkwitz Said to Preview Mississippi State

Per usual, the Tigers' head coach spoke to the media to preview its following SEC game against the Mississippi State Bulldogs.

Nov 16, 2024; Columbia, South Carolina, USA; Missouri Tigers head coach Eliah Drinkwitz directs his team against the South Carolina Gamecocks in the first quarter at Williams-Brice Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Blake-Imagn Images / Jeff Blake-Imagn Images

The Missouri Tigers head to Starkville, Mis to face the SEC's last place team, Mississippi State Bulldogs, on Saturday, Nov. 23. Coming off its third loss of the season, the Tigers are in need of two more wins to close out its season.

Tiger head coach Eli Drinkwitz, in his usual fashion, spoke to the media to recap the game against South Carolina and look ahead to the Mississippi State Bulldogs. Here's everything Drinkwitz said in his availability:

Opening Statement

“Another week, another opportunity to go on the road in the SEC in a very difficult environment. Mississippi State has had an extremely challenging schedule. I could argue it's one of the toughest in the SEC this year and so I don't think their record accurately reflects which style of football team that they are. They're improving every week. I think Jeff Lebby has done an excellent job of staying the course. They have a clear identity on offense, defense and special teams.”

“I think offensively, they are very explosive. Look at the wide receiver Kevin Coleman, who we know well from his time in St Louis. Dynamic wide receiver, really good route runner, really good yard after catch and is also their punt returner. [He’s] as challenging a wide receiver as there is in the SEC in my opinion. I think they're running back is playing really well. They've been a very effective running football the last two, really four weeks. Davon Booth has really given them a lift in the run game, explosive player [amd} also their kickoff return game. Man, I think the freshman quarterback is a really good player. He just gets better and better each week with more game reps.”

“So I know they spent the bye week continually putting it all together defensively. Very multiple, do a lot of different things. [They] have a couple of key anchors at [the] linebacker position, with Stone Blanton and [Nic] Mitchell. Those guys do a really good job getting lined up, playing downhill, playing physical, so it'll be a real challenge for our guys. I know the last time we went to Starkville was in 2020 and [we]  did not play a good game, quite honestly.  Didn't play nearly as well as we needed too.. So it's a very challenging road environment, a very challenging game for us. I know our guys responded, We had a really good practice yesterday, great weight session. I know they're looking forward to the challenge and excited about this Toughness Tuesday.”

On the team's response to losses

Winning and losing has to matter to you, but you have to be quick to move on, learn the lesson and leave the event. I think that's something that our guys have embraced, is learn the lessons from the games, but you can't let them drag you down. We've got enough competitive character on this team. You got enough upperclassmen that you can't dwell on the past. You just got

to continue to move forward and I believe our guys are going to do that. That's the focus.”

On allowing deep balls against South Carolina

“It was kind of the perfect nightmare force, to be honest. The first play of the game was a

Miscommunication. We thought we had a push call on and the linebacker didn't have a push call on. So it's a three-man situation and that set the tone. Then we have a corner blitz. It was two by two removed. So we adjusted to the will linebacker the motion to come up with a two by one was an over-split by the X. So if it's an over-split by the X and the free safety goes, where technically the corner goes but the corner had adjusted for him, so there was a miscommunication by the three people at night, on the road, in the SEC, can't happen.” 

“On the last two drives, there was two combinations. There was times where [the] rush didn't quite get home and then on the play that it was kind of the biggest break they had. On the explosive play, we got an extra call. Didn't get it really executed the way we needed to. He has too much time in the pocket. When you're playing man-to-man coverage and a guy motions across the field and catches the ball on the other side of the hash and the quarterback still has no pressure, that's one-on-one. That's a really tough, long time to hold up. So it's [a] combination of scheme coaches take ownership of that. It's [a] combination of execution, players that get ownership of that and you move on.” 

“I told our guys yesterday, there was a lot of plays we made, the fourth down stops, but we needed one more play on both sides of the ball. We needed the third down execution in the red zone by the offense. We needed the one more stop on the reverse and the kickoff coverage and we needed one more play on defense. So between those three phases, we got to come up with one more play, whether it's a better call by the coaching staff, better execution by the players. At the end of the day, it's on all of us.”

On the recovery window of Brady Cook

“I think it’s been mentally taxing on him. I think it’s been a mental challenge for him to stay positive and have a lot of uncertainty unknown, but try to do the very best he can every day to try to get as healthy as he can for his teammates and for himself. He's dealing with multiple injuries that aren't fully recovered yet, but he's choosing to play, much like he did several years ago, which you'd expect. Nonetheless, for Brady as a leader and a teammate, I think you know for him to make that throw he did to Luther [Burden III] was pretty impressive. He can't quite snap his wrist the way he needs to, which is why some of the balls get left short, specifically the first third down to Theo [Wease Jr.]. Makes no excuses and very fortunate to have him on our team the next three games.”

On the message Cook playing sends to the team

“I think it just a resiliency in what we're playing for and why we're playing for each other.”

On the inability to score in the first half

“I don't have a great response to that. It's definitely something that we've challenged our guys to be better in the first half. Play, play faster, play with better execution. Good job adjusting and keep fighting after halftime, though.”

On Drake Heismeyer slotting in at the center spot

“I was really impressed and proud of how he played and performed. I thought for as good as that defensive front, was for him to keep us on the right IDs. There's only a handful of plays that weren't executed the way we wanted to, but he held up really well. Didn't have any snap issues in a very challenging environment.”

On the impact of the “Brotherhood” idea

“Honestly, that's why coach, I thought that would be one of the strengths of our style, is being relational, being intentional, developing culture and brotherhood, trying to be less transactional and more intentional. That's what I enjoyed the most about playing the game. [It’s] kind

of what I've always tried to foster, whether it's in a position coach or a coordinator or the leader, is playing for each other and playing for the ones next to you. So not surprised that that's where our program is.”

“Really blessed and fortunate that you got coaches like Coach [Ryan] Russell who buy into that stuff too and our players who believe in it. It's completely cool to have Darius Robinson there on a bye week.”

On Noel and Carroll helping the younger backs, their impact

“I think everybody understands your role. Be a very unselfish player. You have Nate [Noel] comes in and provides a spark. Marcus Carroll comes on the goal line and finishes. Kewan Lacy comes in, I thought he did a really nice job providing us a spark in the third quarter with some explosive, tough runs. Jamal [Roberts] comes in and does what he does on third-down and special teams. I think it's just an unselfish room. Starts with Coach [Curits] Luper, again, his brotherhood. ‘Game Breakers’ is what that group calls themselves. I think those guys buy into the head coach or to the position coach.”

On Kewan Lacy’s playing time

The role is what he earns. We had a couple of specific plays that we wanted him in the game for and we had repped them all week. We weren't quite sure how long Nate could go and they again, did a tremendous job for us. But if Nate couldn't go, those were going to be Kewan’s plays that we felt like needed a little bit more explosiveness to it. You know, we want to continue to integrate Kewan into our offense and keep continue to get him going.

What the freshman have used their redshirts have shown to deserve playing time

“It's a combination of things. It's a combination of depth and need and a combination of readiness. These guys, a lot of them, contributed on special teams and a couple other ones, especially with the injuries that we're dealing with, we needed to finish games. This game, is no different, you're going to play a team that's a high-volume offense.”

Read More Missouri Tigers News:

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Kickoff Time, TV Network Announced for Mizzou's Regular Season Finale
What Does Mizzou Still Have to Play for? Brady Cook Knows