Mizzou's Season Will Be Determined by Response to Blowout Loss

Why Missouri Tigers head coach Eli Drinkwitz believes their 2024 season "really starts today."

Oct 5, 2024; College Station, Texas, USA; Missouri Tigers head coach Eli Drinkwitz looks on In the third quarter against the Texas A&M Aggies at Kyle Field. Mandatory Credit: Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images. / Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images

On paper, the No. 21 Missouri Tigers will be just fine after dropping a Week 6 game to Texas A&M.

In the new era with the 12-team playoff, one loss is not the anchor on a team's goals it used to be. Additionally, Texas was left as the only undefeated team in the SEC after the week.

Even Alabama, No. 1 heading into the week, struggled against unranked Vanderbilt following a win in Georgia where the Crimson Tide looked nearly unbreakable.

But the worry should not be whether or not the rest of college football will be forgiving enough for Missouri 's blemish in Week 6 to be inconsequential in the playoff race.

But whether or not Missouri is actually the quality of team worthy of a playoff spot like it was built up to be.

Its only one loss but the Tigers were ripped apart and looked far off from what is expected from a playoff caliber team. They were sloppy, lethargic and overwhelmed.

"We weren't competitive and that's not Mizzou football," Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz said. "That's not what we worked really hard to be about. We're not competing and that's on me and I got to get that fixed."

Sure the Texas A&M pass rush was dominant. But quarterback Brady Cook continues to play like a shell of his 2023 self. The offense is still dealing with alignment and execution errors, even after it being a focus in practice for weeks. Both sides again started slow. The defense constantly missed tackles and let interceptions fall through its hands.

All it took for Missouri to roll over was a failed fourth-down attempt on its first drive, with a picked up defensive pass interference call. There was no pulse in the Tigers for the following 57:05 minutes of play.

"Mr. Brightside" has the right beats per minute needed to perform CPR, but by the time it blasted through the Kyle Field speakers to taunt the Tigers, there was no chance of revival for Missouri.

"We can't let one play dictate the rest of the game," Drinkwitz said of the failed fourth-down. "Obviously it was a momentum play, but we had plenty of other opportunities."

If not for a missed field goal from Vanderbilt in double overtime in Week 4, Missouri is possibly 3-2 on the season and 0-2 in the SEC. If quarterback Thomas Castellanos doesn't gift Missouri an interception as it trailed 14-3 to Boston College in the second quarter, who knows if the Tigers turn that game around with a 21-point scoring run.

Even when the Tigers won 38-0 over Buffalo, the first quarter illuminated plenty of question marks about the true strength of the 2024 team, with the offense succumbing to a slow start and being unable to generate explosive plays.

Even though head coach Eli Drinkwitz is constantly reminding his team of the lack of value in rankings and expectations, maybe the Tigers did walk into Kyle Field Saturday a little too confident. The Texas A&M faithful certainly took Brady Cook's noise comments to mean as much.

After dropping down to No. 21 in the polls, the Tigers have some catching up to do and there's no room for comfortability.

"I'm embarrassed by the performance," Drinkwitz said. "But it's just that it's one game and there's a really a whole heck of a lot of football left, and it's going to be up to us to either seek comfort and placing blame or have resolve to get better."

Now is when the "brotherhood' Missouri has put together will truly be put to the test. It's easy to stay connected and support one another when the good times are rolling. Winning not only cures all, but also keeps a lot of connection intact.

When losing, it's much easier to point fingers and check out of the team's goals. The Tigers will have fight the urge to do so.

Their season depends on it.

"You got one or two choices. You can fall apart, or you can dig deep and find resolve to get better," Drinkwitz said. "The season really starts today and how we respond will determine what kind of football season we're going to have."

Drinkwitz has consistently preached the importance of his team adopting a "just us" mentality. The preparation, execution and results of the season is up to the Tigers themselves.

Sure, the two other shocking upsets in the SEC (Vanderbilt over Alabama, Arkansas over Tennessee) are theoretically beneficial for Missouri's post-season hopes. But it won't matter at all if the Tigers don't make drastic improvements for the remainder of the season.

"I've never even considered any of that stuff like that," Drinkwitz said of the national perception of Missouri. "We're just trying to be 1-0 each week and right now, we weren't. There's a lot of reasons why and we got a lot of lot of other things to worry about."

Prior to the revealing loss at Texas A&M, the expectations for Missouri were built on the assumption its success from 2023 would carry over. That the returning core pieces of the team like Cook or wide receiver Luther Burden III would continue to lead the team to success.

Now though, in the bottom five of the rankings for the first time since October of 2023, Missouri will have to earn back those rankings, expectations and results. Fighting back from a loss embarrassing as its 31-point trouncing will be an uphill battle.

But there's no longer any time for complacency. Even in the upcoming game against UMass where the Tigers are favoried by 27.5 points, Missouri will need to spend the week ahead continuing to find ways to improve on its lingering struggles.

Something needs to change in a lot of areas for Missouri and the Week 7 roadtrip could act as a testing ground for new ideas.

"It's all on the table," Drinkwitz said on what Missouri will look at to improve.

But time is limited for the Tigers. Their entire season almost entirely comes down to their next stretch of three games and arguably, how the team is able to handle its first significant adversity of the season over the immediate days that follow.

It all starts now for the Tigers. It's their choice on how this loss will impact the rest of the season.

Read more Missouri Tigers news:

How Texas A&M Exploited the Red Flags Surrounding MizzouGuzman: Missouri's Rude Awakening? This Time, Texas A&M Had 'Something to Prove'
Brady Cook, Missouri Offense Crumble Against Texas A&M