College football coaches are fond of proclaiming that they approach every matchup, every opponent the same way. But Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz sounded a bit different this week when talking about the Tigers’ matchup at No. 1 Georgia on Saturday.
It’s not that Drinkwitz is dreading a matchup against the undefeated Bulldogs, even though Georgia is favored by 38 points — the largest spread in favor of a Missouri opponent since the Tigers joined the SEC in 2012. During his weekly press conference Tuesday, Drinkwitz said he;’s actually eager to match up against the top team, and the top scoring defense, in the country.
“I’m excited as crap,” Drinkwitz said. “I love it. … Obviously as a head coach, I’ve never gone against the number one team in the country, so that’s a pretty exciting opportunity.”
In Drinkwitz’s mind, Georgia represents what he ultimately wants Missouri to be. He heaped praise on Bulldog coach Kirby Smart, his coaching staff and his loaded roster. In Drinkwitz’s mind, this week provides a chance to see how his squad matches up.
Georgia has stockpiled talent at a ridiculous rate, landing the nation’s top-ranked class every year from 2018 through 2021. Drinkwitz noted that the Bulldogs have more players who were rated as five-star recruits on their roster than three-stars. Missouri doesn’t have a single former five-star prospect.
Smart made headlines Saturday when he said “there’s no coach out there who can out-coach recruiting.” But, at least for this game, Drinkwitz isn’t about to concede that battle. Multiple times during his press conference, Drinkwitz went out of his way to say that, even though no one is giving his team a chance to win Saturday, it has no intention of backing down. Speaking to reporters a few hours later, defensive coordinator Steve Wilks echoed the sentiment.
Drinkwitz noted that last season, Missouri pushed Georgia during the first half, only trailing 21-14 at the break. The Tigers eventually lost 49-14. This year, he said he wants to see his team “stay in the fight, get that thing to the fourth quarter.”
“We’re competitors, man,” he said. “We’re gonna compete. Everybody wants to compete. You want to test yourself against the best. You got to just go cut it loose. … And you’ve got to take your best shot. That’s what you’ve got to do. Nothing changes. We’re not changing who we are. That would show that we don’t believe what we’re doing is working. We believe in what we’re doing, and we’re gonna get there. We’re gonna get there. And this is a great opportunity to see where we’re at and how much further we’ve got to go, and man, I’m excited about it.”
Georgia has risen to No. 1 in the rankings on the strength of its defense. The unit might not be vying solely for the crown of best in the country this season, but the best defense in college football in the past decade. Georgia ranks second nationally in total yardage allowed, second against the pass and second against the run. The Bulldogs are allowing opponents to score an average of just 6.6 points per game. That doesn’t just lead the country, it’s more than a touchdown better than the next-closest team.
The last defense to finish a season allowing less than 10 points per game was 2011 Alabama, which won the national title with Smart as its defensive coordinator. Drinkwitz, who started his college coaching career as a quality control assistant at Auburn in 2010 and 2011, compared Georgia’s current defense to the best units fielded by the Crimson Tide.
“(I) have gone against some really good defenses before, 2011 Alabama, 2010 Alabama,” Drinkwitz said. “These guys are right there.”
Moving the ball against Georgia’s defense could be especially problematic for Missouri because of the health of quarterback Connor Bazelak. Bazelak left last week’s game against Vanderbilt in the fourth quarter due to a “soft tissue injury” and did not return. Drinkwitz declined to speculate about how likely Bazelak might be to suit up against Georgia, and he also didn’t say whether redshirt freshman Brady Cook or true freshman Tyler Macon would draw the start if Bazelak can’t play.
If Bazelak is limited by his injury or if Macon or Cook has to make his first college start, it would make Missouri’s task even taller against a defense that has excelled at pressuring opposing quarterbacks and taking the ball away. Georgia has logged 26 sacks through eight games this season. It has recorded 10 interceptions, with three of them having been returned for touchdowns.
“Can really affect the quarterback,” Drinkwitz said of Georgia’s defense. “They do simulated pressure, so they give the illusion of coming and bringing a lot of people and still play zone concepts behind it, which is difficult. They don’t give you a lot of one on one matchups. They do a really good job, and they’re able to really get after the quarterback. If you look at the numbers, a lot of their sacks are three-man, four-man rushes, and that’s pretty impressive. Not a lot of people are able to do that.”
Combine Georgia’s defensive dominance with Missouri’s uncertainty at quarterback, then throw in the fact that the Tigers have won just one of five matchups against Power Five opponents so far this season, and the chances of upsetting Georgia in Athens seem slim. But Drinkwitz isn’t discouraged — or if he is, he’s not about to admit it publicly. One of the reasons he left Appalachian State to coach at Missouri, he said, was to test himself against the perennial playoff contenders in the SEC. No matter how large the point spread, he has no intention of backing down from the challenge.
“I don’t want to live life in the shadows,” Drinkwitz said. “Go out and see what we got. Take our best shot. Let the chips fall where they may. So, no, I’m not anxious about it at all.”
Defense looks to quickly correct ground game issues
While Georgia’s defense has generated most of the headlines this season, its offense hasn’t exactly been stagnant. The Bulldogs rank 14th nationally in scoring at 37.9 points per game.
Georgia has used two different starting quarterbacks this season. JT Daniels, who received preseason Heisman Trophy hype, made the first three starts of the year but has missed the team’s past six games with a lat muscle injury. He reportedly returned to practice last week. In his absence, Stetson Bennet IV has been efficient, completing 66.7 percent of his passes and averaging 11.5 yards per attempt. Bennet has thrown 12 touchdowns versus four interceptions.
Wilks said Tuesday that it really doesn’t matter which player lines up behind center for the Bulldogs. He expects a steady diet of rushing plays either way.
Georgia has leaned on its ground game all season. The Bulldogs have run the ball on 67.2 percent of its offensive snaps. Behind the one-two punch of James Cook and Zamir White at tailback Georgia is averaging 193 rushing yards per game.
Wilks said he expects Bulldog offensive coordinator Todd Monken, who coached alongside Wilks on the Cleveland Browns coaching staff in 2019, to try to exploit the Tigers’ struggles stopping the run. Doing so, Wilks said, will be his unit’s “number one priority.”
“They have so many weapons, so okay, what do you take away?” Wilks said. “Who do you take away? Number one, I think you have to make them one-dimensional. You’ve got to do everything you can to try to stop the run. Gotta stop the run first. And if they’re able to run the ball and pass, it’s going to be a long day.”
In Missouri’s most recent outing, its issues against the ground game showed up once again. Vanderbilt, which entered the matchup averaging less than 100 rushing yards per contest, rushed for 258 yards. That total was bolstered by a pair of long runs by backup quarterback Mike Wright, one that went for 69 yards and the other for 70. Wilks said the issue on both plays was missed tackles.
“We were right there at the point of attack, we’ve got to finish and make the play,” he said. “So there’s times right now, even, dialed it up, blitzed right into it, we missed the tackle in the backfield one time. So definitely, in my opinion, I don’t think there’s anything schematically that we’ve got to correct, I think it’s just more fundamentals and technique.”
Wilks knows Missouri likely won’t have the margin to overcome similar errors against Georgia. Not only does the Tiger defense need to eliminate the big plays it has allowed on the ground all season, creating some negative plays to get Georgia behind the chains and into obvious passing situations will be vital.
“We gotta find ways to limit their drives, and it starts up front,” Wilks said. “Create some negative plays on first and second down. Those guys average eight yards on first down. So we’ve got to do some things to get those guys behind the sticks. If we’re living in third and short all game, it’s going to be a long game for us.”
Badie, Mevis earn SEC honors
Missouri overcame its defensive woes against Vanderbilt thanks in large part to tailback Tyler Badie and kicker Harrison Mevis. Badie and Mevis were both honored by the SEC Monday, with Badie being selected as the league’s co-offensive player of the week and Mevis as the special teams player of the week.
Mevis stayed perfect in the kicking game on the season, making all three of his field goal attempts and all four extra points against Vanderbilt. Badie’s 39 total touches, 254 rushing yards and 294 total yards all represented career highs. It marked the third 200-yard rushing performance of the season, which leads the nation. Badie also leads the country in runs of 30 yards or more with nine and runs of 40 yards or more with seven. He ranks second in total yards from scrimmage, averaging 161.8 per game, and his 15 total touchdowns are tied for third.
Drinkwitz announced Tuesday that Badie has also been selected by the team as a permanent captain. He will take the place of offensive lineman Case Cook, who is out for the remainder of the season after undergoing shoulder surgery.
“We wanted to elevate somebody else to that position on the field, and Tyler, through his work ethic, leadership and on the field play, was well deserving of that, obviously displayed in Saturday’s performance,” Drinkwitz said. “Just a tremendous performance individually, and as a team, but obviously spearheaded by him.”
Lovett's lack of snaps not due to injury
Drinkwitz declined to provide any injury updates Tuesday, in particular about Bazelak. However, he did clarify that true freshman wide receiver Dominic Lovett is healthy.
Lovett played a season-low eight snaps against Vanderbilt. The East St. Louis product did not catch a pass and was not targeted. Drinkwitz said he would have liked to have gotten Lovett more involved in the game plan, but he stuck with Barrett Banister in the slot for most of the game due to his consistency and run-blocking ability.
“I think we had a couple plays scripted for him that I didn’t get off the play sheet that I’ve got to get called,” Drinkwitz said of Lovett. “Moved him a little bit more to slot because of injuries we had, so it was Barrett (Banister) and Dominic at slot, and went with Barrett a couple more times in the second half just because of consistency and consistency on perimeter blocking. I don’t see that to be a trend or any negative.”
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