Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz held his weekly press conference with the media Tuesday as the team reflects on its loss against South Carolina and prepares for its final road matchup of the season at Mississippi State.
I picked a few of Drinkwitz’s quotes that I thought were most telling.
When asked about the explosive plays the defense allowed.
What Drinkwitz said: “It was kind of the perfect nightmare for us to be honest. You know, 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, they had to communication, we’ve got totally uncovered and that kind of set the tone.”
What went unsaid: There’s a lot more to this quote and I would suggest going here (the explanations starts at about the 2:50 mark) to watch the full explanation. Drinkwitz got into the exact plays and what went wrong on them, but if I typed that all out here, it would make this a very long story.
I’ll boil it down to a couple of miscommunications by the players in the secondary, a couple of scheme issues by the coaches, a couple of times where the pass rush just didn’t get home in time.
Missouri was playing a lot of one-on-one man coverage in the matchup and if the pass rush isn’t getting home, then sooner or later one-on-one man coverage means someone’s open because even the best corners in the world can only cover someone for so long. But when you’re spending your focus on stopping a potent run game, you have to make choices that leave you in worse situations elsewhere on the field.
When asked about Brady Cook's process the past month
What Drinkwitz said: “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 and 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. You know, he’s dealing with … multiple injuries that aren’t fully recovered yet, but you know, he’s choosing to play much like he did several years ago, which you’d expect nothing less from Brady as a leader and a teammate. And I think for him to make that throw he did to Luther was pretty impressive. He can’t quite snap his wrist the way he needs to, which is why some of the balls got left short, specifically the first third down to Theo.”
What went unsaid: Brady Cook is a fighter and he played well. I kind of question the coaching decision to let him play if he can’t snap his wrist correctly, it seems like that would be pretty detrimental to a quarterback. But he ended up making enough plays, including the pass to Luther Burden and the deep ball to Marquis Johnson, to put the team in position to win at the end. He’s going to do everything he can to play these last two games and whatever that means for his body, he’s going to accept the consequences.
When asked about the team starting slow through the season
What Drinkwitz said: “I don’t have a great response for that. It’s definitely something that we’ve challenged our guys to be better in the first half, play faster, play with better execution, but obviously that hasn’t gotten done. Good job adjusting to keep fighting at halftime, though.”
What went unsaid: The first half has been a major issue for the Tigers this season. Let’s start with the Boston College game where Mizzou fell behind 14-3, they came back to take a 17-14 lead by halftime, but still a very slow start.
Vanderbilt took a 13-10 lead into halftime, Texas A&M was up 24-0 at the break, Auburn and Mizzou were tied at 3 at halftime, Alabama led 13-0, Oklahoma was up 9-3 and South Carolina led 21-6.
That’s collectively an 83-22 halftime deficit against SEC opponents. But the Tigers have outscored conference opponents 103-88 after the break. I’m not really sure what to put that discrepancy on, but it certainly gives the feel like Drinkwitz hasn’t done a great job getting the guys ready to go before game time, but does do a great job getting them fighting back at halftime.
When asked about players burning their redshirts Saturday
What Drinkwitz said: “Well, 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 contribute on special teams and a couple of other ones, especially with the injuries that we’re dealing with, we needed them to finish games.”
What went unsaid: Drinkwitz was also asked and talked specifically about Kewan Lacy. He fits into this group.
I know people have pointed out a weird grouping of young guys who were on the field at the end of the game, but rotations have to happen when the team you're facing is running 70 plays. Injuries have obviously been an issue with the defense. When you’re missing two defensive linemen and a linebacker, the rotations are going to have to go deeper for guys to get the rest they need to play well. And you can say “But should those guys be in on key drives like the final one?” Well every drive after halftime was a key drive for Missouri’s defense. Sooner or later, you have to rotate.
Those are the answers I found most telling. Let me know what you think was telling at the story thread or head on over to the Tiger Walk to discuss so much more.
