What Eli Drinkwitz said on Media Day ahead of Week 10 and what it means

Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz met with the media on Tuesday to talk about Mizzou's upcoming Week 10 opponent, Georgia. He also reflected on the bye week, storylines and more.

Here's a look at some interesting things Drinkwitz said with some insight to determine what it means.

Storylines that will come after the game:

What Drinkwitz said: "But there's going to be two different narratives. The narrative is going to be if we lost, the season's over and there's nothing left to play for because of what was at stake in the game, which we know is not true.

"And if we win, we're going to be assumed that we're going to win the (Southeastern Conference) East, which is not true because we still have three games left versus SEC opponents. So, regardless of the outcome of the game, the job of the media and social media is to create narratives. Our job is to ignore them and try to be 1-0."

What it means: Drinkwitz hit it on the head. There will be narratives about this team, win or lose. There are narratives about this team now.

He's right about what happens if they win because Missouri would be ending a 25-game winning streak against a team that has reigned supreme in the East for years. When was the last time a team really had the inside track on the SEC East crown? Of course, the narrative that they have the inside track to the SEC East would be a thing.

If they lose, some people will say the season is over. That would also be a narrative. Maybe one that isn't as valid, but it would be one nonetheless. Would they probably be out of College Football Playoff contention? Probably.

But 10-2 would still be on the table and if Mizzou's only losses are to LSU and Georgia, two teams most people picked Mizzou to lose to in the first place, then there's no shame in a 10-2 season.

It's an upgrade from being .500 scrapping and clawing to get into a bowl game like they've been doing for Drinkwitz's entire tenure.

Missouri focusing on itself:

What Drinkwitz said: "We need to focus not so much on the external challenges that this team poses. But we really need to focus on what we can control, which is our play, our execution, our fundamentals and execute the plan the very best that we can. We need to ignore the noise this week (and) focus on the things that we can control."

What it means: It's coach speak but this time it actually matters. Every week, Drinkwitz says the team needs to focus on themselves and what they can control. He's right. But he's even more right this week.

Most questions (and understandably so) start with what Georgia does well and how or why Mizzou needs to stop Georgia.

If the team started to look at Georgia as some larger-than-life team or some unbeatable team, they would be losing part of the mental battle.

This isn't just for this game but for every game.

Drinkwitz and the team aren't going to give more credit to Georgia than they have to, and it's for no other reason than Mizzou needs to focus on what its good at and what it can do to get better. It can't focus on the opponent every week and be in awe of what other teams do.

If Mizzou plays its best ball and does well at what it's good at and cleans up what it's not so good at, then Drinkwitz believes the Tigers can win and, at the very least, compete in every game.

Takeaways from Mizzou's 26-22 loss to UGA last year:

What Drinkwitz said: "I remember the crowd being really awesome. I remember us playing pretty well in the first half. I remember us not finishing in the red zone, which ultimately cost us an opportunity to win the game. I remember some self-inflicted penalties, but I'm not disagreeing with D-Rob (about Mizzou that game more than Georgia won it). There are certainly a lot of things that we can control and do better. But that was a really good football team last year led by an excellent quarterback who played well in the fourth quarter and we just weren't able to match it.

"But I don't really take anything from last year's game. We're two totally different teams. They have a lot of different players on both sides of the ball. We have a lot of different players and different identities on both sides of the ball. This is a new matchup.

What it means: So, defensive end Darius Robinson believes Mizzou blew last year's game versus Georgia and the Bulldogs capitalized on its mistakes and found a way to win.

He believes that more than Georgia just ran into Faurot Field and beat the Tigers outright.

Drinkwitz doesn't disagree with Robinson, necessarily.

He outlined the missed opportunities by the Tigers and also gave credit to former Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett and the Bulldogs for doing what they needed to do to win.

However, that game doesn't have much to do with this year. As Drinkwitz said, there are a lot of personnel changes on both sides of the ball. Heck, Mizzou's best offensive player from a year ago, who was dominating in the game between these two last year before he left with an injury, receiver Dominic Lovett, plays for Georgia now.

Mizzou's identity as a team has changed. It has an explosive offense and all the offensive position groups have improved. The same can be said for Georgia in some respects. These teams are not the same teams from a year ago.

How this bye week was different than in years past:

What Drinkwitz said: "Our goal was first to get healthy. And we certainly did that. In the past, we really self-scouted a lot. Which we did spend a day on self-scout. We spent another day on a future opponent and then spent two days on getting ahead on Georgia. So, it's a little bit different mindset because the bye week came so late.

"We did spend some time developing our younger guys. We had our young guys' Super Bowl with Monday Night Football (scrimmage among practice squad and depth players) last night. (The) same kind of thought process, but maybe a little bit more focus. We haven't ever spent as much time working on the next game. So, maybe that would be the biggest difference."

What it means: Usually, the bye week comes and the Tigers are just trying to get themselves out of a hole and change things so they can become bowl-eligible.

Last season, they were 2-4 entering the bye. In 2021, they were 3-4 entering the bye and in 2020, they were 1-2 entering the bye.

So, because the team didn't have to spend a whole bye week reflecting on what they had to fix, they were able to knock out multiple things last week.