Eli Drinkwitz didn’t want to hear it. After his Missouri team fell 34-0 to Alabama football on Saturday, a reporter asked he thought the group’s mentality was similar to the one from the Tigers’ previous defeat at the hands of Texas A&M.
The head coach got aggravated.
“I didn’t see any similarities,” Drinkwitz said. “I saw three turnovers. I saw a bunch of guys beat to crap that went out there and fought their butt off. It wasn’t anything similar to the Texas A&M at all. It was 13-0 at halftime because of an interception. We fought our butt off and any other conversation outside of that is ridiculous.”
Missouri spent most of the game with backup quarterback Drew Pyne leading the offense, after starter Brady Cook left with an injury. Pyne threw an interception on his first pass attempt, and didn’t improve much after that.
He ended the game having completed six of his 12 pass attempts, with three interceptions. Drinkwitz tried to deflect the blame from the quarterback.
“He’s trying to put us in a position to get back into the game,” And I understand that, but we just can’t put the ball into jeopardy in those situations. Ultimately, it’s on me I gotta do a better job coaching us up in those situations and not put it on him.”
Drinkwitz praised the Missouri defense, which did a solid job slowing down Alabama for most of the game. Still, he said the offense didn’t do enough to help out in the loss.
“Offensively, just with Brady’s injury, we just couldn’t ever get in rhythm,” Drinkwitz said. “And obviously the turnovers really put us behind the eight ball, and just put the defense in too many bad spots today.”
Missouri likely fell out of College Football Playoff contention with the loss, given its lack of marquee opponents on the schedule the rest of the way. After a bye week, the Tigers will face Oklahoma, South Carolina, Mississippi State and Arkansas to close the season.
Drinkwitz was short when asked what MU could still accomplish during the 2024 season.
“Still the potential to finish with a double-digit win season,” Drinkwitz said.
Missouri fell to No. 23 in the coaches poll rankings, and No. 25 in the Associated Press media poll.
