Mizzou Football head coach Eliah Drinkwitz says the Tigers have to get better and have a lot of work to do during the bye week, following Saturday’s 30-27 win over Vanderbilt in double overtime.
Drinkwitz admits that it starts with him, reflecting on the decision to go for it on fourth down just shy of midfield before halftime with the score tied at 10.
“Totally my fault,” Drinkwitz said in his postgame remarks. “That was a really haphazard decision by me, and the team bailed me out. Bottom line, and I’ve got to be much better.”
Mizzou failed to convert, and two plays later Vanderbilt claimed a halftime lead with a 57-yard field goal from Brock Taylor. Special teams issues also weighed down Mizzou, as freshman kicker Blake Craig missed three field goals before redeeming himself with the ultimate game-winner from 37 yards.
“The three [missed] field goals, we’ve got to be scoring touchdowns anyway,” Drinkwitz added. “That’s on us, and by ‘us’ I say that’s on me.”
The defense struggled to contain Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia, who threw for 178 yards and two touchdowns while running for another 84 yards on 17 keepers. However, the offense continued to have its bright spots, notably Nate Noel’s 24 carries for 199 yards, including a 65-yard scamper,. earning him SEC Offensive Player of the Week honors. Drinkwitz said while that run led to a touchdown, too many drives have stalled in the red zone.
“He’s a special player, I think we’ve all noticed that and known that,” Drinkwitz said. “We just gotta continue to finish drives for him. That’s the unfortunate thing right now is just we’re just not able in the red zone to finish drives. We’ve got to take a really hard look at that on what we’re not able to do in the red zone and why we’re not able to get touchdowns in there.”
Despite starting the season 4-0 and having Division One’s longest active winning streak at eight, the Tigers fell out of the top ten in this week’s AP poll, coming in at 11th. Mizzou will have their first road game of the year October 5th when they visit Texas A&M. Kickoff is at 11 a.m., with pregame that morning at 9 a.m. on KMMO AM 1300.