COLUMBIA, Mo. — In the wake of his team’s horrific loss at Kansas State, Missouri’s Eli Drinkwitz has more problems to solve this week than last but isn’t about to panic. On Tuesday, in his first public comments since Saturday’s 40-12 clunker, Drinkwitz was unwavering in his belief the Tigers can recover.
If they can just ignore what he called the “toxicity and negativity” that erupted from Saturday’s carnage.
Just two games into the season, Mizzou (1-1) has the record most expected — the Tigers were a touchdown underdog at K-State — but Saturday surely evoked concerns about the team’s season at-large. MU catches a break with Saturday’s visit from Abilene Christian (2-0) but still faces games against five Southeastern Conference teams in The Associated Press Top 25.
Before the Tigers’ season follows that treacherous path, Drinkwitz made a few things clear Tuesday:
He’s not changing quarterbacks.
He’s not shaking up the depth chart.
He’s not blowing up the offense.
He’s not handing off play-calling duties.
And he’s certainly not combing the internet looking for solutions.
“There’s an old Bill Parcells quote that talks about losers assemble in groups and complain — and I would add get on Twitter and message boards and have all the answers — (while) winners assemble as a team and find ways to win," he said. "That's what we're going to do. We're going to assemble as a team and find ways to win. We're not going to focus on the toxicity or negativity. That has nothing to do with winning and producing any type of outcome for us that we want it to be. So our focus is, how do we circle up as a coaching staff, as a player, as the Mizzou football program and find ways to win?”
For a coach who won over fans with his charismatic online presence, he insisted he’s steered clear of social media since Saturday’s game. He urged his players to do the same.
“When you're in this profession, in this sport, the criticism and critiques are grander and it's louder. You have to ignore it,” Drinkwitz said. “Otherwise, you get caught up in that and it affects your mental health and it affects your mental well-being, which is then going to result in affecting your performance."
After a promising debut against Louisiana Tech, Saturday's loss exposed an offense incapable of doing anything right. Through two games, Mizzou ranks 12th in the SEC in yards per play (5.3), 13th in passing efficiency (96.4 rating) and leads the league with six turnovers. Across the country, only New Mexico State has thrown more interceptions than MU’s five.
Drinkwitz said he must design better game plans but isn’t about to scrap his base offense, which leans heavily on outside zone running plays and horizontal passes to set up vertical shots downfield.
“I have no reservations about what we're doing on offense schematically,” he said. “One bad game doesn't define who we are.”
For the second straight week, Drinkwitz didn’t make any changes to the depth chart released to the media. After lifting starting quarterback Brady Cook for two series on Saturday, Drinkwitz put him back in the game then said Cook remains his starter — and didn’t consider going with freshman Sam Horn.
That stance didn’t seem to change Tuesday. Through two games, Cook has completed 61.1% of his passes with one touchdown and three interceptions. He also leads the team with 117 rushing yards.
“The reality of it is (Cook) defines his own success by the standard that he performs and the standard that we perform as a team,” Drinkwitz said. “And we were below that standard. But it doesn't have to define us. One game is not the season.”
Another one of Saturday’s most troublesome developments was Luther Burden’s lack of production. The Tigers threw to their freshman wide receiver five times and gave him one running play. He dropped a pass and didn’t make a great effort to catch another. By MU’s count, he played 65 of MU’s 66 plays from scrimmage. (Mookie Cooper started for Burden, who entered for the second play. Pro Football Focus had Burden for 56 snaps.) Either way, through two games, Burden has four catches for 20 yards and a touchdown plus four carries for 32 yards and a score — good for eighth on the team in all-purpose yards.
Drinkwitz’s remedy: more touches, fewer snaps.
“I've got to balance the expectations of the external noise and the realities of what we need to put on him,” Drinkwitz said. “Luther is a competitor, and he is a good football player. And we certainly need to do a better job of creating touches for him. But we also need to limit the number of plays that he plays. He played 65 plays in that game, which is probably 25 too many. We’ve got to understand that sometimes play designs for an X receiver (the defense) may take away the No. 1 option. That happened a couple of times. It is a balancing act with a true freshman. Second game of the year. Expectations vs. reality. Tremendous player, tremendous competitor. But we’ve got a lot of people that can make plays."
“There’s more ways to spread (the ball) out,” he added, “but we can do better at designing plays that he specifically gets the touch.”
That could include returning punts. Drinkwitz indicated he’ll consider other punt returners besides Kris Abrams-Draine this week — and Burden is listed as the other option.
Whatever unfolds Saturday against an overmatched FCS team won’t erase what happened last week in Manhattan, Kansas, but the man in charge insisted the team will move forward while addressing Saturday’s breakdowns.
“We have a direction that we're going. Would we like to be there faster? Absolutely,” Drinkwitz said. “Are we there yet? Nope. But we're going to get there. We're going to get there."
