Everything Eli Drinkwitz Said Following Arkansas Win

The Missouri Tigers picked up one final regular season win, this time coming in 31-17 fashion on the road against the Arkansas Razorbacks. It took the Tigers awhile to get going, but some dominant running from Ahmad Hardy, Jamal Roberts and Beau Pribula, along with a Kevin Coleman Jr. special teams score ultimately pushed the Tigers ahead.

Head coach Eli Drinkwitz took to the media podium in Fayetteville, Arkansas, to discuss his teams victory. He hit on his teams offensive game plan, the impressive showing from his defense and, most notably, his recent contract extension.

Here's everything Drinkwitz told the media following the victory over Arkansas.

Opening statement:

“Really, really proud of our guys today, the way they fought. Obviously, had some really serious, self-inflicted wounds, gave them 10 points and at halftime, just the way our guys calm, cool, collected coaching staff, knowing exactly what we needed to do, really proud of the way all three phases responded. Obviously, great runs, great job running the ball to control the line of scrimmage. Really good job by the punt return team to create the explosive and then I thought the pressure on the quarterback was really, really good. So proud of the team for finding a way to win the game and ultimately, that's what the what you got to do. Every game has a life of its own. You got to find a way to win it. And really, really proud of those guys. Three guys with over 100 yards rushing, Ahmad (Hardy), Jamal (Roberts) and Beau (Pribula), doing whatever we needed to do to win. So really proud of them.

Really grateful to Laird, the president, the board, for the extension that we agreed to, and very excited about our future here at the University of Missouri. I know somebody is going to ask me at some point about how do I view this season. And I would just tell you that I think it's a good season, you know. It's not great. We had a chance to go to great. We didn't get it done. And as a team, as an organization, as everybody, we've got to find those inches and it starts with me, and then it trickles down to everybody. But what makes this place so special? The governor stopped by last week. I've had several had Senator Schmidt reach out to me. Jason Smith reach out to me. You know, Coach (Gary) Pinkel reach out to me. The Bukowskis, Richard Miller and Mike Kampeter, Jeff Smith and Steve Trulaske, all these guys wanting to find whatever they can do to help, and it's going to take all of us, and that's what's going to make Mizzou really special moving forward, is that we're all in this together, and we're all trying to figure out, how do we go achieve what we all dream we can do and do it together. So I just want to say I'm very grateful and appreciative of the opportunity to be the head coach here.

And also want to say, hats off to that Arkansas team and staff. That's a really, really difficult situation to be in, and those guys didn't sign up for that. They didn't know how this season was going to go, for (Taylen) Green to be playing the way he did at the end. Impressive. I thought coach Petrino did a nice job. You know, I think that the SEC is better when Arkansas is good. As a guy who's from Arkansas, I hope they can find the right coach and get this thing going again, because this is a special stadium when it's sold out and the fans are rocking, because I know Arkansas fans believe in the Hogs and so wish them the best, but I'm sure glad to have that Battle Line Trophy rivalry.”

On the offensive game plan:

“No. Once we had the fumble on the screen, we just said, Man, they haven't stopped us yet running the ball. So until they stop us, we don't need to play left-handed. And we got into some third downs that put us a little bit but you know, we needed to. We needed to lean on our strength until they could take it away from us. Really the play the game was the check. We were third and 15, and we checked to the outside zone. Jamall creased them, which was really big play.”

On the impact of the weather and conditions:

“It was just kind of a nasty day. It got a little colder in the second half, but it was a little bit wetter than you wanted it to be. We're trying to throw a screen, so your quarterbacks just going to try to catch and get the ball out quick to have the laces, and obviously that was an issue. And then our, you know, our snaps, we mumbled that up twice.”

On Beau Pribula’s performance:

“Thought he did a really good job of getting us into the right plays, the right situations. He played well enough for us to win. And you know, that's what he's got to do. For him, being able to rush for 100 yards is going to be important for us.”

On Kevin Coleman Jr.’s punt return:

“It was awesome. We needed it. We had two special teams miscues so far in this game, and so for them to be able to create a spark and give us the space we needed. The punt return put the game away.”

On his halftime message:

“We needed everybody to do their job a little bit better for 30 more minutes, and whoever wanted the most was going to find a way to win it. We knew it was going to be a fight. And I felt like the whole week that our team would stay in the fight no matter what, and we just had to find a way to get the score back right. And I thought the defense going in there, getting a three-and-out, and then the offense immediately responded. You just felt it on the sideline. We were going to be fine.”

On defensive pressure on the quarterback:

“I think C7 had two sacks, right? Chris McClellan had two. They were pressuring them all night. We gave up a few escapes that we really didn't expect to give up. But, overall, just impressed with the way they did what they did.”

On his big-picture view during the game:

“I mean, in a game like this, we got to have micro goals, right? Because obviously, the goal that we set out to start the season got taken away from us. This team has faced a lot of adversity throughout the year. We lost a coach in May. Had three significant injuries in the first game of the year. Our quarterback got hurt in a game where we got control of the game, and for our team to find a way to just stay in it, stay in the fight, I'm really, really proud of them. And you got to salvage things, right? So you never know what kind of reverse you're going to face. You got to find a way to salvage it. I thought our guys really did that, but we got to find a way to be better in those games. I understand that, and that's going to be those inches that we're looking for. But I'm really proud of our team. That's why I said it was a good season. We finished 8-4. We lost the four top 10 teams. Only one of them wasn't a one-possession game, and so we just got to figure that out.”

On Ahmad Hardy’s performance:

“If he needed this game to make a convincing final argument, I don't know what else they need to see. But, I mean, I thought he started a little bit slow, but that rush he made to put us up. I mean, there was four guys around him. Everybody thought he was tackled, and he refuses to go down that last drive. I mean, we're, we continue to find ways for him to just keep his feet moving and churning. I think he's proven he's the best, most consistent back in college football, whether or not he wins the award, that's for committees to decide, and y’all know how I feel about committees. But it's really not close. He’s the best back in college football.”

On the timeline of his contract extension:

“At the end of the day, college football is going to have to change all this stuff. We've got to figure this out, where we're not putting pressure on coaches and programs and people during the middle of the week, where there's nothing but speculation. I mean, we've got Twitter trending with bets on who's going to be leading or get this job, and I was the leading bet getter for a job I never interviewed for. That's annoying. That's bull crap. Okay? And it's just speculation. It's just media throwing stuff on the wall and it's tough on everybody. It's tough on players, it's tough on coaches.

This place has been nothing but great to me. I just felt like we weren't done yet. We weren't done yet. That North End Zone isn't completed. And so my job here is not completed yet, and I appreciate the way our administration handled it. There wasn't any pressure or badgering or anything like that. Really, Saturday night after the game against OU, I just sent Laird a text and said, let's get this thing done. Like, let's just get done and let's, let's finish this thing the way we want to finish it and I appreciate him having my back. Most people don't know this, but we're going out the tunnel against OU and there were some fans yelling about me not going to be there and it pissed me off. Obviously, we didn't win the game, but it bothered me because it was a distraction to our team, and at that point, it's the first time I realized that this ain't fair to them. It ain't about me, and it's about them. This is their year. This is their season. So I just needed to do what I knew I wanted to do.”

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