Everything Eli Drinkwitz said to recap Mizzou's Border War win over Kansas

LAWRENCE, KAN. — Missouri football thwarted Kansas 38-21 after a frightening first half, walking out of Lawrence victorious. Head coach Eli Drinkwitz had plenty to say after the game, detailing the events on the field, the narrative surrounding the rivalry off it and how Kansas approached the game.

Opening Statement

"Just first want to say, great win. Really proud of our guys. Thought they handled the adversity that we kind of created in the first half. Didn't flinch. We talked about you know a fighter's got to go in and he's going to take the underdog's best shot. You can't flinch. Can't give him any anything easy, and that's really what happened. I think the two-minute drive, the unbelievable play by our quarterback, and then the second half to force the two takeaways right in a row and build a lead. You know, you know the things that we gave them were undisciplined penalties on special teams. You know, special teams was was not good tonight in any former facet, and that's going to get cleaned up. But we overcame it, and that's what you got to do on the road. And really proud of those guys for doing that. I do want to say, Coach Leipold'skl got a good football team. That that is a good football team. They're well put together. They're going to win plenty of games this year. But really, the story is the Mizzou Tigers. So I'll open up for questions.”

Biggest difference between first and second half

“We just didn't have any stupid mistakes and forced turnovers. You know, obviously two block field goals. That's embarrassing. One for a touchdown, but then after that, we just settled in.”

On Austin Simmons’ performance

“292 yards. So he's eight yards short of 300, which you know he played unbelievable. Didn't flinch. I thought his third down conversions are as good as I've seen. I mean, he's putting balls in tight spots, and they were doing so many different things on the back end. And normally, a quarterback gets frustrated. He didn't. He just locked in. I thought he made incredible reads. Didn't make very many misses. Ball was not in jeopardy. You know, really disappointed with Matt Zoller's incompletion, but other than that, pretty good. So we held him to 13 of 30, passing the ball, and the two interceptions, pretty good.”

On the rivalry buzz being centered about non-football topics

“I was disappointed in the rivalry, the the turn that it took today, I thought that was uncalled for, and you know, this is about two teams playing football, and especially on 9/11 when we need more unity now than ever before, to to be putting some stuff on your screen, celebrating, I mean, everybody's got complicated pasts, you know, and to make that an icon was bizarre to me, and so I'm just glad, you know, that this whole right versus wrong bullcrap that was started just got settled on football field because it's a football game. It's football game. It's an American football game. People love to come watch and cheer for their teams. It's not even deeper than that, and I get there's a pass to it, but why are we stirring that bullcrap up? You know, it's 9/11. This country needs unity now more than ever, and I was embarrassed for him to be honest. And that's why I tried to embarrass him at the end.”

On how bad he wanted to score on the final drive

“I didn't want to score too bad, or I'd have called timeouts and tried. But I just wanted to. I mean, we didn't think we were going to throw that in the end zone, so. But I just wanted to let him know, like, dude, what are y'all doing? Like, it was a football game. Like, it shouldn’t be bigger than that.”

“There's no difference between being up 10 and 13, so it's still two possessions. They're still down, and now you've actually given them a four-down scenario instead of being able to play for a tie. If you go up 13, they're going to go up touchdown, two touchdowns to win. So that's really no-brainer.”

On what Cayden Lee, Cayden Green bring to the team

“He brings a guy that is just a super competitive, great hands, instinctual. But I mean, obviously, Austin trusts him. You know, Austin, Austin, trusting, and I would be remiss if I didn't say I gave away three game balls in there-one to Austin Simmons, one to Robert Woodyard. But Caden Green, Caden Green, captain, warrior, underwent a minor procedure 10 days ago, and not very many people thought he could come back and play. And in his mind, there was never a shadow of a doubt, and he was back practicing, and he was full go, and we were just like, man, I don't know. I mean, and he refused, refused. Like we were pulling him out of practice. He's like, Coach, I need three more reps. But that guy, man, he is exactly what a captain is all about, and I'm super proud of him. I'm super proud of his leadership. But in a day and age when you have all this other stuff out there, man, it still mattered to him to play football for his teammates in this brotherhood. And everybody at the University of Missouri fan can understand that that's big time. And I'll say this: the game knows. The game rewards those guys who value toughness and give it for their teammates, and that got rewarded tonight.”

On what the support from Dennis Gates means

“I'm so proud to be associated with this great university and athletic department, and for Coach Gates to come over is awesome, and I really appreciate him and Lawrence. Lawrence means so much to our community and does so many different great things. But for Coach Gates to come over here, that's awesome, and his turn next.”

On Robert Woodyard Jr.

“Well, when we played against him, that dude was all over the field making tackles. So I've been waiting for it. Not only did he all over the field making tackles, now he's making interceptions, full of fumbles. I mean, he was a nightmare over there. So really proud of him. And I and I thought just overall, our linebackers played well. We really challenged Dante Simpson and Marquis Graciella to step up third game on the interior. I mean, what do we Russian-wise? What did we hold them to? I got 170 for you. No, 81 yards. 81 yards. We knew if we held them to less than 100 yards rushing, we wouldn't win the game. That's what happened.”

On his two takeaways changed the game

“21-0 run. So we talked about going on a run, and we scored at the end of half. So now we're trying to win the middle eight. We we punted, and the defense goes down and gets takeaway. We score. Gets defense gets another takeaway. We score. It's a 21-0 run right there, which obviously is the difference in the game. That momentum, you know, we we took their best punch in the first half, and now we made it. And we talk about as a team, you know, we got to go on runs in order to win games, and that's what we did. Last one, please.”

On Simmons’ touchdown to Olugbode

“That's a Coach Riley and Coach Lindsey special. They love it. It's mesh, and I'm not a big fan of it. But they love it. They call it anytime, anywhere, and they let me know over the headset that it was mesh. You know, so quarterback threw it, made a great throw. But I thought the best throw of the night was the. I mean, shoot, he had a lot. But the best throw the night was fourth down. Brent Northfleet, and Northfleet redeemed himself. I thought he could have had the first one, but he did a great job making that catch.”

On Cayden Lee

“I mean that's just Chip, Garrett, and Peeler finding matchups, finding routes. Those guys did a great job developing a passing game, and it was it really was the difference in the game tonight. Like our ability to throw the ball-you know-never once did we think we couldn't move the ball throwing it. So it was awesome.”

On the slow start, strong finish to the run game

“I mean, we still got work to do, but I mean, they all count. So they're all punches. They're all body blows. The run game is all about body blows, body blows, body blows, and we had to have it. You know, we got it in the end zone. Who all got the rushing touchdowns? Xai’Shaun got his first one. Thought he came in and played real big, but Jamal 28 for 133. I mean, they all count.”

On Continuing the rivalry

“I don't really care if it continues or not. I mean, if they're going to be weird about it, then what's the point? You know, they want to have a football game and play a football game and have you know a great rivalry on the border. Then awesome, let's do it. But if we want to make it deeper than that, man, like we left Kansas bleeding again, so call it good.”

On the pass-rush pressure

“I thought we pressured the quarterback, made him uncomfortable all night. Didn't do a great job in the first half, and even on for one maintaining contained, which is the same thing happening in this UAPD. So we got to be more disciplined, opposite pressure to stay high and not let the quarterback get out, but overall, you know, a win's a win, and there's always things to grow and coach off.”

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