Drinkwitz Ready To Meet SEC Challenge in 2022
The Missouri Tigers didn't have the most successful year in 2021, finishing 6-7 on the year, including 3-5 in the SEC.
Amongst those losses, however, there were also a handful of hopeful moments. The kind of moments which indicate that third-year head coach Eli Drinkwitz has his program on the right track.
Wins over Florida and South Carolina and a tight loss to Kentucky showed that the Tigers were capable of holding up in the middle to low tier of the SEC.
But that isn't what Drinkwintz was hire for. He was hired to get Mizzou back to 2013 and 2014 SEC East Champion form, and beyond.
And he is not shying away from that pressure.
“Yeah, I'll say this, I don't feel comfortable, meaning that there's always challenges,” Drinkwitz said. “You know the difficulty. But I don't feel that anxiousness in my stomach like, can we measure up? Can we match up? I know what we're getting into, I know the fight that I'm walking into every week. And, look, the reality of it is, since the last time they had these meetings, there's only four coaches that are still here since 2019. So the reality of it is this is a tough, tough league made for tough people. You got to measure up but that's the fun. That's the challenging part of it. As competitors, you want to meet that challenge.”
Tough league may be an understatement.
Once again, the SEC finished on top of the college football world in 2021, with Georiga taking home a championship over Alabama, which gave the SEC five of the last seven national champions.
The conference has also taken home 12 of the last 16 titles overall
Clemson, Ohio State, and Florida State have won the other four.
However, for Drinkwitz and the Tigers, facing that level of excellence isn't something to be afraid of.
Rather, they see it as an opportunity.
“You ever seen the movie 'The Godfather?,'” Drinkwitz asked. “There's a line in there that says, ‘This is the life we've chosen.’ And at the end of the day, this is the life we've chosen. It's a tremendous opportunity. I mean, are you kidding? I got to fly down here in a private jet (and stay) on the ocean. I got a great room. I get to represent the University of Missouri football team. I mean, shoot, this is a great opportunity. And yeah, there's some tough parts to it, but to me, the benefits outweigh the negative experiences.”
The Tigers will return to campus for fall camp at the end of July, with their first kick scheduled against Lousiana Tech on September 1.
Then, their journey to return back to Atlanta can start its next chapter.
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