Three Most Important Quotes from Eli Drinkwitz's Press Conference Tuesday

Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz spoke to the media Tuesday following a 31-24 loss to Mississippi State on Saturday. He mentioned areas of improvement for the Tigers, including slow starts, end of game situations and penalties. He also looked ahead to how the Tigers and Austin Simmons can improve in the upcoming matchup against No. 8 Florida. Here's the three most important things Drinkwitz said on Tuesday, followed by everything else he said.

On Missouri's slow starts and penalties:

Missouri running back rushes. — Sep 26, 2026; Starkville, Mississippi, USA; Missouri Tigers running back Xai'Shaun Edwards (24) runs the ball during the second quarter against the Mississippi State Bulldogs at Davis Wade Stadium at Scott Field. Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Saturday marked the third straight game the Tigers have been scoreless after a quarter of action. In each of those games Missouri went on to score at least 24 points, but the slow starts will become increasingly more difficult to come back from as its schedule ramps up. Drinkwitz spoke on mediating empty drives despite reaching opponent's territory that has become a consistent issue week-to-week.

"That really happened to us in the Troy game... I think that happened to us in the Kansas game a couple of times. We've got to be better on the plus side of the 50. That's a lot of different things, primarily execution and play calling. We got to get on the same page of what we're going to call and make sure our guys can execute it."

Drinkwitz said a lot of those slow starts stem from penalties.

"Really what hurt us in the game was offensive penalties and it putting us behind the chains. We have got to be able to to be more efficient, especially with the holding penalties. They were all legit, they were all great calls, but we got to keep our hands inside, we got to know when we're outleveraged to let him go. We can't restrict, so those are what's really affecting us... It all goes back to (you) can't start slow. Got to come out with precision execution early."

On Austin Simmons' quarterback progression and responding to the loss:

Missouri running back throws. — Sep 26, 2026; Starkville, Mississippi, USA; Missouri Tigers quarterback Austin Simmons (13) passes the ball during the third quarter against the Mississippi State Bulldogs at Davis Wade Stadium at Scott Field. Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

As the season is progressing, Austin Simmons has continued to impress by throwing tight-window passes, avoiding risky throws and leading a passing unit that is one of the Tigers' biggest strengths. Through four weeks, the senior quarterback has thrown 11 touchdowns and zero interceptions, but in his first endgame drive was unable to lead the Tigers to the endzone. Drinkwitz acknowledged there's still room for improvement, but that's just part of the process that Simmons has "done a really good job" with.

"I think that's just part of the journey of growing as a quarterback. Everybody wants it to happen right now, but the best teacher is experience and you can't manufacture experience any other way than going through it... As much as he wants to be perfect and play perfect, and we all want him to be perfect, he's just continued to grow and running his race and his journey and he's doing a good job of that right now. We need him to continue to grow at the rate that he needs to grow and not try to press it. Because once you start pressing and trying to push, then that's when bad things happen as a quarterback and I think that's really what happened in the Troy game."

"We were trying to press and push and over anticipate throws and trying to be too perfect instead of just understanding and moving on in our progressions and throwing it to the open man. I thought he had a really good sense of that (last game). He had a couple anticipation throws, his throw to Cayden Lee on the last touchdown was an incredible throw. Anticipation, saw it, put it exactly where he needed to. He's growing at the rate he needs to and I think for a quarterback and for us, that's really important because he gives us a chance, keeps us in games. We got to continue to do that."

On how Missouri can stop Florida's rush-heavy offensive attack:

Florida running back celebrates. — Sep 26, 2026; Gainesville, Florida, USA; Florida Gators running back Jadan Baugh (13) celebrates with a Heisman pose against the Mississippi Rebels during the second half at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Pendleton-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

After giving up 122 rushing yards to Fluff Bothwell on Saturday, the Tigers will likely have an increasingly difficult assignment against Florida running back Jadan Baugh, who has accumulated 83 carries, 600 yards and a nation-leading 11 touchdowns in four games. The Gators' offense is led by offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner, who Drinkwitz credited in the press conference.

"This game's a totally different challenge. They're a run first mentality and they run play action and boots off of it. There are not a ton of drop back gains, so it's going to be a challenge. We have to stop the run first. If you if you let two running backs rush for over 100 yards, we got no shot in the game because everything else in their arsenal plays off of your inability to stop that run. So you got to be very disciplined in what you do, you got to play your gap and then once you understand it's passed, you're going to have to read and react and get into a pass rush move. So it'll be a tremendous challenge for (our) guys. I think that's what's so difficult about Coach (Buster) Faulkner's scheme is he does a tremendous job of marrying run games with his play-action shots, play-action nakeds. Then he always has an outlet in his run game for if you try to insert an extra player in the box, they're going to spit it out to one of their dynamic receivers in one-on-one opportunity (and) you got to make a tackle. So they have a very unique scheme, it's very complementary, it's always difficult to defend when you have multiple problems on plays."

Update on Darris Smith and Langden Kitchen:

"Langden was dinged in the second drive of the game and couldn't come back, which was disappointing. And obviously, to have your two starting defensive ends out for an entire game is that's tough in this league. So other people have got to step up. Langden and Darris both are going to be questionable this week. We'll see. Both are doing the very best they can to get back. I doubt they can participate in much of any practice today, but both those guys are experienced. Our kind of protocol is you have to practice by Thursday in order to be available for the game. In life in the SEC, that's kind of how we go about it with guys who are questionable. Brady (Cook) was able to play a couple of times where he missed a Monday practice and a Tuesday, but was able to get a Thursday, Friday. I don't know where we're at right there with the edge room with those two guys. I know they've both spent an incredible amount of time Sunday and yesterday trying to get in here and get as back as quickly as possible. But I don't know, we'll see."

Opening Statement:

"Homecoming week started here, University of Missouri, with Chester Brewer. Wrote the alumni, inviting them back to a game 115 years ago. What an awesome tradition to embrace at the University of Missouri. We're excited to share that experience this weekend, welcome all the fans, alumni encourage student body back home since we were traveling last weekend. So look forward to having a great crowd Saturday, appreciate carrying on the tradition of homecoming that started here at the University of Missouri. Want to say congratulations to Mike Kelly on 400 career called games Saturday. What an awesome career and appreciative all your support that you've been here. When people think about Tiger football, they think about the voice of Mike Kelly and appreciate you. Also, want to take the time to thank Edward Jones. I know I've called out publicly St. Louis businesses before and just want to thank Edward Jones. I was walking around the stadium on the inside of our stadium, they cover the South End Zone speakers with their logo and appreciate that sponsorship and partnership and look forward to many more opportunities with them and all the community of St. Louis, whether that's been Centene or Ambetter in future businesses that want to get involved with us. So appreciate that."

"Let's talk about our opponent. Obviously, a tremendous challenge and a great opponent in Florida. Coach (Jon) Sumrall has done an excellent job. What an awesome job he's done in his first year at the helm. You can just see with the energy that he brings, the passion. His energy is infectious. The way his team plays reflects the passion. If you know Jon at all, just reflects the way he carries himself, the confidence and physicality that he brings. You got to tip your hat to Scott Stricklin and his committee for hiring exactly what the University of Florida needed and getting it right and to see that turnaround has been really good for the SEC and obviously awesome for Florida. Super talented roster that's really good in all three phases. I think when you watch them play, you see complementary football in all three phases. Offensively, dynamic. I think they've got an excellent scheme. Their offensive coordinator does a tremendous job. Their offensive line is playing at an elite level and then obviously they got Florida speed at both the running back position and the skill position. They've got a lot of different weapons. Defensively, great scheme, their defensive coordinator we've gone against beforem, he's been in this league a long time. (He) understands how to defend this league, what it takes to play good defense in this league. They're built up front. They've got really good players up front, highlighted by Jayden Woods, who's obviously from the Kansas City area. He's an elite pass rusher and run defender, plays with unbelievable effort all the time. And then their special teams, man, what a great special teams unit they have. Tremendous return units, but they cover kicks really well. They did an excellent job vs. Ole Miss. They've got tremendous specialists and so you know they're a complete football team. That's going to be a tremendous challenge for our football team. We clearly have to go back to work from the challenges and lessons that we learned from last weekend. Specifically, we started slow, we can't start that slow and then we didn't finish as the way we needed to in the fourth quarter. And as coaches, we have to be better on both sides of that to help our offense, defense really start faster and finish better. I thought our special teams played outstanding in the game, gave us an opportunity, but at the end of the day, the slow start in the first and fourth quarter set us behind and weren't able to overcome those."

On how to fix the Tigers' slow starts:

"Ultimately it's execution. Defensively, we went out there and got a three-and-out and offensively, we had a 10-play drive and then went for it on fourth down and didn't execute it and then they went three plays and scored. So, gotta execute that that call better. Maybe try to search for a better explosive earlier in the game. I don't know what exactly the combination is there. But we started great in the second half, something to look at. There's not a whole lot of changes to be made about it, but it's something that you get what you emphasize, you encourage what you tolerate. You can't tolerate slow starts anymore."

On the final possession against Mississippi State:

"I thought the the end of half possession we had offensively wasn't good. We stalled out at 50 and then we had the personal foul on the punt, which gave a good field position. Fortunately, our defense held tight there. At the end of the game, didn't handle that the way we needed to. Obviously, we got the first completion, then we got the second completion in bounds. Then we had a quarterback scramble that we really need to just throw the ball away. We got to move the ball further down the field, didn't execute it the way we wanted to. We did get a ball thrown into the end zone, but the goal on any end-to-game scenario is the closer you get, the higher probability you have of executing a play. And we obviously didn't get the ball further down the field. So something to learn from. I could be wrong, but I believe that's Austin's first in-game drive as a quarterback in college level. So lots to learn from, losses are lessons to learn from. So it's not one and done on any of these. It's opportunities to go back and see where you made a mistake and try to grow from."

Drinkwitz's perspective following loss:

"We got to bounce back. This day and age we want to be really quick to write people off and write chapters of a story of finality or obituaries or whatever you want to say based off of one thing. But seasons are long seasons and it's not always going to go your way. Again, the tail of the tape for us was a slow start and a slow finish. In between, I thought the fight was tremendous. I thought the way our guys battled, stayed together, was good. It just wasn't good enough execution in the fourth quarter. We had two miscommunications in the secondary off of motions that really allowed them to have explosive plays. Obviously, the double move was an excellent catch, but we were supposed to be in a different coverage off that motion and we didn't get that adjusted out. That's an execution thing that we can fix moving forward. As coaches we have to be better making sure that those guys are ready for that. And then we talked about the two-minute drive, again, as a group, as individuals, we can try as much as we can to put them in those scenarios in practice and we got to do a better job. But, this is a whole brand new team coming together and trying to figure some of this stuff out together and I've been proud of the way they respond. Now, this is a really, really good football team we got coming in here, so we got to speed up the response, and we got to have a bounce back factor for sure."

On Simmons' demeanor:

"He doesn't really get rattled by a lot of things. He treats everything as an opportunity to grow and learn fromand he understands that there were some things that we all can do better. We can give him better play calls on third and fourth down down there inside the red zone. We can give better play calls in that two-minute drive, so that the ball can be out of bounds. So that's everybody, but he's been great responding the right way."

On addressing tackling issues against Florida:

"(They have) a tremendous running back, one of the best in the country and probably right now the best one in the country. Obviously, they do a tremendous job featuring him, getting him multiple different carries at multiple different angles. He's downhill and physical reminds me of a back that I saw last year quite a bit named Ahmad Hardy. I mean, he's he's really really good. We struggled with inside out tackling in the game, we're not tracking the backfield the way we need to, whether we're inside out or outside in and so we got to do a better job getting guys on the ground."

On what challenges Florida's defense poses:

"I mean they're very multiple up front. They play both odd and four down structure. They have multiple coverages. They mix in man-to-man. He's varied from what he's done in Kentucky, where they were a little bit more strictly odd, a little less sticky on the back end, more zone cover, more drop eight. He's really more attacking style. I think it's a different style of players that he has. Obviously, he's got an elite pass rusher with Jayden Woods. He's got a lot of really good interior players. So it'll be a challenge to sustain drives. I mean, that's that's life in this league. Everybody's got good players on defense and they all make it really challenging for you."

On Brunno Reus and special teams:

"In the two games that we've been slow, his punt inside the five have been really what sparked us and that's what kind of sparked us in the Mississippi State game. Pins them on the two, we get it back there. They shank a punt. We go down there and get a field goal, then we get the turnover and go score. So his ability to really punt the ball well and have our guys cover. I will say that I think DaMarion Fowlkes and Nick DeLoach have done tremendous jobs as gunners to force fair catches. They've been able to beat double teams or beat the gunner and that's been really good for us."

On Daeden Hopkins and Cayden Lee:

"Obviously Daeden has been playing at a really high level and that's something that we got to continue to watch. It's going to get more and more challenging on him because people are now more and more aware of who he is. I mean, he was battling chippers pretty much the entire game in no-throw situations and we got to have somebody on the other side step up, especially with the injuries we're battling with Daris and Langden. So other guys have got to step up and continue to to battle as those guys work really hard to recover, so it'll be a challenge. As far as Cayden Lee, I mean he's an elite player. We knew he's elite player. We knew him and Austin had chemistry. That was why it was so important to get him and he's been everything we've expected."

On stopping opposing teams on third and fourth-and-short:

"Obviously, there was the fourth and one that really was crucial in the game, where we tackled him, we didn't have a great angle on the the TV copy, but I thought we did hold him there. Plus-one runs are always more difficult to stop than a tailback run on third-and-one. So we just got to continue to work it. We'll be an inside drill today on toughness Tuesday and got to continue to work hands inside, shock and shed block, play gap and a half. Got to fit downhill, but you got to make sure you have eyes on your target so you don't give up a big play too."

On the Protect College Sports Act advancing to Senate:

"That's great. Awesome to see a bipartisan bill get passed and now it's on to the House. Hopefully, for them to get to work, I think we kind of anticipate it'll be after the midterm election. So, hopefully, we'll get a Christmas miracle."

On a fourth-and-one call on Kamario Taylor play:

"I asked and they told me that they had cleared it in the booth, which means you can challenge, it just cost you a timeout if you're wrong. At that point, I felt like timeouts were going to be more valuable, which they were for us. But when they tell you they cleared it, that means that they looked and saw what they saw. What my anticipation was and even going back and watching it, there was no way you were going to be able to change that based off the the TV angle. TV angles aren't always the same going down the line"

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