Missouri coach Eliah Drinkwitz is hoping his No. 21 Tigers can make fans forget their disappointing 41-10 defeat to then-No. 25 Texas A&M. This is not good news for UMass (1-4).
Mizzou (4-1) is traveling to Amherst, Massachusetts, on Saturday for the first time to face the independent Minutemen, looking to bounce back from last week’s blowout loss.
“I had a very clear and direct message with our team, and I’m going to say it again here to y’all,” Drinkwitz told reporters. “One bad day doesn’t define our team or our season, our response will.”
“There’s going to be bad days you’re going to have,” he said. “It doesn’t have to define us, but we do have to respond, and we do have to respond in a better manner. How we respond will define who we are as a team and what kind of character we have as a program.”
Mizzou started strong, winning its first two games against non-Power 5 teams with a total score of 89-0 before narrowly defeating then-No. 24 Boston College and a tough Vanderbilt team that later beat then-No. 1 Alabama.
But everything changed against the Aggies, who quickly built a 34-0 lead and finished with 512 yards of offense. This loss ended an eight-game winning streak dating back to the Tigers’ defeat against top-ranked Georgia on November 7 of last season.
“I know the way that I’m going to handle it. I know the way the guys that have been here know how I’m going to handle it. The sky is not falling,” Drinkwitz said.
“We all have a perfection dream, but that’s not reality. So, when you come up short, it doesn’t have to define you. It just has to push you to grow.”
Coach Don Brown’s Minutemen have lost to four teams from the Mid-American Conference and only managed to beat Central Connecticut State, an FCS program. In three of their games, they either had the lead or were within one score in the fourth quarter.
“They’re better than their 1-4 record,” Drinkwitz said. “I think coach Brown is instilling in those guys a competitive nature.”
