The Tigers are looking to rebound after a disgusting performance last week. Will doing it against this opponent matter?

As a brilliant poet from a bygone era once wrote:

“I get knocked down, but I get up again. You are never gonna keep me down. I get knocked down, but I get up again. You are never gonna keep me down. I get knocked down, but I get up again. You are never gonna keep me down. I get knocked down, but I get up again. You are never gonna gonna keep me down.” — Chumbawumba (1997)

Coming off arguably the worst performance of the Eli Drinkwitz era, the Mizzou football Tigers are in desperate need of a vibe shift, a mojo rejuvenation, a momentum reboot, or any kind of movement in a positive direction. Mizzou needs, in college football parlance, a get-right game. Unfortunately for the Tigers, this week’s opponent may not provide the prerequisites for the type of proper demon-exorcising get-right game that can help put them back on the right track.

Missouri quarterback Brady Cook (12) takes out his mouthguard after getting sacked for a loss of six yards in the second quarter of a game against Texas A&M on Saturday, October 5, 2024, at Kyle Field in College Station, Texas. (CAL TOBIAS/ROCK M NATION)

The anatomy of “getting right”

It’s a tale as old as time: a ranked Power 4 opponent loses a difficult or disappointing game and rebounds the next week by taking out their frustrations on an undermanned team, winning handily and in convincing fashion. Commonly known as a “get-right game,” this type of performance allow a team to ostensibly fix, or “get-right,” the issues that plagued them in their loss the week prior. These games also allow the rebounding team to vent their frustrations from a potentially season-altering loss on some poor sap of a squad that has little chance of competing in the game.

After experiencing the brutal beat down last week in the form of a 41-10 loss to Texas A&M, the Mizzou football team is stewing in their feels, ripe for a get-right game. Sadly, this week’s match up against UMASS won’t give them the satisfaction they want and need.

To qualify as a get-right game, a few requirements must be met:

1) Disappointing loss the previous week.

2) Noticeable deficiencies that need to be corrected.

3) Undermanned FBS opponent.

The Tigers check the first two boxes with giant capital CHECK marks. The third requirement, however, doesn’t quite meet the standard. To call the UMASS Minutemen an undermanned opponent is an insult to all the bad, uncompetitive G5 teams around the country. Playing an FCS opponent can’t count as a get-right game because the disparity in talent and resources is so vast that satisfaction can’t be achieved, no matter how bad the final score looks. The UMASS program, while technically FBS in name, is not in practice

Photo by Geoff Stellfox/Getty Images

Moribund Minutemen

Inexplicably, UMASS made the (terrible) decision to join the FBS ranks in 2012. This followed several years of success at the FCS level, including eight playoff births in 30 years. In a stretch from 1998-2008, the Minutemen went a combined 92-56, including 43-19 under current head coach Don Brown in his first stint in Amherst. Strangely, UMASS leadership got a wild hair to move the program up a level in 2012 and in the subsequent 13 years, the Minutemen have gone 25-117. In Don Brown’s sequel stint beginning in 2022, UMASS is 5-25.

There is bad and then there is UMASS bad. So far this season, the Minutemen are 1-5, with losses to:

• Eastern Michigan (28-14)
• Toledo (38-23)
• Buffalo (34-3)
• Miami OH (23-20)
• Northern Illinois (34-20)

Their lone win was against an FCS team in 2-3 Central Connecticut State (35-31). That’s a CCSU Blue Devil team that went 3-8 last year. No matter how bad the Tigers beat the Minutemen this week, the sheer disparity in talent and resources, as well as the moribundity of the UMASS program, will render the entire performance moot (see Mizzou vs. Delaware State, 2016).

The Tigers clearly have many problems that need solved, issues to be fixed and bad vibes to be vacuumed following the shellacking by the Aggies last week:

• Passing game efficiency
• Running game efficiency
• Gaping holes in the defensive line
• Porous coverage in the secondary
• A partridge in a pear tree

Sadly, none of these problems can be counted as solved, even if the team shows improvement on Saturday. If Brady Cook goes 23-25 for 325 yards and four touchdowns? UMASS’s secondary is bad. If the running game averages 8 yards per carry? UMASS’s run defense is even worse. If the Tigers hold the Minutemen to 3 yards per carry? UMASS already averages that much per carry against worse competition. Hold UMASS to 200 passing yards? That’s what they average against worse competition.

No matter how it’s sliced, a Tiger win, whether it be by 20, 30, or 50 points, will not rinse the taste of orange juice and toothpaste from the mouths of the players, coaches and fans. The only thing that can replace that bad taste is a win over a competitive program. Unfortunately, the Tigers won’t get an opportunity to do that for another week. So, instead, we will all have to sit in this pit of poop for a while longer, hoping we can at least see some long touchdown passes and a third down stop or two on defense. For as the bard sang:

I get knocked down (we’ll be singing)
But I get up again (pissing the night away)
You are never gonna keep me down (when we’re winning)

The first post-loss edition of Tiger Talk focused on the defensive side of the ball.

With a trip to UMass on the horizon for Mizzou football, head coach Eli Drinkwitz, linebackers coach DJ Smith and linebacker Corey Flagg Jr. joined Mike Kelly on this week’s edition of “Tiger Talk”.

Here are some of the highlights.

Eli Drinkwitz | Head coach

• We need to tell ourselves the truth if we want to grow moving forward
• Essentially none of what the team had been preaching showed up against Texas A&M
• Can’t dwell on the past
• Nothing worse than the result of 100-hour weeks being huge losses like Saturday’s
• Getting knocked down is inevitable. Getting up is your choice
• This is the most parity I’ve seen in the SEC during my time in the conference (two seasons at Auburn, five at Mizzou). Other coaches will tell you that NIL and the transfer portal has increased the competitiveness this season
• The offense hasn’t been consistent enough on first and second down to be in a positive position on third down
• Especially with so many shifts and motions pre-snap, Mizzou was trying to create something on offense too hard instead of just letting the players play
• It’s not about establishing the run or establishing the pass. It’s about establishing touchdowns
• Appreciative of Marquis Johnson playing despite his ankle injury, which limits his greatest asset — speed. If he was 100%, he would’ve returned that kickoff in the second half against Texas A&M for a touchdown instead of it going 63 yards
• At defensive back, need to find consistency with rotations. Nic DeLoach has earned the opportunity to start opposite of Dreyden Norwood. Everyone should be feeling a little bit of pressure every day to get better.

DJ Smith | Co-Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers Coach

• Need to start with the basics in terms of what we need to clean up schematically. Need to check yourself, have a low ego and high output (Writer’s note: this is something Flagg talked about earlier in the day at Mizzou’s weekly press conference. Was very apologetic for, in his words, trying to make a play versus trusting the defense that was called.)
• Chuck Hicks has fostered maturity within the linebacker room, especially with the younger guys. Has become a buffer from player to coach to player to player.

Corey Flagg Jr. | Linebacker

• Faith in Christ has been a great guide. Went to church twice a week growing up. Father works day in and day out, consistent in his faith, the forefront of the household.
• Looked for a place to call home when transferring from Miami (FL). Good customer service at HyVee made me feel at home. Also told Mike Kelly over the summer that he believed Mizzou could win a national title this year and wanted to help push the team to the finish line.
• Respect the hell out of Brady Cook. He’s the leader of this team.
• Has found a good fishing spot in Columbia. It’s man-made, but won’t tell where.

What Eli Drinkwitz & Co. had to say leading up to Mizzou’s trip to Amherst.

This week’s visitors to the podium for Mizzou football were head coach Eli Drinkwitz, center Connor Tollison and linebacker Corey Flagg Jr.

Eli Drinkwitz | Head coach

Opening statement: “Disappointed in our performance and preparation. It starts with myself, our coaching staff and our players, and we all take full responsibility for not playing to our full capabilities as a team. And that starts with me. Had a slow start on both sides of the ball. Third downs were incredibly critical in the first half, on both sides. Their ability to convert, our inability to get off the field, and our ability not to run the ball and or stop the run, these things have got to be corrected, and we’ve got to continue to work on those again. It begins with me. It begins with our coaches schematically, making sure that we’re putting our players in the best positions possible to be successful. It begins with us playing complementary football. If one side of the ball is struggling, the other side of the ball needs to be able to pick it up. If we weren’t able to do that, like I said, I take full responsibility as the head football coach for everything that happens in this this building, and it starts with me to identify the problems, work to correct those problems and to fix those problems, and that’s what we’re working on.

“This week, I had a very clear and direct message with our team, and I’m going to say it again here to y’all: 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, you’re not always going to have peak performance as much as we would like to. It doesn’t have to define us, but we do have to respond, and we do have to respond in a better manner, and how we respond will define who we are as a team and what kind of character we have as a program. The second thing I told him is ignore the noise. There’s always going to be narratives, there’s always going to be criticisms, there’s always going to be opportunities to point the finger that really doesn’t have anything to do with us. Our opportunity is to respond. Ignore the noise, embrace the brotherhood. The best always tell themselves the truth. You have to tell yourself the truth of your performance on Saturday. You have to take responsibility for that. You have to find a way to beat UMass.”

On struggling to contain Conner Weigman: “Shouldn’t have mattered who was playing the quarterback position. We should have been better, and we need to focus this week on stopping this quarterback and figuring out our team so that we can execute at a higher level.”

On bouncing back: “We haven’t had to face this challenge yet this year. We’re a program that I believe, hadn’t suffered a loss since of last October. It’s an opportunity for this team to figure it out. You got new staff, new players. 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. We had a poor performance. Doesn’t have to define us. We what we have to do is respond, and how you respond is do your job, focus on the core values that we’ve instilled, lean into your elite E.D.G.E, energy, details, great emotional consistency. Ignore the outside narrative and come in here and go back to work. And it’s really that simple. We all have a perfection dream, but that’s not reality. So when you come up short, doesn’t have to define you. It just has to push you to grow.”

On the offensive line’s struggles against Texas A&M: “Our inability to get into an offensive rhythm because of our lack of execution on third downs…we were in predominantly third-and -long, which allows them to get into a heavy blitz package. Contributed to the issues there. I’m not specifically concerned with any one side of the ball, or the left side or the right side. I’m concerned with, as the head football coach, making sure that our team is working to improve and making sure that our schemes put us in a better position for our players to execute. Not pointing the finger at any of those guys.”

On Brady Cook’s running: “I thought Brady did a really good job of scrambling and creating first downs. One was called back in the penalty in the first half for illegal formation, but I know I hadn’t seen or noticed anything other than maybe we haven’t been hyper focused on doing that just because we’ve been given Nate Marcus those carries. But I do think it’s something we can see more in the future, just to give him more rhythm and get him into a better flow of the game.”

On the locker room environment after the game: “It’s always really tough in the locker room after a game, because you come face-to-face with with something that you never expect. You don’t go into a game expecting that, and you really don’t go into a game expecting the way it turned out. And so the locker room is always a really tough place, but what gives me a lot of confidence in our football team and our staff is the way we handled ourselves after the game. It wasn’t finger pointing. There was not assigning blame. There was no we call it B.C.D., blame, complain or defend poor performance. There was a responsibility accepting of hey, I had ownership in this. It starts with me, and we got to work to improve. And that’s how you bounce back. That’s how you ignore the noise. You don’t deflect, you don’t place blame on anybody else. You take responsibility for it.”

On reflecting on losses: “You look at everything. You look at the preparation, the travel, the practice plans. I think you have to be steady in your approach and understand that again, one bad day doesn’t define a season. And the people who I think run into the most trouble are the ones who jerk the steering wheel too fast. A slight adjustment can change the direction and angle of a football team.”

On limiting penalties: “You do a great job of coaching the things that should be coached and ignoring the things that don’t have to be coached. We have officials here on Wednesdays. We have to do a better job of making sure that when those guys point out issues, we handle it. Offensive lineman not aligned on the line of scrimmage is a head coach issue, and so that’s my responsibility. I haven’t done a good enough job of enforcing that and maintaining discipline on that.”

On effort: “I didn’t see anything on the film that told me we had a lack of effort. I’m keenly aware to look for that, because that would tell me that there’s a deeper issue.”

On Nic DeLoach playing more snaps than Toriano Pride Jr. against Texas A&M: “I expect more competition from every position on our football team, because at the end of the whole thing, number one core value is always compete. And if we’re not playing at the level we want to play, everybody else has got to compete. We have to compete as coaches in order to raise the level that we want to play at…I thought Jalen Marshall came in in the third quarter and made a couple of really nice plays defensively which helped us secure the run game. I think Nick DeLoach and Toriano have done a better job of rotating and competing, and I think you’re going to see that more and more, because we need to compete to get the best out of our team.”

On special teams: “From a special teams unit, we consistently cover kicks really well. You look at our return, our coverage units, I think those guys have done an excellent job. I think Luke’s playing the ball at a really high level. I think our kicking game is growing in its consistency defensively.”

On ABC’s broadcast showing Luther Burden III on the sidelines frequently: “First I’ve heard of it. I’ll be honest. I ignore the noise. There’s nobody on our team that’s questioned Luther’s motivation, drive and determination to help us win. I think everybody saw him compete for catches at the end of the game. I think we were all disappointed. I hope they didn’t have a video of me on the sideline the entire game, because my facial expressions would have shown disappointment in our performance. But again, I ignore the outside narrative, the noise, focusing on our team…We believe what we believe about each other, because we see what we see every day in this environment, and we’re all competitors, we all wanted it to be different. We created that issue. So it’s our job to respond this week.”

Corey Flagg Jr. | Linebacker

On needed improvements: “We see the things we need to improve on. We see the holes in our ship. We understand that it’s a very mature team.”

On the team’s mentality: “We reiterate as a team that it’s really just about us.”

On what went wrong for the linebackers against Texas A&M: “I think it was just a lot of guys. I feel like trying to make a play instead of just, including myself, instead of just doing our assignment, doing our job and playing with the defense.”

On failed blitzes: “I feel like the timing of the blitzes, we jut weren’t doing exactly what we were supposed to do based on the calls that we were getting.”

On what it takes to reflect and grow from adversity: “Being honest with yourself in the mirror and being truthful with yourself. That’s something I had to do after the game. There’s a couple of plays I left on the field, a lot of plays I left on the field. I have to be really honest with myself and tell myself I just have to continue to do my job. It was just extremely selfish on my part to try to make a play where my guys trust me to be here. It just comes to being honest with yourself, just like real-life scenarios. If you’re going through something and something’s no going your way, you have to be honest with yourself, see what you can do better. And that’s just what we have to do as a team.”

On having productive conversations with teammates in the midst of adversity: “It’s easy to to have those conversations with these guys because they are having them on their own…We’re a very experienced team. You got Theo (Wease Jr.) and Triston (Newson) and Mookie (Cooper) already talking about improving. I was just adding on to what they’re saying.”

Connor Tollison | Center

On the offensive line’s struggles against Texas A&M: “I just think we got behind the sticks and got in obvious pass down situations.”

On getting over defeats: “I get over pretty quick.”

On generating rhythm on offense: “Just staying on schedule, getting four or five yards a run so it’s not third-and-10, third-and-12.”

Mizzou flunked their midterm examine in College Station. There is still time for a successful 2024, but the situation is becoming more difficult.

As an unseasonable heat wave raised the temperature around the country, Mizzou football had the heat turned up on their season. The 2024 season that was promised is no more.

Visions of dancing joyously into the 12-playoff at 10-2 or 11-1 have gone up in flames. The warning signs from weeks 3 and 4 are now full-blown emergencies, and the Tigers will have to rally to meet their goals.

It was a complete and total system failure. The preparation was poor, despite a bye week, as shown by Texas A&M’s ruthless execution on offense. The team’s motivation and mindset were lacking, evidenced by a few humiliating moments. Execution was completely missing; not one unit of the team had a good day (except for punting).

Did the Tigers expect to walk into College Station and be handed a win instead of earning it?

All off-season we have talked about this team making the inaugural 12-team playoff field. Not only is the team now squarely behind the 8-ball for achieving that goal, they have not played to a level of performance that deserves to make it. As Sam wrote in his Sunday pourover, this season can no longer be judged through the lens of 2023. Take it only as a five-point data set and ignore your priors.

Eli Drinkwitz said something potentially illuminating in his press conference, a line that will be like the proverbial unfilled glass of water: is it half-full or half-empty? He said “our season starts now.”

What do you make of that? Are you annoyed by the admission that the team treated a few imminently losable games as warmups? Or do you believe THIS is the week the team locks in and belatedly shakes off the rust?

If it is the latter, Drinkwitz’s track record at Mizzou should give you reason to believe. Both the 2021 and 2022 teams easily could have folded — plenty of ball clubs in similarly tough situations have. We have seen every year that his teams are tough, have excellent chemistry, and play to the final whistle.

That is what makes Saturday’s result so concerning. For the first time I can remember, other than a dud late in the COVID season, a Drinkwitz team had never completely no-showed like this. Some teams laid an early egg and rallied late – 2022 at Auburn, 2023 at Kentucky. Some got blown off the ball and were severely outclassed – mostly 2021 – but the effort and body language were never as poor as this week.

Those teams had Javon Foster, Darius Robinson, Kris Abrams-Draine and Ennis Rakestraw. Some of them had Cody Schrader. The best college teams are player-led. Missouri had excellent player leadership for the first few Drinkwitz years.

I am holding onto hope that they still do. Brady Cook, Theo Wease, Chuck Hicks, and Kristian Williams are team captains and all have received praise for their leadership. I hope there are some other veterans too, like a Cooper, Noel, Bryant, McClellan, Flagg or Carnell who also are ready to be a supporting voice.

There are a lot of things that need to happen for this team to have a successful season, a realistic goal that is still on the table, even if their biggest dreams now seem impossible. Many of them are tangible, football related challenges. But for the intangibles, it’s time now for Drinkwitz and his veteran leaders to exhibit again the ability to rally a wounded team.