Mizzou football head coach Eli Drinkwitz spoke to the media on Tuesday afternoon ahead of the Tigers' upcoming clash this Saturday at 6:45 P.M. CT against the Mississippi State Bulldogs.
The Tigers had 17 points; the now-No. 2-ranked Texas A&M Aggies had 38 last Saturday in Columbia. It was not a viral rap song Mizzou was a part of; it was a ranked matchup defeat that nearly signals the end of its chances at the College Football Playoff this season.
Following its loss to the Aggies, Mizzou now sits at 6-3 overall and its record in Southeastern Conference play is below .500 at the 2-3 mark. Last season, Mizzou beat the Bulldogs rather handily in a 39-20 victory in Starkville.
Since then, Mississippi State has taken multiple strides of improvement under head coach Jeff Lebby. After last year, anyway, out of the depths of the basement of the SEC and a two-win season would suffice.
No, MSU's biggest mark in the sand this year wasn't the fact that even their loss against the Florida Gators resulted in the firing of Gators head coach Billy Napier.
The Bulldogs sit as one of the nation's leaders in first-down offenses, the Bulldogs have totaled 214 times of moving the chains, 21st in the country. When MSU gets to the red zone, they make due of their opportunities, converting at a .900 clip. Defensively, 11 interceptions also puts them at the top of the SEC
"Its going to be a very difficult challenge," Drinkwitz said. "Mississippi State is a team that is improving year end, improving year in, year out. I think coach (Jeff) Lebby has got that program going in the right direction. They had five wins, looking for their sixth win to become bowl eligible, got their first conference win two weeks ago versus Arkansas. Obviously, played a very tough team in Georgia last week, but you can tell that program is growing, going in the right direction.
"Offensively, very dynamic and explosive run-based RPO offense that utilizes tempo, creates explosive plays and utilizes space really well. Defensively, they have remade their defense, but very multiple, very aggressive, very attacking. Nine seniors on that side of the ball, so they've got a lot of experience, which creates its own challenge for us, and so it'll be a very difficult game for us."
The quarterback and the kicking position are two interesting cases for Eli Drinkwitz's team at the moment. Both spots are currently filled by personnel who were the third choice for the respective positions. True freshmen Matt Zollers and sophomore Olivier Robbins.
Robbins came in for the first time all season last Saturday against the Aggies to kick and Zollers made his first-ever collegiate start. It was a rough day in the pocket for Zollers, who ended the game with 77 total passing yards and 7-of-22 on throwing attempts.
For us, it's about getting comfortable earlier in the game and creating some easier opportunities for (Matt) to get into a rhythm. We never really got him into the rhythm offensively, and we've got to do a better job of creating some offensive rhythm and not putting him in situations where he feels the entire pressure to make the play. That's something that we can do."