Everything Eli Drinkwitz Said After Missouri's Win Over South Carolina

No. 23 Missouri took care of business against South Carolina, claiming a 29-20 win over South Carolina.

Below is a transcript of everything head coach Eli Drinkwitz had to say after the victory.

Opening Statement:

"Really, really proud of our team. That was a heck of a battle tonight. I thought coach (Shane) Beamer really had his team prepared. You can tell they were ticked off at last week's performance, and (they) came in and fought. Really proud of our team, not really flinching. Obviously, missed (an) extra point, give up a big bomb, get stuck in the red zone a couple of times. We just kept hammering away. And ultimately, at halftime, I told our guys, if we will just sure up the boots and we'll continue to run the ball, we'll win the game, because in the fourth quarter you got to run to win. And ultimately, that's what we were able to do. Can't say enough about Jayven Richardson coming in and playing. I'll have to go back and watch the tape, but man, I was really, really proud of his performance tonight. We had a lot of big runs to his side. Really proud of Robbie (Meyer) for making that kick. That's not an easy kick to make in that moment, and he did an excellent job there. There's somebody else. But anyway, really, really proud of the staff. I thought Corey (Batoon) did an excellent job. We had five sacks, held them to minus nine yards rushing. So really, really proud of those guys."

On the run game:

"Well, in the first half, we really were trying to run inside zone and some gap scheme, and they were widened up. They did a great job. And we made the adjustment at halftime to get to our outside zone scheme. And I thought our guys would get some design, some good stuff in the 12 personnel. Ultimately, they weren't able to stop it. I mean, they tried to go big on us. Give Beau (Pribula) credit. That was a heck of a job for him on the sucker play. Ultimately, it was a big game for us too. I think he had almost 80 yards rushing. I thought he was crucial in providing us some first downs with his feet on unscheduled plays, and really played a nice game."

On Jayven Richardson stepping in for Cayden Green:

" Ultimately, we're trying to be a team of teams. Everybody on this team has a role, and their job is to continue to be as good a player as they can be and develop, and when their opportunity calls, go in there and embrace their role. Cayden (Green) got injured in Wednesday's practice. We thought it was going to be okay. He actually was a full participant in Thursday's walk-through, but just didn't feel right about it. So we got an MRI Thursday night and decided that the best thing to do was to attack it. And so he underwent a minor medical procedure on Friday morning; he should be back as soon as he possibly can. It's not an end-of-season. It could be three weeks. It could be five weeks. We'll see. But really proud of our team for responding. And I was really proud pf him. He said some really cool things to our team about this opportunity."

On Ahmad Hardy:

"I didn't think he was gonna be this good. I mean, let's be honest. The dude's running through people like he's a dump truck. I mean, he's a Clydesdale amongst a bunch of Fillies. It's unbelievable. I mean, how he scored on the one runner, he left his feet, came back, and had balance and scored. I had never seen that on tape before, so the dude is special."

On how the defense performed against the deep pass

Well, I will say I'm really proud of the way they play defense in the second half, especially after the deep ball, to get the sack right there and push them out of field goal range, or not push them out of field goal range, but push it back. But I mean, when we watch the tape tomorrow, I'm going to be on some secondary coaches' rear ends because this is getting ridiculous, how porous our pass defense is. That's got to get shored up in a hurry. And whatever we got to do to fix it, we're going to have to do. But there's way too many holes in our zone cover. We got bad eyes in the backfield. I'm not going to get negative, not getting negative, but that crap's gotta get corrected. We gave up 293 yards (of total offense), and 300 of it was passing. 302 passing yards"

On what it is about Jamal Roberts that gives the team confidence in him:

"I mean, dude's been around. He's been steady as a rock horse. He's made it the right stuff. He's got an elite edge to him. He's always been a leader. We trust him with the ball. He's got great contact balance. Him in his own right."

On the message to Robert Meyer after the missed extra point and the message going forward:

"I didn't say anything to him after the missed extra point. After the timeout, I just looked at him, and said we believe in you, and he went out there and made it. Some people say they don't talk to the kickers, but you know, Robbie (Meyer), I don't think it would matter either way, so I figured I'd at least make myself feel better."

On why Drinkwitz called a timeout before South Carolina kicked a field goal:

"We were in man-to-man. We didn't like the leverage that we had, and we thought they were gonna run a pick route. They tried to run a pick route. So we called a timeout. Tried to get to zone, probably bring zone pressure. They decided to kick it."

On Cayden Green's message to the team:

"Hold it down. I'll be back soon."

On when the team learned to be more touchdown-efficient in the redzone:

"What was our red zone scoring in the last part of the game? Did we score two touchdowns? So we learned it during halftime. Figured it out at halftime what we needed to do. You got to go back and watch the tape. You're not going to hit every call perfect. I'm trying to think of the sequence. I know that we weren't second-and-goal from the six, and we had a throw and then we had another boot. Didn't work out really well. So, ultimately, got to run the ball a little bit better. We figured it out (to) win the game."

On how the defense contains mobile quarterbacks:

"We better figure out how to defend throwing the ball. We're giving up way too many points in yards, but we're doing a great job pressuring them and doing a good job stuffing the running, but we can't give up 300 yards passing. That's the thing that's disappointing. You look up (and) our stats and our numbers and our time of possession is dominating, and yet the scoreboard is not. It's because we're getting up explosive plays down the field for touchdowns. So we got to get that off the table."

On how encouraged Drinkwitz is feeling:

"I'm not discouraged by anything that happened tonight at all. I'm not discouraged at all. Ultimately, in this league, if you can run the ball, you're going to win a lot more games. Taking stuff off the tape is a good thing, right? That's something you want. I mean, this can either be a highlight or a launching point for us. We can either be satisfied with our ability to win this game, or we can go back to work and launch ourselves into the rest of the SEC. Great to be 1-0 with things to learn from. We got to fix some red zone stuff, and we got to fix some pass defense."

On how Jayven Richardson prepared to step in:

"I think Jayven Richardson is a testament to what being a great teammate is all about. The dude took every snap as a starter in spring, in three weeks of fall camp. And ultimately, we made a tough decision to slide Cayden (Green) out, and he could have done a lot of different things. He could have touted he could have been disappointed. He could have came in and demanded a trade. I guess they can't demand a trade, but I mean, he could have done a lot of other stuff, and he didn't. What he did was every day he went in to work, and then he actually is our swing tackle, so he's our backup right tackle too. So he learned a multiple position, and ultimately we had a ton of confidence. I know there's a lot of different things being thrown out there about Cayden (Green), but ultimately, we have a ton of confidence in Jayven Richardson because he's a great young man who works hard. When his moment showed up, he was there for the brotherhood, and that's what this thing (is) built on. Take advantage of your opportunities. It's what Jamal Roberts does every day. Marquis (Johnson) stepped up today. Brett Norfleet stepped up today. Ultimately, I think that's hopefully, the identity of our team. (If) things aren't going your way, you can either be disappointed, or you can get back to work. Man, he did a great job."