Mizzou works on playing complementary football; can’t put defense in bad situations
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
The Mizzou football team salvaged a win against the Vanderbilt Commodores on Saturday, thanks to a big stop on fourth down from the Tiger defense.
You can watch extended highlights from Tuesday's practice in the video player below.
In the days following that win, head coach Eli Drinkwitz said his team needs to focus on playing complementary football. Essentially, his offense can't continue to put his defense in bad spots.
"You got to play to your strengths. You got to fortify your weaknesses and work on your weaknesses, but you don't want to put your strength in a bad situation, which in the losses we've clearly done that on the road. That's something we have to change," he said.
You can watch the full press conference with Drinkwitz in the video player below.
You can also watch the full press conference with defensive coordinator Blake Baker and members of his defense in the video players below.
MU will hit the road to take on No. 25 South Carolina at Williams-Brice Stadium on Saturday. The Gamecocks are on a four-game winning streak heading into the Mayor's Cup matchup.
"They've been very opportunistic defensively to create turnovers. That's one of the things that maybe you don't see. The good field position, the ability to play with a lead, creating havoc plays forcing third and long, and then capitalizing on special teams," Drinkwitz said. "They've been able to create huge momentum swings in the game on defense and special teams and capitalize on offense."
The Tiger offense is still working on capitalizing on its opportunities, as it was a tale of two, much different halves for Mizzou on Saturday. MU put up 17 points over Vanderbilt in the first half, but went stagnant after halftime, with no more points scored in the three-point win.
Drinkwitz said it comes down to getting more consistent in protecting the quarterback and establishing the run.
Quarterback Brady Cook took quite a few hits against Vanderbilt on Saturday. It was enough to prompt Drinkwitz to say that they would not survive at the quarterback position giving up free shots like that. When asked who is the official backup if Cook does get hurt, Drinkwitz said he won't say.
"It all depends on the timing and the situation of the game. We're actively working all of our quarterbacks in practice to see who can develop and depending on the situation of the game, what the injury would be, it would determine who would be the next quarterback in," he said. "So in long and short, I'm not gonna tell you."
Ever since he started, Drinkwitz has called the plays for the Mizzou offense and will continue to through the rest of the season. He said he is not opposed to giving up that roll in the future, if necessary.
"One of the things that I have accepted the challenge, right now, is that this a situation that I've created and I need to fix it. It's not somebody else's responsibility. I can't walk out of that room right now because it's not working. I've got to dive in there with everybody and say, 'okay what can we do, how can I help these guys?'"
Mizzou and No. 25 South Carolina will kick off at 3 p.m. in Columbia East on Saturday.
