Eli Drinkwitz faced a major setback in Norman as Oklahoma’s defense smothered the Missouri Tigers with a 17-6 win. Missouri’s offense, led by Beau Pribula struggled to make plays against Oklahoma’s relentless front. And that’s exactly where Drinkwitz’s frustration stems from.

During the post-game press conference, the Mizzou head coach showed clear disappointment when reporters asked about his team’s offensive performance. “We just had zero rhythm, zero creativity, and it just didn’t work in the second half,” Eli Drinkwitz said.

Missouri kept getting into the red zone, but they either settled for field goals, one of which was even blocked by Peyton Bowen, or turned the ball over on downs. The Sooners took advantage right away on the next drive, hitting Isaiah Sategna for an 87-yard touchdown. They couldn’t punch in a single touchdown. Beau Pribula, who is returning from an injury, threw two second-half picks that killed promising drives and let Oklahoma keep all the momentum. Sooners DL Eli Bowen picked off one of the passes and sealed the game.

The running game didn’t help much either. Oklahoma’s defensive front shut it down, holding Mizzou to just 70 rushing yards total. Oklahoma’s defense limited Ahmad Hardy to just 57 yards on 17 carries, even though he ran for more than 300 the week before. The Tigers had pretty much one real shot on offense against OU in the second half. Pribula’s fourth-down throw was a little off, and Kevin Coleman couldn’t haul it in in the end zone with about 5:40 left. Outside of that, Missouri didn’t get much going. They finished the half with just 122 total yards.

That’s when people were all over offensive coordinator Kirby Moore for calling the same plays repeatedly. For Oklahoma, its defense was the primary factor. The defense was lights-out on third down, forcing Missouri to miss on 12 straight third-down tries at one point. Even though the offense didn’t put up big yardage, quarterback John Mateer came through when it mattered, tossing two touchdown passes.

The Mizzou defense is what made Eli Drinkwitz proud

Eli Drinkwitz may be pretty pissed off at his O-line, no doubt. But it’s the Mizzou secondary that sincerely won his heart against Oklahoma. Aside from one big play, the Tigers’ defense did a great job shutting down the Sooners. Eli Drinkwitz didn’t shy away from giving the unit its share of credit.

“Really proud of their fight and effort. I mean, the defense to hold them to three points in the second half,” Drinkwitz said. “When several felt like the entire third quarter was bad field position, they just kept bowing up and being strong. Really, really proud of that.”

The unit held Oklahoma to just 17 points and 276 total yards of offense. That 87-yard touchdown pass was a bummer, no doubt. But other than that, the “Defense gave us every chance in the world, we just didn’t get it done,” Drinkwitz said. John Mateer was constantly under pressure from the defense, which is why his pass completion percentage could only be 46.6%.

Then the D-line kept Oklahoma’s run game in check, and the secondary did a great job clamping down on the Sooners’ faster receivers. However, Eli Drinkwitz was also at fault with his timeout decisions. Early in the second quarter, Mizzou hit the red zone while leading 3–0. OU forced a 4th-and-3, and after some timeout mind games, Drinkwitz chose a field goal. Oklahoma blocked the kick, and they scored three plays later.

With that, we saw how the game ended.