Missouri’s hot start to the 2025 season has hit a speed bump that nobody in Columbia saw coming. The Tigers sit at 6-1 and are still very much in the College Football Playoff conversation. But the cracks that showed up against Alabama and Auburn have Eli Drinkwitz doing something he doesn’t do often. He is admitting that his coaching staff needs to figure things out fast. 

The sixth-year Missouri head coach didn’t mince words when he appeared on the Paul Finebaum Show this week. “Right now offensively, we’re just not clicking the way we were the first five weeks,” Drinkwitz said bluntly. “And we really have to find that rhythm. Obviously, we’ve played the best two defenses that we’ve faced so far. But you know, from a quarterback taking care of the football, from our run game going to be his friend, we just haven’t been able to do that.” 

The numbers show that his concerns are legitimate. Missouri averaged a ridiculous 6.4 yards per carry through the first six games, then face-planted to just 2.1 yards per carry against Auburn. Against Alabama, they converted just one of 10 third-down attempts and got outplayed in time of possession 38:33 to 21:27. For a team that is building its campaign on controlling the line of scrimmage and running the football, those are alarming trends.​

What’s eating at Eli Drinkwitz is that he knows his staff shares the blame. “Really challenged our coaching staff this week that we got to put together a better plan for our guys,” he said on Finebaum’s show. The timing couldn’t be worse for Missouri. They’re headed to face No. 10 Vanderbilt this week, a team that’s allowing just 92 rushing yards per game. That’s the sixth-best run defense in the SEC. 

Drinkwitz knows his team will need to be sharper than they’ve been the last two weeks. “We’re going to need it,” he said about getting the offense fixed. “You know, they’re a team that limits the possessions that you have offensively, and we’re going to have to maximize the chances that we have on offense, and we’re going to have to score some points.”

Eli Drinkwitz has built something special at Missouri since arriving from Appalachian State in 2020. His 44-25 overall record includes a 24-21 mark in SEC play. And the Tigers have gone 26-5 over the past three seasons. This season looked like it could be even better after the Tigers rolled through their first seven games, averaging 39.0 points per game and 486.6 yards per game. But the Alabama loss exposed some vulnerabilities. And the Auburn game showed that Missouri’s offensive struggles weren’t a one-week fluke.​​

With the Tigers still in the playoff hunt at 6-1, Drinkwitz doesn’t have much margin for error. Especially not with quarterback play and turnovers becoming issues after Pribula threw four interceptions in the last two games combined. The challenge now is whether Missouri can rediscover the offensive rhythm that made them so dangerous in September, or if the SEC gauntlet has exposed them for good.​

Drinkwitz shuts down the noise

Eli Drinkwitz might be feeling the heat from Missouri’s recent offensive struggles. But he’s definitely not looking for an escape hatch. Paul Finebaum inevitably asked him about all the coaching speculation swirling around his name (Penn State and Florida have both been mentioned as potential landing spots). And Drinkwitz delivered one of the best non-answers of the year. 

“It’s probably no more distracting than trying to decide if you’re going to run for United States Senate,” he fired back. This comeback was aimed at the recent reports that Finebaum himself might entertain a Senate run. But Drinkwitz wasn’t done. He made it crystal clear that all the chatter about him leaving Columbia is just that, chatter.​ “The reality is for me, we addressed it as a team. We addressed it as a staff,” Drinkwitz said. “All that stuff is all fake right now. It’s October 20-whatever. Like, the only thing that matters is us playing Vanderbilt.”

He doubled down on the point that there’s no actual substance behind the hot boards and Twitter speculation. He said, “There is no candidacy list. I don’t care what’s on 24/7. There is no people calling.” Eli Drinkwitz isn’t about to let outside distractions derail what could be a historic season. His staff salary has more than doubled since he arrived in 2020, now putting him in the $9 million range alongside coaches like Lane Kiffin. So it’s not like Missouri hasn’t taken care of him financially either.​ Drinkwitz’s response will put the Mizzou fans at ease, at least during this potential playoff run.