Eli Drinkwitz professes blocking out the outside noise. If you haven't heard that exact phrase out of the Missouri football camp, wait a minute.
Turns out, the head coach wasn't quite practicing what he preaches.
Drinkwitz kept his offseason receipts. … including one from Oklahoma 's winningest head coach.
"This will be real disappointing to Bob Stoops," Drinkwitz said in his opening statement postgame, "but OU doesn't always whip Missouri 's ass anymore."
Mizzou defeated Oklahoma 30-23 on Saturday in Columbia. That's hardly a fraction of the tale.
The Tigers scored 14 points in the final 63 seconds to send the Sooners back to the southwest of the Show-Me State, tail tucked. Defensive end Zion Young's scoop and score with 30 seconds left sealed the win. MU backup quarterback Drew Pyne 's touchdown connection to former Sooner Theo Wease Jr. with 1:03 left kept MU in the fight.
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There were 28 total points in the final 3 minutes, 18 seconds, including two OU touchdowns that at the time seemed to spell disaster for the Tigers .
That, of course, is not how it turned out.
Missouri (7-2, 3-2 SEC) pulled off another stunning comeback.
The game was immediately the marquee matchup on the Tigers ' slate in the offseason. It sold out almost instantaneously, as fans clamored to see the former Big 12 and Big Eight rivals reunite on Faurot Field.
For most of its history, calling the two teams rivals was somewhat of a stretch. OU, before Saturday, led the all-time series 67-24-5.
But there were some offseason questions about how easy the Sooners ' first season in the SEC would prove to be, and that led Stoops to make the following offseason remark to ESPN reporter Jake Trotter:
"We beat the hell out of Missouri," Stoops is quoted as saying. "All of a sudden now we're supposed to be afraid of them?"
Drinkwitz heard.
"Felt pretty good," Drinkwitz said. "I thought Coach Stoops did a nice job stirring it up this summer, you know? I thought their coaches did some stuff this summer that felt like they, you know, stirred it up a little bit with some tweets and different things. So, our guys were ready."
And the Mizzou coach was in the mood to get his licks in beyond the chirps from Norman.
Pyne became the first player not named Brady Cook , who sat out Saturday due to various injuries, to start at quarterback for the Tigers since Nov. 26, 2021, when Connor Bazelak started in a loss at Arkansas .
It hasn't been the easiest start to life for Pyne in Columbia. Before Saturday, he had only led one scoring drive in 13 attempts in two relief appearances against Power-conference opponents. He threw three picks in his last outing against Alabama as Mizzou was shut out on the road.
When he was announced as MU's starter Saturday before facing OU, there was a general applause around Faurot Field. The online discourse — on social media and news media alike, Drinkwitz pointed out — had been less optimistic about his chances to lead the offense successfully.
"I just can't say how proud I am of Drew Pyne for all the crap he's taken," Drinkwitz said. "You know, I feel like I'm up here all the time having to defend my quarterback, which is not great, but for all the crap he's taken on Twitter and X, for him to come out here, ignore the noise, some of it from y'all in this room, he goes out there … and delivers in the (key) moments in the fourth quarter, after fans have been booing. He just goes out there and delivers."
Missouri is now 7-2 on the season, which marks the second straight year — and second total in Drinkwitz's five seasons — that the Tigers have won more than six games. Mizzou has a 3-2 record in SEC play and is still capable of winning double-digit games for the second straight year.
Oklahoma, meanwhile, fell to 5-5 with a 1-5 mark in league play and needs a win at home against Alabama or on the road at LSU to become bowl eligible in its first season as an SEC team.
Better bet that all felt good.
"That's the thing I love about this team," Drinkwitz said. "We love y'all when you're cheering for us and when you're not, we just keep on rolling. We're gritty. We're really, really gritty."
This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Missouri football coach Eli Drinkwitz chirps Bob Stoops after beating OU
