Eli Drinkwitz blasts media with full-throated defense of QB Drew Pyne

The Missouri Tigers were able to survive a close game against the Oklahoma Sooners on Saturday night despite head coach Eli Drinkwitz needing to turn to backup quarterback Drew Pyne.

Following the game, Drinkwitz gave a passionate and full-throated defense of Pyne, blasting the media and other outside noise for how they’ve handled his play. In particular, he made sure to praise Pyne for his play in the win over the Sooners.

“I just can’t say how proud I am of Drew Pyne for all the crap he’s taken,” Eli 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 y’all can raise up at me and look like it’s not, but it is. He goes out there and delivers in the keyest moments in the fourth quarter after fans have been booing. He just goes out there and delivers.”

Drew Pyne, a transfer who played at Notre Dame and Arizona State, was forced into action because of the injury to Brady Cook. After Pyne struggled in relief of Cook against Auburn and Alabama, there were some vocal concerns about his play going into the game.

“That’s the thing I love about this team is we love y’all when you’re cheering for us, and when you’re not, we just keep on rolling,” Drinkwitz said. “We’re gritty. We’re really, really gritty… So, extremely proud of our guys. Extremely proud of Drew Pyne.”

Quarterback isn’t the only position Missouri has dealt with injury issues. Those problems have been throughout the roster, which is another reason why Drinkwitz is proud of how his team has handled itself.

“You have the injuries and you have your backup quarterback and your center goes down. That’s another thing. Drake Heismeyer goes in for the whole time after Theo [Wease‘s] touchdown on the screen and we didn’t miss a beat. So, extremely proud of everybody on that team for just doing their job and doing it as well as they possibly could no matter the circumstance.”

In his relatively limited playing time this season, Drew Pyne struggled. Coming into the Oklahoma game, he had completed 35 out of 55 passes for 248 yards and he had three interceptions, all of which came against Alabama. Despite that, Drinkwitz was confident in his backup quarterback.

“I see him in practice every day. I’ve seen his game tape. He’s played a lot of college football. He’s won a lot of college football games as a starter and one bad outing doesn’t define a player. We have to quit reacting to every single play. Like, let guys play, man. There’s a lot of quarterbacks in the NFL they threw three interceptions, they don’t go to the bench. You don’t shoot them and get another one. You let them play through it,” Drinkwitz said.

“Drew is a competitor. He had a great two weeks of practice. He was out here grinding on tape. We had a gameplan that fit exactly who he was. I mean, he was excellent. 11 for 19 on third downs. Just excellent. Pushing up in the pocket. Making big-time throws to Luther Burden. So, there wasn’t a shadow of doubt within this building. Within this building, there’s no doubt.”

In the end, Drew Pyne rewarded Eli Drinkwitz. He had a season-high in completions, yards, and touchdowns while leading the Tigers to a massive win over the Sooners.