Eli Drinkwitz explains when he started to see buy-in from Missouri roster this season

Missouri has been one of the biggest surprises of the 2023 season. Sitting at 7-1 heading into Week 9, the Tigers will be enjoying their bye week — but have the opportunity to do something incredibly special in Athens the following weekend with a win over No. 1 Georgia between the hedges.

Head coach Eli Drinkwitz believes that none of this would be possible without the Week 3 victory over Kansas State. Kicker Harrison Mevis drove in a 61-yard bomb before fans stormed the field having knocked off the reigning Big 12 champions. According to Drinkwitz, the Tigers haven’t looked back.

“We’ve had a lot of buy-in, but we’ve had a lot of belief, too,” Drinkwitz told On3’s Andy Staples during an appearance on his show. “Belief happens when Harrison Mevis makes the game-winning kick in a really tight game. We’ve had buy-in. Last year we had a lot of close losses, a lot of gut-wrenches. I makes you on the fringe. This year when we made that kick, I think the buy-in turned into belief. All of a sudden, there’s a stubborn refusal to allow anything but success in this locker room.

“Even after the LSU loss, I think there was a lot of confidence in our process. … You’re down 14-0 at Kentucky, that could have turned into a boat race but our team said let’s counterpunch right here and we went on a 34-7 run.”

Quarterback Brady Cook has been the catalyst for Missouri’s success this year. While he has a talented group of wideouts to throw the ball to, Cook has been active in the rushing attack, too having provided five rushing scores on top of his 2,259 passing yards and 15 passing touchdowns compared to three interceptions.

Running back Cody Schrader has over 800 yards and nine touchdowns on the season while Luther Burden III continues to prove why he’s on of, if not the best wideout in the SEC with nearly just under 100 yards until he passes the 1,000-yard receiving mark on the season.

“I can trace it back to making that kick,” Drinkwitz continued. “The belief kicked in — the buy-in of the core values and all of that stuff. That’s what it has really been and you have to ride that momentum for as long as you can.”

No. 16 Missouri and No. 1 Georgia is set to be one of the marquee matchups across the country, let alone the SEC for Week 10. Kickoff time is still TBD as of this report.