Eli Drinkwitz explains why Missouri is better in close games in 2023

Come the end of the year, how most teams do in close scenarios usually ends up in a wash. However, since Missouri has a 4-0 mark in one-score games this season, Eli Drinkwitz thinks there’s a little more to it.

Drinkwitz shared his thoughts on the Tigers’ record in the clutch during an appearance on ‘The Paul Finebaum Show’ this week. To him, momentum has a lot to do with it. Mizzou proved to themselves and each other that they can do it when the game gets tight and, since then, it has had a snowball effect in those scenarios.

“I think any time you get one of those close wins? It causes a belief that you’re always in the game. I think in the Kansas State game, maybe? We had to come from behind five times. I think in the Florida game, maybe? There was eight lead changes,” recalled Drinkwitz. “I think when you get down? Against Kentucky, we were down 14-0. There’s always this belief that you can come back. There’s a belief in each other.”

“I think, last year, losing some of those games? Maybe we didn’t have that belief when we faced that adversity that we really could come back and win,” Drinkwitz said.

Missouri’s wins over MTSU, Kansas State, Memphis, and Florida came by a combined 16 points for an average of four. They also came back from an early two-touchdown deficit in Lexington to win by 17 over the Wildcats.

The Tigers were also doing well late in their two losses on the season to LSU and Georgia. However, both opponents scored within the last five minutes, specifically LSU with a pick-six in the final minute, to push both of those margins over one possession.

Still, a season ago, Missouri was 2-4 in one-score games. That can be the difference in being 6-7 like they were last fall or being 9-2 like they are this time around.

That’s why, regardless of how nerve wracking it may have been, Drinkwitz is happy that his team found themselves in those scenarios and, therefore, learned those necessary lessons.

“You know what? There were some close games. We played Middle Tennessee just about as close as anybody. They had us down to a one-score game. But, again, we found a way to win,” Drinkwitz said. “I think we used every one of those experiences to help us moving forward.”