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Josh Heupel reacts to Eli Drinkwitz's 'stand on business' comment

Screen Shot 2024-05-28 at 9.09.17 AMby:Kaiden Smith11/16/23

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Saul Young/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK

Missouri head coach Eliah Drinkwitz provided one of the most funny, unexpected moments of the college football season following the Tigers’ big 36-7 win over Tennessee last weekend.

The SEC Network captured footage and audio of Drinkwitz shaking hands with Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel following the game, which is common after football games. But what was not common is what Drinkwitz decided to say to Heupel during the handshake telling him, “We stand on business, Josh!”

Drinkwitz’s comments made many wonder if Heupel or the Volunteers said or did anything to trigger the statement he made in their postgame handshake. And during a press conference on Thursday, Heupel was asked about the moment and the comments of Mizzou’s head man.

“I really didn’t hear it while we were out there at the handshake, and man, we’ve moved well on to the game that we’ve got this week,” Heupel said.

The exchange was a fast one, and one that was made at a sold-out Faurot Field following Missouri throttling the Vols in one of their biggest home upset wins in recent history. So Heupel not being able to hear Drinkwitz is a strong possibility.

The win marked Missouri’s first over the Volunteers since 2018 and the first of Drinkwitz’s tenure in Columbia, so maybe he was trying to send a message to Heupel.

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Regardless of his motivation, Drinkwitz using some new slang to put an exclamation point on the Tigers’ big win provided a viral moment for all to enjoy, maybe even sparking a rivalry in the future and providing some bulletin board material for the Vols for next season’s showdown.

Eli Drinkwitz to Josh Heupel after Tennessee win: ‘We stand on business’

On Saturday, Missouri handed Tennessee its worst loss of the season by defeating the Vols 37-6 at home.

After the game, Tigers head coach Eli Drinkwitz — who was mic’ed up during the contest — had some choice words for Tennessee coach Josh Huepel during their postgame handshake.

“We stand on business, Josh!” the Mizzou head coach said to Heupel, via On3 on X.

The win improved the Tigers to 8-2 on the season and will likely finish second in the SEC East behind Georgia. Looking ahead, matchups against Florida and Arkansas, which will likely see Mizzou as favorites in both games, will round out the Tigers’ regular season. That means a 10-win regular season and potential Sugar Bowl berth is theirs for the taking — but the Tigers also have everything to lose in the coming weeks.

On3’s Barkley Truax contributed to this report