Eli Drinkwitz had 'no issues' with Tennessee's late touchdowns in 66-24 win
Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz didn’t have a problem with Tennessee backup quarterback Joe Milton III throwing a 46-yard touchdown to Ramel Keyton in the closing minutes Saturday at Neyland Stadium.
He didn’t have a problem with Milton’s 58-yard bomb to freshman receiver Squirrel White with 1:28 left. Or the timeout Tennessee took after White was tackled at the 1-yard line. Or the touchdown freshman running back Dylan Sampson scored with 36 seconds left, putting an exclamation point (or four or five) on the 66-24 win.
“He coaches his team,” Drinkwitz said of second-year Tennessee coach Josh Heupel during his postgame press conference, “I coach my team. It’s our job to defend what they do. He runs offense the way they’ve always run it.”
No. 5 Tennessee (9-1, 5-1 SEC), which won 62-24 at Missouri last season, set a program record Saturday with 724 yards of total offense. The Vols scored 21 points in the second quarter and 21 more points in the third quarter, before tacking on 17 in the fourth.
Starting quarterback Hendon Hooker completed 25 of 35 passes for 355 yards and three touchdowns, running for 50 more yards and a fourth touchdown on the ground. Milton finished a perfect 3-for-3 passing for 105 yards and the touchdown to Keyton.
“I’ve got no issues with their football team,” Drinkwitz continued after the game. “That’s up to each individual head coach. He was just running his offense. It’s our job to defend them, our job to stop them.
“It’s our job to flip the switch. Our job to not let that happen. It’s my job. It’s my job.”
Josh Heupel: Vols are ‘a good football team playing good football’
Heupel was asked about the points scored late in Saturday’s game during his press conference, too.
Were the Vols trying to make a statement after the 27-13 loss at No. 1 Georgia last week? Were they trying to add style points while looking to stay alive in the College Football Playoff hunt over the final three weeks of the season?
“The statement for us is that we’re a good football team playing good football,” Heupel said. “What the scoreboard ultimately ends up being, and what people down the line may judge us for, we’re out of control of some of those things.”
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“Our best football is still out in front of us,” Heupel added. “I am proud of the fight, the competition, the ability to reset. The second half, the way our guys went out and competed in all three phases, it was a good win.”
Mizzou outscored 163-60 in last three losses to Tennessee
Drinkwitz was recently given a raise and extension, keeping him under contract at Missouri until 2027. He’s 15-18 in his third season at Mizzou, with a 10-15 SEC record.
His teams have been outscored 163-60 in three losses to Tennessee, including the 35-12 loss to Jeremy Pruitt’s Vols in October 2020.
Drinkwitz made light of Pruitt and the NCAA investigation looking into his tenure as Tennessee’s head coach during an appearance on Jim Rome’s radio show in July.
“I thought you were going to introduce my record,” Drinkwitz said to Rome during the interview, “but with the latest allegations against Tennessee, let’s hold up on what my record is because I expect them to vacate some wins and that’s going to help my record a little, OK?”
