What Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz said ahead of the Georgia game
The No. 2 Georgia Bulldogs (8-0) host the No. 12 Missouri Tigers (7-1) in a SEC East clash. The winner will have a much stronger chance to make the SEC championship. The loser will see its season’s course altered.
Kickoff is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET on Nov. 4. The Georgia-Missouri game will be televised on CBS.
Missouri is coming off a bye week after picking up a win over South Carolina. Last week, Georgia had one of its more impressive performances of the season in a 43-20 win over Florida.
What did Missouri football coach Eli Drinkwitz have to say ahead of the Georgia game?
On Kirby Smart's success at Georgia
Missouri’s Eli Drinkwitz has a great deal of respect for Kirby Smart. Smart has taken they Georgia football program to another level with back-to-back national titles.
It’s really surprising to me that he’s never won a national coach of the year award. I think the assumption is that things just happen easily at that university. I think he’s come in and done an outstanding job in recruiting at an elite level and developing those players to play at an elite level.
On Georgia replacing talent and Kirby Smart's coach job
Drinkwitz thinks Kirby Smart is doing one of his best ever coaching jobs this year. Smart and Georgia have had to replace 25 NFL draft picks and numerous transfers over the past two offseasons.
Winning creates its own set of challenges, and you know they’ve overcome a lot challenges this year. They’ve replaced a lot of talent and they’re playing at a really high level. I think coach Smart and his staff have done probably the best job they’ve done since they’ve been there.
On UGA quarterback Carson Beck
I think (Mike Bobo) he has his quarterback playing at a very high level. If you didn’t know any better you would think he was playing with Matthew Stafford or Aaron Murray again.
Drinkwitz thinks Carson Beck winning on the road in an SEC game against the Auburn Tigers contributed to the high level of confidence he is displaying. Drinkwitz praised Beck’s accuracy and ability to get rid of the ball quickly.
Regarding Georgia's defense
They do a really good job of disguising what they’re going to do. They have elite players at all three levels of the defense.
Drinkwitz focused on how Georgia’s defense has been elite on third downs, against the pass and against the rush. He highlighted that Georgia’s one weakness is red zone defense, but emphasized the Bulldogs don’t let many teams get into the red zone in the first place, so it is a small sample size.
They don’t have a whole lot of busts. It’s not like there’s guys running open or a lot of weak points on the defensive side of the ball.
On Missouri's injuries
Drinkwitz notes the Tigers are pretty healthy going into the Georgia game. Missouri had a bye week before hitting the road to face the Bulldogs. The Tigers may be without linebacker Chad Bailey, who has 17 tackles and a sack this season. Drinkwitz considers Bailey to be questionable.
Everybody who was dinged up came back. I only saw one green jersey in yesterday’s practice.
Drinkwitz spent extra time scouting Georgia
Missouri took more time to prepare for Georgia during their bye week. The Tigers are healthy and are playing good football entering the Georgia game.
Our goal was first to get healthy. And we certainly did that. In the past, we really self-scouted a lot. Which we did spend a day on self-scout. We spent another day on a future opponent and then spent two days on getting ahead on Georgia. So, it’s a little bit different mindset because the bye week came so late.
Missouri came painfully close to upsetting Georgia last season.
