How Mizzou’s loss to Alabama could be a springboard to College Football Playoff
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Drinkwitz frames MU response after Alabama loss as growth opportunity.
- Pribula showed late-game promise but logged two fourth-quarter interceptions.
- MU must convert lessons into execution on road to secure playoff credentials.
Eli Drinkwitz’s news conferences are animated and colorful affairs, featuring everything from well-articulated insights to stream-of-consciousness bursts and some jabs of critics — particularly those from the remoteness of the online world.
So the University of Missouri football coach joked Tuesday about the complications of coaching football with “22 people on the field with free will … that can do whatever they actually want to do” and how it can be a “complete clown show” if one guy goes astray.
He shrugged off a question about an injury for Auburn, MU’s next opponent, and the ever-revolving coaching carousel by saying “I’ve got problems of my own.”
And he had a little fun saying “there’s no such thing as journalist integrity” and pausing for effect before adding “on social media.”
Within all that, though, Drinkwitz also typically conveys some more salient central themes. And those, including a defense of quarterback Beau Pribula, were plain and worthy on Tuesday in the wake of MU’s first loss of the season last Saturday against Alabama.
As the 16th-ranked Tigers (5-1) prepare to travel to unranked Auburn (3-3) for their first road game of 2025, this week somehow all at once is about not lingering on the 27-24 loss to the now-No. 6 Crimson Tide while channeling the lessons it provided.
Maybe that’s a delicate dance even for Drinkwitz, who invoked the Alabama game several times but semi-playfully chided the media for relevant questions about the stuff that plainly needs to be shored up.
Heck, even one of his catch-all phrases connects the points.
“Win or grow,” he said.
That’s an especially urgent notion for a team that still has three ranked opponents remaining, including No. 4 Texas A&M.
That makes for a fine opportunity to earn a berth in the 12-team College Football Playoff if Alabama proves a springboard instead of a slope.
Because you couldn’t have watched the game Saturday and thought there was a significant talent disparity at more than a position or three, accenting the fact that Mizzou might well have won without a series of self-inflicted mistakes.
The arc of the game essentially was bookended by those.
Start with Zion Young’s early unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for taunting, which enabled the Crimson Tide to escape a third-and-15 deep in its own territory with MU already leading 7-0.
And punctuate it on the other end with Pribula throwing his second interception of the fourth quarter after his pass soared over Donovan Olugbode with 37 seconds left.
While Drinkwitz sought to publicly absolve his players and absorb all the flak himself by saying it’s up to him as the head coach to “find that winning play,” those are the very sorts of things Mizzou has to grow through if the Alabama loss isn’t going to be in vain.
For one thing, Young simply can’t do that — a coaching point as much as anything else.
For another, if MU is going anywhere this season, Pribula must make strides from that final series and his overall game.
Considering it was his first time in such a scenario at the collegiate level after three seasons as a reserve and situational sub at Penn State, it’s reasonable to figure he’ll at least be informed by the experience next time he’s in the late-game crucible.
This time around on the deciding drive, he was plenty clutch on a fourth-and-6 when he hit Olugbode for 25 yards.
But he was just 2-for-7 overall in that sequence and finished the game 16-of-28 for 162 yards with two touchdown passes to go with those two interceptions.
On the play that effectively ended the game, Drinkwitz said that Pribula had the right pre-snap read of his first target but didn’t properly “react to the post-snap disruption of the read” and threw it high.
But Drinkwitz made some logical and valid points in reiterating his faith in Pribula, who transferred to Mizzou after last season.
“I think Beau has done some really, really good things, and I think there’s things that Beau is continuing to grow and develop,” he said. “Playing quarterback in this league, playing quarterback in general, is a growth process. And every rep is an opportunity to improve, and that’s what he’s doing.”
Well enough to lead MU to a 5-0 start. And, let’s remember, to zip the offense to an underappreciated 75-yard touchdown drive in 1:36 to cut the score to 27-24 with 1:39 left.
That’s what gave the Tigers that last-gasp chance when the defense got them the ball back just 28 seconds later.
“There’s always going to be growing pains with a first-year starting quarterback, and so the expectation for Beau to be perfect is unrealistic,” Drinkwitz said. “And regardless of what anybody else’s expectations are, I’m very proud of the way he’s played, very proud of the composure that he’s shown. I’m very proud of the toughness that he’s displayed, and I think he’s only getting better and better.”
Enough so that Drinkwitz felt compelled to share something he told Pribula on Monday:
There once had been a lot of questions about the ability of his predecessor, Brady Cook, to lead late-game drives.
“I think (Cook) put all of those to bed his final two seasons as a starting quarterback,” Drinkwitz said. “So you’ve kind of got to allow guys to grow into it and not expect that the first time anybody shows up to anything they’re going to be perfect.”
A fine point that also happens to come as Pribula and the team are about to enter into another first: a road game.
Drinkwitz sought to downplay that, citing the preseason intrasquad game at Lindenwood as an experience that leaves the team knowing what to expect.
That might be true enough logistically but not environmentally at Auburn, whose three consecutive losses have been to top-11 teams by a total of 23 points.
More than 88,000 fans were at Jordan-Hare Stadium for last week’s 20-10 loss to No. 9 Georgia.
Not surprisingly in the Southeastern Conference, the road has been rough on Drinkwitz’s MU program.
While he’s 32-8 at home after the Crimson Tide snuffed out a 15-game winning streak at Faurot Field, he is just 8-15 in true road games.
For that to change and for Mizzou to optimize its apparent potential, it has to not forget what happened against Alabama so much as alchemize it into tangible progress.
Or else there’s going to be a lot more left for growing than actually winning.
This story was originally published October 15, 2025 at 6:00 AM with the headline "How Mizzou’s loss to Alabama could be a springboard to College Football Playoff."