Eli Drinkwitz bemoans 'playoffs or bust' mentality to measure success in college football

Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz is fed up with hearing about the College Football Playoff as the be-all, end-all in college football, and he made his feelings known during Tuesday night’s radio show.

“I talked about this at SEC Media Days, we gotta get out of this ‘Oh man, it’s playoffs or bust,'” Drinkwitz said on Tuesday night’s Tiger Talk radio show, via Joey Van Zummeren. “Yes, again, we’re shooting for the moon, we’re going to put our whole self into that, but only 12 teams make the Playoffs and we put ourselves in position in November to be there. Didn’t get it done, I got that. But if the season only counts for 12 football teams, and we got a 127 D1 football teams, that math’s not gonna math very well.

“Football is more than just the Playoff potential, and again, we were there, we didn’t get it done. But there’s a whole heck of a lot to be proud of, there’s a whole heck of a lot to play for,” Drinkwitz continued. “When I took over, we didn’t go to a bowl game, we (were under) NCAA probation, and ever since then, we’ve been going to bowl games. And there’s a lot of programs right now that would trade us spots. … So (we’ve) just got to keep on fighting, keep on believing, and we’re going to get ourselves back there. We’re going to bust through.”

Drinkwitz’s critique of the Playoff-or-bust mentality comes after his Tigers (6-3, 2-3 SEC) lost back-to-back SEC games and three of its last four to fall out of the Playoff race and the Top 25 ranking following last Saturday’s 38-17 loss to No. 3 Texas A&M.

Following the game, Drinkwitz described the “devastated” and disappointed state of their team afterward. He couldn’t blame them for it, though, considering what all they put into trying to win the game but ultimately coming out with a loss against A&M.

“Devastated. Yeah,” Drinkwitz said Saturday. “That’s one of the toughest locker rooms I’ve been in because we all believed we were going to win. We all believed we were going to win. They fought like they were going to win. You know, there’s just a couple really big plays on defense and a big play on offense that changes this.

“You know, it’s okay to be devastated. It really is. Like I told them, the only way you’re ever going to achieve your dreams and goals is to put everything you have into it, everything, and you’ve got to work your ass off and you’ve got to believe, and, no matter the obstacle you face, you’ve got to believe that you’re going to overcome it,” Drinkwitz added. “Our guys did. They kept fighting and fighting and fighting — and then, you get the wrong end of the result.”

While the Playoffs are off the table, Missouri still has three games left in the regular season, including this Saturday’s final home game vs. Mississippi State, which will be Senior Day. Following that, the Tigers close out the regular season with back-to-back road games at No. 11 Oklahoma and Arkansas.

“Our guys will pull it together,” Drinkwitz said . “Next week is senior week. … And so, now, you’ve got to pick yourself back up and you’ve got to put your guts back in and you got to find something else to fight for, and our team will. Our team is going to fight for each other next week, for the seniors. We’re going to fight to finish strong. We were in this situation last year after South Carolina, and we found a way to just keep fighting and believing. And, that’s ultimately what we’re going to do.

“This team has a lot of strong leaders on it, and we’re not going out like that.”

— On3’s Sam Gillenwater contributed to this report.