Eli Drinkwitz had a win in hand Thursday night, but he didn’t sound like a coach ready to hand out much praise.
Missouri rolled past Arkansas-Pine Bluff 54-14 to open the 2026 season in Columbia, and the scoreboard looked like the kind of clean opener most staffs want. But Drinkwitz spent much of his postgame session zeroing in on what bothered him after the game got out of reach - and he made clear there was more to chew on than a missed chance to meet Sheryl Crow, who sang the national anthem before kickoff.
“We ended up pulling some guys pretty quickly to try to mitigate risk and injury. Very disappointed in the third quarter from an overall intensity standpoint, a coaching standpoint,” Drinkwitz said. “It was a perfect night for me to be able to be excited in the first half and really mad in the second half, so I've got a lot of things to coach on.”
The first half was about as tidy as it gets. Missouri’s starters were gone before halftime, and the Tigers had already stacked up a 37-point lead.
Austin Simmons was sharp, throwing for 252 yards with an 89.7% completion rate and four touchdowns. Donovan Olugbode turned in a career night with eight catches for 116 yards and two scores.
On defense, Missouri held the FCS visitors to 51 total yards and just one first down.
Then came the part Drinkwitz couldn’t ignore.
In the second half, Missouri was actually outgained by UAPB. The Golden Lions put up the only points of the third quarter while the Tigers punted twice, went just 1-of-4 on third down and committed four penalties after the starters were pulled.
Even the clean-looking opening night had some rough edges before the backups took over. Missouri finished with only one sack, and the pass rush never really took control of the game. The Tigers also came away without a takeaway, even though STAR safety Elijah Dotson had a second-quarter interception wiped out by Nicholas Rodriguez’s late hit on the UAPB quarterback.
Drinkwitz didn’t gloss over the turnover issue, either. When asked about Olugbode’s big night, he pointed straight to the one blemish: “He's got to hold on to the football,” was Drinkwitz’s full summary.
On the takeaway front, the head coach said, “We lost the takeaway battle because we didn't strike at the ball well enough,” Drinkwitz said. “We weren't able to win the sack battle.
Didn't force nearly enough pressure on the quarterback. So, again, there's a lot of things that we're going to look back on and say we got to get this stuff fixed in a hurry.”
And the calendar doesn’t leave much room.
Missouri’s next test is Kansas in the Border War matchup on Friday, Sept. 11, across the state line in Lawrence. Drinkwitz said the film session won’t be a pleasant one.
“I promise you, the staff meeting (Friday) will not be a lot of fun when you have some of the mistakes that we made," Drinkwitz said. “That is a hallmark of what we do not do in our program.
We don't have multiple numbers on the field. We don't run into kickers.
We don't do that stuff. So, that was really disappointing for me.
But we will work really hard to improve it, and that starts with me, and we'll get it passed on to the coaches and the players.”
In Other News...
Mizzou Brings Back A Familiar Star For A Milestone Opening Day
Sheryl Crow will help set the tone for a big day at Memorial Stadium when Missouri opens the 2026 football season against Arkansas-Pine Bluff, with the Missouri native scheduled to perform the national anthem. The matchup is already carrying extra weight as the stadium marks its 100th anniversary and welcomes fans back for the first home game after renovations to the north end zone.
Crows return adds a familiar name to a milestone backdrop for Mizzou, blending pageantry with one of the more notable dates on the programs calendar. The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee is also set to release a new album, "Pick You Up," on October 9, giving the Tigers an opening-day spotlight that stretches well beyond the field. [Read more 🡒]
Mizzou Opens 2026 With Two Big Questions Fans Will Notice
Missouri opens its 2026 season at 7 p.m. against Arkansas-Pine Bluff at Faurot Field, and the first night of the new year already comes with a different look in more ways than one. The Tigers are stepping onto a field that has just gone through the finish of a massive North End Zone renovation, a long-awaited backdrop for the program as it starts over in front of its own crowd.
The bigger early concern, though, is on the injury front. Missouri will be without All-American running back Ahmad Hardy and All-SEC left tackle Cayden Green, two key pieces who shape both the backfield and the line of scrimmage. Even with a manageable opener on the schedule, their absence gives the Tigers something to sort through right away, and it makes the first few snaps of the season worth watching a little closer. [Read more 🡒]
Mizzous New Era Just Raised The Pressure On Eli Drinkwitz
Missouri football has spent much of its history trying to outrun the baggage that has followed the program for decades, from coaching instability to facilities that lagged behind the sports elite. Now the backdrop looks different. The school unveiled a major north end zone stadium project on Thursday night as part of the venues 100th anniversary, another sign that Mizzou is trying to match its ambitions off the field with what it wants to build on it.
Eli Drinkwitz has been the face of that push, and the timing only sharpens the pressure around him. The Tigers dominant win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff was the kind of game Missouri was expected to handle, but the larger conversation is about what comes next for a coach who has already been rewarded with a long-term commitment. With the program investing at a higher level and expectations rising along with it, the standard in Columbia is no longer about simply being better than Missouri used to be. [Read more 🡒]