AMHERST, Mass. (AP) — Missouri coach Eliah Drinkwitz is hoping his No. 21 Tigers can make people forget about their embarrassing 41-10 loss to then-No.25 Texas A&M.
And that’s bad news for UMass (1-4).
Mizzou (4-1) heads to Amherst, Massachusetts, on Saturday for the first time to face the independent Minutemen with a chance to rebound from last week’s blowout by the Aggies.
“I had a very clear and direct message with our team, and I’m going to say it again here to y’all,” Drinkwitz told reporters. “One bad day doesn’t define our team or our season, our response will.”
“There’s going to be bad days you’re going to have,” he said. “It doesn’t have to define us, but we do have to respond, and we do have to respond in a better manner. In how we respond will define who we are as a team and what kind of character we have as a program.”
Mizzou won its first two games against non-Power 5 teams by a combined score of 89-0 before squeaking by then-No. 24 Boston College and a feisty Vanderbilt squad that knocked off then-No. 1 Alabama the following week.
But it all came apart against the Aggies, who opened a 34-0 lead and finished with 512 yards of offense. The loss snapped an eight-game winning streak dating back to the Tigers’ loss to top-ranked Georgia on Nov. 7 last season.
“I know the way that I’m going to handle it. I know the way the guys that have been here know how I’m going to handle it. The sky is not falling,” Drinkwitz said. “We all have a perfection dream, but that’s not reality. So, when you come up short, it doesn’t have to define you. It just has to push you to grow.”
Coach Don Brown’s Minutemen have lost to four members of the Mid-American Conference and only beat Central Connecticut State, an FCS program. In three of their games, they have either had the lead or been within one score in the fourth quarter.
“They’re better than their 1-4 record,” Drinkwitz said. “I think coach Brown is instilling in those guys a competitive nature.”
UMass passing game
Drinkwitz said a big challenge will be keeping track of the Minutemen passing game, led by quarterback Taisun Phommachanh, who played at Clemson and Georgia Tech before transferring to UMass on Jan. 17, 2023.
He has thrown for 1,280 yards and seven touchdowns and also run for 253 yards and a score.
“Taisun Phommachanh is playing his best football,” Drinkwitz said. “Accurate thrower, very good. He’s their leading rusher also. So, he’s a dual-threat quarterback. For us defensively, we’re going to have our hands full. We’re going to need to play better defensively, more simplistic, more attacking, and better tackling.”
Receiver Jakobie Keeney-James, who had 150 receiving yards and a touchdown on four catches against Miami (Ohio) and has two other games with more than 90 receiving yards.
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