COLUMBIA, Mo. — It’s been a long nine months since Eliah Drinkwitz took over Missouri’s football program, but one thing he didn’t do with his extended offseason is overanalyze the Tigers’ 2019 defense. Had he pored over footage of last year’s 6-6 team, he would have seen a defense that struggled to take down opposing quarterbacks at an alarming rate.
As highly as Mizzou ranked in some categories — top 15 in the nation in both points and yards allowed — the Tigers were last in the Southeastern Conference with just 19 sacks.
Drinkwitz’s eyes have told him otherwise the last few weeks.