COLUMBIA, Mo. – If Eli Drinkwitz could do it over again, I bet he would have had quarterback Connor Bazelak hand the ball to Tyler Badie on that third-quarter fourth-and-one.
And because the second-year Tigers coach did just that again and again in the game-defining fourth-quarter drive that followed, that’s what Saturday’s 34-24 season-opening win against Central Michigan gets to be all about.
Adjusting and improving.
Both are far better than the alternative.
“There are going to be all kinds of things we’ve got to clean up,” Drinkwitz said after handing off the game ball to new Tigers athletics director Desiree Reed-Francois.