SEC East head coach learned a lesson the hard way thanks to the Tennessee Vols
Josh Heupel and the Tennessee Vols humbled quite a few folks last season. From giving Brian Kelly and Billy Napier a rude welcome to the SEC to reminding Nick Saban that it won't always be easy against Tennessee, it seemed like the Vols were consistently handing out small doses of humility in 2022. One SEC […]
Josh Heupel and the Tennessee Vols humbled quite a few folks last season.
From giving Brian Kelly and Billy Napier a rude welcome to the SEC to reminding Nick Saban that it won't always be easy against Tennessee, it seemed like the Vols were consistently handing out small doses of humility in 2022.
One SEC East head coach, in particular, learned a lesson the hard way last season thanks to Tennessee.
Missouri Tigers head coach Eliah Drinkwitz likes to talk some trash, which is a surprising when you consider that he's 17-19 during his three seasons as an SEC head coach.
Last summer, Drinkwitz memorably went on The Jim Rome Show and proceeded to throw some shade at Tennessee because of the NCAA recruiting violations that occurred under previous head coach Jeremy Pruitt.
"I thought you were going to introduce my record, but with the latest allegations against Tennessee, let's hold up on what my record is because I expect them to vacate some wins and that's going to help my record a little bit," said Drinkwitz.
That interview resurfaced last November before Missouri played the Vols in Knoxville. And I don't know if Drinkwitz's comments motivated Heupel and his team, but the result of the game — a 66-24 win for Tennessee — left no doubt that Drinkwitz and his Tigers were overmatched by the Vols.
Drinkwitz, however, was right about the vacated wins. The NCAA announced last week that Tennessee has to vacate their 11 wins from 2019 and 2020, which means the Vols' 35-12 blowout win against Mizzou in 2020 is no longer listed as a win.
On Monday at SEC Media Days, Drinkwitz was asked about the vacated wins during an appearance with Paul Finebaum. I guess Drinkwitz learned his lesson last year because the Mizzou head coach was a bit more reserved with his comments about Tennessee this time around.
“Man Paul I have tried all day not to say anything, but I appreciate you teeing me up on that,” Drinkwitz said. “All I’m gonna say is I’m not saying anything. I don’t know how that works.”
“All I’m gonna say is I called it last year on radio and got beat up for it,” added Drinkwitz. “But I do think that was a very interesting question and I don’t know how that works with teams vacating victories. I don’t know how that works.”
It sounds like Drinkwitz is still hoping that Missouri gets credit for a win against Tennessee in 2020 because of the vacated win, but that's not how it works (it officially goes down in the books as a game that no one won, but the loss still stands for Missouri).
And as for the toned down response, it definitely appears that Drinkwitz felt the wrath of Vols fans last season and decided it was best to avoid giving Tennessee fans and players/coaches any extra bulletin board material for the Vols' matchup against Missouri later this season.
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Featured image via Caitie McMekin/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK
