As FootballScoop’s new weekly “They Said What?!” feature continues to find its stride, this week’s edition sees Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz – on the heels of one of his biggest wins in Columbia, Missouri – calling out the haters in defense of his quarterback, while Lane Kiffin stirs the pot at Alabama in a way that only Kiffin can expertly do.
Nick Saban shot back.
Deion Sanders, aka Coach Prime, bided his time until he both praised Jay Norvell and put Colorado State’s head coach in his verbal crosshairs.
And Greg Schiano helps Rutgers “Chop the moment,” among this week’s notable entries.
Onward …
In a back-and-forth affair with former Big 12 Conference rival Kansas State, Missouri scored a fourth-quarter touchdown to take an 27-24 lead.
The Wildcats mustered a tying field goal, and the game appeared destined for overtime as Missouri’s offense, with quarterback Brady Cook at the helm, moved near midfield.
Then, Missouri suffered a delay of game penalty that appeared likely it would thwart any game-winning field goal attempt. Instead, Harrison Mevis calmly drilled the school-record-setting, Southeastern Conference-record-setting 61-yard field goal as time expired to lift Missouri to victory.
After the game, Drinkwitz defended his quarterback and blasted fans who had opened the day with boos of Cook, who finished the day with 356 passing yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions.
"It pissed me off when we (home fans) booed our starting quarterback to start the game. That pissed me off,” Drinkwitz said. “He went out there and played his butt off for this university and this team, they need to get behind him. We need to get behind the young man.
“You want to boo me? Fine. You're going to boo the starting quarterback? Bull crap. I'll say it again. Should never happen."
Ya'll pissed Eli off, Mizzou pic.twitter.com/wH94euK0QQ
— Superdrunkmark69 (@cjzer0) September 16, 2023
Cook, Drinkwitz and the Tigers should not be in line for any boos this weekend. Missouri will be favored to beat visiting Memphis, with a chance to give the program a rare 4-0 start.
COACH PRIME BIDED HIS TIME
It took two overtimes. Colorado State led exponentially longer than host Colorado ever did, and the Buffaloes needed an improbable, 98-yard fourth-quarter drive inside the game’s final two minutes – as well as a two-point conversion – just to force the bonus sessions with the Rams.
But Colorado did prevail. The nationally-ranked Buffaloes are 3-0 heading into this week’s Pac-12 clash at No. 10 Oregon … and Deion Sanders, as promised, had kept receipts.
Coach Prime, and his players, had taken exception last week when Rams coach Jay Norvell said he taught his players, and that he himself, always took off his hat and sunglasses to conduct media interviews.
Colorado, from the head man all the way down to Ralphie the mascot (whose statue was shown adorned with sunglasses and a chain) took exception.
"I’m happy for the brother, I really am,” Sanders said of Norvel, “and I’m happy that they thought they played a good game.
"I’m happy that he’s a head coach. I’m truly happy for any brother that’s doing it in a successful manner − I truly am. I don’t know where all of this stuff came from, but I have to respond.
“You aren’t going to just attack me and I’m gonna sit back and say nothing − but I’m happy for that dude."
Deion Sanders gifted every one of his Colorado players with gold-tinted sunglasses Friday before Saturday’s game, and Shedeur Sanders – Coach Prime’s son and the Buffs’ starting quarterback – donned them for a postgame interview with ESPN, during which Shedeur Sanders said that Colorado’s players said they weren’t going out with a loss, “especially after they disrespected Pops.”
LANE TRAIN KEEPS ROLLING … ERR TROLLING
Perhaps like no assistant ever before him and no protégé since, Lane Kiffin has the uncanny ability – skill? – to trigger the pressure-points necessary to even remotely rankle legendary Alabama coach Nick Saban.
So Kiffin, undoubtedly, knew exactly what he was doing Sunday night in a Zoom interview with reporters when he talked about the changes to Alabama’s defense.
Particularly as it pertained to who, exactly, is calling the shots for the Crimson Tide defense. Kevin Steele is the defensive coordinator, hired earlier this year, and Travaris Robinson is the Tide’s cornerbacks coach.
But Robinson has coordinated defenses at a high level, including in the SEC at both Auburn and South Carolina.
Kiffin believes Robinson’s in charge of the Tide defense. For what it’s worth, so, too, do two separate coaches with direct SEC ties who told FootballScoop the same on Monday morning.
"There seems like there’s been a change there. I don’t know what happened after the Texas game, but you know, our guys watching the TV copy schematically in this last game, it certainly seems like T-Rob’s now calling the defense," Kiffin said. “We played (Robinson’s defense) before at South Carolina, so we’re preparing accordingly, you know, for him calling the defense.
“He’s done a good job too, and they’ve got really good players."
Saban refuted Kiffin’s assertion.
“He has all the defensive coordinator responsibilities,” Saban said Monday of Steele. “The only thing that we tried to improve on from an administrative standpoint was game day administration of getting the signals in quicker.
“That’s the only thing that we worked on together as a staff. The whole staff made a contribution to it, and I think it was a lot better in this game than it was in the Texas game.”
SPEAKING OF NICK SABAN …
Alabama’s seven-time national champion coach, six of them with the Tide, said his program is evaluating its options at quarterback. Jalen Milroe began the season as starter but was benched after the 10-point loss to Texas; Notre Dame transfer Tyler Buchner lasted barely a half as starter before he was benched against South Florida; Ty Simpson, the redshirt-sophomore former prep All-America selection, closed out ‘Bama’s 17-3 win.
“I know you’re gonna ask me about quarterbacks, but we’re gonna evaluate the quarterbacks that played today and evaluate Jalen Milroe in terms of how he played and decide this week who gives the best opportunity to be successful as an offensive team,” Saban said. “And that’s the way we’ll go.”
By Monday, Saban had made up his mind. For this week, anyway, as the No. 13 Tide host No. 15 Ole Miss.
Saban named Milroe the Tide’s starter moving forward during Saban’s weekly Monday press conference.
SWINGING THE AXE FOR RUTGERS
Virginia Tech had trimmed its deficit at Rutgers to 21-16 in the second half of that non-conference affair featuring former residents of the Big East, and the Scarlet Knights needed a response.
Eventually, they got it in the form of Kyle Monangai’s 55-yard scoring run – which he followed up with a game-clinching 12-yard scoring dash to seal the 35-16 win and the program’s third-straight 3-0 starter under Greg Schiano, who praised his team for its proverbial chopping of wood.
“I think today the whole day was chopping, right? It was all about whether things go good, whether things go poorly, you can't be thinking about the past and you can't be focusing on the future,” Schiano said. “You got to stay right here and chop the moment, and that's what our guys did. Because sometimes the moment wasn't great.
“You swing the axe and it does nothing. It hits and bounces off the tree. What do you do, quit? No, you keep swinging it because eventually it'll do it.”