Eli Drinkwitz Secures His Regular Season Signature Win... For Now.

I meant to write this on Monday. Then I meant to write it on Tuesday. It's now Wednesday, Mizzou has another massive game coming up this weekend, and I'm finally getting around to it. So naturally, since I'm finally giving Eli Drinkwitz and this team their flowers, they'll probably come home and pee down their legs against Texas A&M this weekend. That's Mizzou football!

But whatever. Saturday was too damn good not to talk about. Mizzou didn't just beat No. 8 Florida on Homecoming. They absolutely kicked the shit out of them, 45-17, in what I think was the most complete game we've seen from a Drinkwitz team since he's been at Missouri.

And I think it was his signature regular-season win.

YES, I SAID REGULAR-SEASON WIN!

There's a reason I'm putting that little qualifier in there. The biggest win of the Drinkwitz era, at least for me, is still Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl. And yes, Ohio State fans, I already know. "It didn't count." "You didn't play our real team." "We had guys sitting out." Blah, blah, blah.

Missouri had more guys sitting out of that game than Ohio State did! Ohio State still had NFL players all over the damn field. They had plenty of talent playing that night, and I don't care who they put at quarterback because the Mizzou defense showed up to Jerry World on an absolute mission. Ohio State scored three points. THREE!

If you forgot, here's your reminder:

So I'm not moving that game out of the No. 1 spot just yet. But if we're talking regular season, Saturday is it for me. You can bring up Kansas State and the Mevis 61-yarder, which was obviously an incredible moment. You can bring up the Tennessee beatdown in 2023. There have been some really good wins during the Drinkwitz era, but this was different.

Florida walked into Faurot Field ranked No. 8 in the country and Mizzou absolutely beat their ass. There wasn't a miracle kick. There wasn't a last-second touchdown. There wasn't a fourth quarter where every Mizzou fan in the stadium was sitting there thinking, "Oh God, how are we going to screw this up?" We all know that feeling.

Not Saturday! Mizzou scored 35 straight points and finished with 560 yards of offense. They ran it. They threw it. The offensive line controlled the line of scrimmage, the defense basically erased Florida's running game and special teams drilled two field goals from 50-plus. What exactly did Florida do better than Mizzou on Saturday? I'm still trying to figure that one out.

We also can't talk about this game without talking about Green Greg and Nicky Smokes making their way to Columbia. What a weekend from these two! I got the chance to talk to Greg and Smokes before the game Saturday, and it was an absolute pleasure. Both were great dudes, and it was cool getting a chance to see them again for the first time since The Dozen in Chicago.

And the content they put out from Columbia all weekend was top tier. Of course they ended up at Willy's. Where the hell else were these two going to end up? Their adventures around Columbia, the buildup to the game and the back-and-forth between the two was great content all weekend.

Then Green Greg got the ultimate trump card. 45-17! Poor Smokes. The man came into Columbia with the No. 8 team in the country and had to spend his Saturday watching Greg's Tigers beat the brakes off his Gators for basically the entire afternoon.

Greg absolutely owned him! And the beauty of it was Mizzou didn't even give Smokes much of an opportunity to fight back. Once the Tigers got rolling, that was it. Have I mentioned 35 straight points? What are you even supposed to say at that point? Greg got to spend the rest of the evening doing a victory lap while Smokes had to sit there and take it and dress up as his caddy.

Those two brought a ton of fun to Columbia over the weekend, and I hope they make their way back again. Although I'm guessing Smokes might not be in a huge hurry.

There was another part of this game that I think made it different. Mizzou needed this one. Look at the schedule. Texas A&M. Ole Miss. Georgia. Texas. Oklahoma. Even Kentucky. There isn't exactly a nice little three-week stretch coming where you can kick your feet up and start penciling in wins.

That's why Saturday felt like one of those games where Mizzou needed to find a way. Instead of just finding a way, they went out and put 45 on the No. 8 team in the country. Even better! It was Missouri's first regular-season win over a top-10 team since 2013 and its first home win over a top-10 opponent since 2010.

Think about that for a second. We've had some really fun moments at Faurot during that stretch. Some good teams. Some big wins. But it had been 16 years since Mizzou beat a top-10 team in that stadium. Then Florida came rolling into town on Homecoming and got absolutely smoked. I don't know how you draw it up much better than that. I would put it in top 5 games I've attended at Faurot.

Here's where I'll probably get myself in trouble. I don't think Saturday is the last big win Mizzou gets this year. I've said it to plenty of people I talk Mizzou football with, and I'll put it in writing now so everyone can come back and make fun of me later. I think Drink finds a way to get one of these ranked matchups.

Texas A&M. Georgia. Texas. Ole Miss. Give me two.

I'm not saying Mizzou is going to run through that stretch undefeated. I'm not completely insane. But I think they can get at least two of them. And if they do that, then find a way to finish strong at home against Kentucky and Oklahoma, how can you look at this season as anything other than a huge success?

Of course, those games aren't automatic either. Nothing is automatic with Mizzou. Ever. That's kind of the deal we all signed up for.

Most people who talk Mizzou sports with me already know this, but I've been a Drinkwitz guy for a long time. I think he's a perfect fit for Missouri. Is he perfect? Hell no. There have been frustrating losses, games where you wonder what the hell they're doing and moments where Drink says something and you're thinking, "Eli, maybe we didn't need to do that." But I'll take all of it. I also think Corey Batoon deserves credit for the job he has done at DC since he's gotten to Mizzou. A guy who very much could be on head coaching lists at the end of the season.

Look at where this program is compared to where it was when Drink took over. The recruiting has been at a level that I don't think any of us who follow Mizzou have ever really seen consistently. And the transfer portal? Drink and his staff have absolutely crushed it. Missouri is getting players that we used to sit around and wonder why in the hell they would ever pick Mizzou over some of the programs recruiting them.

Now they're picking Mizzou. That's not an accident. The talent level is different. The expectations are different. The entire feel around the program is different.

And Drink genuinely loves this place. I think that matters. He loves Columbia. He loves Mizzou. He loves the program. When other schools came calling last year, he stayed.

Which brings us back to Florida. Yes, Florida fans. He turned you down. I know you guys don't like hearing that, and I'm sure there are 7,000 different explanations on Florida message boards for why that's not actually what happened. Whatever.

He stayed in Columbia. Then you came to Columbia. Then his team beat you 45-17.

That's a pretty good Saturday!

Seven years is a long time in college football. We've had some ups with Drink. We've had some downs. We've had some weird shit happen along the way. But Saturday was one of those days where you could really see what he's built.

Mizzou looked like the better program. Not the cute underdog having its day and not the team hanging around long enough to pull off an upset. The better football team. They were more physical. They were better offensively. They were better defensively. They were better on special teams. And they did it against the No. 8 team in the country.

That's what impressed me the most. For years as a Mizzou fan, games against highly ranked teams have usually involved trying to figure out what needs to go right for Missouri to pull the upset. Saturday wasn't that. Florida needed things to go right just to hang with Missouri. That's a pretty damn big change.

So yeah, I'm giving Drink his flowers. I'm giving the rest of his staff their flowers, and I'm giving the players their flowers. That was an ass kicking, and it came on Homecoming at Faurot against the No. 8 Florida Gators, with Green Greg there and him getting a selfie with Mizzou legend Sophie Cunningham.

What more could you possibly want?

Now go beat Texas A&M this weekend so I don't look like a complete idiot for finally writing this three days late.

M-I-Z!