Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz didn’t just make headlines this week—he detonated them.
With Mizzou gearing up for a showdown against No. 20 Virginia in the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl on Dec. 27, Drinkwitz stepped onto Dan Dakich’s podcast expecting a routine bowl-game chat. Instead, he delivered one of the most brutally honest rants we’ve heard from a Power 5 coach all season.
And he held absolutely nothing back.
💥 “Playoff or bust? That’s ruining the sport.”
Drinkwitz took aim at the mindset that has taken over college football—where anything short of a playoff berth is viewed as failure.
“People say, ‘anytime, anywhere,’” he said. “Some mean it. Some don’t. But this playoff-or-nothing mentality? It’s terrible for college football. Terrible for the sport. The playoffs are great, but not nearly inclusive enough. We’re letting committees screw up college football.”
That’s not a subtle critique.
That’s a full-speed collision.
⚠️ “High ratings don’t mean a healthy sport.”
Drinkwitz didn’t stop at the playoff system.
He called out the entire college football ecosystem—player movement, scheduling, and the pressure put on young athletes.
“Just because viewership is up doesn’t mean the sport is healthy,” he said. “This calendar is a mess. Constant transfers, constant instability… nobody can honestly say this is good for student-athletes. We have to fix it.”
In a season where debates about bowl games and playoff expansion have dominated headlines, he just threw gasoline on the fire.
🏈 What’s Next for Mizzou?
Despite the chaos around the sport, one thing is steady: Drinkwitz keeps delivering results. Missouri is heading to its fifth straight bowl game under his leadership, and the showdown with Virginia could cap off one of the program’s most consistent stretches in years.
But Coach Drink isn’t just coaching games anymore.
He’s challenging the entire sport to change.
And the rest of college football definitely heard him.
