Why winning big has presented a new challenge for Missouri Tigers coach Eli Drinkwitz

It’s going well in Columbia, Missouri. The six wins, one loss, type of well.

But the rent is always due.

“You know, winning doesn’t negotiate,” Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz said during his Tuesday media availability. “I mean, it costs what it costs to win football games, and we’ve got to pay the price.”

That price entails fixing a fair share of worrisome moments Drinkwitz highlighted from MU’s win at Kentucky before the next game rolls around.

There was the slow start on defense, as the Wildcats leaped out to a 14-point lead.

And a slower start on offense, which required some inspired trickery from punter Luke Bauer to mend.

Even then, the Tigers didn’t run the ball efficiently, drive the ball well or make the most of their takeaways, the head coach said.

“You know, you look back at the game,” Drinkwitz said, “we didn’t play particularly well in a lot of areas.”

But in the end, like it has much more often than not this season, Mizzou got the job done, defeating No. 24-ranked Kentucky on Saturday evening in Lexington. The Tigers leaped from just outside the AP Top 25 to No. 20 in this week’s rankings, their highest spot since 2014.

Missouri’s homecoming game is next, with South Carolina making the trip to Columbia Saturday with fortune not so favorable.

The Gamecocks have faced, and fallen, to three top-20 teams in Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee. Coach Shame Beamer’s team lost at home to an ailing Florida team last weekend. They clawed out a win over Mississippi State and handily defeated Furman.

South Carolina (2-4, 1-3 SEC) has struggled through the early goings of the season and has lost its past four matchups against Missouri. The Gamecocks rank last in the FBS in pass defense, hemorrhaging 321.7 yards per game.

Oh, and Beamer said he broke his foot kicking “something he shouldn’t have kicked” after the loss to the Gators.

But Drinkwitz isn’t paying too much heed to USC’s woes.

The MU coach highlighted the Gamecocks’ tough schedule as a starting point for their record. He called Spencer Rattler a “premier quarterback” and Xavier Legette a “complete wide receiver.”

His message to his team, in short, has been that they can’t control what the opposition does schematically.

They can control “not becoming comfortable with that (Kentucky) win.”

“There’s always gonna be ebbs and flows and ups and downs, but I do think that there’s still a significant amount of improvement that we can make as a football team,” Drinkwitz said. “And I think, you know, one of the things that coach (Gus) Malzahn used to always preach when I was with him is: ‘Great teams get better every week.’

“... We’re in the middle of that part of the season where you can either choose to be tired and choose to let the grind get to your mind or you can choose to improve.”

He said he’s advised the team against seeking out praise on social media.

Drinkwitz doesn’t want them to become “numb to improvement” or to avoid being critical or the shortcomings that didn’t cost a win in the Bluegrass State.

Missouri is 6-1 and heading back home for a third straight sellout at Memorial Stadium.

It’s going well in Columbia. Better than it has in a while.

Now the work starts to make sure that lasts.

“I’m not taking anything away from our win,” Drinkwitz said. “We did some really, really good things, and I’m really proud of the fight that we showed the second and third quarter, the middle eight (minutes), the forcing of takeaways — all of those are great. But we’ve got to improve, and I think for us it’s a big focus on focusing on us and controlling the things that we can control.”

The Star has partnered with the Columbia Daily Tribune for coverage of Missouri Tigers athletics.