His team's comeback complete, its magical season punctuated and Ohio State's misery compounded Friday night, Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz shared a fascinating story about carrying an actual slingshot with him on the sidelines of the Cotton Bowl.
"This right here is a slingshot," Drinkwitz showed ESPN's Scott Van Pelt. "A guy in our building gave this to me and said, 'Coach, if you're gonna coach at Mizzou, you're ginna have to take down some teams with a slingshot.
"I showed this to team pregame and carried it with me all game. ...
"We just picked up this stone, whirled this thing around and took 'em out."
Drinkwitz shared how his team had bonded all year with its belief in being the superior fourth quarter team on any given gameday, and Missouri indeed turned a 3-0 deficit through three quarters into a 14-3 win and the program's first 11-win campaign in nearly a decade.
The Tigers got brilliant defensive play from Blake Baker's unit and also saw offensive coordinator Kirby Moore uncork a play-call to seal the game that Drinkwitz said the staff knew would be a score.
That touchdown pass came moments after Missouri converted a fourth-down try when it could have elected for a more conservative approach with a field goal attempt.
"I got on the headset and told Blake, 'I'm gonna go for it,'" Drinkwitz revealed. "He said, 'Trust your gut and be aggressive.'
"Then Kirby had this play dialed up all week and we knew it was a touchdown as soon as it was called."
Drinkwitz, who said the Missouri staff has worked hard to reinforce its roster via the NCAA Transfer Portal and also shared that he oftentimes opened practice with FaceTime calls to 2025 prospects, said the Tigers would continue working to carve their place in college football.
"We're not gonna stop; nobody is waiting for Mizzou to come take their spot in college football," Drinkwitz said. "We gotta go kick the door down. That’s what were trying to do right now."