Eli Drinkwitz claims he blocks out outside noise. If you haven’t heard that exact line from Missouri football camp yet, wait a minute.

It turns out the head coach didn’t quite practice what he preached.

Drinkwitz kept his receipts during the off-season. …including one of Oklahoma’s winningest head coaches.

“This will be really disappointing for Bob Stoops,” Drinkwitz said in his opening statement after the game, “but OU doesn’t always give Missouri a beating anymore.”

Mizzou defeated Oklahoma 30-23 on Saturday in Columbia. That’s barely a fraction of the story.

The Tigers scored 14 points in the final 63 seconds to send the Sooners back to the southwestern Show-Me State with their tails high. Defensive end Zion Young’s scoop and score with 30 seconds left sealed the victory. MU backup quarterback Drew Pyne’s touchdown connection with former Sooner Theo Wease Jr. with 1:03 left, kept MU in the fight.

More: Missouri Football Final Score: Mizzou scores 14 points in the final 63 seconds to defeat Oklahoma

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There were a total of 28 points in the final 3 minutes and 18 seconds, including two OU touchdowns that seemed to spell disaster for the Tigers at the time.

Obviously it didn’t happen that way.

Missouri (7-2, 3-2 SEC) made another stunning comeback.

The game was immediately the biggest game on the Tigers’ offseason slate. It sold out almost immediately, as fans clamored for the former Big 12 and Big Eight rivals to reunite at Faurot Field.

For most of history, it was quite a stretch to call the two teams rivals. OU led the all-time series 67-24-5 before Saturday.

But there were some offseason questions about how easy the Sooners’ first season in the SEC would prove to be, and that led Stoops to make the following offseason comment to ESPN reporter Jake Trotter:

“We beat the hell out of Missouri,” Stoops said. “Should we suddenly be afraid of them now?”

Drinkwitz heard it.

“It felt pretty good,” Drinkwitz said. “I thought Coach Stoops did a good job of livening things up this summer, you know? I thought their coaches did things this summer that felt like they were pumping it up a little bit with some tweets and other things. So our guys were ready.”

And the Mizzou coach was in the mood to get his licks, except for Norman’s chirping.

Pyne became the first player not named Brady Cook, who sat out Saturday due to various injuries, to start at quarterback for the Tigers since Nov. 26, 2021, when Connor Bazelak started with a loss at Arkansas.

It wasn’t the easiest start to life for Pyne in Columbia. Before Saturday, he had led just one scoring drive in 13 attempts in two relief appearances against Power Conference opponents. He threw three picks in his last outing against Alabama when Mizzou was shut out on the road.

When he was announced as MU’s starter on Saturday before facing OU, there was general applause around Faurot Field. The online discourse — both on social media and the news media, Drinkwitz noted — was less optimistic about his chances of successfully leading the offense.

“I just can’t tell you how proud I am of Drew Pyne for all the crap he’s done,” Drinkwitz said. “You know, I feel like I have to defend my quarterback here all the time, which isn’t great, but despite all the bullshit he’s doing on Twitter and X, he’s ignoring the noise to come here. of all of you in this room, he goes out… and delivers in the (important) moments in the fourth quarter, after the fans have been cheering. He just goes out there and delivers.”

Missouri is now 7-2 on the season, marking the second year in a row – and the second total in Drinkwitz’s five seasons – that the Tigers have won more than six games. Mizzou has a 3-2 record in SEC play and is still capable of winning games by double digits for the second year in a row.

Oklahoma, meanwhile, fell to 5-5 with a 1-5 mark in league play and needs a win at home against Alabama or on the road at LSU to become bowl eligible in its first season as an SEC team.

You better bet it all felt good.

“That’s what I like about this team,” Drinkwitz said. “We love all of you when you’re cheering for us and when you’re not, we just keep going. We’re gritty. We’re really, really gritty.”

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Missouri football coach Eli Drinkwitz beeps Bob Stoops after beating OU