After back-to-back losses to Alabama and Tennessee to start the season, Eli Drinkwitz appears to have Missouri trending in the right direction. The Tigers have notched 2 wins in a row: first to LSU in a game that featured a last-minute defensive stand, followed by a dominant performance against Kentucky to break a 5-game winning streak against the Wildcats. Mizzou has another stiff test coming up on Saturday as it travels to Gainesville to face No. 10 Florida.

Drinkwitz’s efforts against the Wildcats saw him receive a shoutout on Tuesday from ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit. The “College GameDay” analyst placed the first-year Mizzou head coach at No. 3 on his list of the past weekend’s top-performing coaches, ranked below Rutgers’ Greg Schiano and Indiana’s Tom Allen.

The former Gus Malzahn assistant is hoping that the momentum Mizzou has built over the past 2 games carries on through the rest of the 2020 season. If the Tigers are able to spring a surprise on what should be a heavily-favored Gators team, they’ll have made the SEC East race a little more interesting.