Missouri won a methodical game over Kentucky, and did it in part thanks to a 10-for-20 conversion clip on third down. Coach Eli Drinkwitz applauded QB Connor Bazelak’s performance on third down, but said he didn’t have a perfect performance.

“He was incredibly efficient on third downs in finding the right decisions and taking off running when he needed to,” Drinkwitz said at his Tuesday press conference. “There was one decision on third down that I disagreed with.”

Drinkwitz noted that there were some choices made that he agreed with, some he didn’t. The issue with being a quarterback is that a few wrong decisions could cost you the game.

“It’s not like you can make a 90 on the test and win the game,” he said.

Drinkwitz noted how Missouri had 92 plays against Kentucky, and three of them could have been the difference in the game.

“He’s got to continue to improve and he knows that, and that’s the thing I love about him is he is always trying to get better,” Drinkwitz said. “He knew it before I could even start to coach him on the sideline, ‘Yeah, I know I’ve got to run to get that first down.'”

Drinkwitz’ philosophy about football in general, and especially quarterback is to develop and foster confidence. Build around strengths and identify weakness and improve on them. Drinkwitz said he gives Bazelak a list of plays, and asks him which ones he feels most comfortable in.

“Once you get shaky, it’s tough to recover, you can’t doubt yourself as a player,” Drinkwitz said. “If you ever doubt yourself, that’s when things are not good. So we try to identify what his strengths are.”