Missouri had a tall order on Saturday against Alabama, which was coach Eli Drinkwitz’ debut leading the Tigers.

The usual stars of Mac Jones, Jaylen Waddle and Najee Harris led Alabama to a 38-19. But Missouri scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns, including a 54-yarder by Tyler Badie on a pass from Shawn Robinson. Then Conor Bazelak punched in a touchdown at the buzzer.

“Saw some fight there at the end, so that was important, but bottom line, we didn’t play well enough on either side of the ball, or on special teams to win the game tonight,” Drinkwitz said. “We had two turnovers … defensively we’ve got to get off the field on third down, they were 9 of 14. Just not good enough. Got a lot of work to do on both sides of the ball.”

Drinkwitz said Robinson got the start at QB because he gave the Tigers the best chance to move the ball with some of the “read” game they planned to try. Robinson’s experience was also a deciding factor, and Drinkwitz added, “Him and Connor both had some flashpoints.”

Drinkwitz said the sacks and negative plays were disappointing and that’s what he has preached during fall camp, to avoid negative plays.

“Both quarterbacks did some really good things, but they’ve got to eliminate the negative plays for us to be successful offensively,” he said.

The Tigers will next face Tennessee next week.

Here’s the full press conference:

H/T ABC-17.