Even though Missouri lost to Florida earlier this season, the Tigers get another shot at a perennial SEC East contender this week when Georgia comes to town.

On the year anniversary of being hired at Mizzou, coach Eli Drinkwitz at his Tuesday press conference reflected on where the program is in relation to Florida and Georgia.

“The past is the past, the future is ours to take,” Drinkwitz said when asked about those division rivals. “We know what the foundation is, we have an opportunity in front of us to play Georgia this week to measure ourself. To see where we’re at in comparison to them and then make adjustments. We’ve got a chance to see where we are versus Florida, we know where we have to improve in order to have an opportunity to compete with that team and now we have an opportunity to compete with Georgia. The past is the past, it has nothing to do with your future if you learn from it. I’m not surrendering anything to anybody, if I was doing that, I wouldn’t have taken this job.”

Georgia has won 6 straight in the series. The last Mizzou win came in 2013 in Athens when Gary Pinkel and Mark Richt coached in the game.

Drinkwitz said he believes the administration understands how hard he will push to have a championship standard in everything they do. On Sunday, the UM System Board of Curators voted on the next steps to create a new indoor football facility, which would include a full-sized football field. The board approved a feasibility study for the new practice space.

Drinkwitz said it’s now time for the state and boosters to match the program’s energy and step forward to raise money.

“I think the play on the field is speaking for itself, we’re never out of the fight, we have a great fight, we’re not always perfect, but we play with a lot of energy and a lot of effort,” Drinkwitz said. “The results I think are far better than what most would have predicted, including most of the people on this call.”