A bye week for the No. 11 Missouri Tigers arguably could not come at a better time.

After a struggle-filled week four win against the Vanderbilt Commodores and a victory over a tough Boston College Eagles the week prior, a break for reflection seems to be much-needed. Head coach Eli Drinkwitz knows they need to take a step back and learn from the previous four weeks of football, especially before looking into the future.

“We got to go take a hard look at the Missouri Tigers and we got to figure out why we’re not executing the third downs in the red area, why we’re not kicking field goals, why we’re missing tackles, why we’re busting assignments,” Drinkwitz said. “So I’m not even kind of worried about Texas A&M.”

Despite the apparent struggles in the last two weeks for the Tigers, they still are undefeated, with a victory in conference play. They handled business in weeks one and two against Murray State and Buffalo, but still showed signs of weakness.

“What I’m concerned about is our team enjoying a win, being 4-0, which is as good as we can be record wise, but we’re not as good as we can be play wise,” Drinkwitz said. “We’re going to have to settle in on that and figure out what we got to do to improve.”

Not only do the Tigers have the chance to improve and reflect this week, but a free week also gives them time to recover. Multiple players over the last four weeks, including receiver Marquis Johnson, safety Joseph Charleston and tight end Brett Norfleet, have appeared banged up or missed time due to injury.

Johnson left the Tigerts opening SEC matchup early after a kick return left him on the field. The injury does not appear to be serious, but having time off to heal is very convenient at this moment.

“Couldn’t return, but wasn’t anything that warranted significant attention,” Drinkwitz said. “Good news for a bye week.”

Drinkwitz was quick to claim responsibility for some of the Tigers struggles over the past two weeks, again making the timing of their week off ideal. Despite their mishaps against the Commodores and signs of weakness against Boston College, their approach to said bye week is no different than any other season.

“It starts with me, and it starts with that being the message to the team and that’s what we’ll work to improve,” Drinkwitz said. “That’s always been how we’ve approached bye weeks and that’s not going to change.”

After the bye week, the Tigers will travel to College Station for their first road matchup of the year against Texas A&M. Despite the game being two weeks away, the No. 24 Aggies, in no way, are the focus of the following week for Missouri.

“The furthest thing from everybody in that room, locker rooms, mine, starting with me and my staff, is going to be Texas A&M,” Drinkwitz said.

The Tigers and Aggies will kick off at 11 a.m. at Kyle Field on October 5.

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