Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz slams Kansas for rivalry hype video

There’s trash talk, and then there’s whatever Kansas thought it was doing with a rivalry hype video. Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz didn’t bother with the polite version. “I was embarrassed for them,” he said, and then admitted he tried to return the favor late. If you’re going to puff your chest, you’d better be ready for the reply.

College football runs on emotion, so nobody should clutch pearls when a coach fires back. The whole point of a rivalry is that somebody feels disrespected. Still, it’s worth noticing how this plays now: Kansas uses video to stoke the crowd, Missouri uses the scoreboard and a little extra at the end, and suddenly we’re supposed to debate etiquette like it’s a cotillion. Don’t start a fight and then act shocked when it turns into one.

Drinkwitz’s line also cuts through the modern habit of turning everything into content. These hype packages are made for clicks, not for wins. They’re a way to “win the week” without ever snapping the ball. Fans can smell that a mile away. So can coaches. Football teams get remembered for points, not production value.

None of this means Missouri has to run it up every chance it gets, or that coaches should be hunting for excuses to humiliate somebody. But rivalry games aren’t TED Talks. If Kansas wants respect, it can earn it the old-fashioned way: play better, talk less, and let the video department take a week off.