Eli Drinkwitz is talking out of both sides of his mouth; Tennessee fans have every right to cast him as a villain

Missouri Tigers head coach Eli Drinkwitz just can't help himself.

Drinkwitz seemingly wants it both ways -- trash talking the Tennessee Vols while also projecting the illusion that he has a lot of respect for UT's football program.

Earlier this summer at SEC Media Days, Drinkwitz told That SEC Podcast that he has a lot of respect for Josh Heupel and Tennessee while explaining his "we stand on business" comment from last season (which Drinkwitz said to Heupel after Missouri's win against Tennessee).

"[It] was not personal in any sort of way at all," said Drinkwitz about his comment to Heupel. "I have a tremendous amount of respect for Coach Heupel and his football program. I think he does an outstanding job. He's one of the best coaches in the country. I have a tremendous amount of respect for that program."

Drinkwitz has so much respect for Tennessee that he allowed one of his players to wear a "Tennessee state champions" shirt to a media session this week.

Missouri had the shirts made after beating Memphis, Vanderbilt, Middle Tennessee State, and Tennessee last season.

This is one of the more embarrassing things I've seen in college football.

Stuff like this can be part of what makes the sport fun, but this feels like an extremely weak move from Missouri considering that the Tigers don't play Tennessee in 2024 or in 2025.

They're trash talking a team that they won't play again until 2026 (at which point many players from the 2023 Tennessee team that lost to Mizzou will be gone).

It's pretty easy to trash talk a team when you don't have to play them for a couple of years. I'm betting Mizzou won't have that same energy in 2026.

Drinkwitz wants to trash the Vols without people making a big deal about it. Sorry Drink, you can't have it both ways. If you're going to trash talk a team, at least do it when you can "stand on business", not when you get to avoid them for a couple years.

If Drinkwitz wanted to be the villain, he got his wish. But I'm not sure he's ready for the ire of Vol nation.

Related: Former Tennessee Vols HC Jeremy Pruitt makes honest admission about returning to coach at the high school level