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It’s a conference road win! Missouri took down South Carolina in The Other Columbia 23-10 on Saturday. The Tigers improved to 4-4 (2-3) with the win, setting the table for an intriguing sprint to the finish for Eli Drinkwitz’s resurgent group.
Here are my Five Things–plus a bonus Thing!–from Saturday’s win:
Mizzou has one of the best defenses in the country
When Blake Baker is running a program of his own as a head coach somewhere next year, nobody should be surprised. Missouri’s defense simply continues to amaze.
The Tigers came into this week with the No. 11-ranked defensive efficiency in the country according to ESPN’s College Football Power Index. Those efficiency metrics likely improved Saturday after the Tigers allowed just 203 yards of total offense to South Carolina. The Gamecocks had just 32 rushing yards; a banged-up MarShawn Lloyd did make the job of the Mizzou defensive front easier, but you’ve got to give credit for the way the Tigers swarmed to the football and limited the types of explosive plays that would have allowed the Gamecocks to make things interesting late.
Those plays never arrived. The Tigers had Spencer Rattler scrambling around in panic mode with frequency. They sacked him four times, stripped him for a lost fumble and intercepted Rattler to put the nail in SCAR’s coffin late. It was a truly dominant performance on the road.
After Saturday’s win over the Gamecocks, the Tigers have allowed just 91 points across five conference games–and not even all of those points were the responsibility of the defense. Only one FBS team has held No. 1 Georgia below 39 points this season. It was Missouri, who allowed just 26 points to the Bulldogs. Mizzou has surrendered just 24 total points across their last two games, trending in the right direction heading into the stretch run of the season.
First-half execution was off the charts for the Tiger offense
It was the second week in a row in which Mizzou played a really strong first half. The Tigers jumped out to a 17-0 lead on the strength of a well-oiled offense led by some pinpoint Brady Cook decision-making.
That aspect of his game has been a sour point for Cook for much of this season, but he was excellent in leading the Tigers to a pair of methodical touchdown drives in the first half. The run game was a big part of the success (we’ll get to Cody Schrader below) and Cook played an important role in that, too, consistently making the right read on option plays. At times this year, Cook has appeared to be overthinking his role in the running game, caught in-between on identifying the appropriate moments to tuck it and run.
There were no such problems Saturday, as Cook led Missouri’s offense to a 6-for-8 start on third down conversions in the first half. That efficiency allowed the Tigers to nearly double South Carolina in time of possession in the first half as Cook made one excellent read after another to go along with a number of strong throws. Saturday was a huge step forward for Brady as Missouri’s QB1.
Lovett is a superstar
Brady Cook had a weapon in his arsenal Saturday that would make any quarterback’s job easier. Dominic Lovett was the X-factor of the Tigers’ passing game once again, with Cook and play-caller Eli Drinkwitz finding ways to get him the football in space with plenty of room to do what he does best.
Lovett finished the day with 10 receptions on 10 targets for 148 yards. Cook threw for 224 yards, which means Lovett accounted for 66% of the Tigers’ receiving yards in the game. That’s a preposterous number. He’s Brady Cook’s best friend, at this point. For good reason.
When they showed him at times on the television broadcast after a play, Lovett seemed to be moving somewhat gingerly. It’s possible he’s still not fully healthy after battling nagging injuries throughout the year. But whatever percentage of his health capacity Lovett currently has, it’s more than enough to operate as the engine of the Missouri passing offense. Drinkwitz would do well to keep finding ways to manufacture touches for No. 7.
Schrader just keeps earning everything he gets
We heard from Eli Drinkwitz during the week that there would be a more formal changing of the guard in the Missouri backfield moving forward. After presumptive RB1 Nate Peat struggled and lost a fumble in the Vanderbilt game, Truman State transfer Cody Schrader saw the bulk of the work in the running game. Ahead of the South Carolina date, Drinkwitz shared that trend would continue.
It did in The Other Columbia on Saturday, with Schrader getting the lion’s share of the running back snaps and carries. He plowed in for a one-yard touchdown in the second quarter and continued to get better as the game went along. In a key fourth-quarter drive for the Tigers, Schrader essentially put the game on ice. Brady Cook handed it to the senior running back a whopping 10 consecutive times and he churned out first downs and chunked away at the game clock.
Schrader’s stat line, 22 carries for 81 yards, may not jump off the page. But his steady ability to consistently gain positive yardage, rarely being brought down at or behind the line of scrimmage, was a key facet of Mizzou’s ability to salt away their first road win of the season.
Mevis prefers a challenge, apparently
Harrison Mevis went 3-for-4 on field goals in Saturday’s win, but he missed another chip shot. He’s missed several from inside 40 yards this season, uncharacteristic for the preseason Lou Groza watch list placekicker.
The Thiccer still contributed to the win in Columbia, SC. He knocked a 50-yard field goal through to extend the lead back to 10 points in the second half, a moment where Missouri desperately needed to steal back some momentum. He later banked one through off the uprights, evidently preferring more complex kicking challenges to the simple ones.
My earnest suggestion: the next time the Tigers stall out near the goal line offensively, take a couple of Delay of Game penalties to get Mevis into his comfort zone. For whatever reason, those tight field goal distances have been a nuisance this year.
Bowl eligibility is within reach
The Tigers handled their business over the past two weeks to put the notion of bowl eligibility squarely on the table heading into next weekend’s home game against Kentucky. Presuming a win over New Mexico State and a tough road loss to No. 3 Tennessee later in November, the Tigers need to pull down a home win over the Wildcats next week, or against Arkansas to end the regular season the day after Thanksgiving.
Though both of those teams have had more successful seasons than Missouri to this point, keep in mind that the Tigers are perhaps a couple of plays away from being 6-2 or better right now. Though that’s not Missouri’s record, there’s no reason the Tigers can’t play like it is over the course of the rest of their schedule. A quality 2022 season is still in range for Drinkwitz and Co.
