FOOTBALL What I'd do to make Mizzou Football competitive in the SEC
- By BUBBL3S
- The Tiger Walk
- 32 Replies
With the NIL and Transfer Portal, it's clear that Mizzou is going to have to find some kind of advantage on the field vs their SEC peers, as they'll never have a clear advantage off of it. IMO, one of the "easiest" ways to do this would be to flip this offense upside down (not now -- Drinkwitz doesn't run it and Mizzou is recruiting for other schemes) and get back to the roots of college football -- run the Triple Option. This may not be the most appealing proposition, but hear me out:
1. The Triple Option is all about the OL and finding a QB that can run it effectively and efficiently. The thing about the Triple Option, at least IMO, is that you're typically not going to be recruiting the top players in the country for it. It's a schematic fit that a lot of players may not be fit for as it requires more than just skill -- the Triple Option is the ultimate TEAM offense and there are a lot of equal parts to it with very few "stars", outside of 1 or 2 RBs and the QB. And if you're a RB or a QB who signed up for this offense, why would you go elsewhere, past NIL? To be frank, the kind of players that would choose to play in this kind of offense aren't typically going to be the variety that are overly concerned with NIL deals and a lot will come in as under the radar players with chips on their shoulder and a drive to prove they belong. It's a different animal and requires a different kind of football player (in today's day and age) to succeed.
2. This is the most important aspect in my mind: NOBODY RUNS THIS OFFENSE IN DIVISION 1 FOOTBALL. Well, a few teams do -- your Service Academies and possibly a couple FCS schools. But no P5 schools run this offense anymore. It's a unicorn for today's defenses and DC's to try and scheme for as you just don't see it at the FBS level. The ONLY way Mizzou will be competitive in the SEC is to be uniquely innovative and to develop their recruits within their scheme better than 95% of the other staffs out there. When you're at such a disadvantage, instead of trying to buck up beyond your means and do what everyone else does, it's sometimes necessary to look in the mirror and realize that unless things change monumentally, accept what you are and make the best of it. Aside from monster donors joining the Mizzou NIL Collective pool, Mizzou just won't compete at a level above their SEC peers.
3. The Triple Option keeps the opposing defense off the field. It's that simple. If the Service Academies, with all their recruiting disadvantages, can have the top 2 rushing offenses in the country (yes, I know, they run the ball 85% of the time, so statistically this is going to happen) and have the 3rd academy rank 8th (Navy) and have all three teams in the top 25 in CFB for TOP, that's not nothin'. Most years, you're going to see those 3 teams in the top 10 if not top 5 for TOP. If I was Mizzou's coach and changing up to the Triple Option, I do believe it would still be important to have a passing game where you're throwing the ball 15-20 times a game to keep the defense honest. If you're Mizzou, how do you compete with uptempo teams like Tennessee where you're so overmatched defensively that you have to hope to put up 50 and outscore them? You keep their offense off the field. Yeah, it didn't work this year, but that's largely how you have to do it unless you're Georgia, and you can out-athlete and out-scheme them.
I know this is a preposterous notion and something that's probably 0.0001% likely to happen, but this is what I'd do to try and get Mizzou to punch above their weight in the SEC. Similar to the Paul Johnson GT teams that had a really good run in the ACC. Below is a blasphemous article written by someone who's either a kU fan or a writer for kU, but this reading does highlight some of my thoughts on why this could be an effective avenue for Mizzou to eventually take. Admittedly, I'm a big fan of defensive slugfests and well-executed offenses, whether they're high octane or grind it out and the Triple Option is more appealing to me because of that. But logically (at least in my warped reality) this would make sense for a school like Mizzou who's perpetually behind their SEC peers and about to drop even further down the totem pole with the addition of OU/Texas.
www.sportsinfosolutions.com
1. The Triple Option is all about the OL and finding a QB that can run it effectively and efficiently. The thing about the Triple Option, at least IMO, is that you're typically not going to be recruiting the top players in the country for it. It's a schematic fit that a lot of players may not be fit for as it requires more than just skill -- the Triple Option is the ultimate TEAM offense and there are a lot of equal parts to it with very few "stars", outside of 1 or 2 RBs and the QB. And if you're a RB or a QB who signed up for this offense, why would you go elsewhere, past NIL? To be frank, the kind of players that would choose to play in this kind of offense aren't typically going to be the variety that are overly concerned with NIL deals and a lot will come in as under the radar players with chips on their shoulder and a drive to prove they belong. It's a different animal and requires a different kind of football player (in today's day and age) to succeed.
2. This is the most important aspect in my mind: NOBODY RUNS THIS OFFENSE IN DIVISION 1 FOOTBALL. Well, a few teams do -- your Service Academies and possibly a couple FCS schools. But no P5 schools run this offense anymore. It's a unicorn for today's defenses and DC's to try and scheme for as you just don't see it at the FBS level. The ONLY way Mizzou will be competitive in the SEC is to be uniquely innovative and to develop their recruits within their scheme better than 95% of the other staffs out there. When you're at such a disadvantage, instead of trying to buck up beyond your means and do what everyone else does, it's sometimes necessary to look in the mirror and realize that unless things change monumentally, accept what you are and make the best of it. Aside from monster donors joining the Mizzou NIL Collective pool, Mizzou just won't compete at a level above their SEC peers.
3. The Triple Option keeps the opposing defense off the field. It's that simple. If the Service Academies, with all their recruiting disadvantages, can have the top 2 rushing offenses in the country (yes, I know, they run the ball 85% of the time, so statistically this is going to happen) and have the 3rd academy rank 8th (Navy) and have all three teams in the top 25 in CFB for TOP, that's not nothin'. Most years, you're going to see those 3 teams in the top 10 if not top 5 for TOP. If I was Mizzou's coach and changing up to the Triple Option, I do believe it would still be important to have a passing game where you're throwing the ball 15-20 times a game to keep the defense honest. If you're Mizzou, how do you compete with uptempo teams like Tennessee where you're so overmatched defensively that you have to hope to put up 50 and outscore them? You keep their offense off the field. Yeah, it didn't work this year, but that's largely how you have to do it unless you're Georgia, and you can out-athlete and out-scheme them.
I know this is a preposterous notion and something that's probably 0.0001% likely to happen, but this is what I'd do to try and get Mizzou to punch above their weight in the SEC. Similar to the Paul Johnson GT teams that had a really good run in the ACC. Below is a blasphemous article written by someone who's either a kU fan or a writer for kU, but this reading does highlight some of my thoughts on why this could be an effective avenue for Mizzou to eventually take. Admittedly, I'm a big fan of defensive slugfests and well-executed offenses, whether they're high octane or grind it out and the Triple Option is more appealing to me because of that. But logically (at least in my warped reality) this would make sense for a school like Mizzou who's perpetually behind their SEC peers and about to drop even further down the totem pole with the addition of OU/Texas.
Why Kansas Should Embrace The Triple Option
Kansas has had so little success trying the conventional ways so honestly, what does it have to lose?
www.sportsinfosolutions.com
