The phrase that comes to mind to describe that performance: complimentary football. It's one of those cliches you hear coaches throw out all the time, usually to say their team didn't play "complimentary football," without ever really getting an explanation for what complimentary football actually looks like. This was it. Missouri's game plan was clear. It wasn't going to run a bunch of gimmick plays and take a bunch of risks and throw the ball down the field like against LSU. It was going to lean on the running game and take what Kentucky gave it on offense, even if that meant only scoring 20 points, and then trust its defense to make sure 20 was enough to win. The players executed to perfection. Drinkwitz summed it up perfectly with this quote: "Both sides of the ball, they played the game exactly like we wanted it to be played in order to win, and that doesn’t happen very often."
I'm impressed with both the coaches' and quarterback's ability to transition so sharply from what we saw offensively against LSU to what we saw tonight and still execute. You've heard me say this a few times tonight: Mizzou beat Kentucky at its own game. To do that, the coaching staff had to trust that this team could win in a way it hasn't won a game before this season. Connor Bazelak had to refrain from trying to be the hero and be content with just handing off and checking down. There was definitely a part of me that was curious if the offensive success against LSU was a Mississippi State situation — if it had more to do with LSU being bad on defense than Mizzou being sustainably good on offense. The offense was far from perfect tonight, but I come out of this game feeling really good about its ability to do what needs to be done to win. It has honestly dominated its opponent for two games now.
Larry Rountree III is a stud who deserves the career accolades he's receiving. It's rare to find a player tough enough to handle 37 carries in one game but also humble enough not to ask for the ball more in other games. The wideouts didn't have to make a ton of plays, but once again, they caught the ball, which was huge in a game with limited possessions. Special shoutout to the offensive line. The group that came into the season looking like it might be a massive weakness pushed around a really solid defensive front today, and it did so with a true freshman (Dylan Spencer) playing most of the game and its most productive player this year, Larry Borom, out for the fourth quarter. I know there have been questions about Marcus Johnson's ability to recruit, but it sure looks like he can coach.
The defense just keeps getting better. After the Tennessee game, I was very skeptical when Ryan Walters said the run defense's issues stemmed more from confusion than ability. I believe him now. Kentucky is one of the best running teams in the country and Mizzou bottled them up all night while still playing shorthanded on the defensive line. And as we saw, if you can do that, Kentucky's quarterbacks are not remotely good enough to consistently make plays in obvious passing situations. Prediction, and not just based off tonight: Ryan Walters will be a head coach somewhere next season.
Overall, for Mizzou to be 2-2 at this point is pretty remarkable. I would not have predicted that coming into the season. I certainly wouldn't have after the Tennessee loss. Eli Drinkwitz deserves all the love I'm sure he's getting on this board for that. I think 5-5 is a very reasonable expectation for this season, with six wins (the equivalent of nine or 10 in a normal year) not out of the question. More than that, Drinkwitz and his staff keep providing more reasons to be optimistic for the future. They're recruiting at a higher level than we saw from the last staff, and they have backed that up with results we rarely saw (win over a ranked team) or never saw (beating Kentucky) from the Barry Odom regime.
Notebook is already posted and I'll have the grade card in the morning. Read it all and watch the YouTube videos. Peace.
I'm impressed with both the coaches' and quarterback's ability to transition so sharply from what we saw offensively against LSU to what we saw tonight and still execute. You've heard me say this a few times tonight: Mizzou beat Kentucky at its own game. To do that, the coaching staff had to trust that this team could win in a way it hasn't won a game before this season. Connor Bazelak had to refrain from trying to be the hero and be content with just handing off and checking down. There was definitely a part of me that was curious if the offensive success against LSU was a Mississippi State situation — if it had more to do with LSU being bad on defense than Mizzou being sustainably good on offense. The offense was far from perfect tonight, but I come out of this game feeling really good about its ability to do what needs to be done to win. It has honestly dominated its opponent for two games now.
Larry Rountree III is a stud who deserves the career accolades he's receiving. It's rare to find a player tough enough to handle 37 carries in one game but also humble enough not to ask for the ball more in other games. The wideouts didn't have to make a ton of plays, but once again, they caught the ball, which was huge in a game with limited possessions. Special shoutout to the offensive line. The group that came into the season looking like it might be a massive weakness pushed around a really solid defensive front today, and it did so with a true freshman (Dylan Spencer) playing most of the game and its most productive player this year, Larry Borom, out for the fourth quarter. I know there have been questions about Marcus Johnson's ability to recruit, but it sure looks like he can coach.
The defense just keeps getting better. After the Tennessee game, I was very skeptical when Ryan Walters said the run defense's issues stemmed more from confusion than ability. I believe him now. Kentucky is one of the best running teams in the country and Mizzou bottled them up all night while still playing shorthanded on the defensive line. And as we saw, if you can do that, Kentucky's quarterbacks are not remotely good enough to consistently make plays in obvious passing situations. Prediction, and not just based off tonight: Ryan Walters will be a head coach somewhere next season.
Overall, for Mizzou to be 2-2 at this point is pretty remarkable. I would not have predicted that coming into the season. I certainly wouldn't have after the Tennessee loss. Eli Drinkwitz deserves all the love I'm sure he's getting on this board for that. I think 5-5 is a very reasonable expectation for this season, with six wins (the equivalent of nine or 10 in a normal year) not out of the question. More than that, Drinkwitz and his staff keep providing more reasons to be optimistic for the future. They're recruiting at a higher level than we saw from the last staff, and they have backed that up with results we rarely saw (win over a ranked team) or never saw (beating Kentucky) from the Barry Odom regime.
Notebook is already posted and I'll have the grade card in the morning. Read it all and watch the YouTube videos. Peace.
