Here's my initial five thoughts from Missouri's 42-7 loss to LSU:
1. Missouri is still a way’s away from being toward the top of the SEC: Yes LSU entered the game at 2-2. Yes they were without their best player and head coach up until this past week. But LSU is still one of the premier programs in college football and Saturday they showed that even with an interim coach and without their best player they can still put on a show. While Missouri has proven in the past that you can win without the best recruiting rankings and facilities, Saturday where the program stands against the conference’s best. The biggest difference is depth. While Missouri has some great players, LSU has a roster full of them.
1. Missouri is still a way’s away from being toward the top of the SEC: Yes LSU entered the game at 2-2. Yes they were without their best player and head coach up until this past week. But LSU is still one of the premier programs in college football and Saturday they showed that even with an interim coach and without their best player they can still put on a show. While Missouri has proven in the past that you can win without the best recruiting rankings and facilities, Saturday where the program stands against the conference’s best. The biggest difference is depth. While Missouri has some great players, LSU has a roster full of them.
- 2. It’s good timing that this game is followed by a bye week: Missouri doesn’t play again until Oct. 15 when they head to Florida and has the rest of the week to flush the game out of their heads and get an early start on the Gators. A lot of the players go home for the weekend and get their mind off of football for the only in-season break they get. That should help some players’ morale.
3. The offense brought some memories back from last year: Missouri didn’t get a first down until the very end of the first quarter and the farthest it got in the first half was the LSU 48-yard line. Aside from a few big gains from Sean Culkin and Ish Witter, Missouri didn’t do anything on offense to threaten LSU. The only touchdown Missouri had was one a trick play where Eric Laurent threw a pass to Drew Lock and that was long after LSU had put the game away. In games against West Virginia, Georgia and LSU, Missouri still looked better offensively than 2015 but not that much better.
4. The running game has been head scratching: Alex Ross didn’t play until the very end of the game, which is puzzling. He could’ve helped a young offense playing in a tough road atmosphere. His experience would’ve been useful to some of the young guys. Last week against Delaware State, Ish Witter didn’t look that great but Damarea Crockett had a field day. Gabe and I both left thinking Crockett would be Missouri’s starting running back going forward. And tonight he was. And he did OK by the rest of the offense’s standards rushing for 35 yards on five carries. But Ish Witter changed my opinion on the run game. He made an instant impact when he came in and I see why the staff trusts him more than the Crockett. He does prove his worth. It will be interesting to see if Nate Strong came jump into the mix once he gets healthy. Odom said earlier this week Strong was close to getting significant playing time before he went down.
5. Leonard who? Meet Derrius Guice: The talk leading up to the game was whether or not Leonard Fournette would play. LSU proved they didn’t need him as the sophomore became the latest SEC back to have his coming out party against Missouri. Guice rushed for 163 yards and three touchdowns and broke only a million tackles the entire night. And the third-stringer Darrel Williams rushed for 130 yards and a trio of touchdowns himself. Whenever Fournette leaves for the NFL, LSU’s running game won’t miss a beat.
