Five quickies before we get to the meat of the post-game coverage
1. This offense has a lot of problems. Is quarterback one? Yep. But so is running back (even after Russell Hansbrough returns, there's not much beyond him). So is the offensive line. So are the receivers. The one play Missouri really made all day came courtesy of former walk-on tailback Tyler Hunt. Hell, maybe he's the answer to the offensive issues. There sure don't appear to be any others out there right now.
2. The defense, though, not so much. The Tigers have given up 29 points in three games. No opponent has yet reached 300 yards. Maybe most impressively, 16 of those points have come off Missouri turnovers where the opponent started the drive in Tiger territory. So opponents have scored only 13 points on drives which started on their own side of the 50 and did not start as a result of a Tiger turnover.
3. Just a note: This is the first Missouri win in which the Tigers scored fewer than ten points since a 3-0 victory over Notre Dame. The Irish QB in that game was some kid named Joe Montana.
4. Missouri does deserve a bit of credit for hanging on to win. But what the heck was UCONN doing? If you're going to go for it on fourth and six, just leave your offense out there and go for it. If you send the field goal team out, especially after a timeout, kick the field goal. Missouri would have to be brain dead to not be on high alert for a fake there, especially after, as Pinkel said, UCONN tried "every fake in the history of fakes" today.
5. All is not lost. I get why you're concerned. Missouri isn't going to win much in the SEC scoring seven offensive points. You might beat Vandy that way, but that's it. So I'm not saying there shouldn't be a high level of worry. However, a year ago to the week, we were covering a loss to Indiana (in which, ironically, the defense was the big problem). And we all pretty much said, "This team shouldn't be ranked and might not win another game and you can damn sure forget about Atlanta." That worked out okay. So, yes, be concerned. But Gary Pinkel's got a decent track record of fixing problems. He's got plenty of them to fix right now.
1. This offense has a lot of problems. Is quarterback one? Yep. But so is running back (even after Russell Hansbrough returns, there's not much beyond him). So is the offensive line. So are the receivers. The one play Missouri really made all day came courtesy of former walk-on tailback Tyler Hunt. Hell, maybe he's the answer to the offensive issues. There sure don't appear to be any others out there right now.
2. The defense, though, not so much. The Tigers have given up 29 points in three games. No opponent has yet reached 300 yards. Maybe most impressively, 16 of those points have come off Missouri turnovers where the opponent started the drive in Tiger territory. So opponents have scored only 13 points on drives which started on their own side of the 50 and did not start as a result of a Tiger turnover.
3. Just a note: This is the first Missouri win in which the Tigers scored fewer than ten points since a 3-0 victory over Notre Dame. The Irish QB in that game was some kid named Joe Montana.
4. Missouri does deserve a bit of credit for hanging on to win. But what the heck was UCONN doing? If you're going to go for it on fourth and six, just leave your offense out there and go for it. If you send the field goal team out, especially after a timeout, kick the field goal. Missouri would have to be brain dead to not be on high alert for a fake there, especially after, as Pinkel said, UCONN tried "every fake in the history of fakes" today.
5. All is not lost. I get why you're concerned. Missouri isn't going to win much in the SEC scoring seven offensive points. You might beat Vandy that way, but that's it. So I'm not saying there shouldn't be a high level of worry. However, a year ago to the week, we were covering a loss to Indiana (in which, ironically, the defense was the big problem). And we all pretty much said, "This team shouldn't be ranked and might not win another game and you can damn sure forget about Atlanta." That worked out okay. So, yes, be concerned. But Gary Pinkel's got a decent track record of fixing problems. He's got plenty of them to fix right now.
