Missouri is beating Kentucky at its own game so far. The Tiger defense has been spectacular. The offense has been run-heavy and fairly conservative, but effective. Mizzou held the ball for more than 18 minutes. Kentucky's average field position is its own 18-yard line. So all of that is good. But honestly, after that first half, you would like to be leading by more than a touchdown. Missouri was quite clearly the better team in the first 20 minutes.
One thing that jumped out to me is how much less aggressive Eli Drinkwitz has been this week compared to last week. They did have the flea flicker on the first play and go for it on one fourth down, but Mizzou also punted from the UK side of the field once and settled for the field goal from the one on the last play of the half (which I get, especially in this game, but I would have been really tempted to hand the ball to Larry Rountree and trust he can gain a yard). Connor Bazelak has pretty clearly been instructed not to take unnecessary shots downfield unless someone is wide open. I would expect that will remain the case in the second half, unless Kentucky comes out and takes the lead. By the way, that was a heck of a play by Bazelak to dodge the blitzer and hit Chism on that last drive. He continues to impress me with his poise.
The defense has been great, but it's definitely been helped by Kentucky having zero competent passers. I will be curious to see if the Wildcats stick with Joey Gatewood or go back to Terry Wilson in the second half. Mizzou is definitely playing the run first and foremost, especially on the early downs (as it should). Opponents are now 1-17 on third down across the last two games. That's quite good. Nick Bolton and Martez Manuel have been everywhere.
Really the only knock on that first half was the penalties. Mizzou has four for 34 yards, Kentucky doesn't have any. Scoring on this first drive of the second half would be huge. Kentucky is not a team built to overcome two-score deficits.
One thing that jumped out to me is how much less aggressive Eli Drinkwitz has been this week compared to last week. They did have the flea flicker on the first play and go for it on one fourth down, but Mizzou also punted from the UK side of the field once and settled for the field goal from the one on the last play of the half (which I get, especially in this game, but I would have been really tempted to hand the ball to Larry Rountree and trust he can gain a yard). Connor Bazelak has pretty clearly been instructed not to take unnecessary shots downfield unless someone is wide open. I would expect that will remain the case in the second half, unless Kentucky comes out and takes the lead. By the way, that was a heck of a play by Bazelak to dodge the blitzer and hit Chism on that last drive. He continues to impress me with his poise.
The defense has been great, but it's definitely been helped by Kentucky having zero competent passers. I will be curious to see if the Wildcats stick with Joey Gatewood or go back to Terry Wilson in the second half. Mizzou is definitely playing the run first and foremost, especially on the early downs (as it should). Opponents are now 1-17 on third down across the last two games. That's quite good. Nick Bolton and Martez Manuel have been everywhere.
Really the only knock on that first half was the penalties. Mizzou has four for 34 yards, Kentucky doesn't have any. Scoring on this first drive of the second half would be huge. Kentucky is not a team built to overcome two-score deficits.
