- Well, that went pretty much as expected. Unless Alabama came out sloppy and made a bunch of mistakes, this was just never going to be a very competitive game. Alabama is more talented, more experienced and blasts Power Five teams to open the season every year. My point here is there’s no reason to get too down on this team quite yet. Alabama might be the best team in the country and is going to blow out a lot of opponents this season. Mizzou has some things to fix, but it’s way too early to push the panic button.
- The biggest concern has to be the pass rush. Last season, Missouri didn’t get a ton of pass rush from its front four, but the defense was still solid, in large part because they didn’t play very many dynamic quarterbacks. Against a solid quarterback and elite receivers tonight, the secondary had no chance because Mac Jones basically stood back there like he was playing seven-on-seven every time he dropped back. The defensive ends, characteristically, never made an impact play, at least until Alabama put in its second-string. I actually thought Trajan Jeffcoat looked like the best player among the group despite the fact that he hadn’t played in a football game in almost two years. The fear that Kobie Whiteside would take a step back without Jordan Elliott playing next to him appears to be valid. No other defensive tackles appeared to get much push. Now, it is worth noting that Alabama might have the best offensive line in the SEC, so I’m not trying to say the pass rush can never get it together. But it absolutely has to be more disruptive than it was tonight if the defense is going to have a chance to keep this team in games. Also, Mizzou will hope the injury to Jarvis Ware isn’t too serious.
- Obviously, the offense wasn’t perfect. But I didn’t think it looked totally hopeless, like we saw at times during the second half of last season. Let’s start by talking about the quarterback play. Shawn Robinson started, as expected, and got the vast majority of snaps. It looks like he’s the starter going forward unless he gets hurt or really struggles. He made some very nice plays. A couple throws to Hazelton, one where he took a hit and delivered over the middle, the other the deep out in the red zone, come to mind. He also made some bad plays, most notably the errant pitch to Knox that became a turnover. His reads in the read-option game left a bit to be desired. I thought he got better as the game went along, which isn’t unusual for someone who sat out all of last year. I also thought he tried to hang onto the ball too long a few times trying to make a play, which is something that can be easily corrected. Overall, he seemed a lot like what we were told about him: athletic, strong arm, inconsistent accuracy and decision-making. I’m not ready to really register a judgment on him yet, though. Bazelak made a really nice throw to Hazelton on his one possession in the second quarter that Hazelton couldn’t haul in, but he also completely missed a wide open Keke Chism on third down for what would have been an easy conversion. I really didn't pay attention to his final drive because I was writing this.
- No surprise, the offensive line looked a bit overmatched, especially in pass protection. Missouri only allowed three sacks, but Robinson was under pressure a lot. I will try to ask Eli Drinkwitz this during the postgame, but I have to think that’s the main reason why we saw so few downfield shots from the offense. Again, Alabama’s defensive line is very good, so maybe that gets better, especially if this starting five didn’t get to practice together much during camp. They were definitely better in the run game. I thought Larry Rountree III ran more like 2018 Larry Rountree than the 2019 version, so that’s good.
- So, what did we learn about the Drinkwitz offense? They utilized a lot of motion and a lot of quick-hitting passes that are basically extensions of the running game: jet sweeps, swing passes, quick screens. A fair amount of play-action in the passing game. Reminded me a bit of the LA Rams offense. I think this offense will fit Jalen Knox much better, and Kris Abrams-Draine seems like the kind of playmaker who can line up in a lot of places and be successful as he gets more experience. It wasn’t very effective tonight (until the end), but there were about 10 quarterback runs called. I think that number will stay the same or grow moving forward. I’m surprised we didn’t see at least a few deep shots in the passing game (at least before garbage time). Even if the offensive line play doesn’t improve, at some point, they have to try to stretch the field or else defenses will do what they did last season against Mizzou. Finally, the offense definitely sped up the tempo after the initial first down of a drive, which was effective at times. I think Tennessee will be a more representative test next week.
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