* Eli Drinkwitz has been fond of telling us that explosive plays are the number one indicator of which team is going to win a college football game. This game would provide good evidence for that theory. Missouri moved the ball pretty well all game long against Arkansas. But the Tigers couldn’t ever break a big play, and the offense eventually got bogged down in Razorback territory. Mizzou had one play go for more than 20 yards. Arkansas, meanwhile, hit six plays of 30 yards or more. All six plays led to points.
* The Mizzou defense mostly played well. The Tigers held Arkansas, which entered the game ranked 13th nationally in run offense, to 145 yards on the ground. Forty-nine of those yards came on one play. The big plays are an issue, for sure. But there’s still reason to be optimistic about a defensive coordinator and a unit that looked absolutely incompetent six weeks ago.
* Of course, the majority of the attention is going to be on the Tiger offense after this one. Specifically, the passing game. Connor Bazelak’s final stat line of 10-26 for 65 yards is brutal. That’s the lowest yardage total by far since Bazelak took over as the starter. It might not be popular to point this out, but Bazelak wasn’t the only player at fault. He had several wide receivers simply fall down before or after catching the ball, and aside from one play where Boo Smith got behind everyone in the first quarter and Bazelak missed him, no pass-catchers got much separation. The Tiger offensive line also struggled. But Bazelak is the quarterback, so he’s going to get all the blame, and most of that is fair. His miss of Smith is a play that can’t happen if you want to pull an upset as a two-touchdown underdog. And even if no one was ever wide open, you need to be able to throw your receivers open if you’re going to play quarterback in the SEC. Bazelak rarely, if ever, did that. He just looks like he has no confidence or rhythm back there.
* I’m sure some of the blame has also been directed toward the head coach, and I can’t really argue with that either. Hindsight would make it pretty easy to argue that Drinkwitz should have pulled Bazelak for Brady Cook much sooner. I actually believe Drinkwitz when he’s said Bazelak gives the team the best chance to win, in his opinion. He might be wrong, but I don’t think the decision was made based on loyalty or any other conspiracy theory. But even if Drinkwitz is correct that Bazelak gives the team the best chance to win (and he sure should be since he’s paid $4 million a year to make the correct determination), there’s still room to be upset with him. First of all, he’s the quarterbacks coach. If a guy regresses like Bazelak has this season, he bears some responsibility for that. Also, if Cook is bad enough that he couldn’t have provided a better option today, Drinkwitz should have gone looking for a backup QB at some point in the offseason. You can’t try to make it through a season with one competent option behind center. I will be very interested to see how things shake out at that position during the offseason. I don’t want to speculate on transfers, but I certainly wouldn’t be surprised if Cook looks elsewhere given that he couldn’t start the past few weeks. At that point, do you try your luck with a guy who really struggled down the stretch and who the fans probably will never support again along with two freshmen who have barely played at the college level? Or do you go out and try to find a grad transfer, even if it means Bazelak then might transfer? I don’t know the answer to that question.
* While the result wasn’t what Mizzou fans wanted, Tyler Badie deserves a moment of recognition. He has now officially recorded the best single rushing season in Missouri history. He finished the game with a career-high 41 carries for 219 yards and a touchdown. It’s his fifth 200-yard game of the season. That’s bonkers. Today once again proved that Badie IS the offense, and without him Mizzou might have two wins right now. Badie finished with 214 of Missouri’s 316 total yards. That’s insane. If this is the last we’ve seen of him in a Mizzou uniform (hopefully we’ll get a chance to talk to him postgame and ask about his plans for the bowl game, although I don’t expect a definitive answer), it’s been a hell of a performance.
* How much does this result change the way we view the season? That’s kind of up to each individual. This loss wasn’t pretty (and uncompetitive losses continue to pile up under Drinkwitz), but Mizzou pretty clearly lost to a better team. I don’t think we’re anywhere near where we were after the Tennessee or A&M games in terms of disappointment, and the fact that this team rallied and made a bowl game after some people were talking about four wins midway through the season is still impressive. But losing today pretty much means that this can’t be the season Mizzou fans hoped it would be going in. But the good news is there’s still a bowl game to be played and the recruiting continues to be good and I don’t think there’s any reason to jump ship on Drinkwitz or anything like that based on today. Much more coverage to come.
* The Mizzou defense mostly played well. The Tigers held Arkansas, which entered the game ranked 13th nationally in run offense, to 145 yards on the ground. Forty-nine of those yards came on one play. The big plays are an issue, for sure. But there’s still reason to be optimistic about a defensive coordinator and a unit that looked absolutely incompetent six weeks ago.
* Of course, the majority of the attention is going to be on the Tiger offense after this one. Specifically, the passing game. Connor Bazelak’s final stat line of 10-26 for 65 yards is brutal. That’s the lowest yardage total by far since Bazelak took over as the starter. It might not be popular to point this out, but Bazelak wasn’t the only player at fault. He had several wide receivers simply fall down before or after catching the ball, and aside from one play where Boo Smith got behind everyone in the first quarter and Bazelak missed him, no pass-catchers got much separation. The Tiger offensive line also struggled. But Bazelak is the quarterback, so he’s going to get all the blame, and most of that is fair. His miss of Smith is a play that can’t happen if you want to pull an upset as a two-touchdown underdog. And even if no one was ever wide open, you need to be able to throw your receivers open if you’re going to play quarterback in the SEC. Bazelak rarely, if ever, did that. He just looks like he has no confidence or rhythm back there.
* I’m sure some of the blame has also been directed toward the head coach, and I can’t really argue with that either. Hindsight would make it pretty easy to argue that Drinkwitz should have pulled Bazelak for Brady Cook much sooner. I actually believe Drinkwitz when he’s said Bazelak gives the team the best chance to win, in his opinion. He might be wrong, but I don’t think the decision was made based on loyalty or any other conspiracy theory. But even if Drinkwitz is correct that Bazelak gives the team the best chance to win (and he sure should be since he’s paid $4 million a year to make the correct determination), there’s still room to be upset with him. First of all, he’s the quarterbacks coach. If a guy regresses like Bazelak has this season, he bears some responsibility for that. Also, if Cook is bad enough that he couldn’t have provided a better option today, Drinkwitz should have gone looking for a backup QB at some point in the offseason. You can’t try to make it through a season with one competent option behind center. I will be very interested to see how things shake out at that position during the offseason. I don’t want to speculate on transfers, but I certainly wouldn’t be surprised if Cook looks elsewhere given that he couldn’t start the past few weeks. At that point, do you try your luck with a guy who really struggled down the stretch and who the fans probably will never support again along with two freshmen who have barely played at the college level? Or do you go out and try to find a grad transfer, even if it means Bazelak then might transfer? I don’t know the answer to that question.
* While the result wasn’t what Mizzou fans wanted, Tyler Badie deserves a moment of recognition. He has now officially recorded the best single rushing season in Missouri history. He finished the game with a career-high 41 carries for 219 yards and a touchdown. It’s his fifth 200-yard game of the season. That’s bonkers. Today once again proved that Badie IS the offense, and without him Mizzou might have two wins right now. Badie finished with 214 of Missouri’s 316 total yards. That’s insane. If this is the last we’ve seen of him in a Mizzou uniform (hopefully we’ll get a chance to talk to him postgame and ask about his plans for the bowl game, although I don’t expect a definitive answer), it’s been a hell of a performance.
* How much does this result change the way we view the season? That’s kind of up to each individual. This loss wasn’t pretty (and uncompetitive losses continue to pile up under Drinkwitz), but Mizzou pretty clearly lost to a better team. I don’t think we’re anywhere near where we were after the Tennessee or A&M games in terms of disappointment, and the fact that this team rallied and made a bowl game after some people were talking about four wins midway through the season is still impressive. But losing today pretty much means that this can’t be the season Mizzou fans hoped it would be going in. But the good news is there’s still a bowl game to be played and the recruiting continues to be good and I don’t think there’s any reason to jump ship on Drinkwitz or anything like that based on today. Much more coverage to come.
