So my Ten Thoughts on the College Football Weekend will go every Sunday morning and will largely have to do with what happened outside of Columbia. For Monday morning's thoughts, I'm going to focus more on Mizzou. An extra 24 hours distance from the game generally helps digest some things. We'll throw some leftover quotes, thoughts, whatever in here and maybe look forward to the opponent a little bit.
The only exception will be thoughts 9 and 10 which will still be my media (listening, watching, reading) recommendations for the week. I've gotten popular feedback on those and I enjoy doing them. So let's go...
1. As I wrote on Saturday evening, the best news is that there wasn't any bad news. You can't draw conclusions off game one against an FCS team, at least not positive ones. Drew Lock and Emanuel Hall should embarrass an FCS secondary. The defense should--minus a play here and there because it's not a video game--have little issue with an FCS offense. Those things happened and that's a very good thing. I really can't imagine anyone seeing anything (with your head and your eyes, not your heart) that would change your outlook on the season based on Saturday, but again, that's a good thing.
2. If I had to pick a player that impressed me the most that I wasn't necessarily expecting, it would be defensive tackle Jordan Elliott. There was a stretch in the second quarter where he spent a lot of time in the UT-M backfield. We heard a lot about Elliott in the spring, but that always tends to happen with transfers. I find some of the talk about guys who are sitting out dominating the scout team to usually be hyperbolic. Then, lo and behold, I started hearing some talk this fall that maybe he didn't bring it every day and that there were always reasons guys transferred. But I thought he was the defensive lineman that flashed on Saturday. Even more than Terry Beckner Jr.
3. The line as a whole--specifically the pass rush--did leave me wanting a little bit more. But honestly, I think that has more to do with UT-Martin's game plan than anything. They knew they were overmatched out front and they aren't going to sit there and let Beckner, Elliott and company tee off on their QB and mess up the rest of the year. The Skyhawks came for a paycheck and understanding they had less chance to win this game than any of the other 11 on the schedule. Short drops, get rid of the ball quickly, get back home with everyone intact.
4. I like the new redshirt rule. Missouri played 14 true freshmen on Saturday. Of those, I'd expect Jalen Knox, Dominic Gicinto, Tyler Badie, Kam Scott and Nick Bolton to already be in the rotation and playing well beyond the first four games. I think Daniel Parker Jr. is a strong possibility for that role as well. I think Trajan Jeffcoat has a chance to work himself into it in the next couple weeks. Other than that, I think most of the guys will play four games at some point during the year and keep the eligibility, but somebody like Jatorian Hansford, Khmari Thompson or Tyrone Collins could make a strong impression and change that.
5. I found it interesting that given the opportunity to name Tyler Powell the No. 2 QB after the game, Barry Odom didn't do it. I thought Powell was fine. Not great. He made one very nice throw to Hall and had another one dropped, but he also got a great catch from Jalen Knox to pad the stats and only led Missouri to six points after the Tigers had scored 45 in their first seven possessions. Powell got clear No. 2 playing time while Micah Wilson didn't come in until late, but I don't think it's a reflection that Powell is necessarily the guy if Drew Lock goes down. I think Missouri knows more about what it has in Wilson. He played some last year, he's been 2 or 3 on the depth chart all along. With Powell, I think they want to see him in action in a low pressure situation to see what he can do on Saturday. If Lock were to go down early against Wyoming, I wouldn't be at all surprised to see Wilson be the guy that got the call. I think Powell is a guy they're going to give some chances and see what they have, but I don't know if we'll ever have a clear cut No. 2 if Lock stays healthy.
The only exception will be thoughts 9 and 10 which will still be my media (listening, watching, reading) recommendations for the week. I've gotten popular feedback on those and I enjoy doing them. So let's go...
1. As I wrote on Saturday evening, the best news is that there wasn't any bad news. You can't draw conclusions off game one against an FCS team, at least not positive ones. Drew Lock and Emanuel Hall should embarrass an FCS secondary. The defense should--minus a play here and there because it's not a video game--have little issue with an FCS offense. Those things happened and that's a very good thing. I really can't imagine anyone seeing anything (with your head and your eyes, not your heart) that would change your outlook on the season based on Saturday, but again, that's a good thing.
2. If I had to pick a player that impressed me the most that I wasn't necessarily expecting, it would be defensive tackle Jordan Elliott. There was a stretch in the second quarter where he spent a lot of time in the UT-M backfield. We heard a lot about Elliott in the spring, but that always tends to happen with transfers. I find some of the talk about guys who are sitting out dominating the scout team to usually be hyperbolic. Then, lo and behold, I started hearing some talk this fall that maybe he didn't bring it every day and that there were always reasons guys transferred. But I thought he was the defensive lineman that flashed on Saturday. Even more than Terry Beckner Jr.
3. The line as a whole--specifically the pass rush--did leave me wanting a little bit more. But honestly, I think that has more to do with UT-Martin's game plan than anything. They knew they were overmatched out front and they aren't going to sit there and let Beckner, Elliott and company tee off on their QB and mess up the rest of the year. The Skyhawks came for a paycheck and understanding they had less chance to win this game than any of the other 11 on the schedule. Short drops, get rid of the ball quickly, get back home with everyone intact.
4. I like the new redshirt rule. Missouri played 14 true freshmen on Saturday. Of those, I'd expect Jalen Knox, Dominic Gicinto, Tyler Badie, Kam Scott and Nick Bolton to already be in the rotation and playing well beyond the first four games. I think Daniel Parker Jr. is a strong possibility for that role as well. I think Trajan Jeffcoat has a chance to work himself into it in the next couple weeks. Other than that, I think most of the guys will play four games at some point during the year and keep the eligibility, but somebody like Jatorian Hansford, Khmari Thompson or Tyrone Collins could make a strong impression and change that.
5. I found it interesting that given the opportunity to name Tyler Powell the No. 2 QB after the game, Barry Odom didn't do it. I thought Powell was fine. Not great. He made one very nice throw to Hall and had another one dropped, but he also got a great catch from Jalen Knox to pad the stats and only led Missouri to six points after the Tigers had scored 45 in their first seven possessions. Powell got clear No. 2 playing time while Micah Wilson didn't come in until late, but I don't think it's a reflection that Powell is necessarily the guy if Drew Lock goes down. I think Missouri knows more about what it has in Wilson. He played some last year, he's been 2 or 3 on the depth chart all along. With Powell, I think they want to see him in action in a low pressure situation to see what he can do on Saturday. If Lock were to go down early against Wyoming, I wouldn't be at all surprised to see Wilson be the guy that got the call. I think Powell is a guy they're going to give some chances and see what they have, but I don't know if we'll ever have a clear cut No. 2 if Lock stays healthy.
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