1) Let me start with this: I’ve covered 20 seasons of Mizzou football including my college days. I’ve watched another 10-15 from afar. I’ve seen only one game that I can remember coming away as impressed with a coaching staff as I did on Saturday night. In 1997, Larry Smith’s staff REALLY kickstarted the renaissance of Missouri football by taking No. 1 Nebraska to OT in a game the Tigers should have won if not for an illegal (impressive, but still illegal) touchdown at the end of regulation on fourth down. That was a Missouri team that had quite a bit of talent and it would show over the next two years. But on that night, it hadn’t become what it would become. On that night, it was facing the biggest, baddest bully on the block at its best and it went toe to toe and took them to the wire.
This LSU team isn’t as good as that Nebraska team, but this Missouri team isn’t as good as the 1997 version either. Make no mistake: LSU had more talent everywhere than Missouri does. Missouri doesn’t have a guy that can cover Terrace Marshall (although Joshuah Bledsoe did it well for one play, more on that later). Missouri’s starting defensive line shouldn’t be able to tangle with LSU’s offensive line…much less the backups. The Tigers don’t have a receiver outside of Jalen Knox who should be able to consistently get open and dice up the LSU secondary. But those things happened. I’ll get to the X’s and O’s in a minute but just the ability to get this team to forget about everything it’s been through the last seven months (which has gotten worse in the last seven days with all the injuries and absences) and get them to believe they could do what they did on Saturday is incredibly impressive. There were a lot of times on Saturday and a lot of times over the last few months Missouri’s players could have said “This year doesn’t count anyway” and quit. They didn’t. That’s a credit to the coaches (Eli Drinkwitz specifically, but all of them)
2) Okay, now for the X’s and O’s. We saw wildcat with two quarterbacks on the field on the first play. We saw a flea flicker. We saw a reverse flea flicker. We saw jet sweeps and screens and deep balls and a tight end shovel pass (shoutout Andy Reid and Travis Kelce). Maybe Eli Drinkwitz has more plays in the vault, but if he completely emptied it and showed every single thing he had on Saturday, I’d still be impressed. LSU’s defense has better players than Missouri’s offense. By quite a bit. And I don’t want to take credit away from Missouri’s players. They did one hell of a job. But a whole bunch of those nearly 600 yards had a whole hell of a lot to do with scheme.
3) What about the other side of the ball? Ryan Walters is a popular whipping boy. He wasn’t hired by Drinkwitz and his defense has been pushed around a lot in the first two weeks and, yes, even Saturday, it gave up 430 yards passing. You know what? It’s not 1983 anymore. We’ve got to adjust what we think good defensive football is. Okay, so Mizzou gave up 41 points. Every team in the SEC (the conference that prides itself on old man football and 9-6 games) other than Vanderbilt and Mississippi State (which has suddenly forgotten how to score) put up at least 21 points. That was by Tennessee, which faced what many consider the best defense in the country. Ten of the 14 teams in the league scored at least 28 and nine scored 30 or more. Florida scored 38 and lost. Alabama and Ole Miss topped 100, scored on every second half drive and set an SEC record for total offense. In other leagues, Oklahoma and Texas combined for 98 and Florida State and Notre Dame combined for 55 by halftime and North Carolina and Virginia Tech topped 100 between them and good defense just isn’t what you used to think it was. LSU scored 17 points on three drives that covered less than 40 yards. The visiting Tigers took a 38-31 lead with 10:46 left in the third quarter. Here were the LSU drives after that:
7 plays, 37 yards, punt
6 plays, 42 yards, FG
8 plays, 34 yards, Blocked FG
13 plays, 74 yards, turnover on downs
That’s 34 plays for 187 yards over the final four series and 26 minutes. It’s not incredible defense, it’s a little more than five yards a play. But there’s only one number that matters: 3. Three points. In four drives. With the game on the line. When Mizzou had to have it. The defense held LSU to a field goal on the final play of the third quarter to keep it a three-point game. After Mizzou missed a long field goal, LSU took over at its own 39 and drove to the Mizzou 22. The Tigers forced LSU to lose five yards on three plays and then blocked a field goal to keep it a three-point game, allowing the offense to drive for what would end up being the game-winning touchdown with 5:18 to play. Good defense is simply getting enough stops to win the game. Missouri did that.
4) One stop obviously deserves its own section. I went back and watched the goal line stand. First of all, to even get there, we’ve got to credit Adam Sparks for making a tackle on Marshall at the one. Marshall was close to reaching that ball out over the pylon. Sparks had pretty good coverage, but Marshall made a play. Sparks shoved him out three feet short which didn’t seem that important but would become very important. After that here’s how it went:
First down: Trajan Jeffcoat, Markell Utsey, Isaiah McGuire and Tre Williams up front. Nick Bolton came off the offense’s left edge and Martez Manuel crashed off the right to stuff a run for no gain.
Second down: Same players because LSU came immediately to the line and there were no substitutions. Markell Utsey just blew right through his blocker and hit the ballcarrier in the backfield. He didn’t make the tackle, but he slowed the play enough that Manuel and friends cleaned up for no gain.
Third down: Chris Turner replaced Tre Williams up front here. This one was the key. You knew LSU was going to throw because they didn’t have a timeout and if they run and don’t get it they’re in a rush to get another play off. As Marshall runs a quick out to the pylon, the outside receiver cuts inside and absolutely blows Josh Bledsoe up. It’s a pick play, but there’s no chance it would have been called. Bledsoe was on the ground on his back. He was supposed to cover Marshall. Marshall was open. But Bolton recognized where Marshall was headed and where the QB was looking and he stopped his rush. As soon as the throw headed his way he batted it down. Now, we’ve got to criticize Myles Brennan here too. Marshall was open. If he just puts loft on that and throws it over Bolton’s head, it’s almost certainly a game winning touchdown. But he threw it on a line and Bolton was there when Brennan didn’t expect him to be. HUGE play.
Fourth down: Bledsoe again has Marshall (Walters certainly doesn't lack guts, manning up on the LSU receivers there and putting Bledsoe 1-on-1 with a guy that had 235 yards). He runs a quick out on the other side. He probably pushes off. He was open for a split second. But by the time Brennan threw the ball, Bledsoe recovered, got a hand in and knocked the ball down. Clean play. Great play. Game winning play.
5) Singling out guys who stepped up is a little unfair in a game like this because everyone who played contributed to this win. But Isaiah McGuire is starting somewhere on that line for me the rest of the year. End, tackle, whatever. He emerged. Utsey made plays. You might know he was the only scholarship defensive tackle who had played a single snap before Saturday (he might still be, I don’t know if Ben Key played or not). Offensively, Dionte Smith and Chance Luper and Micah Wilson and Tauskie Dove just combined for 16 catches for 251 yards and two touchdowns in a win over the defending national champions. Let that sentence sink in. Oh, and Niko Hea, who was offered a scholarship about 12 hours before signing day (it was more than that, but not a lot) as a tight end despite being a wide receiver in high school, caught the game-winning touchdown pass.
This LSU team isn’t as good as that Nebraska team, but this Missouri team isn’t as good as the 1997 version either. Make no mistake: LSU had more talent everywhere than Missouri does. Missouri doesn’t have a guy that can cover Terrace Marshall (although Joshuah Bledsoe did it well for one play, more on that later). Missouri’s starting defensive line shouldn’t be able to tangle with LSU’s offensive line…much less the backups. The Tigers don’t have a receiver outside of Jalen Knox who should be able to consistently get open and dice up the LSU secondary. But those things happened. I’ll get to the X’s and O’s in a minute but just the ability to get this team to forget about everything it’s been through the last seven months (which has gotten worse in the last seven days with all the injuries and absences) and get them to believe they could do what they did on Saturday is incredibly impressive. There were a lot of times on Saturday and a lot of times over the last few months Missouri’s players could have said “This year doesn’t count anyway” and quit. They didn’t. That’s a credit to the coaches (Eli Drinkwitz specifically, but all of them)
2) Okay, now for the X’s and O’s. We saw wildcat with two quarterbacks on the field on the first play. We saw a flea flicker. We saw a reverse flea flicker. We saw jet sweeps and screens and deep balls and a tight end shovel pass (shoutout Andy Reid and Travis Kelce). Maybe Eli Drinkwitz has more plays in the vault, but if he completely emptied it and showed every single thing he had on Saturday, I’d still be impressed. LSU’s defense has better players than Missouri’s offense. By quite a bit. And I don’t want to take credit away from Missouri’s players. They did one hell of a job. But a whole bunch of those nearly 600 yards had a whole hell of a lot to do with scheme.
3) What about the other side of the ball? Ryan Walters is a popular whipping boy. He wasn’t hired by Drinkwitz and his defense has been pushed around a lot in the first two weeks and, yes, even Saturday, it gave up 430 yards passing. You know what? It’s not 1983 anymore. We’ve got to adjust what we think good defensive football is. Okay, so Mizzou gave up 41 points. Every team in the SEC (the conference that prides itself on old man football and 9-6 games) other than Vanderbilt and Mississippi State (which has suddenly forgotten how to score) put up at least 21 points. That was by Tennessee, which faced what many consider the best defense in the country. Ten of the 14 teams in the league scored at least 28 and nine scored 30 or more. Florida scored 38 and lost. Alabama and Ole Miss topped 100, scored on every second half drive and set an SEC record for total offense. In other leagues, Oklahoma and Texas combined for 98 and Florida State and Notre Dame combined for 55 by halftime and North Carolina and Virginia Tech topped 100 between them and good defense just isn’t what you used to think it was. LSU scored 17 points on three drives that covered less than 40 yards. The visiting Tigers took a 38-31 lead with 10:46 left in the third quarter. Here were the LSU drives after that:
7 plays, 37 yards, punt
6 plays, 42 yards, FG
8 plays, 34 yards, Blocked FG
13 plays, 74 yards, turnover on downs
That’s 34 plays for 187 yards over the final four series and 26 minutes. It’s not incredible defense, it’s a little more than five yards a play. But there’s only one number that matters: 3. Three points. In four drives. With the game on the line. When Mizzou had to have it. The defense held LSU to a field goal on the final play of the third quarter to keep it a three-point game. After Mizzou missed a long field goal, LSU took over at its own 39 and drove to the Mizzou 22. The Tigers forced LSU to lose five yards on three plays and then blocked a field goal to keep it a three-point game, allowing the offense to drive for what would end up being the game-winning touchdown with 5:18 to play. Good defense is simply getting enough stops to win the game. Missouri did that.
4) One stop obviously deserves its own section. I went back and watched the goal line stand. First of all, to even get there, we’ve got to credit Adam Sparks for making a tackle on Marshall at the one. Marshall was close to reaching that ball out over the pylon. Sparks had pretty good coverage, but Marshall made a play. Sparks shoved him out three feet short which didn’t seem that important but would become very important. After that here’s how it went:
First down: Trajan Jeffcoat, Markell Utsey, Isaiah McGuire and Tre Williams up front. Nick Bolton came off the offense’s left edge and Martez Manuel crashed off the right to stuff a run for no gain.
Second down: Same players because LSU came immediately to the line and there were no substitutions. Markell Utsey just blew right through his blocker and hit the ballcarrier in the backfield. He didn’t make the tackle, but he slowed the play enough that Manuel and friends cleaned up for no gain.
Third down: Chris Turner replaced Tre Williams up front here. This one was the key. You knew LSU was going to throw because they didn’t have a timeout and if they run and don’t get it they’re in a rush to get another play off. As Marshall runs a quick out to the pylon, the outside receiver cuts inside and absolutely blows Josh Bledsoe up. It’s a pick play, but there’s no chance it would have been called. Bledsoe was on the ground on his back. He was supposed to cover Marshall. Marshall was open. But Bolton recognized where Marshall was headed and where the QB was looking and he stopped his rush. As soon as the throw headed his way he batted it down. Now, we’ve got to criticize Myles Brennan here too. Marshall was open. If he just puts loft on that and throws it over Bolton’s head, it’s almost certainly a game winning touchdown. But he threw it on a line and Bolton was there when Brennan didn’t expect him to be. HUGE play.
Fourth down: Bledsoe again has Marshall (Walters certainly doesn't lack guts, manning up on the LSU receivers there and putting Bledsoe 1-on-1 with a guy that had 235 yards). He runs a quick out on the other side. He probably pushes off. He was open for a split second. But by the time Brennan threw the ball, Bledsoe recovered, got a hand in and knocked the ball down. Clean play. Great play. Game winning play.
5) Singling out guys who stepped up is a little unfair in a game like this because everyone who played contributed to this win. But Isaiah McGuire is starting somewhere on that line for me the rest of the year. End, tackle, whatever. He emerged. Utsey made plays. You might know he was the only scholarship defensive tackle who had played a single snap before Saturday (he might still be, I don’t know if Ben Key played or not). Offensively, Dionte Smith and Chance Luper and Micah Wilson and Tauskie Dove just combined for 16 catches for 251 yards and two touchdowns in a win over the defending national champions. Let that sentence sink in. Oh, and Niko Hea, who was offered a scholarship about 12 hours before signing day (it was more than that, but not a lot) as a tight end despite being a wide receiver in high school, caught the game-winning touchdown pass.
