1) I know it kind of doesn't feel like it, but it was a win. For three weeks, a lot of you guys were talking about how close they were to 4-2 or 5-1 and I kept telling you good teams win and bad teams talk about how close they are to winning. Missouri won. If I'm going to withhold credit when they don't get it done, I've got to be willing to give it when they do. They won. It wasn't pretty, but starving men don't turn down a crust of bread. Take the win. 3-4 is a hell of a lot better than 2-5 with a loss to Vandy.
2) Missouri would not have beaten any other SEC team today. I'm not sure it would have beaten any other Power Five team. Vandy looked barely functional on offense most of the day. Missouri's defense deserves some credit for that. But Vandy was a decent kicker away from driving for the win in the final two minutes. And that's not a good Vandy team. I don't know that it's better than the last couple that Missouri has beaten by much more.
3) This is a very, very, very good defense. Maybe even elite. In the first three SEC games, it had surrendered just 67 total points (and 14 of those were thanks to the offense). And it wasn't good enough. To win, the defense had to give up less. So it did. Just 14 points, and seven of those were when the defense was on the sideline. To play the way Missouri has on defense is impressive on its own. To play the way it has when it knows it has to be perfect is even more impressive. The defense made one mistake all day long...and still almost got beat.
4) I'm starting to come around to the idea Kris Abrams-Draine could leave for the NFL. He's elite. I think he is playing at an all-SEC level. He was phenomenal today. Will Sheppard is a very good receiver. He came into this game with 38 catches for 497 yards and eight touchdowns. He had three for 29 today...on 15 targets. Incredible job. And it wasn't all Abrams-Draine. Ennis Rakestraw is looking like the player you all hoped he was when Eli Drinkwitz lost his mind and danced around in the (staged) Twitter video. Teams started the season thinking they could pick on Rakestraw and avoid KAD. They can't.
5) It's really too bad there's another side of the ball. Missouri's offense is just sickening to watch right now. In the first half, the Tigers had 232 yards and 17 points. It was what they should have done against Vanderbilt, which came in ranked 130th in scoring and passing defense and 129th overall. Vandy was giving up 333 yards passing, 493 yards overall and nearly 40 points a game. That included 28 to Northern Illinois and 31 to Frank Haith, Torrence Watson and Elon. So Missouri's first half was a little below the average of what Vandy's previous seven opponents had done. And then the Tigers managed a whopping 76 yards and 0 points in the second half. Vandy had one drive in three SEC games in which it hadn't allowed a first down. Missouri had five of them. Top to bottom failure.
6) If we're assigning blame--and that's kind of what we do here--the offensive line tops the list. It's terrible. Cook might not survive the season. Missouri averaged 4.7 yards per play and 2.7 yards per rush. There are very rarely holes. There is very often pressure. I'd start Armand Membou at right tackle the rest of the season. And I'd give somebody else a shot at the other four positions. I have no idea if they have anyone better on the roster. I know the guys playing aren't doing well enough. They do get credit for not having a penalty today though.
7) Quick shoutout to Cody Schrader. Kid ran hard. He doesn't dance, he doesn't try to get outside, he isn't fancy. But he had 84 yards on 14 carries. It can't all be the offensive line. The holes seemed to be there when Schrader was in the game. Did they just disappear with Nate Peat? Two things can be true: First, a walk-on from Truman State should be the starting running back the rest of the year and get most of the carries. Second, you can be sad that a walk-on from Truman State should be the starting running back the rest of the year and get most of the carries.
8) Cook's not good enough. I'm not going to go into this too far because I wrote an entire column about it. I'm perfectly fine with playing Sam Horn. I wouldn't even have a problem with starting Sam Horn. I don't really think it's going to fix anything, but like the offensive line, what you're doing isn't working. The thing with Cook is he can look pretty good for a while. At halftime, he was 15/19 for 195 yards and a touchdown. But he threw one of the most mind-numbingly bad interceptions I've ever seen. His mistakes don't just make you stumble, they knock you down and stomp on you before you can get up. To be able to live with his lows, his highs have to be higher.
9) I'd love for them to surprise me, but I can't see anything other than 4-8 this year. Kentucky and Arkansas can score. Tennessee has the most potent offense in the country and a defense that isn't great, but is a lot better than the one that just held Missouri to 17 points. South Carolina is about to be 5-2. I just don't see a win outside of New Mexico State. I wouldn't fire Drinkwitz for 4-8, but he might want to get some insulation before he sits down in his chair this offseason.
10) I've said this before and said it in my column, but it bears repeating: The future of Drinkwitz's career here and the future of this program rides almost entirely on Sam Horn. He has to be good enough that he can get this team to seven wins next season. That's the bar for me. You're probably going to be five games under .500 through three years when this season ends. I need a winning season next year. 6-6 in year four got the last guy fired. Anything worse than that almost definitely will get this one fired. If it's not Horn, fine, go out and find a transfer. But it can't be a one-year band-aid. Whoever you start at quarterback next year better be a multi-year starter. Ideally, that's Horn. If it's someone else, you have to understand Horn might leave because he might be fine sitting for a year, but he's not going to be fine sitting for two or three. And for the Tyler Macon crowd, I was on the field before the games. Missouri had three quarterbacks taking snaps, practicing handoffs and going through warmups. Macon was standing behind them with his helmet off. He's not going to play. And he's not part of the future. I don't say that maliciously, but it needs to be said because I had visual proof of it before the game today.
2) Missouri would not have beaten any other SEC team today. I'm not sure it would have beaten any other Power Five team. Vandy looked barely functional on offense most of the day. Missouri's defense deserves some credit for that. But Vandy was a decent kicker away from driving for the win in the final two minutes. And that's not a good Vandy team. I don't know that it's better than the last couple that Missouri has beaten by much more.
3) This is a very, very, very good defense. Maybe even elite. In the first three SEC games, it had surrendered just 67 total points (and 14 of those were thanks to the offense). And it wasn't good enough. To win, the defense had to give up less. So it did. Just 14 points, and seven of those were when the defense was on the sideline. To play the way Missouri has on defense is impressive on its own. To play the way it has when it knows it has to be perfect is even more impressive. The defense made one mistake all day long...and still almost got beat.
4) I'm starting to come around to the idea Kris Abrams-Draine could leave for the NFL. He's elite. I think he is playing at an all-SEC level. He was phenomenal today. Will Sheppard is a very good receiver. He came into this game with 38 catches for 497 yards and eight touchdowns. He had three for 29 today...on 15 targets. Incredible job. And it wasn't all Abrams-Draine. Ennis Rakestraw is looking like the player you all hoped he was when Eli Drinkwitz lost his mind and danced around in the (staged) Twitter video. Teams started the season thinking they could pick on Rakestraw and avoid KAD. They can't.
5) It's really too bad there's another side of the ball. Missouri's offense is just sickening to watch right now. In the first half, the Tigers had 232 yards and 17 points. It was what they should have done against Vanderbilt, which came in ranked 130th in scoring and passing defense and 129th overall. Vandy was giving up 333 yards passing, 493 yards overall and nearly 40 points a game. That included 28 to Northern Illinois and 31 to Frank Haith, Torrence Watson and Elon. So Missouri's first half was a little below the average of what Vandy's previous seven opponents had done. And then the Tigers managed a whopping 76 yards and 0 points in the second half. Vandy had one drive in three SEC games in which it hadn't allowed a first down. Missouri had five of them. Top to bottom failure.
6) If we're assigning blame--and that's kind of what we do here--the offensive line tops the list. It's terrible. Cook might not survive the season. Missouri averaged 4.7 yards per play and 2.7 yards per rush. There are very rarely holes. There is very often pressure. I'd start Armand Membou at right tackle the rest of the season. And I'd give somebody else a shot at the other four positions. I have no idea if they have anyone better on the roster. I know the guys playing aren't doing well enough. They do get credit for not having a penalty today though.
7) Quick shoutout to Cody Schrader. Kid ran hard. He doesn't dance, he doesn't try to get outside, he isn't fancy. But he had 84 yards on 14 carries. It can't all be the offensive line. The holes seemed to be there when Schrader was in the game. Did they just disappear with Nate Peat? Two things can be true: First, a walk-on from Truman State should be the starting running back the rest of the year and get most of the carries. Second, you can be sad that a walk-on from Truman State should be the starting running back the rest of the year and get most of the carries.
8) Cook's not good enough. I'm not going to go into this too far because I wrote an entire column about it. I'm perfectly fine with playing Sam Horn. I wouldn't even have a problem with starting Sam Horn. I don't really think it's going to fix anything, but like the offensive line, what you're doing isn't working. The thing with Cook is he can look pretty good for a while. At halftime, he was 15/19 for 195 yards and a touchdown. But he threw one of the most mind-numbingly bad interceptions I've ever seen. His mistakes don't just make you stumble, they knock you down and stomp on you before you can get up. To be able to live with his lows, his highs have to be higher.
9) I'd love for them to surprise me, but I can't see anything other than 4-8 this year. Kentucky and Arkansas can score. Tennessee has the most potent offense in the country and a defense that isn't great, but is a lot better than the one that just held Missouri to 17 points. South Carolina is about to be 5-2. I just don't see a win outside of New Mexico State. I wouldn't fire Drinkwitz for 4-8, but he might want to get some insulation before he sits down in his chair this offseason.
10) I've said this before and said it in my column, but it bears repeating: The future of Drinkwitz's career here and the future of this program rides almost entirely on Sam Horn. He has to be good enough that he can get this team to seven wins next season. That's the bar for me. You're probably going to be five games under .500 through three years when this season ends. I need a winning season next year. 6-6 in year four got the last guy fired. Anything worse than that almost definitely will get this one fired. If it's not Horn, fine, go out and find a transfer. But it can't be a one-year band-aid. Whoever you start at quarterback next year better be a multi-year starter. Ideally, that's Horn. If it's someone else, you have to understand Horn might leave because he might be fine sitting for a year, but he's not going to be fine sitting for two or three. And for the Tyler Macon crowd, I was on the field before the games. Missouri had three quarterbacks taking snaps, practicing handoffs and going through warmups. Macon was standing behind them with his helmet off. He's not going to play. And he's not part of the future. I don't say that maliciously, but it needs to be said because I had visual proof of it before the game today.
