...where our offense starts to click. It might just be wishful thinking. But I really think there are several things that have created a "perfect storm" in the first few weeks, that can be improved or fixed.
1) Our OL isn't young, but we have some first time starters and one of our best guys playing a new position. I don't know that we have world beaters, but I know they have more individual talent than they have shown as a group. Boehm and McGovern are as good as you'll find on most OL's we'll see. And elsewhere we are at least serviceable or just young. We just haven't clicked as a group, a lot of it because guys are playing slow, missing assignments and generally thinking more than executing. In short, the OL hasn't gelled... but I think we see a big uptick at some point, and think this is the week.
2) Mauk always starts slow. He played better the last part of last season. He plays better late in the game. He didn't get off to a fast start this year. But he looked pretty good in the last game. Could have been much better without a few missed catches and with one or two less Wtf moments. It's his 4th year, and I think he's going to get up to speed faster this year. Also, Lock has some nice PT under his belt. It's a foregone conclusion that he's going to get some series I think. Hopefully that will add some spark. I actually get the sense that it has made Mauk take it up a notch just from being pushed. I actually thought last week was a step up for him.
3) We have some playmakers at WR and I don't think they're going to have problems getting separation from UK defenders. Our biggest issue has been drops. That's not uncommon with first time starters. I trust that at some point they're going to calm down and the game will slow down for them. I really think this is the week.
4) If Hansbrough plays, even if he's only 90%, that's going to be huge for our running game. First, he's going to be more productive than anyone else we have. But it's also going to give Witter some rest and not put so much pressure on him to be an every down back. He's not cut out for that. I also think that our coaches see that Mauk just needs to run more. He's not elegant in the pocket. He's a blue collar QB, with occasional big play ability and we need to play to his strengths. That combined with Hansbrough's return, could really take our running threat up a notch.
5) I'm guessing we're going to see some wrinkles. We've had more success using our TE's so far than in the last couple of years. Hopefully we're going to finally start using the middle of the field more and just play catch, which has been lacking. It seems obvious but we just havent utilized that part of the field much and I've got to think we've been working hard on it. Mauk may just have problems doing that because of his visibility over the middle. I don't think Lock has that problem. And I'm guessing that he will look for the easy, short passes a lot more after what happened last week.
As far as our defense, I think it is as good as advertised. Our DL is legit, don't care what we lost last year. It's also young and is just going to keep getting better. I don't know if it as good as Florida's, and maybe our secondary isn't. But both are very good, and our LB's are as good as anyone in the SEC. I think we're going to dominate UK's offense and setup some shortfield opportunities for our offense.
Final thought is that Missouri has tended to play down to teams quite often in the noncon. See games like Indiana, San Diego State, etc. In quite a few cases, it looked certain that the season was going to be a bust, yet we then came alive against conference opponents. I'd like to see us make the experts eat their words by coming out and beating UK by 3 TD's. It wouldn't be the first time that the season changed dramatically from the way we started out in the noncon. And I think this team is loaded with talent, regardless of how we looked in the first 3 games.
1) Our OL isn't young, but we have some first time starters and one of our best guys playing a new position. I don't know that we have world beaters, but I know they have more individual talent than they have shown as a group. Boehm and McGovern are as good as you'll find on most OL's we'll see. And elsewhere we are at least serviceable or just young. We just haven't clicked as a group, a lot of it because guys are playing slow, missing assignments and generally thinking more than executing. In short, the OL hasn't gelled... but I think we see a big uptick at some point, and think this is the week.
2) Mauk always starts slow. He played better the last part of last season. He plays better late in the game. He didn't get off to a fast start this year. But he looked pretty good in the last game. Could have been much better without a few missed catches and with one or two less Wtf moments. It's his 4th year, and I think he's going to get up to speed faster this year. Also, Lock has some nice PT under his belt. It's a foregone conclusion that he's going to get some series I think. Hopefully that will add some spark. I actually get the sense that it has made Mauk take it up a notch just from being pushed. I actually thought last week was a step up for him.
3) We have some playmakers at WR and I don't think they're going to have problems getting separation from UK defenders. Our biggest issue has been drops. That's not uncommon with first time starters. I trust that at some point they're going to calm down and the game will slow down for them. I really think this is the week.
4) If Hansbrough plays, even if he's only 90%, that's going to be huge for our running game. First, he's going to be more productive than anyone else we have. But it's also going to give Witter some rest and not put so much pressure on him to be an every down back. He's not cut out for that. I also think that our coaches see that Mauk just needs to run more. He's not elegant in the pocket. He's a blue collar QB, with occasional big play ability and we need to play to his strengths. That combined with Hansbrough's return, could really take our running threat up a notch.
5) I'm guessing we're going to see some wrinkles. We've had more success using our TE's so far than in the last couple of years. Hopefully we're going to finally start using the middle of the field more and just play catch, which has been lacking. It seems obvious but we just havent utilized that part of the field much and I've got to think we've been working hard on it. Mauk may just have problems doing that because of his visibility over the middle. I don't think Lock has that problem. And I'm guessing that he will look for the easy, short passes a lot more after what happened last week.
As far as our defense, I think it is as good as advertised. Our DL is legit, don't care what we lost last year. It's also young and is just going to keep getting better. I don't know if it as good as Florida's, and maybe our secondary isn't. But both are very good, and our LB's are as good as anyone in the SEC. I think we're going to dominate UK's offense and setup some shortfield opportunities for our offense.
Final thought is that Missouri has tended to play down to teams quite often in the noncon. See games like Indiana, San Diego State, etc. In quite a few cases, it looked certain that the season was going to be a bust, yet we then came alive against conference opponents. I'd like to see us make the experts eat their words by coming out and beating UK by 3 TD's. It wouldn't be the first time that the season changed dramatically from the way we started out in the noncon. And I think this team is loaded with talent, regardless of how we looked in the first 3 games.
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