Mizzou believes it can play even faster on offense

Missouri ran more offensive plays than any other team in the Football Bowl Subdivision last week.

The Tigers’ offense registered 100 snaps — the most in program history since running 105 plays during a 45-35 loss Sept. 10, 2005, against New Mexico.

Questions about how much different the offense would be under new offensive coordinator Josh Heupel were answered decisively during a 26-11 loss Saturday at West Virginia.

“It’s about putting our kids in position to do what they can do,” first-year coach Barry Odom said. “For us, our skillset right now, that’s going to give us an advantage. There will be times that we’re going to play faster than that. There’s going to be times also that we need to slow down, so to speak, and do some different things out of the huddle.”

Mizzou — which didn’t run more than 83 plays in any game last season and averaged 64.2 snaps per game, including 101 combined plays during consecutive mid-October losses at Georgia and Vanderbilt — still showed a gear it never has before.

During former coach Gary Pinkel’s tenure, the Tigers’ offense only had one game with 100-plus plays and averaged more than 80 plays per game once in 15 seasons.

It’s no exaggeration to say Missouri played at breakneck tempo for Odom’s and Heupel’s debut.

“We tracked how fast we snapped the ball from time when it was set to time the referees were out to time when we’re all set as a unit,” sophomore quarterback Drew Lock said. “I got into some rocky waters when I wasn’t snapping it fast enough to where we made that a big emphasis this summer and that helped us out a lot.”

Lock said Heupel’s target is to snap the ball within 0.8 seconds of the referee stepping away from the ball after it’s placed down.

“When you’re young up front, I think it gives an opportunity for those guys to maybe have some success where the defensive line’s not dug in,” Heupel said. “It gives the opportunity to take advantage of some things out on the perimeter as well.”

Just don’t expect 100 plays every game.

“Every game unfolds differently, so based on who you’re playing, what you’re doing offensively and how you want to take advantage of it, that dictates everything,” Heupel said. “The tempo will have some ebbs and flows to it.”

Third down is an area Mizzou believes it can get faster.

“I got critiqued little bit on third-down plays, where I should’ve sped up a little bit and not let the defense get set,” said Lock, who went 23 of 51 for a career-high 280 yards with a touchdown and two-point conversion.

Lock occasionally hesitated to ensure he properly diagnosed the defense, but Heupel would prefer he catch the defense off guard.

“Based on some of the schemes that we were running, they were good versus all coverages,” Heupel said. “His eyes aren’t going to be fooled, because his eyes are going to be in the right spot.”

Lock needs to take advantage of the defense in those spots.

Missouri also will incorporate more pre-snap shifts and motions moving forward, elements of the offense that need more reps to be game ready.

“I would like to get to the point where we get into more of some of our shifts and trades and motions that we’ve worked on some that will help us,” Odom said. “Will that slow down the pace a little bit? It might by a couple of snaps, but not a great deal.”

Odom downplayed concerns about the affect the offense’s tempo might negatively impacted Mizzou’s defense.

However, only one of the Tigers’ eight first-half drives lasted longer than 2 minutes, 30 seconds and five were 1:11 or shorter.

The first three drives in the second half all were under 1:31 as well, giving precious little time to rest or make adjustments, but new defensive coordinator DeMontie Cross wasn’t about to make excuses.

“Anytime we take the field, we’ve got a job to do,” he said. “Our kids understand that. I understand that. It’s our job to stop them. … You always want time to adjust, but the reality is that the game is dictated how we play. If that’s how we choose to play it, we have to be ready as a defense.”

Tod Palmer: 816-234-4389, @todpalmer

Missouri offensive tempo and efficiency since 2001

Missouri ran 100 plays — more than all but one game in former coach Gary Pinkel’s 15 seasons — and totaled 462 yards on offense Saturday at West Virginia, an average of 4.62 yards per plays (for those who struggle with mathematics). It was a stark departure from the last two seasons, but still lagged behind Missouri’s usual efficiency on offense under Pinkel.

This story was originally published September 6, 2016 at 8:03 PM with the headline "Mizzou believes it can play even faster on offense."