Can Mizzou play this season opener without causing panic? The players think so
Barry Odom’s first two football teams at Missouri have been remembered for their finishes rather than their starts.
Last season, Missouri overcame a 1-5 start and finished the regular season on a six-game winning streak, which was snapped by Texas in the Texas Bowl.
Odom’s first team in 2016 won two of its final three games, including a come-from-behind win against Arkansas on Black Friday, but an early-season loss to Georgia on a last-minute play had lingering effects the rest of the year.
The Tigers open the season against Tennessee-Martin on Saturday, a game that Missouri is expected to win with comfort. But after giving up 43 points to Missouri State in last season’s opener, the Tigers have learned that they can’t treat any opponent too lightly.
“We know what we did last year,” sophomore linebacker Jamal Brooks said. “We knew that there wasn’t attention to detail, we weren’t executing, we weren’t into the game mentally. Especially defensively, we sat back and we said, ‘Man, we saw what we did last year. Do we want to go out there and take UT-Martin like we took Missouri State? Or do we want to come up and play big-boy SEC ball?’”
Odom has changed up practices a bit from last season to try and produce a better start, putting the first-team offense and defense against each other more, rather than just the starters against the scout team.
Quarterback Drew Lock said there has been more emphasis on starting practice fast and full of energy, to try and get the mindset to translate over to games.
Linebacker Brandon Lee said that after the Missouri State game, the team returned to its meeting rooms the next week and shrugged off some of the mistakes as first-week jitters.
The Tigers lost their next five games, which is when the real wake-up call came through.
“It’s not a good feeling,” Lee said. “‘Oh well you just messed up,’ but if those things show up the next week, it sticks. Winning that first game is a relief of fresh air.”
Missouri won’t have the chance to underestimate Tennessee-Martin because Odom learned first-hand how well the Skyhawks can play. UT-Martin coach Jason Simpson has beat one FCS team in his 13-year tenure, which was Memphis in 2012, when Odom was the defensive coordinator.
“His teams are always very, very, well-coached,” Odom said. “They play their tails off. Schematically, he gets them in position to have advantages.”
In a crucial year for the program, offensive lineman Paul Adams said Missouri can’t have a bad day Saturday, with Purdue and Georgia looming.
Adams said Saturday’s play will determine if Missouri learned its lesson from the previous two years by taking its opponent seriously and carrying it over into next week’s practices.
“We’ve been a team in the past that oozes our way out,” he said. “It’s caught up to us a lot. I would love for us to come out and make a statement. Put our foot on the gas and never look back.”
Alex Schiffer
Alex Schiffer covers University of Missouri athletics for The Star.
This story was originally published August 28, 2018 at 5:17 PM.