Analyzing Mizzou’s second straight SEC loss: Tigers failed to run ball, stop the run
Leading up to Saturday evening, Missouri Tigers coach Barry Odom spoke at length about the need to establish the run when it came to fixing his offense. For an MU squad looking to boost its attack after a season-low performance against Vanderbilt, that meant going back to the basics, the foundation of its offense.
On the flip side, similar run principles were set for the defense, one facing a Kentucky offense featuring Lynn Bowden Jr., the electrifying wide receiver lining up in the backfield as a quarterback. With a limited aerial attack, the Wildcats’ offense was bound to try to get it done on the ground.
Neither aspect of the game plan worked for Mizzou as the Tigers lost 29-7 loss to Kentucky Saturday night, the second weekend in a row the Tigers dropped a road game after entering the game as a double-digit favorite. MU’s offense didn’t run or block well enough to establish any consistency on the ground and the defense allowed 297 yards rushing with Bowden leading the way.
“They ran all over us. We couldn’t run the ball,” Missouri center Trystan Colon-Castillo said. “They executed plays, we didn’t execute plays. That’s about it.”
Bowden finished the game with 21 carries for 204 yards and two touchdowns. While he picked apart the Mizzou defense in 2018 as a wide receiver, he did so this time as a quarterback.
He found creases in the Tigers’ scheme, and when he was given a little bit of space, he racked up huge gains. There were even a few plays where he passed the ball effectively — for instance when he connecting for 44 yards to Bryce Oliver to set up Kentucky’s first touchdown.
“Defensively was almost to script,” Odom said. “If you’re out of your gap just a little bit, they’re going to find it. They stick to what they do, and they’ve got a good thing going on how they use their quarterback play.”
The Tigers did a better job in the second half of limiting the Wildcats, allowing them just one touchdown. But the second quarter — when Kentucky scored 22 points — proved to be Missouri’s undoing.
Mizzou allowed four straight scoring drives that quarter, the last coming on a deflating touchdown with 10.2 seconds left in the half. The Tigers never recovered from that 22-0 hole at halftime.
“We just didn’t do our jobs,” Missouri linebacker Nick Bolton said. “As a defense, I’ve got to do better. I’ve got to make sure everyone knows what they’re doing.”
The Tigers’ running game became doubly important because of the rainy and wet conditions. With the passing game bogged down, any third-and-long situations became difficult to convert.
Colon-Castillo said he was unsure why the Tigers couldn’t run the ball. The layers of frustration were palpable.
“We’ve literally prided ourselves, since I’ve been here, on running the football,” he said. “You go back-to-back, two weeks in a row, laying eggs in the run game, not being able to run the ball whenever and impose your will. That’s not our identity as an offense, especially as an offensive line.”
Colon-Castillo said the Wildcats weren’t doing anything the Tigers hadn’t seen on film. The all-important execution just wasn’t there.
Midway through the game, the Tigers shuffled quarterbacks, taking out starter Kelly Bryant and inserting backup Taylor Powell. After the game, Odom said the switch was made because Bryant strained a hamstring in the first quarter, tried to play through it, and couldn’t.
When Powell took over, it was still a two-score game. But the Tigers were unable to mount a comeback.
“We weren’t very good in the pass game and didn’t do enough in the run game to get anything going offensively,” Odom said. “That’s really disappointing in a lot of ways back-to-back weeks, in not having an opportunity to drive the football or find ways to get a first down.”
MU heads into its bye week 5-3 — not where Odom wanted to be by any means. And after the week off, the Tigers face their toughest test of the season: a road match with Georgia.
“I don’t know when we’re going to figure it out or what we’re going to do,” Colon-Castillo said, “but we’ve got to stop making these stupid little mistakes.”
This story was originally published October 27, 2019 at 12:29 AM.