One area where Mizzou football has struggled is exactly where Kentucky has thrived
The Missouri Tigers are preparing for a new opponent this week in the Kentucky Wildcats after their scheduled was shuffled because of COVID-19.
Except the Wildcats have Mizzou’s number, coming in with a five-game winning streak over the Tigers. And where the Wildcats excel — forcing turnovers — is exactly where MU coach Eliah Drinkwitz’s squad has squandered opportunities.
“It’s all about the ball,” Drinkwitz said. “For our football team, it is about the football. Offensively, we gotta protect it, take care of it. Cannot fumble, cannot turn it over. Punt return, special teams, cannot turn over the ball. And defensively, we gotta get it.”
Kentucky has had little trouble earning takeaways through its two-game winning streak as it has outscored opponents 58-9. The Cats have forced nine interceptions in their past two games — the same amount of points they’ve allowed. That point total includes a safety by the UK offense.
Drinkwitz said Kentucky does a stellar job with its scheme and coverage in the secondary, one that focuses on confusing the opposition. Those nine turnovers all came via interceptions, including a pair returned for touchdowns in the Wildcats’ 34-7 win over Tennessee last week.
That presents a unique challenge for MU quarterback Connor Bazelak, who’s coming off a career-best performance against LSU. Kentucky plays a variety of coverages that Bazelak has never seen in his career, Drinkwitz said, which puts more emphasis on Mizzou’s game plan to ease Bazelak’s assignments.
“They do a good job of dropping into the zone,” Drinkwitz said. “They do a tremendous job mixing up coverage. They’ve intercepted the ball on man situations. Confused coverage, dropping zone.”
But offense is just one side of the ball and the Tigers have sputtered in all three facets when it comes to turnovers. Mizzou shook up the depth chart at punt returner after three muffed punts in the first three games. Fumbles were a massive issue for the Tigers against LSU when they lost three possessions that led to 17 points for the opposition.
Defensively, MU’s goal is two takeaways per game. The Tigers have fallen well short of that mark, only forcing one turnover through the first three games, a recovered fumble against Alabama when the game was largely already decided.
While turnovers are a high-variance stat, Drinkwitz said the Tigers have emphasized that area through the unexpected bye week. The first-year coach said part of turnovers is opportunities and being in the right place at the right time, but by focusing on it during practice, he said he hopes to earn some good will. There have been turnover circuits in practice, where “we have specific ways we attack the ball-career and try to get the ball out,” Drinkwitz said.
The defense, specifically, has focused on a certain aspect: gang tackling. When multiple Tigers stop the ball carrier, linebacker Nick Bolton said they need the second or third guy to focus on stripping the ball.
“Very rarely do we get solo tackles out in space,” Bolton said. “We gotta get more than guy to the ball and take the ball away. When we get hands on balls on the back end, we gotta get more takeaways.”
Mizzou gets extra motivation against a Kentucky program it hasn’t defeated since 2014. The Tigers started with a three-game winning streak since joining the SEC, but it’s been all Cats since. That includes the 2018 game that finished with a controversial end as Kentucky escaped with a 15-14 win.
Also, the Tigers’ punter, Grant McKinnis, transferred from Kentucky coach Mark Stoops’ program.
Drinkwitz said he absolutely considers the two teams’ history when preparing for the game. But he said the week is about a “1-0 mindset” and the game will reflect their level of preparation this week instead of historical struggles.
“It’s definitely something that we need to fix,” wide receiver Barrett Banister said of the losing streak against Kentucky. “When Coach Drink asked if they’d beaten Kentucky and you saw no hands go up, it’s kind of a tough feeling to swallow. We gotta go out there and we gotta prepare. They’re a good football team.”
This story was originally published October 21, 2020 at 12:37 PM.