Mizzou football offense logs frustrating day at Florida amid injuries, miscues
The Missouri Tigers appeared like they were chugging along on an upward trajectory, momentum that was being boosted by first-year MU coach Eliah Drinkwitz and quarterback Connor Bazelak, who was only getting more and more comfortable with the system.
Bazelak was the centerpiece, but the weapons around him only added to the potential. There was the pleasant surprise in MU’s offensive line and a burgeoning wide receiver core. Of course, you can’t forget captain and running back Larry Rountree III, just a handful of yards away from being Mizzou’s most prolific running back.
Then came a hiccup and a halt Saturday at No. 10 Florida. Drinkwitz has warned in the past few weeks — even as Mizzou strung together a two-game winning streak — that football is a game that will humble you. It’s a results-oriented game, he said, where the narrative changes week-by-week.
That realization was in full effect in a 41-17 blowout loss to the Gators. Mizzou’s offense didn’t scratch a scoring drive until it was garbage time, tacking on 10 points in the game’s final quarter — long after Florida scored 28 straight to snatch control of the contest.
Even before the brawl that appeared to stunt Mizzou coming out of halftime, the offense wasn’t executing like it had the past few games. The drops were back, so was a costly fumble right before halftime that allowed Florida to stretch its lead.
“I gotta do better,” Drinkwitz said. “It’s my job to call plays that we can execute. It’s my job to put us in a situation to be successful offensively and I didn’t do that tonight. Bottom line, that’s on me. Gotta work hard to get fixed. It is what it is. That’s COVID, 2020. We got who we got.”
After the offensive line got off to such a stellar start to the 2020, it was bit by injuries that hampered depth. Mizzou’s front was unproven coming in, but as the unit earned more experience, it seemed to mesh well. But Saturday, right tackle Larry Borom and left guard Xavier Delgado were out because of injuries. In came true freshman Dylan Spencer and redshirt freshman Javon Foster.
While Foster and Spencer earned playing time last week against Kentucky, it still took time for the Tigers to gel up front. Captain and right guard Case Cook said the team won’t use that as an excuse, though, as he pointed out how execution was sorely lacking from the offense as a whole.
“When you’re mixing and moving around pieces, it’s always difficult,” Cook said. “Takes a bit to get comfortable with the guy that you’re playing next to. But I thought the guys came in and stepped up and did a good job.”
Mizzou opened Saturday’s game with a three-and-out — what was becoming a rare sight over its win streak. The Tigers followed that up with an 11-play, 71-yard drive, but that stalled and ultimately ended in a missed 31-yard field goal attempt from Harrison Mevis.
From there, the Tigers couldn’t get anything going — and that was mainly their own fault. On the first drive of the second quarter, Bazelak threw a pinpoint pass to Jalen Knox who had nobody between him and the end zone while his defender was a few steps behind him.
That pass was dropped.
As the game progressed, the Tigers didn’t have any answers exactly when they needed it. When Florida came out of halftime with a long touchdown drive, MU answered with a three-and-out. That was all the Gators needed as they built their lead to the point where the Tigers couldn’t claw their way back.
“We came out a little flat,” Rountree said. “Everything was going good. We just made a couple mistakes that they capitalized on and making our plays. I would say, coming out we were just a little flat and that played a big part.”
Aside from some explosive plays from the offense, the stats backed up Mizzou’s ineffectiveness. Bazelak finished 26 for 40 for 208 yards, and while he had some nice throws, it was too little production. Rountree had 14 rushes for 36 yards, and while he added 26 yards receiving, it wasn’t enough from the captain.
Mizzou finished with two turnovers, both fumbles. The latter came near the end of the game with little bearing on the result. The former, though, came at a terrible time near the end of the first half. Florida used it to take a two-score lead heading into the break and the Tigers were never able to recover.
“We don’t turn the football over, we got a chance to help our defense and play good football,” Drinkwitz said. “We’re not doing that. We’re putting our guys in bad positions. Our defense played their butt off in the first half. That shouldn’t have happened. Gotta focus on it.”
New turnover tradition
The Mizzou defense’s stated goal every game is to earn two takeaways — but that’s been a struggle for MU defensive coordinator Ryan Walters’ unit. They were at just two forced turnovers through four games, so Walters introduced a new tradition to the defense:
The turnover robe.
Mizzou was able to debut the silk boxing robe when cornerback Jarvis Ware picked off a pass and returned it for a touchdown. The new tradition made its rounds on social media, fans thrilled about the “turnover champ” on the back and all the smaller details.
It was a smaller detail in the grand scheme of the loss. But going forward, it will likely becoming a rallying cry for a defense searching for more takeaways.
“We were excited for it,” linebacker Nick Bolton said of the robe. “Jarvis was the first one to wear it. Hopefully it’s a lot more guys wearing that in the future.”