Mizzou football gets to measure season’s strides with game against SEC East foe Georgia
Ever since Missouri Tigers coach Eliah Drinkwitz took over the program one year ago, one of his main stated goals was to win the SEC East.
It was going to be a process, yes, but the Tigers proved in hte past they could do just that. Former MU coach Gary Pinkel won the division in 2013-14, an early mark on Mizzou’s SEC resume.
To get to where Drinkwitz wants, though, starts with Florida and Georgia, the two SEC East rivals who have dominated the division. The Gators and Bulldogs have won the division three times apiece in the past six seasons in a consistent showing.
Mizzou is set for a crucial matchup against Georgia at 11 a.m. Saturday at Memorial Stadium. It’ll be the No. 25-ranked Tigers vs. the No. 9 Bulldogs as a measuring stick for Drinkwitz’s program.
“It’s no secret that they’re a good football team,” MU quarterback Connor Bazelak said of Georgia. “It’s no secret that they’re a top-10 defense. Everybody in this league is good. It’s just how you execute on Saturdays and how you play as a team. We gotta prepare well. On saturdays, we just have to perform.”
It’s the second time this season the Tigers have game-planned for the Bulldogs. They were supposed to play Nov. 14, but MU fell below the positional threshold at defensive line, which activated the postponement.
Georgia looks like a completely different team since then. And that’s because it has a quarterback: JT Daniels. Back in mid-November, Bulldog coach Kirby Smart claimed he was practicing four different quarterbacks because Stetson Bennett IV was dealing with injuries. Daniels was just a face among the crowd at that point.
But it’s been the Daniels show in the past two games. The Southern Cal transfer has played the past two games in wins over Mississippi State and South Carolina.
That means a whole other set of challenges for Mizzou defensive coordinator Ryan Walters.
“It’s a lot different,” Walters said of Georgia’s offense. “You can tell why he was highly recruited and why he had the start to his college campaign that he did. Throws a great ball. You can tell he’s played a lot of football.”
Mizzou’s defense is coming off a subpar performance against Arkansas, where Walters’ unit gave up a season-high 48 points. There were struggles containing the run game, which wasn’t helped when linebacker Nick Bolton was ejected for targeting. But Walters said they had a “very candid meeting” Sunday after the defensive lapses.
Georgia presents its own challenges with a solidified quarterback. Running back Zamir White has 614 yards and nine touchdowns this season, presenting another challenge. Wide receivers like George Pickens, Jermaine Burton and Kearis Jackson round out a dangerous wide receiver core.
“They’ve had a really good week of practice,” Walters said of the defense. “Glad we got to correct those mistakes after a win. But you can’t freak out and abandon what’s made you successful. Can’t panic over one outing.”
The Mizzou offense has its own set of problems as Smart’s Georgia defense is what Drinkwitz called a “clone” to the Alabama defense. Smart comes from Tide coach Nick Saban’s coaching tree, which is why there are so many similarities.
That’s similar to some other schemes, including the Tennessee and South Carolina defenses. The problem for Mizzou is that those are the exact defenses the Tigers have struggled against. That means Bazelak and his offense will need to continue their high-scoring ways after averaging 45.5 points over the past two games.
“Georgia has the same defensive philosophies of those guys, and I’m sure they’re going to copy a lot of those things that gave us problems,” Drinkwitz said. “We’re going to have to find some answers there.”