Questions left at quarterback following Missouri Tigers’ 43-6 loss to No. 1 Georgia
On third-and-6 at the 45-yard line in the first quarter of Saturday’s game, Missouri Tigers quarterback Tyler Macon tucked the ball and took off. The true freshman, in the first start of his collegiate career, found a hole in the vaunted Georgia defensive line and sprinted 20 yards down the field before sliding down to the turf.
A few plays later, on second down, Macon kept it again and rushed 8 yards to put the Tigers on the 17-yard line. They were in the red zone with a chance to do something few have done this season: score a touchdown on the Bulldogs.
Though Macon and the offense couldn’t convert the next down, Mizzou still came away from the drive with a 3-0 lead on a 36-yard field goal from kicker Harrison Mevis.
The Tigers were up on the No. 1 team in the nation.
But it wouldn’t last long.
Behind a quarterback combination of Macon and redshirt freshman Brady Cook, the Tigers were unable to put points on the board again until a field goal in the fourth quarter in the 43-6 loss.
Starting quarterback Connor Bazelak suffered a soft-tissue injury against Vanderbilt last Saturday, leaving the Tigers with two young, inexperienced players against the best team in the country.
“We told them both that they were going to play, and I thought [Tyler Macon] had, you know, the first couple drives and then Brady had a couple of drives,” Missouri head coach Eliah Drinkwitz said. “Just trying to see if one of them could really spark us and sustain it.”
There weren’t any sparks to be had, however. Though Macon showed some positive signs on that early drive, the afternoon was an overall struggle for both quarterbacks, leaving questions as to what lies ahead for this Mizzou offense if Bazelak isn’t able to play next week against South Carolina.
“I’ll have to go back and watch film,” Drinkwitz said when asked to evaluate both players’ performances. “I thought both of them had good and bad. Some learning experiences for both of them. We weren’t really able to consistently throw the football with them and that’s something we’re gonna have to work on.”
Though it was against the top defense in the nation, which has created big problems for all varieties of quarterbacks this season, the lack of passing game was definitely a concern.
Macon completed 6 of 13 pass attempts for 74 yards. Most of those yards came in the fourth quarter, at which point Georgia had completely let off the gas. Macons often tried to sidearm throws to make up for the height differential — he is listed at 6 feet tall (though is likely shorter) and up against a tall defensive line — but it was to no avail.
Cook completed 14 of 19 pass attempts, for 78 yards, 4.1 yards per completion. A lot of those passes were short dumps in the backfield, as the Tigers struggled to get anything going deep.
On the ground, Macon carried the ball 11 times for 42 yards, while Cook took it himself 10 times for 32 yards.
Following the game, Drinkwitz said that “it’s too early to know” Bazelak’s status for next week. Drinkwitz said he won’t have an update on the soft-tissue injury until Wednesday or Thursday.
Neither Macon, nor Cook was made available to the media following Saturday’s loss. There weren’t any offensive players provided either.
