Taking stock of Tigers: Let’s assess Mizzou football through season’s 1st third

The Missouri Tigers are coming off the open date in their 2024 college football schedule — commonly referred to as the bye week — with a game against Texas A&M looming Saturday in College Station, Texas.

Before Mizzou takes its next snap, now is a good time to assess what we’ve seen so for from coach Eli Drinkwitz’s Tigers. For the record, the Aggies opened as a 3-point favorite in the early betting odds.

Bringing back the deep ball

Missouri (4-0, 1-0 SEC) has had a slower-than-expected start to the 2024 season offensively. And its biggest challenge awaits Saturday against a ranked team of Aggies.

After running back Cody Schrader’s departure to the NFL, it was hard to imagine how Drinkwitz would replace that productivity. But the running-back-by-committee approach, highlighted by Nate Noel, has been the offense’s greatest weapon this season.

Missouri has 160 carries for 826 yards so far this season, with Noel leading the team with 69 rushes for 441 yards.

“Nate Noel has been as productive at this point in the season as Cody Schrader was last year, and I’m shocked by that,” said Brandon Kiley of 101 ESPN St. Louis. “I didn’t see it coming. ... So far, not only have they acquitted themselves well, (but) in some ways, the running game is actually better overall this year than it was last season because you have more options beyond just the one guy.”

The deep balls that can lead to explosive plays by the Tigers’ talented receiving corps are missing in action thus far. Quarterback Brady Cook has seemed off, especially in MU’s double-overtime home victory over Vanderbilt and against Boston College.

Before the bye week, he ranked No. 5 among SEC quarterbacks in passing yards, completing 92 of 134 attempts for 946 yards. In fact, Missouri’s offense has statistically performed better than it did to this point in 2023.

Four games into the 2024 season (compared to four games into the 2023 season), the Tigers have scored 146 points (122), amassed 1,889 total yards (1,735), thrown for 1,063 (1,127) and rushed for 826 (608).

Defense remains dominant through changes

Some doubted MU’s ability to produce a defensive unit as good as the one the Tigers had in 2023. Through a third of the 2024 season, many of those doubts have been answered.

Mizzou ranked 12th in the nation entering Week 5 in opposing points per game. The Tigers are allowing just 12, on average, through four contests. That’s markedly better than last year’s figure (20.8), which was still good for 25th in the nation at season’s close.

Missouri is also seventh in the nation in total yards allowed per game (219.0). The defense’s early-season success was on display most notably in their first two contests, in which MU pitched back-to-back shutouts for the first time since 1966.

As it turns out, Missouri has more consistency in its defensive play than some might have assumed. New defensive coordinator Corey Batoon runs a 4-2-5 scheme identical to what the Tigers have run in years past under Blake Baker, and, despite several key changes in personnel, the scheme remains effective.

At cornerback, the loss of starters Ennis Rakestraw and Kris Abrams-Draine to the NFL has hardly hamstrung the team’s secondary. Both replacement corners, Dreyden Norwood and Toriano Pride Jr., have played to the standards set by their predecessors, and both already boast interceptions on the year.

Missouri’s safeties, meanwhile, have been arguably the best unit on the team as a whole through four games. Sophomore Marvin Burks Jr. leads the team in tackles and has an interception of his own, as does fellow ballhawk Tre’Vez Johnson.

STAR Daylan Carnell leads the Tigers in passes defended and has a dozen tackles of his own, and all of this is to say nothing of Sidney Williams and Joseph Charleston, both of whom have been impressive in limited time on the field.

The backfield has been effective to the tune of allowing opponents to complete a just 50% of their passes this season. Heading into Saturday’s game, Missouri was tied with Oregon for seventh in the nation in that stat. Comparatively, in 2023, MU allowed completions on 61.6% of opposing passes thrown.

The Tigers’ front seven has also vastly exceeded expectations to this point in the season. Florida transfer Chris McClellan and Miami transfer Corey Flagg Jr. have filled the shoes of former first-round edge rusher Darius Robinson and third-round linebacker Ty’Ron Hopper exceptionally well.

Flagg ranks second on the team in tackles through four weeks, McClellan third.

As a team, Missouri is allowing just 2.8 yards per rush and 91.8 per game; the Tigers entered Saturday ranked 19th in the nation in both statistics.

While it should be pointed out that Missouri’s strength of schedule through the first third of the year isn’t exactly stellar — ranked 57th nationally, per College Football Network — the Tigers are taking care of business.

“They have done what they needed to do,” Kiley said. “Ultimately, they are 4-0, and that’s the best you can ask of them.”

Up-and-down start for Craig

The Tigers are four games into the post-Harrison Mevis era, and while he has been far from perfect, freshman kicker Blake Craig has proved to be a capable predecessor to the “Thiccer Kicker.”

Missouri has not eased the redshirt freshman — who before this season had never attempted a collegiate field gold — into action. The stalling Tigers offense has called upon Craig 16 times through four games, including four times for attempts of at least 50 yards.

Craig is 3-for-4 from 50-plus yards, including a career-long 56-yarder against Boston College. In MU’s 27-21 win over the Eagles, he went 4-for-4 on field goals and converted his only extra-point attempt, winning the SEC Special Teams Player of the Week award.

Interestingly enough, Craig’s struggles have come from closer range. He is 0-for-3 on field goal attempts between 40-49 yards and 3-for-4 on attempts between 20-29 yards.

The five misses are concerning. At least as worrisome, though, is the fact that the Tigers have had to rely on Craig more than any other team has relied on its kicker.

Craig’s 16 attempts lead the nation. He also leads the country in attempts from 39 yards or less. In Mizzou’s 20 trips to the red zone, six of them have ended with made field goals, second-most in the country.

If the Tigers want to contend for a playoff bid, Craig will have to be better. But Mizzou should also be cashing in more red-zone opportunities for TDs.

Copyright 2024 Columbia Missourian

This story was originally published September 29, 2024 at 1:18 PM.