Through four weeks, No. 11 Missouri (4-0) is back to where it started in the Associated Press poll. It started at No. 11 before going to No. 9 after Week 1, No. 7 after Week 2, No. 6 after Week 3 and back to No. 11 after its most recent win, a 30-27 double overtime win over Vanderbilt in Week 4.
Mizzou has several things it needs to fix coming out of the bye, but it is still undefeated and everything Eli Drinkwitz and his Tigers want is still right in front of them.
They've done some great things, some good things and some things they need to correct going forward. So, let's talk about what went well, what went wrong and everything in between.
What went well: The Tigers have finished games the right way. Their run game has been big this season and the defense is sturdy.
The most important thing about the first four games is that Mizzou finished them undefeated. That was the main goal for this team up to this point in the season.
The run game has been a pleasant surprise. Not because many people thought the run game would be bad, but it seemed like going into the season the run game would supplement the passing game. So far, the run game has been the best thing going offensively.
Running back Nate Noel is 10th in the FBS in rushing with 441 yards and four touchdowns on 69 carries (6.4). His 475 yards all-purpose yards are fifth in the FBS.
Mizzou's RB2, Marcus Carroll, has rushed for 164 yards and two touchdowns on 35 carries (4.7 yards per carry).
The offense hasn't been able to move downfield through the air as well as it has wanted to, but the run game has been able to move the ball downfield consistently to the tune of 206.5 yards per game, which ranks 28th in the nation.
On the other side, the defense is among one of the nation's best. Mizzou is ninth in first-down defense at 45, 11th in third-down defense at 25%, 12th in pass defense at 127.2 yards allowed per game and 20th in run defense at 91.8 yards allowed per game.
The defense has been great outside of four blown coverage touchdowns. This was the side of the ball with the most questions entering the season and it's held up its end of the bargain.
What went wrong: Missouri has settled for too many field goals in the red zone. Also, the deep passing game is nonexistent and the defense has allowed too many big-play touchdowns.
Going into fall camp one of the big things Mizzou wanted to do was work on red zone offense despite being third in the nation in the category last season. It wanted to fix its red zone offense because it felt it settled for too many field goals.
Well, the problem is much of the same. Missouri is kicking four field goals a game. Kicker Blake Craig also leads the nation in field goal attempts with 16. The player with the second-most attempts has 13.
Craig is 11-of-16 on the season. He's 3-of-4 on 30-39 yard attempts, 0-of-3 on 40-49 yard attempts and 3-of-4 on attempts 50 yards or more.
He's also 3-of-4 on field goal attempts in the red zone and all four of those attempts happened in the last two games versus Boston College and Vandy (more on Craig below).
It is important to note the Eagles have allowed nine red zone scores on 10 attempts but six of those scores were field goals while Vandy has allowed 10 scores on 12 attempts with five field goals.
Regardless, when you think about the offensive weapons Mizzou has it shouldn't be settling for field goals against the 87th-ranked Boston College red zone defense and the 67th-ranked Vandy red zone defense.
What to be hopeful for: You can trust the offense in the clutch. The passing game won't be like how it is forever if the run game stays how it is and Craig's massive right leg could be useful in league play.
Brady Cook hasn't played to the level he played to last year, but he's still 4-0, completing almost 69% of his passes for 946 yards, four touchdowns and an interception.
He's been indecisive in some of his decision-making and off-target on some passes. Cook is also 3-of-14 on deep passes (20 or more yards through the air) for 108 yards, a touchdown and a 56.6 PFF grade.
On the ground, he also has four rushing touchdowns, but only has 26 carries for 97 yards (3.73 yards per carry), which is still better than what his average was last year (2.8). However, remove his 31-yard rushing touchdown versus Buffalo, and he has 25 carries for 66 yards (2.64 yards per carry).
However, in the last two games, he's led some clutch drives to either seal a win for Missouri or keep it in the game.
In Week 3, Boston College had narrowed its deficit to 27-21 with 3:45 left in the contest. Cook led an eight-play, 26-yard drive that featured three third-down conversions to close the game.
Last week versus Vandy, Cook threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Luther Burden on the first play of overtime. Not to mention, Missouri left nine points on the board via field goals and Eli Drinkwitz hand-wrapped three more points to Vandy before halftime. Drinkwitz said in his postgame presser that the team bailed him out.
The game shouldn't have gone to overtime to begin with. So, for everything about how inconsistent or off Cook has been, and he has been off compared to last year, he's been big when it matters.
Also, at this point, you can't expect the passing offense to be worse than it is. Honestly, it's not horrible, it's just behind expectations.
Missouri is averaging 265.8 passing yards per game, which ranks 40th in the FBS. Eventually, teams will have to lock in on its rushing attack, which should lead to better looks in the passing game. The receiving group is too talented to not make plays and Cook has proven he can deliver the ball down the field.
Despite Craig's misses this year, his kicking power has been on full display. The fact that he's nailing 50-yarders consistently is important. It shortens the length of the field for the offense.
Craig can always work on his mechanics and such to improve his field goal accuracy inside 50 yards. You can't rapidly extend your range, though.
He's had an up-and-down couple of weeks, but Week 6 will be just his fifth career game and he's already been named SEC Special Teams Player of the Week and he's hit a go-ahead field goal. He just has to be consistent. It's also important that his teammates and head coach legitimately are still really confident in him.
What to be concerned about: Tight ends have largely been ineffective in the passing game, the offensive line holding up in pass protection.
The tight ends have been more or less irrelevant this year. The group isn't bad or really good, they're just there. Brett Norfleet had an ankle injury early in the year and then he had a shoulder injury. He's banged up so we've kept that in mind, but he hasn't been the threat that he was touted to be in the offseason. That doesn't mean he won't be, he just hasn't been that this season.
He's recorded seven receptions for 27 yards.
Tyler Stephens has improved in the passing game and has recorded three receptions for 22 yards. He had just five receptions for 49 yards last season.
However, a combined 10 receptions for 49 yards doesn't indicate the position is a big threat, which would be a step back from where the position finished at the end of last season.
Missouri needs to get Norfleet more involved so this team doesn't revert to the 2022 squad that had three tight ends amassing 10 receptions for 102 yards and two touchdowns.
That level of unproductivity will lead to teams being able to focus more elsewhere, and the Tigers don't want to essentially be playing 10-on-11 on offense when that group is out there.
Best offensive player: Nate Noel
Noel is the most productive player on offense right now. He's gotten better in every single game he's played as a Tiger.
In Week 1, he had 11 carries for 48 yards and a touchdown. In Week 2, he had 12 carries for 73 yards and a touchdown. In Week 3, he had 22 carries for 121 yards. Lastly, in Week 4, he was named SEC Offensive Player of the Week after recording 24 carries for a career-high 199 yards.
Combine those carries in each of the first four games with his receptions and he's looking at 15, 16, 23 and 27 touches, respectively. That adds up to 20.25 touches per game.
Last season, Noel started the first five games with 24, 27, 28, 32 and 21 touches. In all five games, he had at least 105 rushing yards and he finished with 115, 136, 211, 111 and 125 scrimmage yards, respectively, in those games.
With the passing offense trying to find its rhythm, maybe the Tigers should look to continue to give Noel around 20-25 touches or more just until the passing game sorts itself out.
Best defender(s): Dreyden Norwood and Chris McClellan
This season, cornerback Dreyden Norwood has been targeted nine times and has allowed four receptions for 75 yards. Sixty-seven of those yards came on a blown coverage play that led to a touchdown versus Boston College. Take that one play out and he's allowed three receptions on eight targets for eight yards.
To that point, Mizzou hasn’t faced a team with a great passing attack but he still has to do the job.
Drinkwitz said in the offseason that he believed Norwood is an All-SEC caliber player and if you look at him, he is playing to that level.
This season, he's recorded six tackles, a tackle for loss and an interception.
Defensive tackle Chris McClellan has been the standout defensive tackle this season. During the tail end of fall camp, it looked like he may be relegated to the second team but he's started all four games and has been a force in the trenches.
He leads the team in tackles for loss (four) and forced fumbles (one), is second in pass deflections (two) and sacks (1.5) and is third on the team in tackles with 17.
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