Drinkwitz stands behind Bazelak as QB1
Missouri quarterback Connor Bazelak threw his first interception just one minute and 37 seconds into Saturday’s game versus Texas A&M. Two drives later, he threw another, though it ultimately remained the Tigers’ ball after a pass interference call bailed Bazelak out. On the very next drive, he threw his second official pick. All before the second quarter.
By then, the Aggies already owned a 21-0 lead. The Tigers offense hardly had life left, and the first quarter drought from Bazelak’s side of the ball became the lead that they spent the remainder of the game attempting to file down in a 35-14 loss at Faurot Field.
“I feel like we need to come out and have like a live mentality,” wide receiver Tauskie Dove said. “Like from the get-go, don’t just wait and see what the opposing team has to offer or what they’re going to do. We should come out from the get-go with just like a cut-throat mentality, basically.”
That mentality never surfaced. Behind short, shaky tosses and overthrows from Bazelak, Missouri hardly moved the chains.
Seventeen plays and 49 total yards. That’s the production that came from the offense in the first quarter. Calls from fans for Bazelak’s replacement arose before the quarter’s end. But they were never answered.
“No. Connor’s our quarterback,” Eli Drinkwitz said when asked if he ever considered taking Bazelak out of the game. “I think he gives us the best chance to win. It’s not always going to be perfect. He’s going to get a lot of blame. But there’s a lot of things that have to improve, and he knows he's gonna have to improve from today's performance.”
As Drinkwitz acknowledged, perfection isn’t what the redshirt sophomore quarterback is selling. But Saturday’s performance wasn’t an anomaly. The Tigers have been outscored 63-10 in first quarters against SEC opponents. With Bazelak at the helm, much of that--right or wrong--falls on him.
Despite bettering his production down the stretch, quarters like Saturday’s first have highlighted his imperfections. Wild overthrows when the Tigers are seeking some form of momentum. Missing receivers downfield by significant margins. Those trends only continued throughout the game, and were even piled on by Bazelak’s proclivity to pitch short.
The pressure came quickly toward Bazelak late in that first quarter. His offensive line collapsed before him in the moments before he threw his second interception. Aggie defensive back Antonio Johnson cut Dove off, leaping up to grab the pass and bring Texas A&M’s offense onto the field.
“They were sitting a lot,” Dove said. “Like the interception that (Bazelak) threw to me, he was just sitting there. They were doing a lot of sitting. So that secondary was — I give them props.”
Plenty of the criticism toward Bazelak has been his ability — or lack thereof — to scramble in the pocket and make something out of nothing on the ground. Downs like the one where his pass intended for Dove instead wound up in Johnson’s hands can be salvaged. Fans have yearned for Bazelak to even sprint for a gain of three yards on possessions like that. When he does, his lack of athleticism seemingly punishes him in games like Saturday, where he netted -13 yards in three rushing attempts.
While Bazelak continues to display performances like this, fans will continue to call for a change at quarterback from redshirt freshman Brady Cook or freshman Tyler Macon. As far as Missouri is concerned, that change won’t come soon.
“I talked to him after the game,” Badie said. “I just told him keep his head up. At the end of the day, it’s just going to be lessons, and it’s going to be failures and it’s going to be successes. That’s football. But at the end of the day, he’s our quarterback, he’s the leader of this team. He has to be confident, and you have to keep pushing forward. We have to help him as a team, build him up, and just keep us together.”
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