Larry Rountree III entered his junior season as the second-leading returning rusher in the Southeastern Conference. He was as entrenched as the starter at his position as any player on Missouri’s roster. Coming off a 1,200-yard season in which his last game was his best game and he took full-time first-team duties away from Damarea Crockett, who would leave early for the NFL, Rountree was one of Mizzou’s known commodities.
On Saturday night at Wyoming, Rountree got the ball on three of Missouri’s first five plays and had five carries on an opening 12-play touchdown drive. After Tyler Badie handled the first ten plays of the Tigers’ second drive, Rountree came in to plow into the end zone from two yards out on his sixth carry of the night.
Rountree would end the first half with 14 carries for 36 yards. That 14th tote came from the Wyoming one-yard line. He fumbled the ball, which was returned all the way to the Missouri 13 to set up a Cowboy field goal on an untimed down. He would carry the ball just one more time.
“I think some of the things Tyler was giving out of the backfield catching the ball and some different things we were trying to get matchup wise,” head coach Barry Odom said after the game, “He was a better, we thought at that point, a better matchup.”
As Odom indicated, the primary reason for Rountree’s inactivity wasn’t health and it wasn’t punishment for the fumble. Trailing for the entire second half, Missouri was in comeback mode. When the Tigers are going pass-heavy, they seem to feel more comfortable with Badie at running back. But on Tuesday, the Tiger assistant coaches refuted that.
“I’m not sure if it was a better fit. Larry, he didn’t play his best,” offensive coordinator Derek Dooley said. “There’s certain plays we want Larry over Tyler, there’s certain plays we like Badie over Larry, but as far as a fit offensively, they both fit great.”
“Once we get towards the end of the game, we generally go with who’s playing better, what we call the hot hand,” running backs coach Cornell Ford said. “If one’s playing better than the other one, that’s who we’re going to roll with. That’s why we do what we do.”
Badie has been more productive in the passing game. He had seven catches on nine targets on Saturday. Rountree had just one reception. Since his coming out party on the game-winning drive at Purdue last season, Badie has been Mizzou’s primary back in the two-minute drill. In addition to the receiving ability, ProFootballFocus grades every player in every area of the game. Badie’s grade in pass blocking was 74.6. Rountree’s was 3.0.
"We were trying to get a couple mismatches with Badie, he's got a different skill set than Larry does," Odom said. "Then there were some things in block protection that Tyler was playing better then."
But Ford insisted Badie’s second half use wasn’t about the plays Missouri was running.
“Larry is a great football player and a great running back for us and so is Badie,” he said. “If one’s playing better than the other at the end of the game, that’s what we’re going to go with. I felt like at that particular time of the game, at the end of the game, Badie was the best back so that’s we went with.”
But make no mistake, Rountree is still Missouri’s main back. Neither player was all that productive running the ball on Saturday. Rountree averaged 2.7 yards per carry and Badie checked in at 3.3. Not only will Missouri still use and need Rountree, but they’ll need more out of the running game as a whole.
“It certainly didn’t meet the standard that we want,” Dooley said. “Sometimes it takes just a little more strain and a little more push. It certainly wasn’t where it needed to be and we’re going to work hard and get it where we want it.”
“I thought that we could play more physical,” Ford added. “I thought there were some situations we had opportunities to make plays one on one. Us and a linebacker, us and a safety, us and a corner and they came up with the tackle. Our guys have got to be more productive and be more physical when we’re running the football.”
Rountree is a team captain and has been thought of as one of the better team-first locker room players on the roster. While he was disappointed not to play more on Saturday, don’t look for him to sulk and carry it forward.
""I've got a lot of concerns. That's not one of them," Odom said. "I know what we got with Rountree. He's going to be hungry to get back out there."
“He didn’t play his best,” Dooley said. “But he’s going to be fine. We’re depending on both of those guys.”
West Virginia gave up 172 yards on the ground in a 20-13 win over James Madison last weekend. JMU did take 48 carries to get to that number and averaged just 3.58 yards per carry. Mizzou’s team goal is 4.5 yards per carry in a game.
"We got outplayed," Odom said. "It's frustrating, but that's you know what, we've earned that right now until we go through it different, that's who we are."
While splitting time much of last season, Rountree averaged 17.3 carries per game. He also averaged 5.4 yards per carry. Those are numbers much more in line with what Missouri is going to need out of him going forward to bounce back from a stunning opening week loss.
