Four Down Territory: Good Cop, Bad Cop Edition
Welcome to Four Down Territory which is a spin-off of Ten Thoughts.
So, I’ll give you three thoughts on Missouri football or college football in general. Then, the last thought will be whatever I want it to be.
From my viewpoint, there have been mixed reviews about Mizzou after its 35-10 win over South Dakota in week one.
On one hand, some are disappointed the team wasn’t able to be more explosive versus a rebuilding FCS team and give other quarterbacks a chance to play when the game was much closer. On the other hand, some are happy with the result and what they saw, particularly in the first half.
Since many of the opinions (not all) I have seen were more pessimistic than optimistic, I’ll play good cop, bad cop.
The good cop will empathize with the worrisome group, while the bad cop will tell them why they are being overdramatic.
1. Let's start by being the good cop and telling you why the concerns of Mizzou fans are valid.
Like I said earlier, South Dakota is a rebuilding FCS team that was 3-8 last season.
Its defense, which brought back eight starters, was the third-worst defense in the Missouri Valley Conference by allowing 407 yards per game and almost 30 points per game. Again, the Coyotes allowed that in the MVC.
All offseason, Missouri has talked about having a more explosive offense. On Thursday, there weren't many fireworks. In fact, Thursday's outing looked a lot like a game from the 2022 season in more ways than one.
Sure, Mizzou got 35 points and had 447 total yards, but a lot of it came via the running game or dink and dunking the ball downfield and letting the position players do the work. Of Brady Cook’s 172 passing yards, 106 of them were yards after catch.
Head coach Eli Drinkwitz said South Dakota was in a Cover 2 shell, which eliminates some opportunities to throw deep shots.
However, it’s South Dakota.
Missouri should be able to out-athlete them, at the least.
The argument could be made that Mizzou was trying to leave some of its tricks in the bag, so its week three opponent, Kansas State, wouldn't get a leg up on them. But why? For who? For what?
The Tigers aren’t the Chiefs (and I’m not saying they claimed to be it’s just an example).
Every year, there is some commentary on Chiefs head coach Andy Reid holding back some of his playbook until the end of the season. So, he can put things on tape for playoff teams.
He can afford to do that because, without the entire playbook, Kansas City is still an elite offense.
Mizzou was a very pedestrian offense last season that never really got busy throwing the ball deep. So, if more explosive plays were what they were working on this offseason, then why not show some of that versus an inferior opponent?
If the short game is where Mizzou does most of its work, then why not show it can pass the ball downfield, so teams have to respect that part of the game too? Which in turn, would open up stuff underneath where a lot of its offense is predicated.
Then, supposedly there's a quarterback competition going on, but Cook got to play the entire first half and helped lead the Tigers to a 28-3 lead entering halftime.
This meant when Sam Horn played in the second half, the Tigers (and the Coyotes for that matter) wanted to run the ball and drain the clock. So, Horn didn’t get a real opportunity to show what he could do when the game was close.
He finished the contest 3-of-5 for 54 yards, a touchdown and an interception. He played half of the snaps that Cook did and only got five pass attempts compared to 21 pass attempts for Cook.
Everyone has seen Cook play before, but no one has seen extended minutes for the former four-star dual-sport quarterback.
The defense played well for the first half, but then in the second half, everyone except the defensive line seemed to take their foot off of the gas a little bit, and the Coyotes' lone touchdown of the day was one where the receiver, essentially walked into the end zone.
That was another story from last season.
The Tigers' defense would start strong in some games and then not finish the same way (think week five versus Georgia) or vice versa.
Lastly, kicker Harrison Mevis missed two field goals and would’ve had his first missed extra point attempt of his career had it not been for an offsides penalty (that didn’t impact his kick).
Last season, when the Tigers hosted Abilene Christian, another FCS school, Mevis missed multiple field goals for the first time in his career. After missing five kicks in his first couple of seasons combined, he missed six in 2022.
It seemed like a fluke last season, and entering Thursday, he was still probably regarded as a top-three kicker in the nation, but after that game, there seem to be more questions than answers about Mevis.
2. Alright, time to play the bad cop and explain why some fans are overdoing it.
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