When No. 24 Boston College (2-0) comes to Columbia to face No. 6 Missouri (2-0) in Week 3, it'll be the only game that features a clash of ranked opponents, but honestly, there's more than that to this game.
This is a chance at redemption. In 2021, the Tigers played against Boston College and lost in overtime 41-34. The defeat still sits with Mizzou head coach Eli Drinkwitz as one of the hardest losses of his career.
"I just think at that moment that game was hard for a lot of different reasons. I didn't think we played particularly well," Drinkwitz said. "There was a lot of noise around that game for comments that were made by me. So, learned a hard lesson as a head coach there. Then obviously, the emotional swing to that game. We came back and tied it up. They scored in overtime. We throw a pick the first play. You know, first time having to deal with the crowd rushing the field, and trying to navigate your way off the field. So, a lot to it."
But a lot has changed since then. For Mizzou, 12 players from the 2021 team remain, but only wide receiver Mookie Cooper, center Drake Heismeyer and defensive end Johnny Walker Jr. played in the game.
For the Eagles, Jeff Hafley was the head coach and the team was led by wide receiver Zay Flowers and quarterback Denis Grosel.
This time around, Bill O'Brien is the new head coach and his dual-threat quarterback, Thomas Castellanos, is leading Boston College, and if gets its second top-10 road win in three weeks it'll likely be because of the Eagles' signal-caller.
"The quarterback can create explosive plays with his feet as well as his arm," Drinkwitz said. "I think they kind of just put him in a box last year and said, 'Hey, we're going to create a dynamic run game for you and then play action pass.' I think they're (O'Brien and his coaching staff) treating him as he should be, which is a really good player at the quarterback position, and they don't really define what he has to be. He's growing in a lot of different ways."
Castellanos had completed 19-of-26 passes for 340 yards and six touchdowns this season. He's also ran for 74 yards and one touchdown on 15 carries. The thing is despite his ability to make plays with his legs, the Eagles haven't called many designed runs.
Last week, they let him throw more versus Duquesne in empty sets and he completed 9-of-10 passes for 234 yards and four touchdowns. He had just one rush for eight yards.
According to PFF College, he's completed 4-of-6 deep passes (throws 20 or more yards through the air) for 167 yards and two touchdowns. On short passes (0-9 yards) or passes behind the line of scrimmage, he's a combined 13-of-17 for 134 yards and a touchdown.
So, he's a little more than a dual-threat quarterback who instantly wants to run, but that doesn't mean Mizzou linebacker Triston Newson or anyone else will not be mindful of where No. 1 is at all times and what he might want to do with his legs.
"I think we just got to be ready to contain him. Be ready to run. A guy like him, he can come out of the backfield so quick," Newson said. ... "Just staying focused and playing your gap. How quick and shifty they are, it's so close, it's so precise that you want to be on point and stay in your gap and keep your eyes on the right target and read."
In addition to Castellanos, the Eagles have a solid running back room led by former Kansas State Wildcat Treshaun Ward and Kye Robichaux. Ward is more of the receiving back while Robichaux is a downhill runner. So, Castellanos paired with either one of them can cause issues for a defense.
"It's really difficult to kind of dictate what you're going to have to do from a coverage standpoint," Drinkwitz said. "You can try to play man-to-man and spy him (Castellanos), but you've got to make sure your spy is good enough to tackle him. You can play zone but when you play zone, you're going to typically be down a man in the box. So, then they're able to define the run game the way they want to.
"So, it's definitely a chess match. I don't think you can go in and say, 'We're going to do just this one thing', or 'We're going to just do this thing' and hope that works. I think you're going to have to have multiple options and see which one kind of plays."
Boston College also has the fourth-best pass-blocking grade in the FBS at 88.4, and the 30th-best run-blocking grade at 69.6. So, this was already going to be an uptick in competition but the Eagles' offense is really no joke and the Tigers seem to realize this.
Being efficient, creating big plays and eliminating mistakes
Through two weeks, Missouri is fourth in the FBS in third-down offense at 60%, fifth in the first downs with 58, 16th in scoring offense at 44.5 points per game and 19th in total offense at 503.5 yards per game. All of that has been done without the deep ball.
According to PFF College, quarterback Brady Cook is 1-of-7 on deep passes (20 or more yards through the air) this season with the lone completion coming in Week 2 in the form of a 39-yard pass to Theo Wease. Cook has been off the mark on several passes so part of these results is the players not finishing the plays. But seven deep passes through two games isn't many, especially for this offense.
"I think that's a sign of growth and maturity from all of us on the offensive side of the ball," Drinkwitz said. "We all want it now. We're instant gratification. We all want explosive plays. You'd rather be on SportsCenter for that rather than for three yards and a cloud of dust or five-yard hitches. But the reality of what we're figuring out is that teams don't really want to give up explosive plays versus our wide receiver core. So, we have to be willing to make them defend us in a different manner."
That does show a level of maturity. Winning is winning. If winning by running the ball and dinking and dunking gives the same results as winning using tons of explosive plays then do what's going get you the win. Mizzou should be all for it and it is. However, you have to be mature enough in the right positions at head coach, offensive coordinator and quarterback to know that and the Tigers are.
It doesn't mean they won't try deep plays. They've still got to create the opportunities if, for nothing else, to keep the underneath routes open.
"We're going to have to find ways to create explosives in the pass game," Drinkwitz said. "Going to have to be a lot more physical at the line of scrimmage. We're going to have to sustain blocks without holding. So, a lot of things that we can improve on, that we're going to have to improve on in order to compete in this game."
Just as much as the offense has to keep taking what the defense is giving them and still try and make some noise in the deep passing game, it also has to fix the penalties.
Mizzou is 110th in the FBS in penalties with 17. The good news about that is the defense hasn't committed one. Consequently, the bad news is that the offense is committing them.
Last week, Mizzou was called for five holds, two ineligible man downfield, two false starts, a facemask and an illegal formation.
"The holding penalties. We've got to learn to let go. When the ball is out-leveraged, just when a defender is broken away, we cannot continue to engage with the jersey of the defender. There were three of those that were clear calls, easy calls that are something that we have to correct. You appreciate guys playing with effort and energy, but they've got to know when it's crossing the line into a penalty. The other ones? The other ones we will be all right."
Drinkwitz took ownership of the illegal formation penalties and said that it fell on him.
During his Tuesday presser, he smirked before answering a question regarding penalties. You can tell he doesn't believe all the penalties Mizzou has been flagged for are penalties.
Nonetheless, it has impacted Mizzou mightily. Of the team's 11 penalties in Week 2. Six of them negated a first down or touchdown. Another one happened inside Buffalo's 10-yard line.
The Bulls may have not been able to take advantage of those mistakes but Boston College might be able to.
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