Mizzou offense sinks to new lows without Bryant

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ATHENS — Prior to Missouri’s matchup at No. 6 Georgia, Kelly Bryant donned his pads and took the field for pregame warmups. The senior, who had started Missouri’s first eight games of the season at quarterback, looked plenty mobile and energetic as he stretched, jogged and danced across the grass at Sanford Stadium. He threw passes to receivers and went through all the other usual drills with his fellow signal-callers.

But when Missouri took the field for its first offensive snap, it was redshirt sophomore Taylor Powell, not Bryant, behind center. Bryant is still recovering from a hamstring strain suffered two weeks ago in a loss at Kentucky. The energy that Bryant showed in pregame warmups was missing as well.

That first series resulted in a three-and-out, as did the next series, and the one after that. With Powell at the helm, a Missouri offense that had been in disarray for the past two games reached its lowest point yet, getting shut out in a 27-0 loss. The Tigers’ 198 total yards marked the first time the team has failed to eclipse 200 yards since a 28-3 loss at Arkansas to close the 2015 season. It was the first time Missouri has been held scoreless since Georgia won 34-0 in 2014 and just the second time Missouri has been shut out since 2002.

Leading up to Saturday’s game, Odom told reporters that Bryant would be a game-time decision. After the game, however, he said he had a pretty firm idea by Friday night that Bryant wouldn’t be able to play. Powell, meanwhile, said the coaching staff told him on Wednesday that he would start against Georgia.

Odom said the medical staff didn’t want to risk further aggravating Bryant’s hamstring.

“He wanted to play and felt like he could, but the percentage of being able to run and function and do the things that you need to at that position, I don’t know that it would’ve been wise to put him out there,” Odom said. “… If you go out and then the third play he reinjures it, then it could be he’s out for the rest of the year. That’s not something that I think is smart.”

Ultimately, it may not have mattered who the Tigers played behind center. Georgia’s defense dominated the Tiger offense in all facets. The team failed to eclipse 200 yards passing for the third week in a row. Missouri’s 50 rushing yards and 2.1 yards per carry average both marked season lows. The Tigers went three-and-out six times and punted nine.

Odom and the offensive players didn’t hide their frustration after the game.

“Offensively, we’ve got to get some things figured out, because we’re going to need to score some points in the last three weeks to have a chance in each one of the games,” Odom said. “We’ve got enough playmakers to go do that, and we’ve got to find answers and get it fixed.”

“To go out and put zero points on the board, it’s inexcusable,” said slot receiver Barrett Banister. “We gotta get something right.”

The blame for the offensive performance extends far beyond Powell. Missouri’s offensive line has struggled mightily to open up holes in the running game on the team’s three-game road trip, and Saturday’s matchup with Georgia’s No. 4 rushing defense in the country was no different. While Missouri is far from the first team to find its running game suffocated by the Bulldogs, left tackle Yasir Durant blamed the offensive line for the struggles.

“That was on us,” Durant said. “That don’t matter, like, it’s Georgia. We shot ourselves in the foot a couple times just with little stuff.”

Powell also didn’t get much help in the passing game. With senior slot receiver Johnathon Johnson out due to an illness, the Tiger pass-catchers rarely created separation from Georgia’s secondary. And for the second week in a row, when they did, they struggled with drops. Banister wasn’t shy about saying the receiving corps has to improve at making catches in traffic.

“There were a couple times on third downs Taylor would put the ball up, and we gotta make those plays,” Banister said. “Third downs are important, and I think that’s a big thing we need to do is focus on contested catches, and we gotta just keep working to get open and make those big plays when they come our way.”

Despite all the offensive woes, the Tiger defense kept the game competitive, and the team still looked to have a glimmer of hope when the offense finally crossed midfield for the first time midway through the second quarter. Missouri got as far as the Georgia 24-yard line when Powell escaped pressure and tried to lob a pass to tight end Albert Okwuegbunam. Two Georgia defenders blanketed Okwuegbunam, and Richard Lecounte came down with the ball and returned it 71 yards to the Missouri 18-yard line. Momentum swung back to the Bulldog sideline, and the Tigers didn’t enter Georgia territory again until the fourth quarter, when the score was well out of reach.

“I saw (Lecounte), he rotated high whenever we brought Albert in motion,” Powell said of the interception. “Saw the guy was on his hip, I knew it was just him and Albert, and then I kind of just threw it late. Shouldn’t have. I was trying to give Albert a chance. It was a bad mistake.”

After the game, Banister and Durant both admitted to being frustrated by the offensive struggles that have now spanned three games. Odom, too, said the unit needs to find a way to move the ball. “I can’t be up here next week saying the same thing,” he said.

However, Odom also maintained confidence that the frustration would not boil over and affect the locker room. He believes his players will remain motivated to play the final three games of the season.

“I’ve got a lot of confidence in the locker room,” he said. “And I know what I’ve got. We’re not where we want to be, but we’ve got three games left, and we’re going to go push. We’re going to keep swinging and we’re going to come up with a way, with the guys we’ve got, to go get a win.”

All things considered, Missouri’s defense performed admirably. The unit spent more than 35 minutes of game time on the field and held the Bulldogs to a tie for their third-lowest yardage output of the season. Bulldog quarterback Jake Fromm, who entered Saturday having completed more than 70 percent of his passes on the season, connected on just 13 of 29 attempts.

Yet the Tiger defenders said after the game they don’t see the performance as a moral victory.

“After a loss, nobody really feels good,” said linebacker Nick Bolton. “We just want to compete at a high level and win at the end of the day. There’s no moral victories for us. We just want to win football games.”

The area that frustrated Bolton and his teammates most was third down defense. During Missouri’s weekly media availability, players and coaches alike reiterated that getting stops on third down would be the biggest key to stopping Georgia. Last week, the Bulldogs converted 12 of 18 third downs in a win over Florida.

But Georgia converted its first three third downs of the game against Missouri, including a 25-yard touchdown pass from Fromm to George Pickens on the Bulldogs’ first possession. Georgia ultimately moved the chains on eight of 18 third downs.

Bolton blamed a few of the conversions on miscommunications and, in the case of the touchdown, coverage busts. The Tigers sent blitzes on the majority of third downs, and if the pressure didn’t get to Fromm fast enough, he usually made them pay.

“We were good on first and second down for most of the night, we just gotta find ways to get off the field on third down,” he said. “We sent blitzes, played tight man coverage, we just have to get home on those.”

Perhaps the only area of progress exhibited by Missouri’s offense came in the usage of Okwuegbunam. The preseason all-American didn’t catch a pass against Kentucky and caught just two, albeit one for a touchdown, against Vanderbilt. The coaching staff has maintained for weeks that it needed to get the ball to number 81.

Saturday, Missouri did indeed make an emphasis of throwing for Okwuegbunam, as he was targeted a team-high nine times. The results were mixed.

Okwuegbunam made three early catches, one of which went for a conversion on third down. However, Powell tried to force the ball to Okwuegbunam later in that drive, resulting in Lecounte’s interception. Then, in the second half, Okwuegbunam got two hands on a couple of passes but couldn’t secure the catches through contact.

“We felt like he was a good matchup this week,” Powell said, “so just trying to get him the ball in certain situations, and we did sometimes, we just didn’t connect on some.”

Once Georgia took a four-score lead, Missouri opted to remove Powell from the game in favor of true freshman Connor Bazelak. The Dayton native had appeared in just one game previously, Missouri’s blowout of Southeast Missouri, but had yet to attempt a college pass.

In his limited action against Georgia, Bazelak looked sharp, providing Missouri fans some optimism for the future of the position. Bazelak completed eight of 12 passes for 64 yards and led Missouri’s most successful drive of the evening. The Tigers got all the way to the Georgia two-yard line before turning the ball over on downs.

While he wasn’t able to put Missouri on the scoreboard, Bazelak made a positive impression on his teammates with his performance.

“I thought it was impressive,” Banister said. “He came in and looked poised and knew what he was doing. That’s tough as a true freshman. … That’s a big moment to step into, and he came in and he handled it well.”

Odom said that he expects Johnson, who didn’t make the trip to Athens, to be back to 100 percent for next week’s home matchup against No. 10 Florida. He also anticipates Bryant returning to the field.

Odom said that freshman tight end Niko Hea, who didn’t travel to either of the last two games, was battling mononucleosis. Hea saw the field Saturday but didn’t record a catch.