Every week PowerMizzou.com will hand out a position-by-position report card from Missouri’s most recent game. Here are the grades for Missouri from Saturday’s 24-17 loss to Florida.
Quarterbacks: Cook completed 22 of 30 passes for 220 yards which is good until you factor in two of his eight incompletions were interceptions. The first interception was returned for a touchdown while the second was in the red zone. The first one was not completely Cook's fault. His intended receiver Luther Burden III was bumped off of his route, so he wasn't in the spot he needed to be to make a play on the ball. What is his fault on that play is that Cook stared Burden down and threw the pass even after Burden was bumped off of his route. On Cook's second interception, he stared down Tauskie Dove and the Florida defensive back anticipated the route. Cook can't throw that ball when the receiver has no separation. Florida scored a touchdown after it got the second interception, so that's a 14-point swing in favor of the Gators. GRADE: D
Running backs: The last time Nathaniel Peat was playing in a road conference game he had fumbled the ball inside the two-yard line and effectively lost the game for the Tigers. This time around Peat bounced back in a big game with 20 rushes for a career-high 117 yards and a touchdown. This was Peat's second 100-yard game in this last three games and his third career 100-yard game. Cody Schrader had eight carries for 17 yards, but did find the end zone. GRADE: B+
Wide Receivers: The wide receiver room is hurting physically. Barrett Banister, Burden and Dominic Lovett were all on the injury report coming into the game. Banister didn't play, and it seems that Burden may return to the injury report after going down with a left leg injury in the second half (this section is not a part of the grade, it's just context).
Before Burden left he had five receptions on seven targets for 20 yards. Mookie Cooper had his second straight game with 50 or more receiving yards, and Lovett had four receptions for 39 yards, meaning Lovett's streak of leading the Tigers in receptions and receiving yards ended at five games.
Mekhi Miller, who took over at wide receiver for Burden when he went down, had two receptions for 39 yards.
There weren't many dropped passes by the wide receivers but it seems they were getting roughed up by Florida's secondary with ease, and that is part of why the first interception that was returned for a touchdown happened. GRADE: C
Tight Ends: Tyler Stephens had a reception for five yards that led to a first-down, but it was another quiet day for the tight ends. GRADE: C
Offensive line: The offensive line only had one penalty, so that is an improvement from the four it had versus Georgia. That is really one of the very few positives of this group. Cook was under duress a lot during this game and was sacked four times. Mizzou was tackled for loss 13 times for 36 yards. Not to mention, Connor Tollison snapped the ball when Cook was making pre-snap adjustments. Luckily for the Tigers, Cook had the awareness to pick up the ball and then throw it away, so that it would be second down and 10 instead of second and long. GRADE: D
Defensive line: The defensive line had Florida quarterback Anthony Richardson and the Gators' top 25 run offense in check in the first half. The Gators were limited to 19 yards rushing on 10 carries, and Richardson had one rush for two yards and completed 4 of 8 passes for 46 yards after two quarters. DJ Coleman did have a strip sack in the first half that led to a Mizzou field goal. The defensive line only managed to get one sack, but it did record four tackles for loss. Isaiah McGuire led the way with seven tackles and three tackles for loss.
They did allow Florida to break a 41-yard run on its second possession of the second half and a 39-yard run on its third possession. Also, on that third possession, Richardson converted a fourth and two when he broke through for a 32-yard scamper to put Florida inside Mizzou's five-yard line. GRADE: B-
Linebackers: Ty'Ron Hopper's return to his former school was one of the storylines heading into this game, and while he didn't have 12 tackles and two tackles for loss like he did when he was with Florida playing against Missouri last season he had a solid game. He had five tackles and a fumble recovery. Dameon Wilson had a pair of tackles. The linebackers (as well as the whole defense) missed some tackles, especially in the second half but they didn't have any glaring issues. GRADE: C+
Secondary: Cornerback Ennis Rakestraw possibly had his best game of the season with five tackles and two pass deflections. He could've had three pass deflections but offsetting penalties negated one. Safety Jaylon Carlies also had five tackles and tipped a pass in the air that safety Daylan Carnell intercepted which gave Mizzou's offense a chance to possess the ball with a little less than three minutes left in regulation with the ability to tie or take the lead. Richardson only completed 8 of 14 passes for 66 yards with the longest completion being 20 yards. Safety Joseph Charleston also had five tackles, safety Martez Manuel had four tackles and cornerback Dreyden Norwood had three tackles with a pass deflection. GRADE: B+
Special teams: Harrison Mevis made his lone field goal attempt and both his PATs. Mevis has now made his last nine kicks (six field goals and three PATs) since his missed field goal at Auburn. Punter Jack Stonehouse averaged 39.8 yards per punt on four punts. Entering the game, Stonehouse was second in the Southeastern Conference in yards per punt at 45.07. One of his punts went 40 yards and it was returned for 48 yards and that set the Gators up for a field goal. GRADE: C-
Coaching: There were a lot of plays that aren't on Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz such as the interceptions or Tollison's bad snap. Running a quarterback draw on second and 11 out of a timeout with the ball inside Florida's 12-yard line and calling another quarterback draw on the first play of what could've been a game-winning drive is his fault. Calling a play out of an empty set on fourth and two when Peat is having a career day and Florida has the worst run defense in the SEC is his fault. The offense got off to a slow start again (story of every game they've played this season) and while it bounced back to tie the game up at 10 before halftime, this was another game Missouri could've won going away. Instead, Mizzou is on a three-game losing streak with all the losses being by one possession. GRADE: C-
Stay up to date on all the Mizzou news with your premium subscription
Talk about this story and more in The Tigers' Lair
Make sure you're caught up on all the Tiger news and headlines
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel for video and live streaming coverage
