When Eli Drinkwitz met with the media following his team’s win over South Carolina on Saturday, one of the most popular topics was star running back Tyler Badie. Rightfully so. Badie had just logged his fourth 200-yard rushing performance of the season, which included 57 yards and a pair of key first downs on Missouri’s final drive, which allowed the Tigers to run the clock out without giving the ball back to the Gamecocks.
But around the time he fielded a third question about Badie, Drinkwitz pivoted in his praise. He gave a shout out to the players who blocked for Badie, paving the way for his 209 yards on the ground.
“As much as we're giving Tyler credit, I mean, our offensive line and tight ends deserve a lot of credit, too,” Drinkwitz said. “Those guys were blocking their butt off.”
Just from a sheer production standpoint, it would be easy to make the case that Saturday’s win over South Carolina represented the best performance of the season for the Missouri offensive line, especially against Power Five competition. The Tiger rushers averaged 3.40 yards before contact. The team’s previous season high against a high-major opponent was 2.88 against Vanderbilt. Missouri also only surrendered one sack and four pressures when Connor Bazelak dropped back to throw.
But the performance becomes even more impressive considering the Tigers did it with a “patchwork” unit. That was Drinkwitz’s description after the game. Starting right tackle Hyrin White didn’t play due to an ankle injury, and his backup, Zeke Powell, wasn’t available because of an injury of his own. That led to junior Bobby Lawrence making the start a week after he was playing on the scout team.
Even Plan C didn’t last long. Lawrence left the game with an injury during Missouri’s first offensive series and did not return. So, Missouri shifted Montana State transfer Connor Wood (who was only in the starting lineup himself because of a season-ending injury to Case Cook) from right guard to right tackle and inserted Oklahoma transfer EJ Ndoma-Ogar into the lineup at left guard. Ndoma-Ogar would play a career-high 66 snaps after only playing 64 during the previous nine games combined, virtually all coming late in lopsided games. To top it off, Missouri also rotated between Xavier Delgado and Luke Griffin at the other guard spot.
“We didn’t skip a beat at all,” Wood said. “We just kept on moving, same game plan.”
In his postgame praise for the offensive line, Drinkwitz singled out the only two players who played every snap at the same position up front. He said the Tigers “were really leaning on (left tackle Javon Foster) to run our outside zones.” He also gave credit to center Michael Maietti for anchoring the unit.
But an offensive line can’t clear the way for 258 team rushing yards with just two effective players. And Drinkwitz also complimented the two transfers who manned the right side of the line for stepping into unfamiliar territory and rising to the occasion. On Missouri’s final touchdown of the game, a 19-yard run by Badie, Ndoma-Ogar and Wood combined to open a hole wide enough that Badie never got touched by a South Carolina defender.
“We ran outside zone to Woody’s side, and Woody and EJ had an unbelievable combination block that really sprung that,” Drinkwitz said of the score.
Wood continued to show his ability to serve as a Swiss Army Knife for the Missouri offensive line. He only played tackle during his two seasons at Montana State, but since he arrived on Missouri’s campus during the summer, offensive line coach Marcus Johnson has trained him at left guard, right guard and right tackle. Drinkwitz said Wood’s ability to not only make the leap to the SEC level but transition seamlessly across multiple positions has made him an invaluable asset.
“I would say we wouldn’t win the game against South Carolina if he hadn’t had the position flexibility to slide out to right tackle for us,” Drinkwitz said.
Saturday marked Wood’s most extensive game experience at right tackle since arriving at Missouri. He said it was “pretty crazy” to play two different positions in the same game, but he prides himself on his versatility. He credited that versatility to Johnson. Drinkwitz, too, praised the second-year offensive line coach for not only having players down the depth chart ready to contribute during a game, but preparing them to play multiple positions.
“I think coach Johnson does a great job of getting us ready, preparation,” said Wood. “He said play anywhere on the line, so just be prepared, and at practice I actually practice both left guard, right guard and right tackle all throughout practice, whether it’s through individual or through team.”
Ndoma-Ogar also joined the Tiger offensive line during the offseason. The redshirt freshman appeared in just four games at Oklahoma during the 2019 campaign, then opted out of last season before transferring to Missouri. Speaking to reporters Wednesday, he admitted that, when the coaches called his number during the first quarter, he felt some jitters. But it didn’t take long for him to find his footing, and he appeared to hold his own.
“It was my first real, real game, so I was kind of nervous from the jump,” Ndoma-Ogar said. “But then I was like, you know, I’ve been playing this game since I was seven years old, so it’s nothing new. Still the same blocking scheme, everything like that. So I got used to it for a little bit, but then I started to move people off the ball, and everything started coming back to me.”
Continuing the blocking success Missouri tasted Saturday — no matter who takes the field — will be pivotal to the team’s ability to achieve bowl eligibility. (White returned to practice this week, but it’s not known whether he will be healthy enough to play against Florida.) Throughout not only the 2021 season but Drinkwitz’s tenure at Missouri, the ground game has been a reliable predictor of team success. Across the past two seasons, the Tigers are averaging 228.4 rushing yards per game and 5.65 yards per carry in wins compared to 84.3 per game and 2.94 per tote in losses.
The problem this season has been the offensive line’s struggles to hold its own against higher-caliber competition — at least before Saturday. Prior to the win over South Carolina, the Tigers averaged 3.35 rushing yards before contact in their four wins, per SECStatCat. Those games came against Central Michigan, Southeast Missouri, North Texas and Vanderbilt — not exactly a murderer’s row of defensive fronts. By contrast, in the team’s losses to Kentucky, Boston College, Tennessee, Texas A&M and Georgia, the Tigers averaged nearly a yard and a half less per rush before contact at 1.74.
Ndoma-Ogar expressed optimism that the offensive line’s most recent performance will be remembered as a launch pad for the unit rather than an outlier.
“It bought us a lot of confidence,” he said. “Bobby went down and we had to manage it a few different ways. I had to step in and Connor had to go to right tackle. And I feel like the whole offensive line, as a unit, I feel like we’re comfortable with change no matter how drastic the change is. I feel like coach Johnson has prepared us in a great way, like, if somebody goes down, then you gotta be the next man up, next man up. And that’s what’s been kind of going through all of our heads.”
Missouri should have the opportunity to move the ball on the ground against a struggling Florida defense. The Gators, who will play their second game without fired defensive coordinator Todd Grantham on Saturday, have allowed their past three SEC opponents to rush for an average of 266 yards per game.
If the past is any indication, finding success on the ground would be a good sign for the Tigers’ chances of picking up a sixth victory. Wood and the offensive line are shouldering the responsibility for making sure that happens, regardless of which players line up where.
“I think at the end of the day it’s up to us to determine whether we win the game or not,” said Wood. “And I think with everyone’s mindset of how we are and how disciplined we are out at practice, I feel pretty confident this week.”
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